Lubricating the pilot mixture screws

So maybe I'm just a dolt...but I think I have been over lubricating the pilot mixture screws, or using the wrong lubricant. Here's the story...and mind you, I've been through these carbs VERY thoroughly, following RickCoMatic's thread and everything.

This is not the first time this has happened. I had issues colortuning before, which were cleared up when I pulled the carbs and flushed the pilot circuit AGAIN :evil: .

Well I have been running lean (this might be the fault of the fuel filter...on another thread) and bought new main and pilot fuel jets (AM exhaust, airbox with paper filter). I pulled the carbs out, put the jets in and put it all back together last week. Because of the rain, I didn't try to colortune and sync until Sunday. I go to colortune, and can't get ANY effect from the pilot screws on 1-3, and 4 has NO flame. "It can't be a lean condition I tell myself" :cry: ing a little...I've done the throttle shaft seals, intake gaskets, RTVed and bike tubed the intake boots, just spent $100 on intake boots and clamps, have the stock airbox. I accept the fact that I'm probably going to have to pull the carbs again...but I was hoping to be plug chopping by the end of the day.

I put the bike aside and take a nap for a couple of hours(I was quite distraught). I started to realize, as I drifted off, that I probably shouldn't have applied RickCoMatic's advice about removing the pilot screws (when first breaking down the carbs) when I reassembled them. That advice was: to lubricate the heck of out the threads, back out the screw over the lubricated threads, back down and back and forth, adding more oil the whole time. This is important when removing them for the first time...but these are clean now.

I did this with 3in1 oil, thinking that I didn't know if anti-seize would clog something up if it got past the o-ring. Well I kept pouring the oil on top of the head of the mixture screw, every time I adjusted it. I think bottoming it out, then raising it back up must have pushed oil past the o-ring and clogged the pilot passages up.

When I awoke from my nap, I realized that I could clean the pilot passages without pulling the carbs (WARNING: pieces are extremely small and easy to lose...and I had already cleaned these puppies thoroughly, this is not a way to clean them thoroughly without pulling them...just a way to make up for your own stupidity). I used tweezers and a bent pick to carefully remove all of the pieces, and put them into a cup so I didn't lose them. I flushed the pilot passage with carb cleaner (wear those goggles, and use a paper towel to keep it from going everywhere). I rinsed the pilot screw too, dried it off and assembled the spring, washer, and o-ring on the pilot screw, making sure the o-ring fit snuggly past the tapered end of the screw so nothing would fall off when installing it. I put the screw back in, turned it a turn or two, then removed it and put just the smallest dab of 3in1 oil on the threads, and reinstalled it.

I was able to colortune with ease, and was VERY happy . I also learned that a black plug can mean rich...or it can mean that here isn't any fuel going into the cylinder (I don't know how, but I was starting from the wrong point and saw a little flame, backed out one full turn, and could tune). Colortuning is GREAT!

 

Last Summer, my Bike was right on-the-edge of Fine Tuning.

A bad injury kept me from Starting the Bike and keeping the Battery Tended.
The Carbs had to come off and be cleaned for this Season.
Off they came.

Before I pulled-out the Pilot Screws I measured their DEPTH.
After the Carbs were Cleaned I returned the Pilots to those measured Depths.

This time ... I wrapped the little buggers in a layer of Teflon Tape.