Getting a long sitting valk running well again (and quckly!)

[Hellcat]

Let's say - hypothetically - that somebody on this board had agreed to fly seven hundred miles, buy a valk, and drive it 700 miles home. Said valk is advertised as being low mileage, but has been ridden very infreqently the last several years. Bike allegedly is hard to start but does run. Seller thinks it will be fine to ride home immediately.

One of the reasons long distance deal was agreed to - hypothetically - is that I have friends in the area and could stay with them a day or two to go over the bike.

What can I do upon picking up the bike to be sure it runs all the way home and nothing is destroyed by doing so? Hypothetically of course.

I am competent to use a manual and tools but a complicated tasks can stretch out to a week or two of work so I shouldn't bite off too much. Have to be back at work three days later.

[Patrick]

Well,, hypothetically,, not much goes wrong with these monsters.. If it will start then you're in somewhat good shape,, hypothetically.. As any Valk owner knows, these critters are not fond of just sitting around and will let you know that by varnishing the carburetors.. Change the fuel as soon as you get there and buy a gallon of sea-foam for the trip home..

[Jess from VA]

I think I'd ask the owner to take the bike out for a 3-4 hour ride, including some sustained freeway, and report back on how it went, before I flew out there.  I might also ask him to add an appropriate dose of Seafoam to the tank before he took this ride.  I think it's not too much to ask, considering someone has cash in hand.

He's already given you the exact miles, right?  So there better be 250 more when you get there.

No hypothetical to it.

Nothing is going to get destroyed, but something might stop running.....he ought to do it, it's called "good faith."

[aslondon]

Depending on how long it was sitting, Mine sat for over 4 years and needed all hydraulic fluids to be immediately changed.  Second the need for fresh gas and seafoam.  Also check air pressure in tires

[John U.]

I also bought a bike that had sat. The slow jets were clogged but the bike would run with the choke on some. If the tires are OK then you should be able to make it home. Check the operation of the brakes. Some spray brake cleaner can lossen up stuck calipers.
I've found that Techron is more agressive than Seafoam, but neither did my bike any good, I had rust blocking the slow jets.
Good luck, let us know if this hypothetical scenario becomes reality.

[DavRed]

I flew up to Minnesota from Phoenix and got mine. Thanks for picking me up at the airport T.P…
The only problem I had was I couldn’t reach the ground or the handlebars. I am 5’7” and the last owner was much bigger I reckon.
It was 1822 miles and 3 days of great riding. (I did have to get a new rear tire. Rain and wore out tires are not a match)…
And it was home….I was told that the dealer had it for quite some time. Never had a problem with it all the way home.
Then the real fun started. Never regret that ride…

[Hellcat]

Where will I buy seafoam? Any auto parts store? I'm not familiar with it though I have seen it talked about on forums.

[BF]

AutoZone has it.....so do a couple of the WalMarts here.....although, one of WalMarts doesn't. 

[Kingbee]

I would use Techron concentrate, and put a full bottle in a full tank of fuel.  As stated by Jess, have the seller do it, take it for a ride & then let it sit overnight. The exhaust will smell a bit, but IF a fuel addative is going to work, this stuff will.

[Joe Hummer]

My bike sat for 2 years with the old gas in the carbs (for the first month or so).  I was in St. Louis...the bike was in Chicago.  Luckily, it isn't as long of a trip and I was smart enough to drag my trailer up...I ended up needing it.  I wanted to ride the bike home but when I tried (for a couple of hours) to start the bike and couldn't, I was DAMN glad I had my trailer with me.  (The first picture in my signature montage is the day I picked it up.) 

It took taking the carbs off and cleaning them thoroughly to get it running right.  I didn't go that far at first and tried the Seafoam route.  I made it through the summer having to use the choke to start the bike...regardless of the temp outside.  I took the bike to a small shop and had the mechanic tear down the carbs, soak them in his sonic cleaner, and rebuild them.  The bike ran like new after that. 

If the PO has ran the bike from time to time and kept fresh(ish) gas in the tank, you should be fine riding it home like it is.  Otherwise, you will need to pull the carb bank, pop the bowls, and clean out the varnish before it will run (closer to) right.  And then do a complete tear down when you get home. 

Joe

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

Hard to start make me think they're not getting the choke down all the way.

[Hellcat]

Well the hypothetical is reality. I flew to Ohio on Thursday morning and picked up the bike. Everything as advertised as far as I can tell. Extremely low mileage I/S, and the guy must have been on this board a lot a while back, because lots of the mods I have read about here have been done: desmog, air horns underneath, dragon glasspack exhaust, upgraded headlights. The guy put a ton of work into it in the garage, but not on the road. Factory issue Dunlops still on it.

Drive back to VA was fine. Bike idles ok and runs fine at 3000 rpm. Somewhat rough from 2000 to 3000 though. Presumably the pilots are clogged. With the bike in neutral the rpms go directly from 1500 to 2200, impossible to run in neutral in between those numbers.

I ran seafoam through it all the way back, so all the help that's going to give has already been given.

So two things for me to attack right off:

1. Clean the carbs. Is there a detailed write up with pics somewhere? I've got the manual and I'm sure it will do, but a write up by a garage hacker like me would be useful.

2. The throttle handle has a lot of play (maybe an inch before giving gas) and the spring doesn't return it to zero as quickly as other bikes I've owned. Advice on dealing with this?

[Kingbee]

Put a full bottle of Techron Concentrate in the tank, get it into the carbs, & let it sit over night, run it a bit the next day & let it sit. Then run the tank through.  If a cleaner is going to help, this will.

There is an adjustment for the throttle free-play on the throttle cable at the grip. Loosen the stop nut and turn the collar to adjust.

A bit of use might free up the throttle cable if the prior adjustment doesn't.

[Earl in Pensacola]

Before you adjust the throttle cables, open the switch housing and let some light weight oil drip  into the cable housing and down into the cables, then close it and adjust to take up the slack.  I do that about once a year and still have my original cables at 208K .

[Jess from VA]

Congrats on the new bike!!  Let me know when you want to take a ride through horse country.

[Hellcat]

Congrats on the new bike!!  Let me know when you want to take a ride through horse country.

Will do. Probably gonna be some interbike tension for a week or two while I work on selling the previous valk but still keep it around long enough while I try to find r
time to get the new one up to speed.