My V started dying on idle last time I rode. I noticed it was blowing black smoke when revved, so I pulled the plugs. Black as charcoal. Since my jetting has always been good and plugs a nice golden brown before this happened, I figured I had a bad plug or a dirty carb. So I installed new plugs, pulled the bowls and sprayed B-12 carb cleaner all over them and reinstalled everything. Did not help.

It is acting like the choke is stuck or something. It is running massively rich and I cannot figure out why. What should I do to troubleshoot? Should I pull the carbs and completely disassemble them and clean them? Should I change my plug wires or plug caps? I am not the best mechanic in the world and disassembling the carbs makes me nervous.

I have had my V for two years and this is the first problems that I have run into. I guess I have been a bit spoiled since the bike has been so darn reliabile since I bought it.

I know that many of you work on your V Forces and are very knowlegeable about things like this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'll bet money that it's your choke sticking. Follow the cable to the carbs to see if it's disengaging. If you installed higher bars, your cable might have gotted stretched. Good luck man.

 

Bump

 

did you check your choke cable like vtwiner said? I would also bet money the choke isnt completely disengaging, or your air filter is clogged. Somewhere its not getting enough air or too much fuel. Its not going to be ignition I dont think, more likely carburetion. The choke is your best bet, it might not be the cable but internally the choke might be getting stuck. What makes me think its the cable though is that BOTH of your cylinders were too rich...if it was the choke sticking internally the odds of both getting stuck are slim unless there was crap in your gas that gummed up both carbs at the same time. good luck in any case, hope i was of some help.

 

Homedawg:

I had a problem with my v-force just recently as well. It started running kinda doggy. Could not figure it out for while ended up taking it in and the tech found out that the choke cable was the problem. It was inside the cable so it could not be seen. What was happening whenever I would turn the bars one way it was pulling the choke slightly open. Not saying this is your problem but it may give you something to check out. Good Luck !!!

 

Might check if you have gas in your oil ...Mine was doing the same thing had it into the dealers
thats what they found gas in the oil..changed oil and started to turn off fuel when finished riding
be okay since...let me know what you find ? grandjctcolo@aol.com

 

I got the V force running good again and I though I would share with anyone interested what I found.

I pulled the carbs and tore them down all the way. I took all the rubber parts out and dipped them in some Carb Cleaner Dip for about two days. Then I washed every part with water, blew everything dry with air and got myself pumped up that I could reassemble them without screwing something up.

When I was putting them back together, I noticed that the rear carbs butterfly valve was seriously sticking. It did not want to shut all the way and the butterfly was "wedging" in the carb body. I worked it back and forth and got it to move, but I am puzzled as to why this was happening. It was almost like it had some interference with the carb body, but this bike is 2 years old and has just recently started running poorly, so I know it couldn't have always been like that.

Anyway, when I put everything back together, it runs like a champ. I don't know if the problem was the fact that it was filthy with plugged jets, or it it had something to do with the sticky butterfly.

Anyway, I would highly recommend to clean your carbs every couple years at least. I was amazed at how dirty those things had gotten. I am not sure how that motor ran at all.

Thanks to those of you who replied and I hope this helps you guys in the future.