idle screw as low as possible no air leaks. revvin

okay kawasaki people. here's my latest issue and any advice would be fantastic .
1981 kz440 ltd
so i already checked for leaks around all the seals on my carbs so lets skip that one, now my problem i'm having is that when i start the bike the engine revvs really high, and stays there, with a lot of popping/backfiring. then occasionally it will have a good idle and will only die if i turn the throttle. on top of THAT, (bare with me) my idle screw is all the way down which doesnt seem like that should be right the idle should be really low or nonexistent with the idle screw not in use.(?) i took some cleaner to the carbs for my overflow issue and that was fixed, now i just cant maintain a smooth idle. (why is my idle screw not in use and im well above 2000rpm?)

on another note, i just restored my gas tank using muriatic acid and some red kote. worked amazingly. im curious if anyone else has any positive experiences with that. im thinking my slightly rusty tank was gumming my carbs. even though theres a filter on the petcock and i have an inline fuel filter, (the see-through variant) the gas being filtered was still pretty foggy so im hoping to blame alot of my problems on dirty gas...

also, SEAFOAM brand engine cleaner? is that something amazing or something to stay far far away from?

Sounds like the slides are sticking.
Steve

If the carbs were apart. such as for cleaning, and when they were put back together if the idle screw was not centered it will not have much if any affect on the idle speed. If that is what is causing the problem you can center the idle screw and then lower the slides using the sync screws to reverse the problem. Ed

A KZ440 Factory Shop Manual (FSM) may be downloaded for free at www.kz400.com

Go to www.kz400.com

On the left-hand side of the page, scroll down to and click on Manual


On the right-hand side, scroll down to where you see

KZ440 Workshop Manual

A workshop manual for the following 440 models can be downloaded from here or here.


Click on the 2nd "here" (the 1st "here" produces an error message).

I use Adobe Acrobat 9.0 to open the file,

Takes a few moments to download the FSM.

If desired, you may save the downloaded FSM to your own computer where it will be readily available without having to access it from the kz400 website.

Pages 22-25 and 52-56 cover the carbs.

I believe sync detail is found at pages 22-25.

Good Fortune!