So, some of you are aware that the day after labor day I managed to break my leg riding to work. Fortunately my leg was the only thing that broke and the Valk suffered no damage at all.
It took a while but I'm ready to ride again. Leg is about 90% or better with just some residual stiffness in my knee.
Since the Valk has been sitting since early September, waiting patiently for me to get back on, I went out to the garage this weekend to get it ready to ride. First things first. Battery dead. Charged it. Check. Possibility of water in the gas although the tank was full so condensation should have been minimal. Bought a bottle of Seafoam, poured half into the gas tank and half into the crankcase. Check.
Flipped the key on and pushed the start button. What? Not a sound. No joy. Hmmmm. Ahhh, in gear. Dummy. Pull the clutch in and push the starter button. Again, no joy. WTF? Oh, jeez Louise, kickstand down. Alright, kickstand up, push the starter button again. Ahhhh, sweet sound of the starter cranking over, briefly catches, dies. Expected.
Tired of holding the clutch in. Drop into neutral. Pop on the choke and push again. Catches, just a little more but not enough to stay started. Feather the throttle, catches a bit more, dies. Still not worried. Smell of gas. OK, choke is full on, probably flooded it.
Glance down, shazbot!! Gas pouring all over the place, oh crap. I'm gonna drown in 7 gallons of gas or blow myself up. Either way, not a good place to be in. (And of course I hadn't backed the Valk out of the garage to do all this so gas is pouring all over my garage floor..)
Crap and double crap. Maybe even triple crap. Quickly, key off, starter switch off. Marc off the bike headed for the kitchen to get a BUNCH of papertowels. Come back out and gas is still leaking like the Nile in flood mode. Oh, maybe I should shut off the gas? Hmmmm, you think? What was your first clue? Gas off! I'm in the running for dumb ass award, I just know it! So, let's not up the ante to Darwinian proportions. Get this stuff cleaned up!!
More paper towels needed, back into the house. Wifey comes out of the bedroom, what's that smell? Oh, just a little bit of gas I reply. No worries. I'll have it fixed up in a jiffy. Wife looks at me with a suspicious and knowing look in her eyes? Just a LITTLE bit of gas she says? So why does my house all of a sudden smell like a refinery? I give her my best smile and innocent look. Think I've got a stuck float valve, rubber mallet and a little tapping should fix things right up. My explanation does not seem to diminish the look in her eyes. She, and the smell? Me, no worries sweetie, gas evaporates quickly. The smell will be gone in no time.
I quickly retreat back into the garage carrying my roll of papertowels. 15 minutes later I've got all the loose gas mopped up and the gassy towels in the garbage can. Leave the garage door open to air the place out and head back into the house to consider my options.
I figure I've got at least one, maybe more, float bowls stuck. Maybe if I just let it sit for a while, like maybe tomorrow, the seamfoam will clean things up a bit and the float bowls will unstick with some judicious tapping. Anyway it's dark now and a new episode of Bones is fixing to come on the boob tube.
10 o'clock rolls around and it's time for bed. House is still a bit gassy but nothing major (to my mind at least). Shut the garage door, lock up the house and get ready for dream time. Zzzzzzzz.
3am, I wake up, hmmm, the other side of the bed is empty. Where's wifey? Oh, sitting in her chair, rocking. This can't be good. Ummm, baby? Why aren't you asleep? Crap, there are those eyes again and what's that shiny looking gleam in her lap? Can't be my 9mil can it? Says she, the house smells like gas. Says I, glancing around to find my best escape option, I'll just go check it out. Says she, why don't you do that. (I'm fairly certain she won't fire, after all, the flame from the muzzle might ignite the gas vapors)
Open the bedroom door and walk out into the living room and the smell hits me. Oh lord, this smells like 4 refinery's put together.
Pop out to the garage, well, no added gas on the floor but it smells awful. Ok, garage door up. Back in the house, open the front windows and the front door, walk to the back of the house, open the rear windows and the back door. Sit on the couch and hope that when I go back into the bedroom wifey has fallen asleep or maybe the gas smell has overcome her and knocked her unconscious.
Sit there for about 20 minutes and think to myself, the smell seems to be fading. Ok, leave the windows open, close the front and back doors and back to bed I go.
Wifey no longer in her rocking chair, back under the covers and no sign of my pistol. Whew. Guess it worked, either that or our sense of smell has been nullified. I glance at the clock and think, ok, 3:30, I can still get another 1.5 hours of sleep before I have to get up. Zzzzzzzz.
5am, time to get up. Wifey still asleep or unconscious. House still smelly but not as much as at 3am. Get dressed quietly and get my arse out of the house and on the road to work.
So, time for the wisdom of the collective. I assume I've got some stuck float bowls. Anyone have any other options I need to consider? I really don't want to have to pull them apart so hoping that someone here will have a magical mystery cure I can try when I get home this afternoon?????
Glad to hear Nancy didnt shoot you! Valk is just a grown up Magna on steriods. Let em sit for awile and they repay you by clogging up the slow speed jets and such.
Tap on the bowls to see if you can unstick any floats that maybe/are stuck. Get it running on the choke and "feather" the throttle until she acceps and RPMS are above the idle jets. Turn off choke and let her get good and warm. Suite up and RIDE, RIDE, RIDE some more all the while adding seafoam to an almost empty fuel tank..
Otherwise get ready to pull the bowls off the carbs and clean jets. Call Allen and put him to work!