Carburator sync job

[Valky]

Hello all,
I am new to this board.
I have a 97 Tourer that I bought new.
It has a 4 degree trigger wheel, Interstate carb springs, a K&N air filter and has also been desmogged.
Recently it had developed a leak in the fuel rail.
I just replaced all of the O rings in the carbs and manifolds.
No adjustments were disturbed and the bike idles and runs fine.
The bike only has 19,000 miles on it but is 15 years old, I figure it is about time that the carbs got synced.
I am a little leary of letting the local Honda shop do it because the bike has been out of production for 9 years and they may be a little rusty or not even be knowledgable for such a feat.
SO, I am willing to pay an experienced Valk owner who has the knowledge and equipment to do the job for me.
I am located 80 miles southwest of Chicago (Ottawa Ill.) and will travel a reasonable distance.
Thanks much and keep up the good work
Don

[sugerbear]

kinda long haul, but i'm in wentzville mo. bout 35 miles west pf st louis.
but i can help. cost = diet coke

270 miles

[Rio Wil]

IMHO....if the bike idles well/ runs good, you don't need a carb sync.  My bike has 167K miles and has never had a sync done nor can I tell one would be of any benefit. My gas mileage (2001 I/S) varies from 32 hard riding to 40 easy riding. Because of the low mileage on your bike, I would run a strong dose of techtron thru it to clean the carbs a bit and call it a day

[John U.]

IMHO....if the bike idles well/ runs good, you don't need a carb sync.  My bike has 167K miles and has never had a sync done nor can I tell one would be of any benefit. My gas mileage (2001 I/S) varies from 32 hard riding to 40 easy riding. Because of the low mileage on your bike, I would run a strong dose of techtron thru it to clean the carbs a bit and call it a day

+1 on that. Unless you've done a major carb cleaning or replaced the slow jets, just let the bike tell you when you need to resync. If it idles and runs well, all is good.

[CASABROKER]

Leave it alone, like said if it's running good don't touch it. mine is a 97 runs strong 4o k never touched the carbs.   I run 1/2 bottle of techron every 1,500 or so. Just ride and enjoy....
 

[Ricky-D]

Are you listening to what they say?

Don't poke that snake!

***

[Valky]

I guess I'll leave it alone since it is running ok.

[PharmBoy]

Valky..

I just had the same fuel leak on a newly acquired 97.  After soaking each carb in cleaner and replacing all the o-rings, it started and ran fine.  Just for grins I hooked up my vaccum carb sync and only had to touch two adjustment screws and did not have to move either of them hardly at all.  It would have been just fine the way it was.  So unless you just want to play, leave it alone and enjoy...Jim

[Dozer]

If it aint broke, dont fix it...just ride it

[Chattanooga Mark]

Hello all,
I am new to this board.
I have a 97 Tourer that I bought new.
It has a 4 degree trigger wheel, Interstate carb springs, a K&N air filter and has also been desmogged.
Recently it had developed a leak in the fuel rail.
I just replaced all of the O rings in the carbs and manifolds.
No adjustments were disturbed and the bike idles and runs fine.
The bike only has 19,000 miles on it but is 15 years old, I figure it is about time that the carbs got synced.
I am a little leary of letting the local Honda shop do it because the bike has been out of production for 9 years and they may be a little rusty or not even be knowledgable for such a feat.
SO, I am willing to pay an experienced Valk owner who has the knowledge and equipment to do the job for me.
I am located 80 miles southwest of Chicago (Ottawa Ill.) and will travel a reasonable distance.
Thanks much and keep up the good work
Don

Don,

     Go to Bob-Jo Honda in Sycamore, IL, (815) 895-5552. They have an excellent Valkyrie mechanic named Joe. He adjusted and sync'ed my carbs last month and only charged me 1 hour labor, or $80.00. He had 3 other Valks in their at the time. It's a small dealer that hasn't forgotten what service and attention to detail is about. You won't be disapointed and their less than an hours ride from you.
     I thought my big girl ran fine till I had the carbs balanced and sync'ed too. It went from real nice to fantastic.

All the best,

Mark

[Rio Wil]

As I have mentioned before, I don't recognize any performance issue with my bike that I think a carb sync would be the appropriate remedy. Having said that, I am trying to understand the conditions that a sync would be called for.  If I understand this correctly, the vacuum is adjusted on all 6 carbs to be the same by adjusting the minutely opened position of the carb butterfly/throttle plate at  idle.  Doing so, gives some 16 inches (or so) vacuum on each carb thus balancing them.  So, at idle, the slightly opened position of the throttle plates are within a few thousands of each other????  At WOT where folks claim impressive improvement, the throttle plates are virtually wide open, offering very little resistance to air flow, thus the vacuum drops to perhaps 1-2 inches. It doesn't seem that such a large throttle opening would effect performance  much if one or more plates were off wide open by a few thousands of a inch.  So, what am I missing here, should I go read the maintenance manual or can some one enlighten me.....it just seem that the throttle plates have to be badly adjusted to realize much improvement ......

[doubletee]

Yep. Wish I had heard that advice a few years ago before I had my carbs synched. There was nothing really wrong, but I decided they should probably be done. Idles and runs worse now than before the synch was completed. 

[Ricky-D]

As I have mentioned before, I don't recognize any performance issue with my bike that I think a carb sync would be the appropriate remedy. Having said that, I am trying to understand the conditions that a sync would be called for.  If I understand this correctly, the vacuum is adjusted on all 6 carbs to be the same by adjusting the minutely opened position of the carb butterfly/throttle plate at  idle.  Doing so, gives some 16 inches (or so) vacuum on each carb thus balancing them.  So, at idle, the slightly opened position of the throttle plates are within a few thousands of each other????  At WOT where folks claim impressive improvement, the throttle plates are virtually wide open, offering very little resistance to air flow, thus the vacuum drops to perhaps 1-2 inches. It doesn't seem that such a large throttle opening would effect performance  much if one or more plates were off wide open by a few thousands of a inch.  So, what am I missing here, should I go read the maintenance manual or can some one enlighten me.....it just seem that the throttle plates have to be badly adjusted to realize much improvement ......

A carburetor synchronization only deals with idle characteristics.

Mostly to stop the popping during deceleration with a closed throttle, but also to insure all six cylinders are contributing to the idling of the motor and thus control any over-running that can occur with poorly synchronized carburetors.

***

[Ricky-D]

Yep. Wish I had heard that advice a few years ago before I had my carbs synched. There was nothing really wrong, but I decided they should probably be done. Idles and runs worse now than before the synch was completed. 

Evidently the job was poorly performed and now there could also be gasoline related troubles piling up to even make it worse.

A proper carburetor synchronization will always improve idling characteristics.

What you do yourself to maintain a good running motor is paramount.

***

[Patrick]

The engine certainly shouldn't run worse than before the sync.. Something is wrong.. It seems you have developed a vacuum leak since then,, or,, the sync was performed improperly[which certainly could have happened]..

[sugerbear]

well, the offer stands. anybody within riding distance. i have the guages and have done a few. 

[Red Diamond]

"Don't poke that snake", well I did, now the beast is a popping, wish I hadn't done that.