Spring "start-up"

[Dirty Dave]

There is some controversy about Wing storage, in that some folks start the bike up every coupla weeks,
run until good & warm during the winter. Many hate this method due to metal on metal wear upon start-up.

I think I prefer the wear, to having a Wing with no wear BECAUSE IT DOESN'T RUN.

Last winter I did the bi-weekly start-up method and happily rode off in the spring,
the Wing 100%.

This winter, feeling lazy I drained the carbs dry after adding fuel stabilizer and left
it for 5 months.

Just now I added fresh fuel to the float bowls from a remote source, hooked up the carbs
to the fuel pump afterwards and started her up.

Much cranking and finally started, not on all four with gas leaking out of the exhaust.
I pulled the plugs, checked for spark (all OK) and cranked to void cylinders of fuel
just in case.

Clean plugs back in, she started well until I noticed the petcock was off. As soon as turned
on, the engine died. Upon starting again, ran on partial jugs with gas coming out of the exhaust.

Cyborg warned me that it wouldn't be the last time I pulled the carbs as I was boasting about
how well the Wing was running. Guess he was right.

The engine dying immediately after turning the petcock on (twice) has me very confused.

[CYBORG]

Some times I hate it when I'm right

[gltriker]

[Dirty Dave]

Easy to test with the carbs out.

Not doing that again. 100 times is enough.

Mayhap, I'll just ride the other bikes.

Can I have some cheese with my whine..........

[Whiskerfish]

i have 4 bikes licensed right now and 50% of them need the carbs gone through because I ignored them for too long. Really need to gt them fixed up and then sell those 2

[gltriker]

[Dirty Dave]

Yeah, the plenum was flooding so turning the petcock on floods it worse and kills some cylinders?

It really justifies the single VM carb conversion.
Funny my 78 wasn't finicky like this.

Is it possible that I only have to attend to the float valves? Open & crusty?

Thanks for reminding me of previous posts Cliff. Will rip into the carbs when I feel
like it to examine all gaskets which passed previously. Wing will be stored this year
as punishment, into the dark confinements of the shed. I will send it postcards from
my various future journeys on The Valk and Z900.

(And I was so nice to it replacing the front bearings, tire & fork seal)

Viton gaskets ordered. Thanks Cliff

[gltriker]

[Dirty Dave]

Plenum seal was replaced.

The other 4 seals seemed OK at the time. Autopsy will reveal all.

[Sidecar Bob]

I can't say for Montreal but we still have over a foot of snow on the ground and lots of salt residue on the roads (I will be very surprised if they don't add more before the season is over) so it is a bit early to be taking 2 wheeled bikes out of storage.
Heck, Mr.H doesn't fall over but I still won't be thinking about taking it out of the shed for at least several weeks).

FWIW, when I had fuel in the plenum I chased the floats & float valves for a while before I found out it the carb to plenum seals were leaking.

[Dirty Dave]

Thanks Bob. Seals are on order.

Covered in snow here but I just wanted to see how well (not) the Wing would run
after storage. Wasn't planning on riding, illegal anyway until March 16th due to
our snow tire law.

[Dirty Dave]

I gotta stop ordering parts that I already had in my million carb parts.

Oh well, can't have enough spare parts.

[dartman1962]

I use to drain my carbs on all my bikes every November.
About 12 years ago after sitting for the Winter, I turned on the fuel petcock on my 1999 Honda Magna, only to find fuel running out of every gasket & hose. Ended up rebuilding carbs. My 75 GL1000 Carbs were rebuilt in 2009.
Both of my bikes sit in either a heated garage set to about 5 Celsius or 1 of them in my shed/workshop around 12 Celsius.
Since then, my 75 GL1000 & my 1999 Honda Magna, I leave the fuel petcock on, then in about mid December & mid February,
I wait for some -5 Celsius days & run them both for about 15 mins, get them nice & hot, then put them back to bed.
I live in Saskatchewan where Winter's go down to -40C Celsius
Just had them both running last weekend, running like a well oiled machine!
Since doing this, I have never run into any issues!

Dave, as I wrote in "Why drain the carbs post" & as Cyborg also said.

[Dirty Dave]

That's what I did last winter without mishap.

Blame Robin. It's all his fault.......

[Dirty Dave]

So pulled the carbs and did a vacuum test with a Mityvac, an upgrade from the turkey baster and it held perfectly.


So are the plenum O-rings suspect? Just wanna ask before pulling the rack apart.
Perhaps just pulling the carbs and playing with the needle valve/seats did something.

Wish I was smarter, that's why I ask youse guys.........