iam new to riding klr's. i have a klr 250 and cleaned the carb. now the bike runs but it wont stay on when the bike idles low. checked the jets twice, checked the seat and needle. i just dont know what else it could be. i even checked the spark plug. no gas is leaking becuase i did the float test.that checked out ok. any suggestions??

 

May I suggest you try posting this in the KLX250 section, you will get more response and the carbs even though not the same are the same type.

PS welcome to KF

 

i will definitly do that

 

"runs low"? as in without using the choke?

welcome to KF

 

Welcome Maegan, and yes you can get a very good response on the KLX forum. I ride a KLX and only happened into your forum on accident lol.

Anyway. A couple of things I would check, okay a bunch, in no particular order:
1. Make sure your slide is not sticking at all and goes all the way down and that your main needle does not stick in the slide
2. Check how many turns out your idle jet needle is, this could be too far out (not sure what normal is for a KLR, on the KLX 250 it's around 2 turns out. Not saying you would make this mistake.. but I know a guy who pulled his carb apart once and might have accidentally turned his idle jet out one too many turns
2. After checking the turns out, pull this needle all the way out, make sure that the spring and washer are still on it. (I got odd behavior from a CV carb on which this was missing, they sometimes stick in the port, then will fall out later when you're not paying attention... again, not that it's ever happened to me... )
3. Make sure to clean the air ports going into the mouth of the carb. See this by pulling the carb and looking where the air would flow in the front side of the bell. Somewhere here at the bottom there should be at least 1 or 2 ports in the mouth that are where air comes in for the pilot jet, even a tiny bit of something in this could cause what you're experiencing. They're easy to overlook when you're busy cleaning passages through the choke and float bowl areas
4. Make sure your idle screw is set properly, try turning it in a little tighter and seeing if it responds to this. Sounds simple but you never know.
6. Make sure that you're sure that all the seals are in good condition and set properly, any air leakage at all will spoil idle settings. Tighten all screws gradually in a crosswise pattern
7. lastly a tip on carb cleaning I learned from my pops. Take an 8 or 10" length of stranded wire (any gauge will do, 14, 12, 18, 16 whatever you have handy that's cheap enough to waste, split the wire and pull out a single strand ( 2 or 3 strands if it's very fine strands and then twist these) Use this to feed through the passages and clean them before spraying them out with carb cleaner and then compressed air. Sometimes, even pressurized air, or carb cleaner will not dislodge a piece of something stuck in one of those tiny passages, and if your work place is anything like mine, there's TONS of those little bits of dirt getting stuck to my hands all the time. It can be a real trick to be clean enough doing engine work not to get the carb dirty while you're working on cleaning it.

Anyway, it would also help to know if it otherwise runs fine if you get it started and rev the motor up, if it works with the choke on, and how it does (does it slowly sputter out, or quit rapidly, refuse to drop to a low idle, etc.)

That's all, best of luck fixing it!