Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech carb or what?

This past winter I used year old fuel stabilizer in my bike. I had a bad feeling just after I did that. Once or twice this winter it was hard to start.(Carb heaters??) Naturally I cranked on the throttle(to flood it!) and then once I started to try and ride this spring I had problems. I didn't have 'full power' until something 'kicked in' after a few miles. This happened a couple of times.One of the cylinders was definitely not kicking in--it was cool to the touch. Then I got new spark plugs(I was out of town on a weekend trip and found a dealer close to where I was staying)and it helped alot BUT one time while riding I could feel it 'miss' and I lost some power but it recovered pretty quick. I haven't drained the bowls yet. It was suggested also that I use some Berryman 12 (B-12) to clean up the carb. Think I need a trip to the mechanic?? I read about the carb heaters on this site and don't know if that was a cause of the problem, or problems! Can anyone tell what's going on? I could manage some simple mechanicing, but anything more then I go to the shop.

If I had to guess, and I do, I would think either one of the slides are sticking in the bore, or one of the floats are sticking.
Run some Seafoam thru it and see if it doesn't improve.

Might need to clean the pilot jets.. I've seen the same reaction on some of the new bikes after they have been too long in the crate. I take the carbs apart for a thorough cleaning but you might get lucky with some kind of cleaner.

You might try draining the fuel bowls then spraying an ample amount of carb cleaner into your fuel line. You might get lucky, just make sure it's outside when you start it though.. that stuff is pretty toxic when it burns. Cleans the combustion chamber too.. I wouldn't advise it on a regular basis but once ain't gonna hurt.

Hi Pricilla,
I have a 07 TA and I was having similar problem with it when I was riding last summer. Anyway, I found that I had a bad ground on my RH side coil to which I simply cleaned and I haven't had a mis-fire since. I wouldn't think the shelf life on the Sta-bil would be much of a factor unless it is really old. I have used the same Sta-bil for a couple years with no problem. I would also think you would have noticed some fuel dampness around your exhaust outlet. Just my two peso's.

Mark

Good call on the loose coil wires Trumpy. I have seen this three or four times and the little wires on the fronts of the coils were loose. Take them off the coils and give them a little pinch with some needle nosed pliers and then apply some dielectric grease to the connectors and put them back on.

My problem back in April turned out to be a bad ignitor box. Cost about $580 to get it fixed.