Run with some MMO, Seafoam, or Techron mixed into your gasoline. Those things are marketed as being able to remove it. That’s all I have.
-
Enjoy XS650.com? Consider making a donation to help support the site.
XS650.com receives a small share of sales from some links on this page, but direct donations have a much greater impact on keeping this site going.
New to me - ‘95 Honda Shadow VLX600
- Thread starter bosco659
- Start date
K thx. I’ve used Seafoam before on one of my trucks. I poured a can down the brake booster vacuum line and stalled the engine. Let it sit 1/2 hour then took it for a spirited drive with a major smoke show (had to do it at night time). I’d like to shoot some in the intake but the fancy air intake boots and carb positioning won’t let me do that.
Wonder if this stuff really works. Other question is how to get it in the head with the plumbing attached? This bike has plastic slides. Wonder if this gunk might eat the slides too. To my knowledge there aren’t any accessible vacuum ports to shoot it into.
Unless it's an obnoxious amount of carbon, I'd just let it be. You get any pics of the valves?
Sorry but I wasn’t smart enough to figure out how to take a pic of the valves. I’ll look online later and see if I can find a representative picture. Most of the carbon was close to the stem. I was just surprised to see it there.
I just watched this for 18 minutes. The results of the cleaners were less than impressive. Maybe I’ll just operate the bike in the springtime eith some gas additive and hope it will do some hood over time.
Photo from the internet - I’m guessing mine had maybe 50% of the carbon on the valve on the left but not equally dispersed. The valve stem itself was pretty clean.
let it go. Odds of mucking around and getting an errant piece of carbon stuck on a valve seat, fuggling compression 
too great. 
I suggest just beating on it in the spring once you get it going and riding, with some seafoam in the fuel maybe. Likely this bike has just been lugged around its whole life. Some 130 kph riding on the QEW for a few hours may help? With great respect to your concern for this carbon buildup, I doubt any prospective spring time buyer is going to know or care, once they lay eyes on the pristine machine. 
Is that carbon? I would think carbon deposits come on the exhaust side.
That’s a good point as it is on the intake side. Anyway as per advice given, I’ll leave it alone. If I wasn’t looking for the “missing” hose clip, I never would have known it was there.Is that carbon? I would think carbon deposits come on the exhaust side.
could be worse...
Inside a ford ecoboost intake.
They discovered a downside to direct injection; no fuel to rinse off oil deposits from the PCV.
Likely PCV and or EGR is where your deposits come from. also.
Inside a ford ecoboost intake.
They discovered a downside to direct injection; no fuel to rinse off oil deposits from the PCV.
Likely PCV and or EGR is where your deposits come from. also.
I would guess a fuel additive may reduce that over time. You like Seafoam, go with it. Before they dumbed down the MSDSs 8 or so years ago I did a ingredient comparison and every body was using10 -15% alcohol for de-icing water absorption and about equal parts Naptha (light distilate) and kerosene. The kerosene a lubricant but is not much of a solvent compared to naptha, (xylene, toulene MEK). Just adding naptha may do the trick.
Last edited:
Parts miraculously arrive so the bike’s back together. The exhaust reinstallation was super difficult. That took me close to 1 hour alone.
Carbs are adjusted and synced. Seems to run ok but can’t tell without a road test. Cleaning the front wheel will be my last task for the year, then beetle time again.
edit - when I first started the bike, the air cleaner was off and it seemed to be starving for fuel at higher rpm’s as I blipped the throttle. Installed the air cleaner and the motor ran quite smoothly. The restriction from the air filter must be richening the mixture. Pita though, to adjust the low speed mixture on the front cylinder, the air filter assembly must be removed. I’m thinking I should drill a hole through the air box to allow access to the mixture screw and glue in a through tube to keep the dirt out. I’ll have to see if that interferes with the air filter location - if you look hard there’s always something to do. lol.
Carbs are adjusted and synced. Seems to run ok but can’t tell without a road test. Cleaning the front wheel will be my last task for the year, then beetle time again.
edit - when I first started the bike, the air cleaner was off and it seemed to be starving for fuel at higher rpm’s as I blipped the throttle. Installed the air cleaner and the motor ran quite smoothly. The restriction from the air filter must be richening the mixture. Pita though, to adjust the low speed mixture on the front cylinder, the air filter assembly must be removed. I’m thinking I should drill a hole through the air box to allow access to the mixture screw and glue in a through tube to keep the dirt out. I’ll have to see if that interferes with the air filter location - if you look hard there’s always something to do. lol.
Last edited:
One of the great joys of working on this bike and my beetle project is I’ve been able to use tools I bought decades ago, but have been sitting in my toolbox unused. Today I started the Honda and noticed with the wheel pointed hard right, the throttle didn’t return to idle with a snap. To inspect the carbs I had to partially lift the tank without removing it and remove the air cleaner / air box assembly. Taking it apart was easy but to tighten the filter housing clamp it would require complete removal of the tank for screwdriver clearance. I remembered I bought a swivel head screwdriver at Sears over 30 years ago, found it and it did the trick. 
Tried cleaning the front spokes. It took a couple of hours and I thought they looked great, then I put my glasses on.. lol. As many other things on the bike - good enough. In the last pic below, only one side of the wheel / spokes had been done. On the upside it fires right up and seems to be running well
Tried cleaning the front spokes. It took a couple of hours and I thought they looked great, then I put my glasses on.. lol. As many other things on the bike - good enough. In the last pic below, only one side of the wheel / spokes had been done. On the upside it fires right up and seems to be running well
No smoke at all.
Spokes do look a little better but no chance of them shining like new as the plating is almost gone. Originally I used 0000 steel wool with Mothers Aluminum polish, then I got a long Velcro strip and on the fuzzy side I applied more polish. I wrapped the Velcro around each spoke and polished, pulling back and forth on the Velcro. I did this on the right side spokes but not the left side because of obstructed access, due to the rotor being mounted on that side. For the left side I used a grey Scotch Brite pad to knock down the heavy corrosion and that’s as far as I went (for now).. The bike needs new rubber so when the wheel is removed, I’ll pop off the rotor and clean a little more. I toyed around with the thought of relacing the front wheel but even cheap spokes were quite costly.
Still need to figure out how to lift the front to get the tire off. Frame access is limited due to the dump and coolant hose. I’ll have a more serious look later this week.
Lift the front of the bike with this and ratchet straps or come-alongs.
