That'll void your warranty - Your worst or most painful "fixes"

Re: That'll void your warranty - Your worst or most painful "fixes"

I've gotten an annoying number of calls about a bike I just repaired "not running right" only to find that they have the choke lever in the WRONG position.

Is this something that only occurs in today's turn-key-and-go world, or have people always had trouble knowing which is which?

I've started instructing customers on which is the "run" position to save some awkward phone convos.

My kid (raced his entire life and a damn good wrench) texts me after a total bottom to spark plug rebuild just last week on his YZ250 and says "Just took it out... rips WFO but bogs bad on the bottom" I say "is the choke still on" he says "shit!!! BRB" long pause... "Yup cant keep the front end down through 3rd I'm good LOL"

It happens man, good it was just a choke.

[EDIT] Kid does a nice detail too:

Re: That'll void your warranty - Your worst or most painful "fixes"

This is just a recent swell of this problem.

Also can't tell you how many people have called me for a carb clean on a fuel injected bike. Hah.

It is because there hasn't been manual chokes in Cars in a lot of years. I was only 10 when our last car came with a manual choke, it was an 84 Volvo and Mom used to get me to go start it so I learned how to use the choke. Most folks my age have absolutely no clue as they never needed one, just like the wrath of drivers that can't use non ABS brakes, can't use a clutch, can't f'n drive. My buddy and I are making sure our son's all know how to do all this crap whether the cars they end up with and bikes are fuel injected or carburated or manual or auto or whatever. But as for the choke still on, that happens to the best of us sometimes ;D

Either the choke or the petcock turned off- I've done it a hundred time.

LOL WTF the bike is dying shit what the hell is broken now, oh wait, fucking P-cock off..... few. Vrrrooooom.

Ha. It's amazing how far you can ride on just the fuel in the float bowls.

When I was in welding school I rented a room in a ladys house. Her elderly neighbor had mowed his grass with an old riding tractor for years. One day he came home with a brand new John Deere with a grin on his face from ear to ear. Not to long after I heard him out mowing along then the engine would die. He would start it again and then I would hear it die over and over. Before long I heard a chain of words coming out of his mouth that went something like "@#%&^ John Deere piece of &*&(". I went over to see what the problem was and he said " dang thing runs great until I get off the seat to pick up a stick."

He didn't realize that it had a safety seat switch on these new fangled mowers haha. I went over with some side cuts, some "assembly tape" as some on here call it and fixed him up, as I had with all the new mowers we had ever gotten =)

I understand leaving it on or leaving the fuel off or leaving the side stand down or leaving a spark plug cap off from time to time and thinking you just ruined somebody's wonderful new ride...ehem, but what I'm saying is how could they not bother to know how to use the choke after they find it? No need to get the manual to find out which way is "run" or ask an old knuckle-dragger what it is at all?

And what's with this bragging about a bike running so well it "never needs choke"? Buddy if your bike never needs choke you have some chubby idle mix and more often than not a HIGH idle.

I can't count the number of bikes I get with an extremely high idle, such as Goldwings always idling at an indicated 2,000rpm to compensate for bad tuning because it was either so bad it wouldn't idle any lower or it was dying with the engine cold and they never adjusted it once hot. FYI, GL clocks are bad at the low end, so indicated 2,000 is even higher! They sound like an HU1 helicopter lifting off at that high of an idle!

Then when they get their bike back and it idles correctly, they say "nah, sounds like it's bout ta die" or on CB750's, XS-triples and Goldwings, the clutch starts rattling and banging at low RPM and even after you reassure them by pulling in the clutch lever to make the sound disappear, they take it home and raise the damn idle.

Then you try and explain to a guy NOT to touch ANYTHING after you just spent hours setting his carbs, only to get this call: "it died as soon as I started it this morning, so I turned that idle stop until it ran and it was great until I was riding and came to a stop. Suddenly it's really loud and won't go back to idle".

Hey, it was running great until YOU violated it.

And no matter how you reassure somebody that starting a bike with the choke is entirely normal, they kinda grunt and act as if you're making excuses for doing crap work because they simply won't grasp the concept. Even after you explain it, they feel that using the choke is a sort of bandaid to a buggered engine and feel ashamed to need it. Once they get the thing home, they know more than you do and they're going to show you so. Then I get that call...

I know I'm venting. I don't expect everybody to share MY interests in mechanics, just as I wouldn't know what to do with a painters palette. But when a mechanic bothers to take the time to tell ya something and I say "gizza ring if you have any questions" and you toss it all out the damn window, you're setting your self up.

Re: That'll void your warranty - Your worst or most painful "fixes"

I'll also add that the majority of my clients are very accepting to advice and try to understand the procedure. When they forget, I get a call asking "which way does it need to be when starting, again?" and I'm happy to help them avoid any mistakes.

It's just those arrogant few that really stink up a great week. I'm very proud of my work, so when somebody goes along and craps on a bike I've spent the time to tune just right, it's understandably offensive.

Redliner said:

And what's with this bragging about a bike running so well it "never needs choke"? Buddy if your bike never needs choke you have some chubby idle mix and more often than not a HIGH idle.

Click to expand...

This is not necessarily true. I've always started with a throttle twist. Carbs are tuned right, jets are right and the idle is set right. It rarely gets below 50° in Georgia, so there is no cold weather need for it either. You can also foul plugs overusing the choke.

deviant said:

This is not necessarily true. I've always started with a throttle twist. Carbs are tuned right, jets are right and the idle is set right. It rarely gets below 50° in Georgia, so there is no cold weather need for it either. You can also foul plugs overusing the choke.

Click to expand...

This is true in Georgia, Bama, Florida, not true in NY except in June-Aug or any further north. There is 2 weeks a year I can start my Honda's without choke in early am, the rest of the time, cold bike needs choke. rest of the day no matter how long it sits it will re-start. then overnight, needs choke. but we have nights at 45-50 even in summer.

Re: That'll void your warranty - Your worst or most painful "fixes"

deviant said:

This is not necessarily true. I've always started with a throttle twist. Carbs are tuned right, jets are right and the idle is set right. It rarely gets below 50° in Georgia, so there is no cold weather need for it either. You can also foul plugs overusing the choke.

Click to expand...

Even in the 60°'s some bikes need a little encouragement, since the plummeting emissions in the 80's. But I've never known a bike to start year round and "never needs choke" unless it had some pretty dark plugs. Then when you get the plugs looking just right and hand the bike back, "well I never needed choke before I brought it to you".

Ever seen a Goldwing with a VW Beatle carb? It "fixes" the "problem" of needing to sync multiple throttles... I only bring this up because the carbs had an auto-choke on it and it wouldn't start when cold because it was tuned too rich to begin with so the choke would snap shut and it would just foul itself out. That setup was a mess... Now we're back to four.

There is a reason Honda put 4 carbs on the GL. Single carb bikes run like shit and it makes them slow. There are some good 2 carb mods out there but they cost $$$! IF the motor was a big displacement car engine with a big intake track to level everything out and 5-10 hp wouldn't get noticed, one carb would maybe work. but not on the Gen 1 GL.

Re: That'll void your warranty - Your worst or most painful "fixes"

It's laziness. Syncing carbs, especially to get the GL to run right, takes PATIENCE.

That's my only explanation, because even car guys know that a six-pack runs better than a single carb with long manifold.

Yup Chevy didn't stick with the sprinkler head for long before tuned port came along and now direct injection... lots of not so precession parts in these old er bikes and getin em all to play together is a balancing act that is part skill and part begging and don't tell me you all havent begged a few times... "common you SOB!!"

Re: That'll void your warranty - Your worst or most painful "fixes"

Begging? Hah, that's plebeian. Erm, making promises with god is something else entirely.

A Buell Blast will start and idle.. even shift into gear and start moving... but instantly stall..... if you have the kick stand still down. That was my own moronic moment.. I run into this type of thing with computers and tablets all the time... I have had great condition macbook pros... new models that someone sold to me for 100-200 bucks because "something was wrong"... and had it running like a champ before getting home.. then I sell it on Craigslist for silly amounts more. Same thing with tablets... its insane what people will toss in the name of convenience and ignorance.... but I am happy to make a buck through it.

Re: That'll void your warranty - Your worst or most painful "fixes"

The MacBook I'm posting on now wouldn't start because a spill shorted the power button. I washed the motherboard in the sink with pinesol, added a new keyboard and *gooooong*