seized choke pistons in both carbs, any suggestions?

[bluesman Guzzi]

Hi, after being stood out in the worst of the winter weather my poor Nevada is not happy about it and is now complaining about it, and I can hardly blame her, and I am ashamed!

After a bad back/misfire on the left pot I took the carbs off to check for crud and water. Some time ago I replaced the stock airfilter for some pods, and they`re not very well protected from the wet.

Whilst taking the carbs off I found that both the choke pistons are stuck, absolutely stuck fast, there`s no budging them . I realise that both the rubber sealed sleeves that cover the cable entry into the choke shaft were badly damaged and water has had free access to the orifice and has obviously been sitting in there for a good while.

The cables are hanging from the choke fitting and I`m in a jam, I`m a bit worried about causing damage to the carb itself. Anyone got ideas on how to free them off and shift them?

Thanks, Martin

Ps. I cant seem to be able to pull the float pins, am I right in assuming these are simply a push fit? I see no threads on the Dellorto parts diagram.

Thanks again

 

[Penis Rotor]

Get a can of carby cleaner and give 'em a good spray. If that doesn't free them up remove the carbs, wholus-bolus, with the cables still attatched, strip as much as you can off 'em, (The float spindles you will probably need a good pair of side-cutters to grab the protruding end of the shaft and wiggle it until it comes out.) then boil 'em in a big saucepan for ten minutes and occasionally give the cable a tug. They'll come out soon enough. If all else fails go in through the jet hole and biff 'em out with a very thin punch.

Most importantly, don't be such a dill again!!!!

Pete

 

[bluesman Guzzi]

Hey Pete, thanks, they`re both off the bike now and on my dining table. I`ve started stripping them down and will finish doing it tmro. I hadn`t thought of boiling them, wouldn`t be a bad idea anyway, a thorough cleaning etc., with the added bonus of freeing off the choke pistons.

About the Dill bit, yeah I can only agree mate, I do love her really, just been neglectful :dry:

I`ll let ya know how I get on tmro.

Thanks again mate, Martin

 

[sign216]

I'm also guessing that you'll find the the idle jets are clogged shut. Some people say not to even trying to open them, just buy new ones.

Happened to me on a BMW that sat for a while. Although with the boil and strip, they might end up cleared. Bonus!

 

[bluesman Guzzi]

Man o` man, be careful if you use a punch to try and push out the choke piston, the hole you have to go through is tiny and I ended up pushing a hole through the carb`s body trying it. I suspect the hole is to small to get a substantial enough punch to go through.

95 quid for a new carb from eurocarb, but I`ve simply blocked the choke jet with Quicksteel and returned the choke piston and spring, effectively shutting off the choke permanently, and going to give it a go with no choke on the right hand side. My bike only requires a very slight amount of choke on the when the temps outside are very cold, late November to mid March temps. I reckon with choke on one side it`ll be enough to kick her into life. If this fails, 95 quid for a replacement it is.

Boiling worked on the other one, but took two people pulling against each other to get it free.

I`ll let you know how it goes, I`ll be fitting them back on the bike, hopefully before the weekend, they`ve forecast 20c for Saturday. . . . YEAY!

Martin

 

[Morizzi]

I've had the choke plungers seize on me before. I didn't know about the boiling trick, thanks Pete. :mrgreen: I'll try that next time.

In none of the cases that I had them seize was the bike left out in the weather. In one case I was on tour and I filled up the bike the night before no problem. When I got up in the morning the choke plunger had seized. That was after the bike had been used daily for several weeks. :?

I had both of them seize in PHF's once. The bike was stored inside a garage in a temperate climate. No water could have possibly got in there. :blink:

Just remember that the bottom of the plunger has a little rubber seal. Instead of trying to pull the cable and pull the plunger out I use a thin pin punch and give the plunger a tap from the top with carb cleaner sprayed in. Once I have any movement whatsoever I then work it backwards and forwards.

Just how I do it.

 

[bluesman Guzzi]

Just putting her back together now, on a smoke break.

 

[bluesman Guzzi]

Ah, she`s purring like the little lioness she is and running perfectly, yippee!!

Well growling as opposed to purring. with almost straight through turned out pipes and a couple of pod filters replacing the stock nightmare filter arrangement and main jets up to 135`s , sweet as! B)

 

[john zibell]

135 mains sounds a bit much. But then, they really only come into play at full throttle. With the pod filters, you may want to work with the atomizer and needle shape to get the best benefit.

 

[guzzibob]

I agree with John. I am running only 128 mains on my big valve 1000S, down from the stock 145's or 150's, & its quite happy with them. Of course these are somewhat different & much bigger (40 mm PHM's) carbs than what you have on your V-50. And for sure the atomizers (aka needle jet) & the needles are by far the most important carb bits to get right, affecting fuel metering over a much broader range than anything else in there.

 

[Morizzi]

135 mains sounds a bit much. But then, they really only come into play at full throttle.

I've read this a number of times John. Its even in the Dellorto manual but IME it just isn't so. Every fuel circuit of the carby works at all throttle openings, they are just more significant at some than others. Try sticking 200 mains in and see if the bike will idle. I assure you it won't be happy at all.

135's aren't that significant unless you know all the other settings. I have a 500 Morini that runs 135's. One thing I have found with small blocks is that they tend to run rich at lower throttle openings due to the 40 slides. Monzas came with 50's and I've changed both of my V65's to 50's and they benefit a lot. Much smoother idle and no hesitation through progression.

I have 110 mains in one fitted with motoplat and 125's in the V65 Monza with a Dyna S and no exhaust crossover on the Staintunes. Both have foam pods as neither came with the standard filter box.

If you haven't read this article before you may find it interesting:

http://guzzista.wetpaint.com/page/Older+Small+Block+Issues?

As you have just changed to pods you may want to pay special attention to the part concerning the breather system.

cheers

Rod

 

[bluesman Guzzi]

Well I dunno, I`ve done pretty extensive tests with plug chops at all the varying throttle positions and happy with my set up. I checked to see if the needle needed adjustment and decided it didn`t.

The stock air system and restrictive exhausts seemed to be more restrictive at higher revs than low to mid revs and my bike certainly runs with more power throughout the range now with pod filters and almost straight through pipes, running side by side a stock Nevada just doesn`t come close, not that that`s very important to me.

I`m in the process of tuning up the carbs after their refit and once I`ve balanced them etc., I`ll run some more plug chops. The carbs were full of so much crap that I might find they flow a little differently after being boiled and carb cleaner cleaned, but although the needles had a little residue on them, I doubt there`ll be any difference in the mid range settings. I`m happy with the running of my bike tho and there`s just some fine tuning to be done.

Hey Rod, thanks for the link, some useful info there. My Nevada is one of the last carb models (2002) and has the larger bore oil shafts to the valve gear, and I certainly have a filter on my breather, a mini pod filter, looks real cute, and I wouldn`t dream of blocking it off. I did look into this when I did the job over a year ago.

Thanks, Martin