Carb cleaning cost/ fuel addatives?

Glaucus · 30 Oct 2012 at 16:57

Has anyone used these at all or are they a waste of money?
Also how much(ball park)would a carb strip down and clean cost new jets if needed and tune up, if I just give them the bike? Xj900f.
It's not happy at low end just off Tickover.

4T5 · 30 Oct 2012 at 17:09

Have you checked it properly for leaks around the inlet manifold ? They are usually rubber which gets hard goes brittle then cracks & leaks.
As for giving the bike to a shop to do I'd reckon they'd charge at least a hundred quid all in. DIY & it would be less than 20 for the jets.

leigh_boy · 30 Oct 2012 at 17:13

they probabbly just need a balance , for a strip down probabbly looking at £200 depending on wer you go.

Snaggle · 30 Oct 2012 at 20:12

£200 ? dam im in the wrong business . get some guages and balance them yourself . i doubt they need a clean if its running ok otherwise

VoG · 30 Oct 2012 at 23:53

Invest in a Haynes manual & DIY?.

If you've allready got the idea to pay some one else to take on a simple job like cleaning/setting up the carbs, then you have nothing to lose what so ever by attempting it yourself.

leigh_boy · 31 Oct 2012 at 10:13

Persil said:
£200 ? dam im in the wrong business . get some guages and balance them yourself . i doubt they need a clean if its running ok otherwise

ye i know a long time ago ,i had an r6 eb5 and i had a boggie idle and i had balanced it already and cleaned it . so the shop cleaned it all again and rebalanced again although not out much at all, and was dynoed a few times to find out wer the issues wer. ended up needing new idle jets think it came in at about £190

Glaucus · 31 Oct 2012 at 14:23

I can DIY, allready have manual. Just cba, But if it's £200 not paying that. It's almost certainly going to need a clean.

stiv121 · 1 Nov 2012 at 10:37

I stripped and cleaned my carbs myself on my bandit knowing nothing about them a week before. Just bought the book for it and away I went.

Morgain carb tuner-£56
Book-£17
Good set of screwdrivers £10 (half price)
Carb cleaner can £4

I was having other problems with the running of the bike before hand and I have a aftermarket exhaust so when I reset the fueling it was off so £60 for a dyno and getting the fueling done perfectly.

I look at now as I have all the tools and the knowledge to do it again in the future on the same bike and other bikes.

Also if you take the carbs off take a good look at the inlet rubbers and make sure there are no hair line cracks as this can cause problems with the running of the bike.

wazza300 · 1 Nov 2012 at 11:04

might be a good time to have a dynojet kit fitted and balanced carbs at the same time

Glaucus · 1 Nov 2012 at 18:43

The reason I think it needs a clean, is you should have seen the rust in the fuel tank and more scarily, the wrong side of the fillter all though ibviusly much smaller size particles. I do not know the history, but my guess is its been left standing ages and just a fast new brake fluid, air filter ect, to make it look better. When replacing the rear brake pads, even the bleed nipples where totally blocked up.