New member just got a Valkyrie has questions

[Sixgunluvr]

Hello everyone, new member here with many questions.  I recently bought a 2003 Valkyrie and am having very minor gas leak from middle carb on right side…is this #3.  Also have some hoses that are cut.  I know very little about DIY bike repair and hope to start a dialogue here.  Will post some pics as soon as I figure out how.

[sandy]

If you post where you live, maybe someone local can come take a look. BTW: you have a nice mechanic helper.

[Sixgunluvr]

She’s more of an ornament than a helper.  . Still working on pics.  Here is one of the hose missing.



Are carbs numbered a certain way?  It’s the middle carb on the right side of your sitting on the bike. It only seems to leak once per riding session in a very small amount of say a few drops and drips from what looks like the carb itself.

I also have some cruise pegs and fender trim for sale if anyone is interested.  I don’t use cruise pegs and I bought the fender guard before I realized I would have to drill a hole in the fender to install it…won’t be doing that. It would look nice however.
[url=https://postimages.org/]
][url=https://postimg.cc/G9Jk6Bdk]

[TrapperAH1G]

Seems you have the numbering down right.  Sitting on the bike, right front is 1, left front 2, right middle 3, left middle 4, right rear 5, left rear 6.  Looks like the hose you're missing is the vacuum line....if you're trying to show the cap in the photo.  Indicates your bike has been desmogged.  Should only have a vacuum line on number 6, left rear carb.  This will go to your petcock unless it's been changed to pingle or other non vacuum type petcock.

Interested in your items, send me a message.  Thanks

[TrapperAH1G]

BTW, do tell us where you are. 

[Jess from VA]

Welcome  (like your handle ).

If you didn't get one with the bike, you want the OE Honda 1500 1997-2003 Service manual (not aftermarket Clymers).

New is expensive, they can probably be found on Ebay cheaper.

Here's a PDF link.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220328115011/https://valkyrienorway.com/download.html

There's lots of links to good information on this site.  Like this one.  https://www.jkozloski.com/generic_parts.htm

[Sixgunluvr]

Ok… so I went out and did some more checking by just letting it idle and taking a good look. It appears I have a leak coming from the fuel rail directly behind carb number three. This is quite disappointing as I have just bought the bike a couple months ago and it seemed fine on the two hour ride home.
  I live in Chester West Virginia about 45 minutes west of Pittsburgh. I fear at this point. I’m going to need to do a complete removal and rebuild. I see there is a guy on eBay that does total rebuild if you send him the carb bank. I think I could probably get the carb bank out this winter but I think a rebuild is definitely out of my league.
   I work full-time so I don’t have a lot of time, off Fridays and Saturdays and some vacation next week. Perhaps a member here would have a few minutes to chat over the phone. I will continue to update with pics and questions. Thank you so much everyone.

   Trapper has first dibs to discuss the pegs and trim rail as soon as I get time after work next day or so to respond.

[HayHauler]

Give Mooskee a PM here on the board.  He rebuilds carbs all of the time.

Just my opinion.

Hay  
Jimmyt

[Pluggy]

She’s more of an ornament than a helper.  . Still working on pics.  Here is one of the hose missing.



Are carbs numbered a certain way?  It’s the middle carb on the right side of your sitting on the bike. It only seems to leak once per riding session in a very small amount of say a few drops and drips from what looks like the carb itself.

I also have some cruise pegs and fender trim for sale if anyone is interested.  I don’t use cruise pegs and I bought the fender guard before I realized I would have to drill a hole in the fender to install it…won’t be doing that. It would look nice however.
[url=https://postimages.org/]
][url=https://postimg.cc/G9Jk6Bdk]

.

The stubby black rubber thing in the top picture is a Honda vacuum cap.  With the engine guard in the picture, it indicates we are at cylinder #2. This is the way Honda made it.  Nothing modified.

[Sixgunluvr]

“The stubby black rubber thing in the top picture is a Honda vacuum cap.  With the engine guard in the picture, it indicates we are at cylinder #2. This is the way Honda made it.  Nothing modified.”

   Gotcha, so after looking again it is “capped” at numbers  1,2,5 with hose connected to 3,4,6.

[wjamesfl]

I am also a new owner. I decided to take on rebuilding the carbs my self. It's alot (atleast for me, first time working on carbs), but the service manuals helped tremendously. Organization is paramount.

It couldn't hurt to check if the 4 bolts for your carb rack are torqued correctly since those tighten up the carbs together meaning the fuel rails too. I decided to crack open my carbs though and go through them replacing o-rings and hoses for piece of mind.

 I highly recommend checking out the YouTube channel Moto-Resto Machine and Repair. He has a Playlist of 16 videos working on Valkyries. Multiple videos of carb removal/disassembly/cleaning/reassembly to give you an idea of what you'd be in for. I learned alot about these bikes from that channel and watched all his videos before attempting carb rebuild.

If it looks like more than your willing to take on, there are definitely several options out there for shipping them out but you'll still want to use the resources mentioned above for removing them.

I dont know about the eBay option, but Valkyrie Flat Six and Valkyrie Carbs and Custom both seem to be the more established carb rebuilders from what research I did.

DM me id you have more questions on the carbs. Im no expert, far  far more experienced people on here, but I've been going through this recently (past 3 weeks)

[Pluggy]

   Gotcha, so after looking again it is “capped” at numbers  1,2,5 with hose connected to 3,4,6.

Your motorcycle is correct. That's how Honda built it.  

[Sixgunluvr]

Thanks for the responses so far everyone. I’m not really sure if they’re even is a carb issue. I was told when I bought the bike that the carbs were gone through a few years ago, but I have no way of verifying that. Remember the issue that I do know that is obviously present is that there is a leak I’m assuming at the fuel rail at this point.  Which of course means I might as well have the carbs gone through because they’re going to have to come off the bike and take apart to get to the fuel rail O-rings correct?

[HayHauler]

Like wjamesfl said above, there is no harm in verifying the torque on the long bolts that hold the carb banks together.  You never know, it just might stop your leak.
If it doesn't, then you can look into it further.

Hay 
Jimmyt

[Sixgunluvr]

Like wjamesfl said above, there is no harm in verifying the torque on the long bolts that hold the carb banks together.  You never know, it just might stop your leak.
If it doesn't, then you can look into it further.

Hay  
Jimmyt

Ok Thats my next step. I took it for a ride this morning and the leak continues but it is very minor. Seems like if I get somewhere and wipe it clean it is dry when I get home….weird.
Can I access the carb long bolts without removing anything?

[Joe333x]

Like wjamesfl said above, there is no harm in verifying the torque on the long bolts that hold the carb banks together.  You never know, it just might stop your leak.
If it doesn't, then you can look into it further.

Hay 
Jimmyt

Ok Thats my next step. I took it for a ride this morning and the leak continues but it is very minor. Seems like if I get somewhere and wipe it clean it is dry when I get home….weird.

It's gasoline dripping onto a hot engine so it will evaporate quickly but it will end up leaving a greenish stain like this in the photo below. Mine started leaking fuel a little when I first got it and then it got worse to the point I wouldn't feel safe riding it. I rebuilt the carbs and, installed an electric fuel shut off as well as a non vacuum petcock.