Poor Running!!

Hi all,i just bought a 1985 VF700F Interceptor,has been sitting 6 months without being started,or carbs drained,problem was thought to be plugged jets,ran can of seafoam thru system,still wont idle,only on choke. Pulled float bowls to look at jets,and only 2 front carbs have fuel in them,2 rears are bone dry?? Fuel pump is pumping,i checked. I cant figure this out,there is only 1 fuel line going from pump to carbs,how could it feed 2 but not other 2??? Please help me.....

 

The fuel enters the solid tubes at the carbs between carb #1 and #2, flows thru #2 in to #3 thru in to #4. One of several things can be happening.

1. not enough fuel to fill carbs
2. float or needle stuck in one or more carbs. Not letting fuel into one carb may restrict fuel from going to others. (not sure if bowl has to fill first)
3. Plugged hard line between carbs
4. Plugged fuel inlet hole in carb(s)

As far as cleaning your jets that's good but doesn't have anything to do with idle circuit. The pilot screws and pilot circuitry does and may be plugged from old fuel and dirt combination. You need to take the carbs off and apart to clean and make sure all circuits are clear. With today's fuels they have a tendency to evaporate fast and leave gunk behind.

I don't know how well Seafoam works. Never used it. I doubt that it will clean heavy deposits out of the circuits. Might clean varnish out but I've never seen or used anything that will clean heavy deposits like what today's fuel leaves behind. Which requires carb removal and a good old fashion cleaning.

 

Every time I read about taking my carbs off ( same bike ) everyone always tells me not to take them apart, but clean them all together. Am I misinformed?

 

You can leave them attached to the plenum if you are only cleaning the jets and changing the float needles - but if you need to clean the fuel circuit including the tubes (any their o-rings) between the carbs - you need to remove them from the plenum and each other.

Just take lots of pictures and make sure it all goes back the same way it came apart.

 

Isnt there a "T" junction to feed all carborators?

Sadly, both neckutter1 and undrh2o are correct. Dont remove them unless you have to. In your case InterceptorDoug, your bike isnt going anywhere anyway. Pull the carbs, and do a thurough cleaning. also clean the feeder "T" lines. what I question is that you said

. If the rears are bone dry, this simply can not be.

 

I agree with Chost

Hey

Check this forum out this guy has the same problem.
problems with my 83 vf750f
danimal42

This comes from Danimal42:so it turns out the bike hadn't been running on all four. with the new jets and everything cleaned out, things pretty much fell into place and i picked her up this morning. my old tank had been a rusted out nightmare so i bought a new (to me) one on ebay for 50 bucks. it had a few dings. the upside, clean on the inside. the downside, the dent on the side warped the gas cap area so i couldn't get it open when i went to fill her up.. i called the guys and they actually cruised over and met me at the gas station (ok there were on their way to lunch anyway) and they showed me how you could torque it a bit and get her open. not that crazy about that, but i guess my option if i want it perfect is to get an immaculate tank (and pay the price) or have some welding done or something to that effect. i think i'll live with it for the moment.

then i went for a 20 mile ride and it was plain awesome.. my only problem there is that it ran kinda hot.. never overheated, but the temp gauge takes about 10 minutes before it's up at 3/4 and if stuck in stop and go it threatens the redline just too fast to be comfortable... i'm considering getting a manual radiator switch installed, but now that i've shelled out some dough i'm gonna enjoy her 'as is' for awhile. what a sweet ride!

Hope this helps

Best regards

Gunnar