What has happened to my bike?

[Broski]

Ok guys, I need your help. I took my bike to a local shop to have new 12" apes installed. I get a call Tuesday saying that it's ready. I go today to pick it up, pay the guy $400 (I supplied the bars and new clutch and throttle cables), go to start my bike and it wont run. Now I rode the bike to the shop when I dropped it off. Spent 3 hours today wrenching on my own bike at this guys shop and got no where.

The bike will start and run with the filters removed from the VM34 carbs while holding your hands over the intake. It is getting good spark, but it wont idle, and it is popping like crazy. I'm going back up there Saturday morning to wrench on my own bike again yo try to get this thing going, which I shouldn't have to do, but that is beside the point. I just want my bike back on the road. Where do I go from here? Could a jet be stopped up? Float stuck? I'm green as grass, hence why I took it to a shop. Give me some ideas of what could be going on. Like I said I rode the damn thing to his shop when I dropped it off. There is no reason I should be having to do this, as the shop should have tested everything out before calling me that it was ready.

 

[member28833]

VM34 carbs

So it's a 80+ era?
New throttle cable,.. do you see the idle adjustment screw? Do you see the carb sync screw in between the carbs.
Hope that sync screw wasn't mistaken for the idle adjustment.

 

[Broski]

Yes an '82 with a big bore kit and PMA. I have only messed with the sprung screw on the outside of the carbs. When I first pulled the air filters I did notice the slides were not 100% even, so I adjusted the throttle cable at the top of the carbs until the both just barely closed the slide 100% with the throttle fully released. I dont know if this guy messed with anything at all that he didnt need to. I am quickly losing faith in this guy to be honest. Could I just have clogged jets? I'm just not sure where to begin. Its smoking out of the exhaust which makes me think it's running rich as hell, but the plugs didnt show that when we pulled them.

 

[Jim]

Sounds like fuel starvation. I'm guessin' they had the tank off to the replace the cables? Kinked.... disconnected fuel line? Petcock turned off? Maybe they drained all the fuel out of the tank when it came off?

 

[Broski]

Tank has fuel. Took one of the fuel lines and filter off and it was full of fuel. Will being replacing those eventually anyway just so they both match. Any other thoughts?

 

[Jim]

Don't recall the bike or the details... but I inadvertently swapped the left and right slides on a bike once and it wouldn't run. turned out the slides were peculiar to each carb. Don't know if the VM34's are like that or not. Might be worth investigating. Good luck.

 

[Jan_P]

Tank has fuel. Took one of the fuel lines and filter off and it was full of fuel. Will being replacing those eventually anyway just so they both match. Any other thoughts?

I am not good at carburetors and don't know these
Since wire is replaced that can be the source of Problems .. I would ask the shop if he has tested or adjusted.
I would try to find out if it is one or both sides, ?
Stock carburetors can run on one cylinder with some throttle ..
Since I don't know these Ignitions I cant recommend taking off the spark plug cap someone else perhaps can tell .
Perhaps taking plug out resting on cylinder head ..and do it left and right
If it is both sides i would look at fuel line ..and petcock ... if stock it has a pri position ( open )

 

[stanleyipkis]

You say starts but hard to idle and pops. Were the petcocks shut off while sitting? I’m thinking carbs might be your culprit, if you can flush them out quickly and after you can get it to turn over, hold the throttle to burn off excess fuel if flooded.

if your idle screw on carbs are too out of sync, mine will cough and idle rough to a stall. Sounds like it’s sputtering or running on one lung. I am also running vm34s.

New cables could mean you have new slack or introduced new tension in your line so recheck that too.

 

[arcticXS]

I'm with Jim, they must have swapped the carb slides, or not installed them correctly. Look into the carbs from the backside, the slide cutoff (bevel, sort of) should be visible and centered.

(If enough people would pay me $400 to swap handlebars and control cables on old bikes, I'd leave offshore oil& gas in a heartbeat)

 

[gggGary]

For sure vm slides can be swapped and installed backwards so it's one thing to check.

angle (cut away) needs to face to the rear.

 

[RustiePyles]

What kind of "shop" watches customers work on bikes they fucked up? For that matter what kind of "shop" cant do something as simple as handlebar installation? You have either a vacuum leak or improperly installed slides. When I had my shop nothing left the shop if it didn't run better than when it came in. Also make sure the petcock vacuum line is hooked up if it has one.

 

[Jan_P]

I'm with Jim, they must have swapped the carb slides, or not installed them correctly. Look into the carbs from the backside, the slide cutoff (bevel, sort of) should be visible and centered.

(If enough people would pay me $400 to swap handlebars and control cables on old bikes, I'd leave offshore oil& gas in a heartbeat)

I was slow but i Print it anyhow see R.P above..
I Also Noticed that ... The Only time before I have heard of not even getting off the Yard was a Swedish Rock and Roll Singer
Had bought himself a Suzuki Late seventies early 80 ies and opened the Throttle at the shop doors and flipped the bike over landing on his Arse
Getting the Swedish Record fastest crash. Pretty much landed inside the shop.
But there was nothing wrong with the bike ..What happened to being proud with delivering a Professional job ...
I don't leave bikes at shops ..have heard bad stories ..But this is among the worst I have heard.
It would not be that Difficult .And I have never Heard of not test start after more or less any Product repair.

Is there no possibility to speak to the shop Manager saying. -- experienced folks online are saying that it is not unreasonable to have a running bike
Back if it was running before. With some decency he would help out and or refund at least some part of the Money.
Who knows what has happened there --- can have been at test ride with over revving.
If honest and planning to stay in Business ..He also want to know what is going on
S*hit happens but I have said it before then cooperation should follow ..

 

[Broski]

Thanks for all the help guys. I was able to get her going again. Ended up that the slides got switched from one carb to the other. The mechanic never figured it out. I ended up being the one to fix it. Too bad we messed with everything else on the carbs before I figured it out and now I need to readjust the carbs to get the right again. You guys rock. Thanks

 

[arcticXS]

You should claim your money back. That "mechanic" cannot be very good.
The nr.1 skill for any trade is to know your own abilities and competence, and stay within those limitations. When a "motorcycle mechanic" is unable to change throttle cables on 2 VM carbs, he is not worth much IMHO.

 

[arcticXS]

BTW, I was once told by a mechanic at the local Yamaha dealership that a customer brought in an RD350 that did not start after an "overhaul".
It turned out that both pistons were fitted backwards. And the carb slides were swapped, so backwards as well. RD pistons have 2 round windows in the intake side piston skirts.....

 

[David Toll]

That's a sad story Broski and, as Jan points out, quite unacceptable. That mechanic is trying to tell you that he removed the slides and the possibility that they had become "swapped" didn't occur to him when things went south?? Don't know a lot about Mississippi but, unless he's your brother-in-law, you need to find another workshop. Even if he was, I wouldn't be happy paying him 400 bills to change bars and cables. At least you fixed it.

 

[JRay77]

Reminds me of something my grandfather said, "Bud you don't need anything you can't fix yourself. Whenever you have to rely on someone else.....trouble that will cost you."

 

[Niels B]

lessons learned - never take you bike to the shop

 

[YamadudeXS650C]

I had the good fortune to have read the Robert Pirsig book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when it came out in 1974.

On his trip across America with his young son on the back of his '66 Honda Superhawk, he encountered an issue, and subsequently had a similar experience as you had with shop mechanics.

Like Pirsig, I've never had anyone touch my motorcycles since. And the experience of wrenching on my bikes has brought me great fulfillment.
.
.

 

[kopcicle]

I could never afford a mechanic, now I are one ...