KZ440B Still giving me problems

Okay, to summarize: I've rebuilt the carbs, had them on and off the bike roughly 3 times trying to workout a fuel leak when I finally found out it was a combined bad o-ring at the T fitting between the two carbs AND my petcock was leaking.

So I replaced said o-ring and rebuilt the petcock. The petcock still dribbles a little gas on Res, and On...thoughts on just switching to a non vaccuum petcock?

ALSO, when I finally had it all hooked up I replaced all the hoses w new ones and had an inline fuel filter and there was just no room for the filter so I dropped that and when the bike fired up it idled erratically, would rev and drop on its own. My header boots are cracked on the outside but I used RTV to temporarily seal them and never had issues with them before, I even did a WD 40 test and could not locate any leaks. Also, the right side was not firing/getting hot and the carb would not fill with gas (cause for not firing), nothing would free it up so I removed the carbs again and found white dried material all throughout. No clue what it is, I used a rust remover in my gas tank but rinsed it out and I was testing the carb leak with water but it shouldn't have caused my float needle to become so gunked it stuck...any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

The carbs are off and soaking now and as a precaution I am ordering new boots.

I should also add that whenever I gave it throttle this time around it would be sluggish to respond.

Would clean the carbs again, and install an inline fuel filter, and not allow any gasoline to enter the carbs unless the gasoline has first passed through the inline filter.

If needing additional length in the fuel line to make room for the filter, just provide a loop between the petcock and the fuel pipe -- and place the filter anywhere inside the loop.

Good Fortune!

Patton wrote: Would clean the carbs again, and install an inline fuel filter, and not allow any gasoline to enter the carbs unless the gasoline has first passed through the inline filter.

If needing additional length in the fuel line to make room for the filter, just provide a loop between the petcock and the fuel pipe -- and place the filter anywhere inside the loop.

Good Fortune!

+1
Putting a loop in the line to help fit up with a filter is a lot better than shortest route possible with a kink in the line.
The white stuff is the aluminum corrosion.
Your carbs definitely need to be cleaned again.
Make sure you use eye protection and spray carb cleaner thru all passages and jets completely.

Thanks Patton and Nebr, I just wrapped up re-cleaning the carbs. The issue I had with the filter was it was the cylindrical glass type that just didnt fit and when I had line in a loop it seemed like the carbs were being starved (i.e. the vacuum wasn't quite working). When a vacuum petcock is set to On or Res, will it dribble on occasion?

Today before I tore it all down I noticed my left carb overflow tube was intermittently shooting gas when the bike was off; the right was dry due to the carb being clogged as stated before. So when I took my tank off I looked at the petcock and every so often it would dribble out gas, so I drained it until I can sort things out. I just rebuilt the thing too...

Okay so an update or two is in order!

I recleaned the carbs and the petcock, hooked it all up with new carb holders and the carbs do not leak/overflow, the petcock seems to hold fuel pretty well, but the engine is now responsive to throttle but hangs open/revs and remains high when throttle is applied and let go...

I assume this suggested a vacuum leak/boot leak and after further inspection realized the carbs weren't seated properly. I was able to fix and still had the same issue with the boot brackets off (the metal ring and screw), I also removed the inline fuel filter to see if that did it and added the brackets again but could not test due to dead battery. I am charging it and will retest tomorrow, any other things I should try? I did spray wd40 around the new boots and the air intake boots and did not notice a change. I thought maybe I had to sand the new boots but I don't think that is the case...

When testing the carb holders be sure to temporarily set the idle as low as possible without killing the engine - the lower the better. When the idle is very low (down below 900rpm) the slides are nearly closed so the vacuum in the carb holders is increased. If there is a leak, the carb cleaner will be sucked in and will stall the engine or at least affect the idle. Ed

Check to see if throttle is closing all the way.
What size jets do you have?
Main? Secondary? And pilot?

.

When I had the carbs off they closed all the way and I am not sure about the jet sizes, they are all stock from what I can gather, as is the airbox and 2 into 1 exhaust.

I'm really baffled as to what could have gone awry, all I did was take them off and clean them...3 times lol but still.

Could old gas be to blame? I've only had it in a plastic jug for two-three months tops, whenever I had the other issues like the carb leak the thing ran fine, seems whenever I fix something/clean/update it I get set back x2.

Spitfire151 wrote: whenever I had the other issues like the carb leak the thing ran fine, seems whenever I fix something/clean/update it I get set back x2.

To much fuel getting into the float bowls.
Needle and seat not sealing or float height is to high
Recheck that petcock also.

Not for nothing, but how's your throttle cable?

Nebr, I will have to check those first two items again, I didn't change anything from stock.

The petcock seems fine although it spurts out some gas when On or Res whenever I shake the tank around, is that normal? Otherwise it might drip once every few minutes.

Killman my throttle cable seems a-okay but that was a good point.

Lastly, after the battery died I think I may have had the gas tank cap rubber on upside down. One side has a series of grooves while the other side has just one groove. The side with the multiple grooves was originally facing the tank but I switched it thinking this would provde a better seal for the vac.