Water in Carbs what now?

[oxnard111]

So for the first time I ran out of gas completly on my SXR on saturday morning. I had to get towed back in. Sunday morning geared up, rode out of the harbor, and when I was able to ride fast I noticed the ski was running like crap. So I went back to the ramp and pulled my plugs. The front cylinder was the correct color, the rear cylinder was white. Checked my compression when I got back home, and it is good. 164lbs in front cylinder, 161lbs in rear.

So I drained my tank, let it dry out, and vacumed out a little bit of sand at the bottom of the tank. I drained the fuel lines by pulling off the primer fittings at the carbs, and pushed the fuel out of the main and reserve lines.

My question comes now:
Am I going to have to pull my carbs apart and clean them? Replace the diaphrams? Can I just run a gallon of gas through system that has had some alcohol mixed in to see if that alleviates the problem? If alcohols should be tried, how much should I mix per gallon of gas?

 

[Watty]

Yep, definately pull 'em apart to clean them. They alcohol method works well for the fuel tank, but not so well for the carbs.

Pull those suckers apart and give them a good clean anyway.

 

[oxnard111]

K, I just watch the SBT carb cleaning video. It looks like a little too much work. I don't want to pull out my mixture screws. i don't want to loose my tunning. Can I just pull the diaphrams out and change them, and not go an further than that video does?

 

[Big Kahuna]

all you have to do is turn the screws all the way in and count the number of turns.......... bingo............

 

[oxnard111]

Well I have said bingo before and lost my tunning. I am horrible at tunning and try to avoid it at any cost. I want to go riding this weekend. But it looks like I might be do the whole deal. My buddy that works at a dealer said he'll give me some extra diaphragms, but I hope the dealer has the carb gaskets. Might be able to get away with resusing those if I'm careful.

 

[casanova992]

what^^he said!

 

[casanova992]

Just be extremely careful with them, but after the weekend, change them...

 

[oxnard111]

So took off the carbs. Opened up the regulator side. Cleaned it out. The diagphram was pretty worn out, but I put it back together. Then pulled off the fuel pump on the rear carb. I could see the water stuck behind the diagphram. So My buddy that works at a local shop hooked me up with a set of gaskets and diapghrams for free for the fuel pump side. Tried changing those and would have gotten everthing except for the little black plugs that hold those clear discs in place. So called him at like 8:00pm last night, and he told me to bring him the carbs and he would show me how to do everything. Went to his house, and he showed me the little tricks on how to do everything. He even took the regulator diagphrams out of a old set of carbs he had lying around b/c they looked better than mine. I still need to change them, but I think it will be fine so I can ride this weekend.

I'm going home after work today to put the setup back on my ski and fire her up. If everything is good while it is on the shop stand, I might go riding this afternoon to see how she runs. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[nikad58]

hint.. write down your adjustments (jets,turns out,etc) on the underside of your hood,inside the engine compartment or where ever you please.. that way if you ride in more than one spot you will know what to turn your screws to with a flip of the hood.. i run anywhere from 5000' to sea level