Took carbs off, dirt fell into engine - what to do?

[AdrenalineJunky]

How bad is this/what can I do about it? Basically I just took the carbs off for the first time in ages and a bunch of crud/white dirt fell off them and into the engine. (I've owned the bike two years, by looks of things it hasn't been very well looked after and I am just getting round to doing all the service interval stuff - been laid up/not ridden for the last 9 months). To my untrained eye/mind this is really very bad indeed.

I was thinking about trying to clean the dirt that I can see out, using cotton-wool swabs soaked in carb cleaner. Otherwise I have no idea what to do. Do I need to strip the engine down now? Hope not!

[AdrenalineJunky]

Just had a look with a torch and it seems that

(a) the vast majority of the dirt fell into the front two cylinders;
(b) on these cylinders, some of it was in there already (?) based on the way it's distributed and the way it looks "settled" on the inside of the intake rubbers;
(c) there are a bunch of sizes of particles/flakes from invisibly small to a few millimetres in size;
(d) the dirt is in general sitting on top of the valves.

That last one gives me some hope of getting most of it cleaned out, at least the big particles and flakes. I was going to change the oil anyway as the bike has been standing for several months so is it likely that will get rid of most of the dirt that has passed the valves?

[Drunkn Munky]

Hoover??? then as you say change the oil

[Tornado]

Use a shop vac with a small clear hose taped onto the end of the suction tube. Make sure the small hose is small enough to go down the spark plug hole but large enough to suck up the dirt and have at it.. It will also work for the intake ports.
Don't worry, all will be fine!

Hope this helps!

[AdrenalineJunky]

Thanks Drunkn Munky and Tornado. I've got three people telling me to use a Hoover now, so that's definitely what I'm going to do! Cheers!

posting.php?mode=smilies&f=24#

[AdrenalineJunky]

Hoovering has worked quite well. I don't have a proper workshop vacuum cleaner but I just duck-taped some thin tube to the end of a normal Henry hoover and it got most everything I could see. Some advice for anyone else who stumbles onto this thread from Google or whatever:

--- Make sure you have properly sealed up any gaps around where you put the tape on the end of the hoover tube, to make sure you get enough suction (ooerr).

--- Take out the spark plugs lets air flow through the cylinder and over the valve, if it's partially open, helps get the crud out. Thanks to Ed March for this tip! Ed March = legend who rode a C90 from Malaysia to the UK, BUY HIS HILARIOUS DVD http://www.dirtpunk.co.uk/shop/best-sel ... 33vkXaN0qw there ya go Ed

--- My Henry hoover cut out several times and refused to restart for quite a long time (around half an hour each time, at least); I think this could be due to it overheating as much less air than usual is flowing over its motor due to the duck tape/small hose modification. When I took it apart to see what was wrong, the motor was ridiculously hot. Best to use it in short bursts I think.

--- Spraying some carb cleaner into the intakes helps to loosen up the dirt and if the carb cleaner and dirt mixture "pools" on top of the valve it's really easy to "slurp" it up the hose into the hoover.


The moral of this story is: clean the bottoms of the carbs before taking them off!!! Even though this is almost completely impossible due to the shape of the engine and where everything else is... A pressure washer and a spray can of carb cleaner are good things to have!

Cheers again to those people who have given me advice!

[rcv4]

i wouldnt worry about it too much,when i was racing speedway the carb blew off an the inlet was full of shale,i poured some fuel in,carb back on an bumped it off,once it started it was ok.

[kawasakiinit]

its a scrapper mate but just this once i will take it away for free

[Tornado]

Who is this Henry Hoover character?

[kawasakiinit]

Its a modern man thing mate . Now where are my marigolds