1988 Honda Gold Wing 1500 ***New Member***

[Brother54]

Hello All,
Your site is VERY VERY useful so I was hoping you could help me with my brothers bike. It's a 1988 GW 1500 and I just need some help with carb kits. I purchased the Haynes repair manual for reference and I've rebuilt many carbs in my time (dirt bikes SXS and four wheelers) but everything I have now is fuel injection. Anyway the carbs off this bike are as follows

Keihin
GEAABL18
GEAABL21
As I look for carb kits nothing matches exactly and that makes a little uncomfortable. I know you guys will point me in the right direction.

Thanks for you help
Mike

[Brother54]

Please help me with this. Honda has already sold me the wrong kit

Thanks
Brother 54

[terryt]

Did you take the carbs of the bike and what kits did you buy

[Brother54]

Thanks for the response and yes I took the carbs with me but all they wanted to know was the year and make so attached is what I got. I wish someone would sell me kits for the carburetor part numbers I clearly have. I guess that's just too much

thank you
brother54

Please let me know if you can't see the attachments

[terryt]

Im not sure then. when i done mine i stripped the carbs and cleaned them in a ultra sonic tank. i socked the o rings in warm soppy water to soften them up and reused them on the rebuild

[bellboy40]

I'm not clear on what your picture of the carb parts represents. Did they send the shiny new one to replace the older dark one?
They are different parts. The larger jet is the main jet and the smaller shiny one is the low speed or idle jet. That small one is the one that is more prone to get clogged up from fuel deposits.
Usually you should not have to replace the jets. A good cleaning will get them in good as new condition unless there is damage to them. Soak them in a good carb cleaner or, if you have access to one, put them in an ultrasonic cleaner for a while and they will come out nice and clean.

[Brother54]

Thank you guys and here is a better picture of the old versus the new. I've built many carburetors in my time (lot of 2 stroke) so I thought I could get new jets. Your right thou I can just stick them in the ultrasonic cleaner. As you can see in the pic the only thing that really matches is the throttle needle and needle and seat. I find it odd that in this day and age that someone can't sell me the kits for the carburetor part numbers I clearly have. What do you guys put in your ultrasonic cleaner for this?

Thanks Brother54

[bellboy40]

I don't have an ultrasonic cleaner but I know that a lot of folks use a Simple Green solution in their ultrasonic cleaner and say it works pretty well.
Another tip I have seen is to put your small parts that you want cleaned in a zip lock bag with your favorite cleaner solution and drop it in the tank filled with just water. You use just a small amount of the expensive cleaner and it works just as well on the parts.

[terryt]

I use carb cleaner for the ultra sonic tank heat it up to about 60c then put the carb in on the o ring i put them in warm soapy water to soften them up worked on my gl1000 and my gl1500 save a fortune. just make sure all the small holes on the jets are clean

[Brother54]

Hello again and once again thanks for all your comments. I have a ultrasonic cleaner and didn't even thing to use it. Now that the carbs are all good and clean I'm trying to look at some other things before I put the carbs back on. One thing I have noticed is on the Auto Fuel Valve it has No. 10 hose connected to it and everything I'm reading says it should be No. 12. I can't find a No. 12 hose to save my life but I can tell you the No. 10 runs from the valve into a tee next to the RH intake which goes to No. 2 hose and the other end of the tee goes into the intake (see pix). Just for clarity the white tee is for the vacuum gauge so I can synchronize the carbs. Your help with these hoses would be greatly appreciated

Thanks Brother 54

[MikeB]

I believe that 1994 and later vacuum tube to the auto shut off valve was #12 tube. My 1998 has a #12.
The 1988 service manual shows a #10 vacuum tube.

[Brother54]

Perfect, thanks for that. The valve holds vacuum and coming off the intake should do just that.

Thanks Again!!