Cleaning out carbs on a Ninja 250

[Blue_Goose]

I have a 2006 Ninja 250 that I have ridden only once since last May....when I started it up last month it ran like junk...needed to keep the choke on for quite a while. Once it was running somewhat steady it was fine as long as you did not give it gas in first gear...minute you turned the throttle it really weeezed and sputtered etc...


Now I know that if you leave the engines not run for awhile that the carbs have a habit of getting gummy and need to be broken down and cleaned(at least that is whet the dealer tech told me)

A friend of mine said he was having almost the same issues with an ATV...he said he added a bottle of a carb cleaner(he thinks it was STP) and that helped tremendously.....I'd like to believe that but I have my doubts

Worth a shot? I'd like to try some stuff before shelling out big $$ to have a bike wrench tear them apart.....


Goose

 

[daves66nova]

I also did the same.My bike sat for a long time. I added mmo and tried running it.Slowly but surely ,it helped.

 

[psudaytona]

Supposedly Redline SI-1 does real wonders on cycles. MMO is ok for keeping things clean and free of gunk but I havent seen it able to clean on its own. Regane or SI-1 would probably do the best job over a tank or 2.

 

[mechtech2]

Redline S1, Chevron Techron, or Gumout Regane [not gumout regular carb cleaner] can help for sure.
You may also have old gas. After a few months, it will chemically change and not run right. Also, consider that if the gas is blended for a different season, it will not be optimized for the present conditions.
Having worked at a Honda motorcycle dealership, I have found that a tear down is always the best. There are some TINY passages in motorcycle carbs.

 

[Blue_Goose]

I could not get the Ninja started tonight...battery bad...looked in tank at gas and it does look like it has changed...has been in there since April...yuck...looks like some varnish has set in...am I screwed?


Goose

 

[gomes512]

Had this same problem with our boat. Some genius thought that winterizing a boat meant putting a cover over it in the garage.

Anyways, pump the old gas out with a small cheapo hand pump from where ever you exchange money for products. Pump out the gas and refill with fresh. Might want to charge your battery.

Get some of the above mentioned fuel system cleaners and double dose it.

Get it started, and let it run or idle until you can give it throttle. Run down whatever fresh gas you had in the tank, since this is a bike it's probably gonna take a while.

I then treat the next full tank at the recommended dosage and after that has run dry I change the oil and refill with just fresh gas.

Or you can just go out to a Mopar dealership and pickup a can of combustion chamber cleaner and spray it down the carb while the engine runs, making sure not to stall it. It'll clean the carb pretty [censored] good along with the pistons (oh extra bonus!).

 

[johnny ro]

might want to drain the carbs as well, they have drain screws, stoop down on right and look in to left they point out to right. Philips or slotted screwdriver.

Best bet is read up on carb maintenance for that bike on http://www.forums.ninja250.org/

To do it right one removes them, does the basic minor anti-epa mods, clean, reassemble, and balance. Will run quite a bit better than new down low in rpm range and get 10 more mpg, mine did. Mine pulls from 2k in top gear, nice and smooth. Very controllable. no bucking at low rpm.

Might want to de-rust and inner coat your tank while you are having fun in shop in winter. and put in a $2 inline filter on gas line with new clear line...