By Austen (12.110.136.93) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 11:52 am:

Ok. I guess I'll start from the beginning. I've read previous posts on this problem, but they don't give me much help. OK...
Saturday I'm driving and I lose power from the gas pedal, engine chugs and loses power, gas meter shows a dramatic drop. I pull over, check the fuel pump, and its leaking. Sunday I replace the fuel pump and filter with brand new ones. I suspect it isn't the only problem, but it runs fine, and I drive it away. 30 minutes later it dies again. Now its the idle that won't stay up. I adjust the throttle screws up high to keep the idle high, but a meazilly 5 minutes later the car dies yet again. I realize it must be a carb float problem. At the moment I wasn't too confident in taking the carb apart on the side of road in the middle of nowhere. I'm not exactly the most knowledable in all this. Anyways, some kind mechanics saw my plight and helped me. They took the carb apart, found my float problem and aparently unstuck my float and readjusted the mixture screw. It ran great!... for 8 blocks. Then it died again(quietly compared to the chugging it made earlier). The mechanics warned me too about my ignition coil delivering a poor spark. Anyways the car wouldn't start again, and I was too pissed off to check it again. I'll go after work today and try again. I'll probably phone up these mechanics too and try and get their help while I'm at it.
What I'd like and need from all you guys is some suggestions as what to check.
Do you think the carb float could be stuck again? I'd have to check for spark, but could the coil and points system be at fault now (probably)? What method would you use to clean out the carb thourougly? What I've done on a previous carb is soak the whole thing in a bucket of gasoline and carb cleaner overnight. Any suggestions on how to even just get it the 10 minute drive home?

Thanks alot guys,
Austen Bach (farfignugen)

By austen (12.110.136.93) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 03:43 pm:

CAN ANYONE HELP PLEASE?

By barry mcfarlane (165.228.128.11) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 06:27 pm:

If you have the Hitachi carb, check the fuel level in the sight glass. It should be midway up the glass. Too high means float problem or needle valve not closing off. Too low means float problem or fuel not getting to carb. Check fuel pump or fuel filter or blocked fuel line. Barry

By Hondastuff (209.245.113.116) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 08:23 pm:

It may be that something is getting past the gas filter and fuel pump and clogging the carb up. I have also found in rare cases that the gas hoses start deteriorating and small bits break off the interior surface, winding up in the carb.

By errol (152.163.213.213) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 08:38 am:

Is it a cvcc or 1200? What year? check to see if the floats are filling with fuel (I've changed many of the cvcc plastic ones that seem to 'absorb' fuel) If you can get it to run with the aircleaner off, check to see if fuel is dribbling down the primary throat.
Pull the plugs to see if it's all or just a couple of them fouling (a couple would look like ignition, all would seem to be a fuel problem)
you may have a vacume line problem also.

By Austen (12.110.136.93) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 09:16 am:

Thanks alot guys for the help. I got it working yesterday. Its a Keihin carb on a 1200 78. I believe Hondastuff was correct about the gas hose. Yes it was the float again. Man was it annoying! I took the top half of the carb off, to find a whole pile of sediment in my float bowl. Ya, that'll do it all right. I cleaned it out with the help of some mechanic buddies, used an exorbitant amount of carb spray cleaner, and put it back together. I also replaced the gas hoses lines. One hose in particular looked to be a big cause of the crud and gum in the carb. I think I'm definetly going to have to whip off the carb and rebuild it as soon as I can. I don't know how it would, but perhaps some rust and sediment got passed my fuel filter into the carb too. But can it really get past the fuel filter??? Should I be primarily concerned with cleaning out the gas tank now???