I’ve owned a VStar 1100 for 20 yrs. I will pass this advice along. Number one, keep your fuel treated year round. Number two, always shut off the fuel before stopping the engine , the correct way to do this is with the bike upright and Not simply on the jiffy stand so unburned fuel is not allowed to just sat on the left side of the carb and cause jetting issues, Number three, keep the tank full when setting for long periods. Number four, If you suspect that your gas has started to go bad-Do Not attempt to start it! Drain the gas and add enough to get you to a gas station. Number five, Premium gas only-non ethanol premium if you can find it in your area. Number six, after a long storage , start at your tires and go up checking oil/ driveshaft gear oil and air cleaner( My bike has a Hyper charger with a open K an N air filter that I actually cover with a shower cap) Then take the bike out and ride it like you stole it, observing safety rules, city riding won’t get it done, your gonna need to hit the Hwy and open it up. Good luck /Ride Safe !
Thankyou it was very helpful I have the same problem , I let the gasoline sit to long over 6 months , drain fuel tank , put 2 gallons of fuel 1/2 can of seafoam , have been running it for 30 minutes, taking a break and ran across your video , the motorcycle ghosts are with me thank you again
Here's some help, sea foam breaks loose gunk, if there's a lot, it could clog your jets, it's a good idea to run 3 or 4 oz of sea foam through that motor every 6 months to keep carbs clean... also put fresh spark plugs every once in a while or if it ever starts running rough.... the v star is a great motorcycle, but does require basic maintenance, things like leaving the carb enricher on too long, storing the bike over 4 months with fuel in the carbs, racing a cold motor, starting and stoping the motor for very short periods without riding to operating temp, running the bike with nasty oil in the crank case. These are all no no's. That goes for all motorcycles. I do hope you got it sorted out...
Yamaha requires the valve lash to be checked every 4k miles... Just raise the idle with the idle set screw on the driverside, underneath the carb, you'll see a black knob, turn that slowly with bike running and warmed up, choke off, turn it till idle goes up, to a normal idle. PS. Marvel Mystery Oil.... always use some in your oil and in your gas, That stuff is AMAZING!
A cheap piece of advice for you from another vstar owner: Whenever you feel the bikes not firing exactly right, the first thing to do is make sure you didn’t nudge the choke. If its on even a little bit the bike will cough and sputter.
Dude, it took you 5 minutes to say "Hey, the symptoms of my bike were xxxxx. I disconnected the fuel inlet off the petcock and ran straight seafoam which caused the engine to not run. I used starter fluid and patience and after that it seems to be running better". There you go, 5 minutes condensed into 30 seconds and you saved your viewers from having to watch you pace around your bike
Pavix1976 The problem with your suggestion is that you would still have left a comment saying that I need to fill in the blanks and give more details. I can’t win because criticizing is so easy after you see a person actually fix something while people like you are too intimidated to take the seat off.
I cut off fuel and run bike till it runs out of fuel in the fuel line. I then drain all the fuel out of tank including the reserve into a gas can. I then pour the fuel from the can into my truck. I been doing this for +20 years on Vstar each winter and never had issues in spring when I put in fresh fuel. The bike runs great .
Did u ever diagnosed the problem ....it could have been the idle screw being to low . If idle is too low the bike will stall when reving engine pretty easy fix
Thanks for the video. Your experience was helpful for me. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to remove my carbs on my 96 Suzuki, but will try soaking in seafoam first.
Well you have to pull the seat in order to remove the tank, 2nd engine wont run on pure sea foam, maybe a 50/50 mix, maybe, and it's a wonder you dont cook your motor letting it run for an hour sitting still. Probably when you run it to reserve you let some gunk in the carbs....common problem if you never run reserve or let one set for 6 or 8 months...good luck.
So ive heard seafoam does work but after spending way to much time troubleshooting this you just have to bite the bullet and remove carbs and give them a good cleaning. Change out the stock needles while your their if you want. And also at 18k miles your valves need checking. Do this while the carbs are out. Finally after you reassemble, sync your carbs. Valves and carbs may not need adjusting but check them anyways. Hope this helps any others that may have questions.
watched your video, and one thing came to mind, you may have the carbs our of sync, and if so that off idle will be there and the poor performance. get yourself one of these. Have one to sell? Sell now Motion Pro Carb Sync Tool Synchronizer Motorcycle Carburetor Syncpro 5mm 08-0411, when carbs are synced properly they will be at 24-25 across lines, there are videos on doing this. if not get it to shop and have them check. I had similar problem, and found dealer when worked on bike had my left and right banks off 180 degrees, where left(front carb ) was at 40's right (rear carb)was in mid-high teens, once we got them adjusted the bike ran great and we can feel the horsepower ,
I think this is the best first motorcycle. If you want to drive a motorcycle for a long, you buy this one like your first motorcycle. You make your maintenance on this bike and it can do over 150,000 km without any incident, for 2000 twin engine with air cooling, you have nothing able to do that.
It runs perfect. These machines arent as fragile as some know-it-all types claim. Beware anyone who ends a sentence with "or you will destroy your engine". Most of those people dont know what they are talking about
Probably going to have to pull the carbs and clean or change the jets. Its not that hard. With the amount of time your wasting you could have done it. If your not sure, take it to the dealer and get it fixed before you make a bigger problem with it.
zachary121701 I changed the plugs and nothing changed. I made a synchronizer from scratch but I could not get the hose out of one of the holes. So I synchronized the carbs by ear. I left the bike running and turned the screw until the sound was better. Now I never have a problem with cold startups or dying at lights.
You got to take the carburetors off and clean them out dude you need to buy a book valves need adjusted way before 18,000 miles you don't know what you're doing man.
I'm having a problem. Idles perfect and accelerates good but once you get to cruise speed it starts sputtering. You can put the choke on and that helps but I don't know what to do to fix this. Can someone please help me?
bad gas and stale gas plus dirty carbs . take tank off . drain tank . take drain cox off and clean . pour some fresh , clean gas into tank and swish around and drain back out , replace drain cox . take a 5 gallon gas can to station and get 4 gallons of ethanol free gas and a 1 gallon of 100 octane racing gas . pour in a 1/2 can of seafoam . fill tank and ride the dogsh*t out of it !!!! it will clean the carbs about as good as they can be cleaned without taking them off . solved my problem same as yours . always use at least mid grade gas , perfrerable hi test gas . if you dont ride regularly use ethanol free or premium gas and add the right amount of stabil gas treatment. worked for me . safe riding my friend
my intake boot came off slightly and caused mine to do exactly that.. i thought i was running out of gas as flipped over to reserve and it kept doing it.. pulled tank off in order to get to it easily.. after tightening it was smooth again..
