Sentry/Seafoam

[Chiefy]

My bike misses pretty good at times between 1800~2700 rpm.  Apparently it sat at the dealership for some time, before I bought it, and I have no idea what the previous owner did before he traded it in.  I've been putting Sentry in it.  There was mild improvement on the first fill up, but no more since then, about 4 or 5 tankfuls.  I've used it in each fill up.

How much can you put in one tankful at one time?  The bottle gives the recommended levels, but I'm wondering if a stronger "dose" would help, or cause harm.

If it matters......... The bike misses if I'm cruising along at those RPMs, in any gear, but it doesn't miss at all if I'm accelerating through that range.  Throttle blips jump the rpms with no hesitation or missing.  Don't know if that means anything.

Thanks

[Jack]

May not have anything to do with it but how are the vacuum tubes?  The only time my valk had a miss was when I had a crack in one.

[98valk]

regaine, techron, redline and amsoil fuel cleaners are much better and cheaper than seafoam.

[kmartic]

Wow just posted a problem with my bike and looked down and saw yours. Check mine ( engine burbles ) and see if it sounds like the same. I have changed plugs and am going to check carbs but it seems to be something that is affecting all cylinders. Keep in touch and let me know if you have any success. Thanks,Keith

[Chiefy]

Wow just posted a problem with my bike and looked down and saw yours. Check mine ( engine burbles ) and see if it sounds like the same. I have changed plugs and am going to check carbs but it seems to be something that is affecting all cylinders. Keep in touch and let me know if you have any success. Thanks,Keith

When I rode my Valk home when I bought it, I ran out of gas.  I had been fiddling around with the Petcock before I left the dealer, and left it shut off.     I can't believe how long it ran shut off.  Anyway, what's going on with mine does not seem similar whatsoever to what the engine was doing that day.  And I think that day "burbling" (is that a word?  ) describes it pretty good.

I met up with an experienced Valk owner who is quite sure my problem is the slow speed jets.  I've got Friday and Monday off.  On Friday I'm going to give it a heavy dose of Sentry and ride it all day.  If it doesn't clear out over the weekend, I guess I'll take it back to the dealer on Monday and see if he'll help me under the 30 day guarantee they gave me on it.

I'm not enough of a mechanic to offer any ideas on your problem, sorry.

[Hoser]

If you;ve got a cold exhaust pipe when it is idling, and not a higher speeds, it's probly the low speed jet, more than one or two clogged up is not common,  could happen, though, try a good dose of cleaner, maybe a whole can to a half tank, and drive in 5th gear at  low speed, and put the choke on full a few minutes while you are at the low speed, worked for me, took about 30 minutes, wouldn't hurt to leave the carbs full overnight with the heavy mixture first.  Hoser

[Chiefy]

If you;ve got a cold exhaust pipe when it is idling, and not a higher speeds, it's probly the low speed jet, more than one or two clogged up is not common,  could happen, though, try a good dose of cleaner, maybe a whole can to a half tank, and drive in 5th gear at  low speed, and put the choke on full a few minutes while you are at the low speed, worked for me, took about 30 minutes, wouldn't hurt to leave the carbs full overnight with the heavy mixture first.  Hoser

You put that much cleaner in at one time?  I know nothing about chemistry, but was wondering if such a heavy dose might do more harm then good.  (Start eating away at stuff you want to keep.)

[Hoser]

I'm no chemist either, but it worked.  Hoser 

[Chiefy]

I'm no chemist either, but it worked.  Hoser 

Good enough. Thanks

[Chiefy]

Today I bought some techron, enough for 12 gallons.  I dumped the whole bottle in and topped off the gas.  I ran it mostly slow for about 25 miles.  Things are changing.  The miss improves some, then comes back, and moves around the rpm range.  The idle is unstable, going higher for a while, then lower, then higher over the course of several stops.  All in all, it seems just a tad bit better.  So I'm hoping this means the techron is working.  I let it idle in the driveway for 5 min before I put her in the garage.  She will sit until at least tomorrow afternoon, more likely Friday morning.

One thing does confuse me...... I did run it for long stretches with the choke on, as per above.  And it ran better while choked.  Does that mean something?  Like I'm running way too lean?  I don't think I've ever had an engine on a car, bike or lawn mower that would run choked while hot.

I was reading the "Burbling" thread.  I do intend to keep this bike a long time.  I guess I'll take it to the dealer and have it done by a mechanic next week.

[9Ball]

why not buy the Honda Service manual and DIY?  The parts, etc. are relatively cheap and this can be done in a weekend even if you take your time.  It's a good opportunity to get to know your bike and clean/replace needed stuff as you go.

You just need to order all the parts and have everything on hand before you start.  As long as you're in there...

Honda Service manual...hdl or free online from Dag.
new fuel screen kit for the tank...dealer or hdl
new vacuum lines/caps (ebay)
new fuel lines...dealer or hdl
new pilot orings (ebay)  buy or make the d-tool for this
new bowl screws (ebay)
new intake orings (ebay)
new slow jets (don't bother trying to clean them or else you may be doing this job again if you fail to get them spotless or bugger the orifice)...sudco
3 cans of carb cleaner spray
I may have forgotten something...others will chime in

some may recommend replacing the stock petcock while you're in there or rebuilding the stock petcock.   I say if it's working OK (no problems when you shut the fuel off and it actually works) then save this for another time....opinions vary.

There's plenty of help here if you have questions or run into problems.  It will be very expensive for the dealer to do and they won't do as good or thorough a job as you can.  I also like having the hard copy of the service manual to mark the margins with notes and keep track of the maintenance in one handy place.

There might even be someone near you that's willing to lend their experience or a helping hand.

[Chiefy]

why not buy the Honda Service manual and DIY?  The parts, etc. are relatively cheap and this can be done in a weekend even if you take your time.  It's a good opportunity to get to know your bike and clean/replace needed stuff as you go.

I know, but I'm a basic wrench, and carburetors are strange and mysterious devices not to be fiddled with by the un-indoctrinated.

If a wrench party is coming up between Tampa/Arcadia/Fort Myers Florida I might give it a go with someone looking over my shoulder.

[9Ball]

you're not rebuilding anything, just cleaning and replacing some slow jets.  It's not like the old days rebuilding your car's carb on the kitchen table.

Really, it's very basic as long as you follow the service manual...

[Chiefy]

Thanks for the encouragement JR.  The dealer gave me a 30 day guarantee.  I bought my last bike there, and they worked very hard to make things right.  So I've made arrangements to drop it off Monday, unless the Techron clears things out over the weekend.   Hope I don't have a fight on my hands.  They bent over backwards on my last bike, so hopefully this will go smooth.

I think tonight I'll drain the bowls, (after sitting since last night) and then drive it for 10 miles.  Will probably do that again in the morning before I head out.  Couldn't hurt.

Would be nice to go to a wrench party even if only to observe.  Is there a section or thread dedicated to wrench parties?  Or do they just spring up from time to time?

[Chiefy]

Enough with the Sentry and Techron.  I ran all that stuff out of it over the weekend.  Bike ends up running slightly better with plain gas.  Still misses a little, and idle speed walks around.  Took it in to the dealer today under their 30 day warranty.  Owner rode it, says the jets are not clogged.  Says something is wrong with the choke system.  While he repairs the choke, he will take out the slow jets and clean them. 

"When can I have it back?"

"I hope to have it done by Friday"

 

[9Ball]

Enough with the Sentry and Techron.  I ran all that stuff out of it over the weekend.  Bike ends up running slightly better with plain gas.  Still misses a little, and idle speed walks around.  Took it in to the dealer today under their 30 day warranty.  Owner rode it, says the jets are not clogged.  Says something is wrong with the choke system.  While he repairs the choke, he will take out the slow jets and clean them. 

"When can I have it back?"

"I hope to have it done by Friday"

 

he's full of crap....but good luck.  Valk has no choke

[John U.]

Valks have "enricher" circuits rather than chokes. The fact that it ran better with the choke on proves two things,
1 that the enrichers work and
2 that the slow jets are clogged. Which isn't rocket science to fix and doesn't require a genious to diagnose, it's probably the most common problem with Valks.
Good luck with the dealer. If it doesn't work out we can walk you through it. When you're done you
will have gained a lot of confidence that you can take care of things yourself.

[Chiefy]

To clarify (some)  he didn't say the choke was causing it to run rough at low rpm.  He said the choke was causing the idle speed to drift around.  Since servicing the choke will put him right in the neighborhood of the jets, he said he's going to clean them.  He used the word enrichment.  I used the word choke.

Well, we'll see what the next few days hold I guess.  The guy has earned my trust with my other bike over the past few months.  I take no joy what so ever in wrenching, so figure I'll give him a shot under the guarantee.

I respect the opinion of the long time owners here too.  I'll post the outcome in this thread when I get it back.

Don't be too hard on this guy.  Maybe I misunderstood, or missed something.

[Earl in Pensacola]

Hope it's not too late to offer one more suggestion---carefully check for cracks etc. or just replace all the vacuum tubes that attach to the carbs. !!!

[Chiefy]

Just a follow up.  Dealer had it for over a week.  When he looked at the carbs, they were a real mess.  He cleaned them up, put in new slow jets, new fuel line, and replaced some frozen AF screws. They also fixed the flaky enrichment system.   It runs really nice now at slow rpms.  High rpms were never a problem, and still runs great there.  The invoice they gave me was $825.00, of which they credited 100%.  Got it for free.  That's on a 12 year old bike, on a 50-50 guarantee.  They did the same thing when I had to take my trike back on a 50-50 guarantee.  Not all dealers are banditos......... 

Yeah, it flies in the face of what the owner told me when I took it in, but he said he would go by what the Mechanic said, and he sure did.

[Old Geezer Richard]

 Hey Chiefy , take a look at your plugs just for grinns and see what color their running , don't try to clean old fowled out plugs , just get a new set of plugs ... I used to have a problem with fowling out plugs and I changed to the 7 heat range instead of what the book calls for  and tighten all the down tubes for a good seal  and it made a big difference ... look at the circle clamps and see if their loose and look at your vacum hoses to see if their dry rotted or split ..... I have been using the old standby  B12 -Chemtool and it been working great for me.... and it looks like your problem is solved , thats great