I thought I would share my experience with anyone who takes notice in this forum.
My 98 standard has been the most reliable ride to date, that is until recently.
Actually it started last summer with the little hesitations and stalls from idle at the red lights. First thing I did was added Sea Foam to the gas and it got to the point of whole cans per tank with little to no lasting results. That's when I started searching the forums for answers and this forum stood out amoung them all.
I started looking things over real close and then replaced the vacuum tube from #6 to petcock because there was a weak spot for a possible bend where it joined the carb tube. I then opened up the fuel petcock to look inside and found a nipple broken off the plastic part inside so took a rebuild kit to it and that eliminated the petcock but the problem was still apparent.
At one point I actually pulled out the carbs to replace the jets with 38's and 108's respectively. While in there I checked the floats and used carb cleaner to spray them out until they were nice and shinny again and they looked real nice. After I buttoned it all up there was a leak at the bowl so I had to take them out again to verify and replace the float bowl gasket. That eliminated the carbs as the culprite. The problem still appeared and it became worse over time.
During this whole time I would pull out and check the spark plugs and thought about changing coils. The plugs looked nice and I cleaned them with a wire brush each time anyhow. One day it would run real sweet and the next it would hurky-jerky and maybe even stall at any point. There was a real problem with stalling while in traffic and that makes for a few cold sweats. Especially when those cars from behind started to get too close. By any account the problem was still there.
The summer is half over now and for the past 2 weeks I've been pulling off the gas tank and looking for leaks at the air box, carbs, tubes or anyplace else. After changing the mains and slows I have been thinking about resetting those front 2 needles to #2 position and maybe that would solve the problem. Anyway, now was as good a time to try it.
After opening them up, one by one, I found them all to be sticky inside and covered with a brownish-yellow (or yellowish-brown depending on where you're from
) film that I recognized as the gunk caused by long-term use of burning gasoline and oil in all engines. I used a carb cleaner and wiped off all surfaces with a clean rag before it dried. Both on the needle and slide and then sprayed it right into the carb itself. Not too much, just enough to loosen it. I was very surprised to see just how dirty they all were.
Remember to do them 1 at a time for obvious reasons.
Well I just buttoned it all up and took it out for a 25 mile ride and the problem is not to be found or seen since. The idle is even back to where it should be and as smooth as ever. How sweet that is.
Is it too soon to say, maybe. Wifey just asked me where I got that big grin on my face from ear to ear and that just might last all day long or more. Let's see what she knows.
