'88 V-Max starts only with choke, revs high for 1 second, then dies.

[Paul S Wilcox]

Thanks, Fire-medic!

 

[desert_max]

And believe I showed remarkable restraint in this thread by not engaging Firemedic in a lengthy diatribe regarding the late, great Frank Zappa. (And I wanted to.) I was and still am a fan. Saw him numerous times in the great city of Boston several decades ago. Brilliant human even if a bit off the rails. Gone too soon… and he wasn’t happy about it. Then again, who ever is?

 

[02GF74]

Nice one, must feel good to be running properly.

So the second carb clean/overhaul fixed it - what do you think you missed the first time and/or did differently?

 

[Paul S Wilcox]

Hey, 02GF74...

It's hard to know exactly what I did differently on the last rebuild, as there are so many variables (gross understatement!).

Some possibilities:
-- Entertained ALL Vmax forum suggestions
-- Did a better job of triple-cleaning ALL carb parts with an ultrasonic cleaner
-- Used more compressed air, more often, in more places
-- Replaced some "iffy" jets and emulsion tubes
-- Paid more attention when aligning the four carbs and linkage
-- Backed off on all the linkage adjustments and started from scratch to bench sync the butterfly valves
-- Wet tested the float levels, both on the bench and on the bike
-- Quintuple-checked for air leaks using starting spray
-- Did an ancient Indian rain dace prior to pushing the start button

Other than the above, success was either dumb luck or the TTAC theory in action (Third Time's A Charm).

Thanks for asking.

Paul