Cleaning carbs

V

vmaxincanuck

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Joined
Nov 5, 2008
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Toronto
Just getting back into the sport & bought an 01 V-Max, I was told the carbs were cleaned but when I fired it up for the first ride it was only idling on 2 cyls. Thanks to the post on this board I diagnosed it as a plugged pilot & took off the carbs & cleaned. Runs like a top now, amazing how such a small bit of guck could potentially ruin an engine. So thanks guys, and for anyone contemplating cleaning there carbs for the first time, go for it, I'm far from a mechanic, but there were some great instructions in this forum.

Now my question. It seems it's a given that carbs need to be cleaned every season, it this a design flaw, or just the way it is for all sleds? I never cleaned the carb on previous snowmobiles and have never done it to my outboard motors that sit 9 months over the winter. And if cleaning carbs is just a given, why didn't they make them much easier to access?
 
It's really kind of strange. Between two different sleds of the same year, stored in the same place, one never needed cleaning(removed and inspected) and the other had issues 50% of the time. I have no idea what the difference was but untill you have stored it for one season, I would plan on doing it for peace of mind.
 
It is not a design flaw, but rather the quality of the gasoline we put in our sleds. Also you can eliminate this issue if you keep any debris out, use good gas (sometimes hard to do), and drain the carbs in the spring. Dumping an occasional can of Sea Foam in with a fillup helps a lot. Be careful dumping a can of Sea Foam in a machine that already has dirty carbs. The Sea Foam will loosen debris and gunk (tech term) which is great unless it lodges somewhere like a pilot jet (the smallest orifice).
 
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