Triumphrat

bmetz99 · 04-21-2007

Lately my '04 Bonnie Black has been a bit of a pain to start on cold mornings. Acts like it is running on one cylinder until it is completely warmed up, then runs just fine. Makes no power until it is revved up a bit, then kicks in so hard that I'm nearly vaulted backwards off the seat- again, only when it's cold.

So the other day I checked the exhaust pipes just after she fired up in the morning- seems the left pipe was good and hot almost immediately, but the right one stayed cool (accompained by a fair bit of backfiring into the right carb- I could literally see it bouncing in its rubber mounts).

At this point I tried futzing around a bit with the enrichening circuit- seemed that jiggling the plunger rod made the idle pick up and smooth right out, at least momentarily. So I'm thinking the enrichening circuit is plugged up a bit.

Anyone have any experience with this? Can I get away with unscrewing the enrichener from the carb body and blasting it out with carb cleaner, or do these things have internal 0-rings that go bad or other problems that require replacement of the enrichener?

By the way, yes, the bike did sit for a bit- Since I bought it four months ago, I've put on three times as many miles as it had put on it in the previous three years.

TIA

Bill

[ This message was edited by: bmetz99 on 2007-04-21 15:31 ]

cb4017 · 04-21-2007

Try changing the plugs.

webonnielad · 04-22-2007

Check your HT (spark plug) leads.
I bet you've done that though.

bmetz99 · 05-09-2007

Finally got a chance to look into this, and fixed it.

Turns out you can remove the linkage that connects the two enrichening circuit plungers without removing the carburetors. The actual process involves a bit of sleight of hand and requires you do things in exact order. It reminds me of my wife's ability to remove her bra without taking off her shirt- not quite certain of the sequence of steps involved, but the results are both surprising and pleasant.

At any rate, once the linkage was removed (don't lose the nylon washers or the spring-loaded detent ball) the enrichening plunger can be removed with a 12mm socket. I blasted out the passage with some carb cleaner using that flexible red straw that inevitably seems to disappear after the first use. Then I just screwed the enrichening plunger back into the carb body and replaced the linkage by reversing the removal process (involved the removal of the left carb's circlip and spring on the plunger and some fiddling best left to those of us with three hands, but eventually everything fell into place).

The end result? Bike fires right up on cold mornings, no drama, no endless restarts.

Okay, the wife says I've spent enough time web surfing this evening. She's performing some sort of contortions with her arms inside her blouse.

badrufus · 05-10-2007

Metz, hopefully by now your wife's back together, so here's a suggestion. Run some Seafoam through the bike. After storing the bike for four months, with Stabil in the full tank, I put in a fresh tank of gas, added 6 ozs of Seafoam (available at auto parts stores), then repeated for another tankful. I think Yamaha or Kawasaki make similar products that you add to the gas. If your choke circuit got gummy, other bits might have also, particularly float valves and all the tiny little passages that make carburetors so fascinating.
Also, the bra trick is meant to be a secret--you're not supposed to know how it works.