82 kawasaki 550 ltd start and idle issue

Just picked up a 82 550 ltd that sat for 3 or so years. Guy said he draind the gas but didn't drain the carbs.
I can get it started but only with full choke and and opening the throttle.
After I get it running it will not idle and I have to roll the throttle up and down to keep it running and cant go less the about 1/4 throttle or it kills.
There usually is not a steady rpm I can get it to hold at and when I do get it to hold at lets say 3k it will stay steady for a about 15 or so second then it will suddenly spike or drop R's which then I have to start to compensate with the throttle again to keep it running.
Also as soon as I touch the choke it wants to kill.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Worth possibly just pulling the carbs to have cleaned and synced?

If need anymore info to help let ke know.


Thank you ahead of time

Pretty much you already know what to do. Pull the carbs, and clean them completely. Get some new intake boots and carb holders, probably rebuild kits. Clean the tank and pet cock, add an additional in-line filter that's for a gravity fuel system. That extra filter may well keep from re-contaminating your carbs.

Thank you
Now I'm at the point where I have the tank off and gettin ready to go at the carbs and noticed for starters the intake tube wasn't hooked up to the air box and that there are what looks like two vacuum lines on the carb but ony one was hooked up to the pet cock. The other one is not capped or anything so is what I'm wondering is if
1) with that one not being capped will it effect how it runs and if so would putting a T fitting in to connect the two to the pet cock would work.

TYhe Tk-22 page shows the hoses on the carbs. There are two vent hoses which should not go to anything.
home.comcast.net/~loudgpz/GPZweb/TK22mainPage/TK22mainPage.html

If you have the emissions equipment on the top of the engine, there should be two vacuum lines from the 1 and 4 manifolds going up to the vaccum diaphragm above the motor.

If the emissions equipment is removed, all four manifold ports should be capped reliably.

My signature has several manuals which you should download. They will explain the emissions equipment in more detail.

Thank you loudhvx.
That link is the holy grail for the carbs. Especially since I did pull the carbs and noticed the carb choke flap on carb 3 is missing and the link opened my eyes some of the preventative maintenence I should do while I have the carbs off and apart.
Thank you guys again for all the input. Im sure ill be posting on here again with more questions.