Stalling during first fifteen minutes

[alanmcorcoran]

Started a new thread. I pulled my spark plug. I will probably go buy a new one just because I might as well, but i am posting a photo. Hopefully my photo is good enough for you mechanics to see if it is "fouled."

[patrick_777]

You did it ALL BY YOURSELF??!?

:jawdrop:

[music man]

It doesn't look "Fouled" but it does look horrible, time to put a new one in that bad boy. And yes you might as well, they are only like a couple of bucks, and for someone like you thats like what, .0000000002 cents. :lol:

[mr. softie]

gap looks too big. color not bad. too large a gap can cause driveability issues. sorry no caps too lazy:-)

[alanmcorcoran]

I went to the Pep Boys (closest auto parts to me) and they didn't have an NGK (?) but they sold me a Champion "equivalent." It looked pretty similar, but I couldn't tell by eyeballing it if the thread was the same (I suppose it would be, but I really don't know my spark plugs.)

Once in hand I determined that the NGK had an 18mm nut on it and the champion "equivalent" had a 5/8" nut. This was enough to convince me to wait until I could get the right plug, or at least one that matched the manual or check with you guys first. I figured out enough to know that if you jam the wrong sparkplug into the sparkplug hole, you can ruin the head and possibly the engine. I cleaned the carbon off (the plug actually looks worse in the picture than it did in real life) checked the gap (looked too big to me, too, softie, but it was about .66mm which is about exactly right.)

Having eliminated the spark plug as a source of my woes, I moved on to the air filter and the air filter tube. Air filter looked okay, a little brown tinge on one small part it (probably oil) but clean overall. Blew some air through it like it shows in the manual just for practice. Checked the drain plug. It was there. Took it off, maybe a half teaspoon of oil came out. Seems like they should have checked this when they did the 3K service. (Neither the spark plug nor the drain plug showed any signs of having ever been removed, but, again, I'm no expert.) There was a little oil in the bottom of the air box. I wiped that out and put the filter and the plug back.

It's only my first time looking at these things, but I would venture to say that neither the spark plug or the air filter is the source of my problems. Is cleaning the carburetor something a newb can do without making matters worse?

Thanks to Patrick for the advice on things not to do when removing the plug, and softie for the vote of confidence on me being able to inspect the air filter & plug. So far, it seems like Easy had it right when he said it probably wasn't either of those things.

[alanmcorcoran]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

Hmmmm......uuuuuu.... I don't think so. :whistle:

GZ's (and modern bikes in general) tend to run LEAN, not rich.
A lean condition gives a POP, usually on deceleration. A real after-fire is a loud BANG, along with fire from the pipe; that is caused by a really rich mixture.

Valve clearance is measured in THOUSANDTHS of an inch and is seldom out of adjustment more than .001-.005 inch. You can sometimes HEAR a difference but the affect on performance is TINY, if any at all. Impossible, no, but highly unlikely.

I think I have heard the POP, on my Strat. Tends to backfire a bit if you make poor shifting decisions. The sound I got in the rain yesterday was more BANG like, firecracker bang like, and it did sound like it was coming from the tail pipe. I didn't notice any fire as I was focused on getting out of traffic, on account of being stalled and the light being green and everything. Only happened the once. I think I smelled some gas too. The cranking was characteristic of what we called "flooded" when we couldn't start a lawn mower.

[mr. softie]

Sounds just like my GZ when I first got it. I cleaned the carb and it runs like new.

If you like a challenge and are feeling blessed you could probably clean the carb. Main things to remember are that the parts are very small, and cleanliness and orderliness are imperative. Also keep in mind that you should always protect your eyes when working with carb cleaner. I use spray "Gumout". It will destroy any rubber components (O-rings etc) so you must remove all rubber parts and set them safely aside. Muy importante! Have an exploded view of the carb handy, take notes and pics during the process to help you put it back together, and be careful of springs under tension when you take stuff apart, or they will go flying (the enrichment system has a spring under a cover, for one).

Its easy really, just a bit intimidating the first time. You want to be very methodical and thorough, and use the gumout spray to clean all the little passageways the gas has to flow through. Be careful of over spray, the gumout will mess non metallic things up on contact. :poke2:

One item to note: the idle mixture screw on your carb probably has a cover over it, which must be removed. Some people drill a small hole in the cover and thread a small screw into it, and pull the cover out that way. You have to be careful not to drill into the idle mixture screw of course. Then when you have access to the screw, gently turn it clockwise in and COUNT the turns till it touches bottom. Record the number of turns, it is usually 2-1/2 turns or so. Then remove the mixture screw completely, and look into the hole. There is a tiny O-ring down there that must be removed before you start spraying gumout. If you are having idle problems this is the area that needs cleaning. Usually the rest of the carb is fine (jets etc). When you put the O-ring and screw back in after cleaning screw it all the way in (GENTLY) and then back it out the number of turns you recorded.

Piece of cake really :lol: Or you can take the carb to a carb shop and have them clean it. Only takes 5 minutes to remove it from the bike. If you do it yourself you will know it was done right.

[patrick_777]

I'm going to reiterate what Easy said. Take it back to the dealer. You are under warranty, and you don't want to take the carb off.

Nothing against you in particular, but I won't even take my carb off...

[alantf]

I don't know about America, but in England Champion plugs are more prevalent than NGK. So long as the guy checks his comparison list (the same NGK, Champion, & whatever else is on the shelf plugs, will all have different numbers for the same thing) you should have no problems. I've been using Champion plugs since the early '60s. Oh, and "yes" all plugs have a standard thread.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Is cleaning the carburetor something a newb can do without making maters worse?

NO! Let's not get too carried away here and start thinking you actually have some mechanical ability !!! :poke2: :crackup

Good job on the plug, BTW!