Hello, and Big Thanx to Andyb and Dr Raforth!

[HapHazard]

Hi!
I've had my "midnight blue" 89 FJ1200 since 1993, and it's been a great, reliable bike. I don't ride long distances, but commuted every chance that the weatherman held out hope for a decent day, and have a few other bikes in my stable, so the FJ has about 19k on it.

I'm sure everyone here is aware of the grief that ethanol in gasoline has caused - I'm old enough to remember varnish in carbs, but that required YEARS to form, and would clean out easily with solvents - ethanol seems to be able to transform your formerly smooth running bike into a non-runner after a month or so layover, and puts deposit of quasi-corrosion that is tough to remove.

Anyway, I attempted to clean my carbs when crappy running started about a year ago, and I missed something, as my cleaning did little good. Thanks to Andy and Dr Raforth, I know that it was the 3 small ports above the throttle plate I had missed. I just finished cleaning the carbs, and after reassembly it's running on all 4 again! Thanks again!

A couple of (hopefully) helpful tips that I might pass on: during my carb cleaning, I had to replace one of the fuel seat o-rings (the one that I was able to remove the screw for) and was able to use an AS #010 from my Harbor Freight o-ring kit to good effect. Also, I had a NAPA 7-02323 power equipment fuel filter, which I used to replace the factory original - it fits right into the rubber sleeve and requires only the slightest bending open of the holder bracket. I also replaced the petcock to filter hose with a new piece of 5/16" NAPA fuel line. I find a lot of items at NAPA for my projects - a surprising number of vintage car parts (I did a Corvair project and got all the fuel, ignition and electrical parts there, as well as starter rebuild parts for a 1932 Chevrolet!) and power equipment pieces.

I hope to find some additive (Techron? Seafoam? Startron? Marine Stabil?) to start adding to all my bikes at every fill up to avoid having to clean carbs if one "gets away from me".

Well, thanks once again - I've learned a lot here, and hope I can share what I know, as well!

[FJmonkey]

Welcome to the club, I am having good luck with Seafoam, others really like the Chevron products. I sure you will get it dialed in and spend less time cursing the current gas. Riding is more fun anyway.

[yamaha fj rider]

  Welcome and yes gas with ethanol sucks!!!! Glad you joined us. 

Kurt

[SlowOldGuy]

Glad you found the problem. Nothing better in the world than an FJ firing on all 4.

Thanks for posting a positive result.  Too often we get questions, give advice, then never hear anything. 

Nice to see you found an answer to your problem. Lots of good info here.  Welcome to the family.

DavidR.