After a few weeks of owning my '86 lt230s I decided to do a little tune up. Unchanged the spark plug, oil/filter and cleaned the carb(air filter is in the mail). Starts up great on 2nd kick now but idles at almost half throttle. I counted my turns in when taking the carb apart and have tried adjusting since then but after a full turn and no change I put it back where it was originally. I loosened off the throttle cable and shot carb cleaner in the top of the carb and its still idling at about half throttle. Anything I'm missing or should I try cleaning the carb again? Also I intend on ordering new fuel lines and filter.

 

Choke stuck? Is the slide notch aligned correctly allowing the needle to drop into the main jet? Needle straight and true? Throttle cable adjusted too tight? Air leak or cracked boot on engine side of carb? If all else fails try cleaning the carb again. Sounds like a stuck choke or your slide isn't properly aligned, being held up. When putting the slide and needle in, first start the needl into its hole then turn the slide until it drops down into the carb. The tapered slot on the side of the slide has to line up with the idle screw. Does your thumb throttle feel right? Does it snap back smooth and crisp? If not then that's the slide. If it does check the choke. That's good you put the idle screw back where it was. If it was running fine before, it should be fine or close to it again once you find the problem.

 

The throttle seams to feel right (someone put an aftermarket twist throttle on it). It might be the choke, it was a little stiff right after I cleaned the carb. But I'm also not to sure I got the carb all the way in the engine boot. So I'll check those things and see if that helps. Thanks for the help.

 

I know the choke is on thw left (clearly marked choke on the lever) but what is that silvery pin/valve on the rights? If thats pushed in would it make the bike idle high? It seamed to have the choke kinda locked in at half choke.

 

What's left of the primer ****. Item #31 on the parts break down.1986 Suzuki LT230S CARBURETOR | Babbitts Suzuki Partshouse

 

The silver **** is some kind of choke stop. When you pull the choke it goes halfway, when you pull the silver **** it alows full choke. the brass rod on the top for the choke (thats hooked to the lever stamped choke) should be all the way down inside the carb for the choke to be off. check the silver **** assembly and choke to make sure the silver **** isnt in there backwards keeping your choke from closing. the brass pin should be down in the carb farther than the pic shows.

 

That's a big help cuz the bike will only run if the choke lever is all the way down (brass **** all the way out) which explains why I'm havin such a hard time adjusting my idle screw. I was thinking the choke worked the other way.

 

Well that helped a whole lot. Closed choke all the way down and it idles smooth now. After I changed the oil it seams to smoke alot more. I used 10w 40 like it says. Any quick fixes or am I looking at rings and seals?

 

Hey alright on the idle problem! That's awsome you got it fixed. As far as the smoking problem, how bad is it? My 86 looked like I was fogging the countryside for mosquitos. It was 28 yrs old on the original bore and rings. The bore was way out of spec, barreled and shiny. If you do the tear down and assembly yourself you can do a first class top-end rebuild for less than $200. That includes wiseco piston and rings, gaskets, seals, and machine work on cylnder. Good luck!