Well, I'll start at the beginning. I've got a 99 zx-6r, first of all. I believe some debris is blocking my float valve open or possible my float is cracked on one of my carbs. I'm not sure yet. I have the manual but was unwilling to go straight for the carbs mostly because I've never done any work on bikes before so I started looking electrical first. Junction box checked out, voltage regulator checked out, blah blah blah. Here's the thing. It's flooding. But, when I clear the flood by opening the throttle and keeping the petcock closed while cranking it runs great on the gas in the carb. As soon as I turn the gas on it floods. Immediately. Terribly. It spits a ton of gas out the intake as well and I had to change the oil once already because it was full of gas. This all started happening after I hit some railroad tracks. One other thing. I don't know how related this is, but it was just so weird to me, which is why I was thinking junction box/voltage regulator: My headlight doesn't come on until I actually get the bike started. The relay doesn't click on until I actually start the bike. And I don't remember if that was how it was before. The tail lights come on and the gauge cluster, but the headlight doesn't. I've been over the wiring so many times and all I can see is that either there isn't enough voltage coming from the regulator or it's not meant to turn on until the bike actually is running... Which is weird because it stays on when the bike is off as long as I don't turn off the key. I can manually flip the relay over by putting 12 volts to the lead going into the relay and the headlight will come on... I've tried so hard to remember if that is how it was before or not.. That may not even be an issue.. I don't know. Anyways, help me. I'm bummed as hell because it's the middle of riding season and I've not been out!

 

Any opinions at all? Thoughts?

 

My bike was doing the same thing (flooding). I swapped carbs and the plugs, now it runs like a champ. Before you tear the carbs down try just soaking them in seafoam.. I tried it, it didn't work but it may for you. I am pretty sure mine was due to the floats being stuck along with the wrong size jets.... good luck.

 

Not to bag on the last poster but if your going to clean your carbs do it right and do not just soak them.

Tear them all the way down and make sure to pay close attention to the pilot jets, run thin wire through all the jets to be sure they are free of any build up.

Spray cleaner in all the little holes and it should take about 6-8 cans of large carb cleaner to do the job.

Record where your AF, (If they have already been drilled out or you have access to them), screws are at by turning in each one and counting the amount of turns it takes to fully seat each one. Make sure you return these to there corresponding settings when you reassemble the carbs.

Takes about 2-3 hours for a shade tree mechanic like myself; of course faster if you pocess the proper skills and knowledge.

Good Luck,

 

Is it pretty much guaranteed that I'll need new gaskets once I pull the carbs apart? And what gauge wire would you recommend for going through the jets?

 

Yea order the float gaskets, they are cheap and will save you head ache in the end. The wire I use is just a piece of speaker wire, stripped and then I use a single strand to get inside of the jets.

 

Yep, it's your carbs; the float needle has something holding it open and flooding your engine. The headlights are normal. They shouldcome on after you try to start.

 

As mentioned above, when I do a carb cleaning, every idividual part comes out, the parts are soaked in diesel (what I use anyways) and all parts are cleaned and checked by hand. Without a good baseline, everything isjust guess work.

 

Is it possible that during the cleaning of my carbs I could throw them out of sync? And do I need a special tool to sync them? Sorry I'm asking here and not checking my manual, but my manual is at my buddy's house where I'm working on the bike (no garage).

 

Well, I've got the carbs off and got the float valve out of the first one. Looking down into the tube that feeds the carbs I saw ALOT of crap in there. That'll teach me for running without a damn fuel filter (the dude at the shop that worked on my bike said it would be fine. Obviously not.). I'm curious about something. Would I notice something obviously holding the float valve open or does it not have to be that much? So far I didn't really see any debris in the first carb. But I did see ALOT of potential for there to be just from looking down into that tube. I'm gonna wait until I can get my hands on some calipers to make sure my float height didn't change once I put that carb back together before I start on the rest. I think I'm in good shape so far though. (I know I'm going slow but this is the first time I've taken apart my carbs so I'm being really careful.)