I have a 2009 Ninja EX500. It has been sitting in my hot and humid Florida garage for well over 2 months. I am planning to prepare the bike for sale, but I can't sell a bike that doesn't run. At the moment I need to go full choke to get it going, but as soon as I take the choke off, the engine drops all RPM and it stalls out. Even if I get it going down the street it stalls at the stop sign when I shift to neutral.

The bike has no leaks, fresh oil and stellar service record. I am 90% certain the gas is bad and has gummed up in the carburetor. I assume that the best course of action is to drain the tank, remove the tank, then remove the carburetor to clean the bowl and fuel injectors. Then obviously put the parts back on the bike and fill it with fresh, clean gas. Sounds simple, but is it?

If I go about this task, what should I use to clean the carbs? I've heard Sea Foam is like magic for this type of issue. Is that true? If not, what can you recommend? Any tips and or links to "how to" videos or articles would be greatly appreciated. Any suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Try draining the gas, adding fresh gas with proper amount of gas treatment. use a gas treatment for cleaning carbs (not fuel injectors). I would try this before tearing into the carbs.

If you have to pull the carb/carbs to clean them, remember that not all Carb Cleaners are created equal; you get what you pay for. In other words, spend the extra money to get a high quality cleaner then spray every hole you can find and make sure the cleaner comes out a different hole. Pull the bowl and make sure the floats move freely.

Maybe check the spark plug also.

Good luck!

 

Gotta agree a bit with JaMan^. Try draining the bowls and tank, and just adding fresh gas, for starters. IMHO, gas takes about 6 months before it begins to really "gum things up." Having said that, if it still doesn't run properly, check back in with us before you go tearing into the carbs.

PS, welcome to the forums!

 

Thanks to the both of ya's. I hope to get to work on this weekend.

 

Hey guys I'm new to the dual sport world and I'm looking for some advice. I just picked up a 2009 KLX250S and I'm trying to figure out the best mods to do. So far I have done a Dynojet stage 1 kit (120 main, needle clip on 3rd notch, a/f screw 3 turns out) and a DG-R series slip on. Ifs definitely better than stock but I want a little more power. I'd like to do the stage 2 kit (128 main) and get a KDX200 snorkel.