Bike won't start after carb cleaning

Hey guys, I'm having a bit of trouble with my '79 kz650 b3. I've only had the thing maybe a month now and ever since I bought it it hasn't really run super great. I was out riding after about a week of owning it and it seemed to always want to die on me when idling. So I decided to pull the carbs apart and give them a cleaning.

Now that I've put them back on the bike won't start. It tries, but it won't. Since this is my first bike I really have no idea what to do from here. The electric start just barely turns over the motor so I suspect maybe the battery isn't good? I think that's just from trying it so many times though. It did turn over just fine the first few tries. It has kick start so I've been trying that but it doesn't seem to work either. It also popped really loudly one time when attempting to start it. I'm pretty sure I put the carbs back on correct. At least it looks that way according to my service manual.

Also, this bike has never run without the choke on. What could that be indicative of? Could this be related to my problem? It seemed to run perfectly when the guy I bought it from started it and rode it.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Check your plugs. They will tell you a lot. You pilot jets may be clogged. I use a guitar string to clean them. They're so small, it's hard to see through them. Charge the battery before starting it again.
Steve

Will do. As far as checking my plugs goes, what should I be looking for? I have a plug diagram showing what plugs look like when fuel mixture is lean/rich/etc. Am I looking to see if they're lean?

Are you still running the airbox, or pod filters?
Were the carb boots and head mounts as hard as glass, or were they pretty flexible?
I have pulled carbs off, and in wiggling, pulling back on carbs, etc, I 'egg' shape them a little, and they try to suck air instead of air/fuel mixture.
I'd check that first, then if you changed the float settings, I'd re-check them.

Good luck, you're in the right place for advice.

KZJordan wrote: Will do. As far as checking my plugs goes, what should I be looking for? I have a plug diagram showing what plugs look like when fuel mixture is lean/rich/etc. Am I looking to see if they're lean?

Your checking if they're wet, sooty or dry (no gas). Lay the plug on the head touching a bolt. Blue spark? (good) Yellow spark? (bad). Like the other poster said, you might have shut off the gas by adjusting the floats too much.
One thing at a time, if OK, move on.
Steve

GPzEric wrote: Are you still running the airbox, or pod filters?
Were the carb boots and head mounts as hard as glass, or were they pretty flexible?
I have pulled carbs off, and in wiggling, pulling back on carbs, etc, I 'egg' shape them a little, and they try to suck air instead of air/fuel mixture.
I'd check that first, then if you changed the float settings, I'd re-check them.

Good luck, you're in the right place for advice.

Nope, carb boots are new. Um, that is to say that carb boots are the ones between the airbox and carbs right? Cause those are new. Nice and flexible. Not sure about the head mounts however. I'll have to check. They definitely could have gotten egg shaped.

And don't forget to make sure the carbs are filling - put your petcock on prime, and open up the drain screw on each carb, one at a time, enough to see that the fuel is flowing.

Forgot to mention, I'm running the stock airbox. New air filter though. Plugs look great. Not wet or sooty. Head mounts also feel rubbery. Not amazing, but they are newish feeling. Two of my drain screws are stuck! So I couldn't check those 2 but the other 2 seemed fine and one of the stuck ones had a drop of gas coming out so I'm assuming that one filled as well. So that's 3/4. :huh:

The battery charge however seemed to do the trick. It tried a lot harder to start and actually did start one time but REALLY didn't want to run. It seemed to be trying really hard to stay on. I think I'm going to pull the carbs back off tomorrow and make sure they're all dialed in correctly. I know that when I put them in the throttle valve clearance was really small, and I've heard they should be adjusted by putting a quarter inch drill bit in and adjusting it so that the bit falls out? My service manual says to use a .5-1mm wire though instead of a drill bit. That's a pretty big difference so I'm not sure what that clearance should look like.

Also, the only way the bike seems to reliably start is with throttle fully open. As I understand doing this is for flooded carbs correct? Would this indicate the float settings are incorrect?

Thanks again for all your help guys.

So, with your carb cleaning, did you pull the whole bank and clean them this way? ...or did you "clean" them on the bike? I only ask because you state you can't remove the drain screws on the bowls... this is a problem I've never had.

I have posted a suggested cleaning method for carbs put together by Patton. You can find it in the file base under general.
When you set the float levels you are wasting your time of don't use the clear tube method. You are right about setting the gap for the slide, 1/4" is WAY to big. A guitar string or small paper clip would be much better. Once you get it running you will need to synchronize the carbs.

The 1/4" drill bit is for initial set up of the slides to make them even only. The guitar string (the thinnest one or the center of the others) are for the pilot jets. If you can't get the drain screws out you need to remove the bowels and find out why. Maybe someone used Permatex on them and if this happened, that crap might be in the carbs as well. Lets hope not. If you have CV carbs, then it's a new ball game. Lots of rubber and plastic parts that can be ruined by carb spray. Pics are helpful.
Steve

Get a new battery. If the battery is barely turning over the engine there's not enough juice left to make a good spark. Also, use the kick starter until you get it running. Ed