Still puzzled with my bandit!

[silverbandit96]

I finally fixed the oil-blow by problem with my bandit and now I've got another one.  The bike seems to be exteremely hard to start.  I have to hook it up to a car battery and crank the motor with the choke open and no gas till it warms up, then it'll start, but still won't be able to rev avoe 1,000 rpm till its warm.  Once warm, it runs decent and will pull hard to 12,000 rpm, although everyone once in a while it'll seem like it'll surge, and it boggs down if i'm going uphill at a constant speed.  Also, if I engine brake too hard it'll stall out easy and won't idle right for a few minutes.

It seems that when starting it if I get it any gas or put the choke on, it doesn't want to start at all, but it doesn't seem to run that rich when it warm and running.  any other ideas?

[broncbob]

how does the inside of the tank look? how bout the air filter? fuel filter? plugs? inside of the carbs? i would take a look at the filters, pulgs,tank and see if i could find anything wrong there, are you sure the petcock is flowing fuel well? if the inside of the tank is rusty, crap could be pluging the petcock, allso if someone let gas gum up in there at one point it could be commig off the side of the tanks in chunks and cloging up the works!(found this in a old sand car my brother bought! filled it full of acctone let it soak for a few days drained out the sludge and put a good filter on it,  and brought spares!) then i would drive in to the carbs to see if there might be something in the works there! if it was running rich nuff to mess up the idel, it should be blow'n black smoke till it clears, plug color/ condition will tell you a lot, if you pull a plug when try'n to start, if it's wet you know it's gettin to much fuel! but sounds like a lean problem?

[solman]

I would look at the spark plugs first.  They should give you a good indication as to how the motor is running.  I've had problems with my B12 running bad in the past.  Both times, the spark plug(s) were the culprit.  Also what kind of setup do you have?  I.E. stock, jet kit, pipe, etc.  Also what is your location?  You might have someone close who could help out.

[silverbandit96]

Bike has brand new air cleaner and plugs.  Fuel Petcock flows fine.  The set-up is a 96 bandit 600 w/ a stage 2 jet kit and a aftermarket exhaust (D&D muffler).  I'm in PA, so I think the cold weather might have something to do with it, but if that was the case why would it flood when its cold?

[Red01]

A Stage II jet kit with a panel filter? A Stage II kit should be used with K&N pods. OEM or K&N panel filter should be using a Stage I kit.

Since these carbs don't have accelerator pumps, you shouldn't be "flooding" the engine unless there's something amiss in the float system. But if you have the wrong jet kit in it, or it's set wrong, you can be running excessively rich.

[silverbandit96]

I've been thinking about that, and what seems funny is that at one time it ran well with the jet kit, and the engine should run leaner when cold then when hot, so if anything the bike should run better when cold.
Also, when I first purchased the bike the airbox had an oem air cleaner and was full of all kinds of debris, and when I first bought it, it would start up first try and idle and rev fine.

[Maniac]

Is the 600 using a vacuum actuated petcock?

If so, I know on the 400 that if the petcock is leaking, the floats will be unable to totally stop the flow of fuel if the tank is more than 1/4th full. This will cause the float bowls to overflow and flood the engine out.



Actually, re-reading, I think I took 'hydrolocking' and 'flooding' as the same thing  

I'd agree with everyone that it sounds like it's probally a mixture problem. The floats could need adjustment, or maybe one of the jets is plugged. I'd double check the float heights and such. As well, try running it with the panel filter removed (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR A LONG TIME) and give her a quick run. If it's better, get pods.  

[solman]

A Stage II jet kit with a panel filter? A Stage II kit should be used with K&N pods. OEM or K&N panel filter should be using a Stage I kit.

Holeshot has two stage 2 jet kits.  One is for pods and the other you use a K&N filter and remove the airbox cover.

If so, I know on the 400 that if the petcock is leaking, the floats will be unable to totally stop the flow of fuel if the tank is more than 1/4th full. This will cause the float bowls to overflow and flood the engine out.

I've had bikes in the past that didn't have vacuum actuated petcocks and the floats stopped the fuel when it was full.  

One thing you could do as well is to take the bowls off and manually check your floats.  Let fuel come through and then push manually up to see if it stops.  You may have some debris that is keeping your floats from fully closing.

[Red01]

A Stage II jet kit with a panel filter? A Stage II kit should be used with K&N pods. OEM or K&N panel filter should be using a Stage I kit.

Holeshot has two stage 2 jet kits.  One is for pods and the other you use a K&N filter and remove the airbox cover.

That's for the 2G B12... he's got a 1G B6. Dale only offers two kits for the 1G B6. A Stage I for use with the air box, and a Stage II for pods. For the 2G B6, he only offers a Stage I.

[silverbandit96]

Well, assuming my bike should be using pods instead of a regular filter, wouldn't it run better cold instead of hot because the cold air makes teh bike run leaner?

[Red01]

If it was tuned properly, yes, but if it has the wrong kit on it, I'm wondering about the how well is was set up in the first place.

Whatever it is, it sure sounds like a carb issue from here.