Will not idle

dforster · Post by **dforster** » Mon May 14, 2012 6:17 pm

Hello,

I'm new to the forum, and so far have found it to be a great resource.

I recently bought a 1966 Dream in mostly stock condition (the mufflers are aftermarket). The bike was running when I bought it, but was a bugger to start and the petcock was leaking. There also was some rust in the gas tank.

Here's what I've done so far: coated the tank with a POR 15 fuel tank product; rebuilt the petcock and carburetor with kits I bought from Classic Honda Restoration; replaced the rectifier with a new one from Classic Honda; traced all the wiring and repaired any damaged areas. Then I gave it a tuneup following Ed Moore's tuneup recipe on this forum, which included new spark plugs.

The bike now starts easily, provided I give it some throttle. And it seems to be running smooth. The problem is that it will not idle. I have to keep the throttle turned a little bit to keep it running, and the second I let go of the throttle it dies, even after the engine is warmed up and the choke is off. I've experimented with the choke in different positions, but it doesn't help. The choke does seem to be working -- as the engine warms up, it runs better as I ease off the choke and eventually turn it all the way off.

I've double-checked the new pilot jet I installed. It's clean. I thoroughly cleaned the carb when I rebuilt it and blew it out with compressed air. I also adjusted the float height and checked for leaks and there aren't any.

I'm really stumped here. I've fiddled with the idle adjustment screw to no avail. Is this an air mixture screw adjustment issue?

Thanks.

dforster · Post by **dforster** » Tue May 15, 2012 10:37 am

OK, so I've been giving this some more thought.

Is it possible that I don't have the caburetor bolted down tight enough and I have an air leak? I was reluctant to tighten the nuts very much because of Bill Sullivan's warning in his Dream restore guide that with a new O ring in place you risk bending the carburetor mounting flange. Would an air leak cause the problem I'm having?

Thanks.

48lesco · Post by **48lesco** » Tue May 15, 2012 11:55 am

If it runs well otherwise, it might just be the idle screw. Should have the screw with the rounded end in there and the slide should bottom out on it.

If that's all OK, make sure the float height is set correctly, could be flooding out if too high.

You said you checked the timing, but I would check that with a timing light.

Also make sure your battery is fully charged.

On the carb mounting nuts, just tighten them the next step tighter than finger tight. The problem with too tight is not air leaks, but warping of the entire carb body that can cause the slide to stick.

Let us know how you make out!

-48

dforster · Post by **dforster** » Wed May 16, 2012 10:22 am

Thanks for the tips, 48.

I finally managed to get it to idle by turning the air mixture screw almost all the way in, which suggests another problem.

I'm not sure what the protocol is for the forum, but now that the problem is no longer that it won't idle, I'm going to start a new thread for the new, but related issue.

The subject for the new thread is "This is no choke."

Thanks again for your help. This forum is an incredible resource.

bbap · Post by **bbap** » Wed May 16, 2012 8:28 pm

Float sticking within the bowl due to the carb gasket needing to be trimmed further?

bbap · Post by **bbap** » Wed May 16, 2012 8:32 pm

Float sticking within the bowl due to the carb gasket needing to be trimmed further?