Accelerator pump nozzles clogged - how to open them quickly!

[TuomasHvn]

Hi, I have a 1989 Gl1500, 50k miles, full of quite questionable previous owner (Made in U.S.A.) electrical wirings and broken stuff. I bought it as a corona-present for myself last year. However I like it, it starts and runs more or less ok. It is still enjoyable. It has some issues and one of them is that the accelerator pump nozzles are not squirting anything. I have no air compressor nor specialist tools available but I managed to open the upper section with a quite simple method. Here is what I did:


1st: I used carbucleaner and a syringe

Idea for the syringe method is from here: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=91557.0

First I tried the syringe method. It didn't work. Nozzles were blocked and the carbucleaner liquid and air didn't go to either direction. Then I left the fuel lines plugged on the nozzles for couple of nights, full of cc, no effect. They remained completely plugged. Then I started thinking "Is this it, do I have to dismantle the entire carburettor and only then I can open the nozzles?" I got an idea after couple of days thinking!

2nd: I used a SOLDERING IRON!

I realized that the stuff blocking the nozzle passages is waxy substance left from the fuel. There is no way it can handle +350C heat, it has to melt and evaporate! And it did! I heard small "pop" sounds when I had the tip of the soldering iron placed on the nozzles. First I didn't see or hear anything, because I didn't keep the tip of the soldering iron for long enough. After testing the nozzles with syringe method and realizing they were still plugged I thought "there is nothing to lose here, let those nozzles glow red if needed lol". I kept the soldering iron tip for perhaps three minutes or so and heard a faint "pop!" sound. Then I moved to nozzle two and it popped too. After that I reconnected the syring and the result was this:



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I got the carbucleaner passing trough by simply injecting it from the other nozzle. It works now both ways! However when the engine runs there is still no squirt, so I think I must remove the carbs and flush the accelerator pump too. That is something this soldering iron method won't fix. But if you are suffering from a fresh accel pump problem then there is a possibility that this method can help you. As long as the pump itself is not clogged there is a good chance that unblocking the nozzles restore it's functionality.

Cheers!

[Swagonmaster]

Since the '88 - '89 carbs had issues with the accl pumps anyway any help is useful.

[Swagonmaster]

Since the '88 - '89 carbs had issues with the accl pumps anyway any help is useful.

[fnickel]

If the accelerator pump is not shooting fuel through the nozzles, one should not assume that they are plugged. It is more likely that the accelerator pump is not working, probably the rubber diaphragm is compromised. There is a kit that you can buy to rebuild the accelerator pump, and it is included with most carb rebuild kits. After I rebuilt my carbs, I bench tested the carbs to make sure the floats were working properly and keeping the float bowls at the correct level of fuel, and then when I reassembled the carbs to the bike, I tested the carbs on the running engine before assembling all the Tupperware to the bike, just to make sure everything was good, so that I wouldn't need to do another complete teardown from the assembled state. When you blip the throttle, you can actually see the stream of fuel that the accelerator pump shoots into the tops of the carbs. I am not familiar with the early year carburetors, but it is my understanding that they had some issues, and were a little different from the mid to later years.

[TuomasHvn]

If the accelerator pump is not shooting fuel through the nozzles, one should not assume that they are plugged. It is more likely that the accelerator pump is not working, probably the rubber diaphragm is compromised. There is a kit that you can buy to rebuild the accelerator pump, and it is included with most carb rebuild kits. After I rebuilt my carbs, I bench tested the carbs to make sure the floats were working properly and keeping the float bowls at the correct level of fuel, and then when I reassembled the carbs to the bike, I tested the carbs on the running engine before assembling all the Tupperware to the bike, just to make sure everything was good, so that I wouldn't need to do another complete teardown from the assembled state. When you blip the throttle, you can actually see the stream of fuel that the accelerator pump shoots into the tops of the carbs. I am not familiar with the early year carburetors, but it is my understanding that they had some issues, and were a little different from the mid to later years.

Has someone made such claims? All I did and said was that I tested the nozzles with the syringe and cc fluid, nothing went in or out, and thus verified, that the nozzles were plugged, then used my more or less novel method of opening them. Clogged nozzles is a more common problem than broken diaphragms, as these old bikes tend to be unused for long periods of time and the remaining gasoline evaporates slowly clogging the conducts. There are plenty of videos showing how the symptoms are different when the diaphragm is broken - there is usually still something coming out from the nozzles, but not much.



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I bought a new accel pump repair kit and I will post my results after I have completed its rebuild. I am a bit skeptical now if even that helps, because the mechanism is so overly complicated. However I will most likely buy distilled water and boil that damn thing just to be sure that the waxy substances melt away from the passages.

Photo below shows something of interest - previous owners all the way from USA and one in Finland had never ever driven over 80km/h, or 55-units of something imperialism. So it is more than likely that the driving style is the reason why my GL1500 nozzles were plugged. Previous FI owner was genuinely surprised when I told him that I managed to melt the Kuryakyn mudflap. He told me that he had never went over 100km/h nor driven extended periods even 80km/h. I needed only an hour and a half to get these results with around 130km/h. I took the mudflap away, since the electrical wirings were 100% ghetto quality. AUX power was untouched. A single strand wire was all that was left powering both the mudflap and some exotic front end stuff, like aftermarket CB and extra headlights. I can post photos to horror thread, if there is one.

[TuomasHvn]

Just to let you know that it is good now. New fuel pump, new fuel line inside and outside , 8mm to 10mm adapter, new fuel filter, new float bowl gaskets, new accelerator pump diaphragm and gaskets, few new vacuum lines, two L-shaped connectors on the intake manifold preventing tilted vacuum hose bends. Now it runs like ... new! Please watch the video if you want to see how the accelerator pumps nozzles are supposed to spray. Return spray is a returning shockwave of mixture when the butterfly valves gets closed very quickly.



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