Buyers beware when purchasing: Vstar 325: The one cylinder wonder

[butcher bergs]

Well, my mother finally did it. She bought her very first bike and I took it in for some going-over and a carb clean. She, against every one of my wishes, bought a bike that runs on one cylinder...oh but it gets better, she paid 100 less than asking price....and it gets even better than that...she drove from NH to CT to buy a bike that was known to run on one cylinder. And since I'm "Mr Fixit Guy" that means I get stuck with these wonderful headaches in exchange for hugs and kisses......how the hell do you suppose I make a living on that?

A 2003 Vstar 650 with 4000 miles on it....not bad right? Wrong!

Started off that the rear carb didn't feed any fuel so I started into dismantling and that's when I had my first heart attack. There isn't a single bolt in the carb area that hasn't been hacked or changed. Whoever worked on this bike before me was (or still is) a hack...no two ways about it. Missing washers, missing jet gaskets, wrong hardware, float height on one was 5mm too low, of course clogged jets, a stripped air mix screw and to top it all off, I think one of the emulsion tubes is borked. The carb sync spring was wrapped around the tab where the adjusting screw should be...the list goes on.......

Over the last few days I've been finding and correcting all the issues with these carbs. I have no idea what kind of dickhole worked on these carbs but they either didn't have a clue or they took everything apart and accidentally wiped out their work bench and lost a bunch of parts in the process.

The carbs have been cleaned and mounted to the bike. I fired it up and it started idling on both cylinders! I figure my job is about done...NOT!

The bike is now rideable but the issue I'm currently having is when I get to about 1/4 throttle and beyond one of the cylinders drops out and randomly sputters and continues like that until I roll off.

I'm looking for suggestions as to what the issue could be. I suspect the emulsion tube is the culprit but I'm not 100% convinced. It's not bent but the very end of the tube is flattened when compared to the other carb....almost as if it was hit dead-on with another object.

Symptoms are the sputtering at 1/4 throttle and beyond, random back fires on long decel.

Air screws are 2.25 turns, carbs are balanced

Suggestions? I'm at my wits end.

[dhuze]

look and see it the thing is clogged or bent. That might be the problem.

[butcher bergs]

look and see it the thing is clogged or bent. That might be the problem.

Since the carbs coming out again tomorrow, I'll have to find a way to see if it's bent, even if it's slightly...doesn't look bent by eye. It's not clogged, that I'm sure of.

[G21forme]

Are you kidding me??? I can't believe a bike that looked that mint was hacked up so badly, I would never imagine a bike with such low miles could be butchered like that. Good luck man, and give me a buzz sometime I would like to see the process and learn a little bit about carbs if you have to take them off again.

[butcher bergs]

Greg, I wish I was kidding.

What are you up to day-time tomorrow? I plan to have a solution to this debacle before I have to leave for work at 3.

Sorry I didn't return your call last weekend. I'll give you one guess what I was doing...

If you don't get in on this repair, you can always hop in when I do the carb work on the CT1 (the green bike).

[G21forme]

Unfortunately I'll be getting out of work just AFTER 3:00

[nt650hawk]

Is the needles/diaphragm working correctly? Sounds like it is not operating correctly. Check to make sure the rubber is seated correctly. Start the bike with the filters off to see if they are sliding?

Maybe see you Friday?

[SSearchVT]

Take a look at the igniters - I ran into the same random cylinder drop on a Virago a friend of mine bought (he paid with beer though - no hugs and kisses). If it's consistanly one cyclinder dropping out - switch the ignitors and see if it goes to the other cyclinder...

[butcher bergs]

Definitely carb-related.

With the help of a friend, the issue very well may have presented itself. Didn't have time to install the carbs to test but the situation is looking hopeful.

The emulsion tube is "keyed" so to speak and was not where it should be on the carb in question...call it 180* out. Neither myself or friend Jake noticed it until about 30 minutes of talking and screwing around with the carb bank.....breaking it down, going through everything I did, adjustments, settings and just by chance that's when he happened to notice the flat spot on the tube was not aligned with the brass nipple in the carb body.......yeah, that's right leghumpers, I just said nipple.

Good fricken thing I had another set of eyes to notice that. I was getting burned out and it's likely the reason I missed it.

Won't know till tomorrow if this is indeed the solution.

I hate hacks. It's been one surprise after another with these carbs but it's looking like there's light at the end of the tunnel. I won't count my chickens just yet though...

[butcher bergs]

Fixed...

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