goldwing six runs rough, but carbs rebuilt

My goldwing six, GL1500, has two carbs, both of which I recently
painstakingly rebuilt, but NOW I have some bizarre problem, seemingly
carb-related <but maybe not?>:

it starts up just fine when cold or hot, but it runs lousy, with cold
OR warm engine. When it's cold, just after starting, even with the
choke all the way ‘on', when I twist the grip, even SUPER-slowly, it
dies -immediately-. This is ‘still on the centerstand' here, I mean.
When it's warmed up, still on the centerstand, it seems more like
normal behavior, twist-grip-response-wise, but _only_ after the temp
gauge is halfway up or more...

by the way, took painstaking notes _and_ made drawing when dismantling
carbs, so chances I put some jet or tiny hose 'back in the wrong
place' are ZERO.

The main problem is, when it's on the centerstand and I have the
throttle lock 'on' (_or_ when I try driving any ‘set fixed speed' down
the hiway), it WON'T maintain a steady RPM setting, on the centerstand
OR the road.. Also, when starting up from ‘stone cold', with the choke
even ‘full on', it flat out "dies stone dead immediately" when I twist
the throttle, even when I twist it super-SUPER-slowly. And I mean
_dead_crawl_ slowly here, too...before the carb overhaul, it was at
_least_ ‘driveable' cold, with the choke on...now, it's nowhere NEAR
driveable, cold, not even CLOSE....

When it's warmed up, though, and I try driving down the hiway, it runs
up smoothly ‘thru the gears', just as strongly as it ever did, even up
to 5000 RPM in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, but when I try setting the
throttle lock, on a long flat road (say in third or fourth, attempting
a 2000, or 2500 or 3000 RPM steady cruise), it won't do it, or even do
anything ‘close' to it - instead, it acts as if someone shuts the key
OFF every three or four seconds out of five or so, roughly. Like it
‘just ran out of gas' every few seconds. frustrating. On the
centerstand with the throttle lock on, at ‘locked ranges' in the like
2000 to 3000 RPM areas, it ‘varies up and down' every few seconds,
too, dropping 500 RPM one second and speeding up 6 or 700 RPM a few
seconds later, and on and on, minute after minute, same deal, from the
same locked twist-grip setting (and the throttle lock works
fine)...this is driving me NUTS. I know it's some ‘simple thing', but
the " which simple thing is it?" bit is the main problem....is there
_any_ possibility this is 'ignition related'? my guess is carbs, but
not sure, at this point...

The faster I try to go, in the higher gears, the worse it seems to
get. It's not ‘breaking up', though; it's more like acting ‘fuel
starved' or something. BTW, the air cleaner has JUST been cleaned, and
the fuel filter is nowhere -near- being clogged, and today I tested
the fuel pump output against factory ‘minimum specs' for delivery per
minute and it near -doubles- that output....also, when I took off the
fuel hose TO the carbs today, about 20 minutes -after- my last road
test, there was -still- plenty of fuel pressure IN the fuel line, if
that indicates anything.

and, all six spark plugs were recently sandblasted lightly and gapped
correctly. It idles just fine (after warmup). also, when the carbs
were dismantled, the floats seemed to work fine, not sticking, and
float levels are adjusted correctly in both carbs (used dial caliper).
I don't own one of the special honda pilot screw wrenches (and tried
everything else to get ‘em out; the heads on ‘em are ‘round with ONE
flat side' plus they sit down inside a walled recess, so there's
nothing to grip...) so I had to leave those two ‘in' (1 per carb) when
I dismantled, soaked and later ‘blew out'all the carb passages, etc.
the gasoline in it is only 3 wks or so old...

got any ideas on this? How come when I ‘accelerate like a bat outta'
hell' or 'just sit there idling' it runs great, but when I try
‘cruising' any set speed with a fixed throttle, it flat-out dies every
other second or two....the faster I'm going down the hiway, attempting
a steady cruise, the more time the 'on-off nuisance' factor seems to
'elect' to stay in the 'off' election it so favors. I'd sure -like- to
hear from you carb experts regarding your ‘most likely culprits list'
especially those factors 'easiest to check out' first.

Thanks,

bill, aka "mr non-steady cruiser"

 

today I bought and used yamaha carburetor cleaner (I found wild raves
about it all over the net) at the local honda/yamaha dealer. It's some
kind of ‘magic juice' you put direct into the float bowls ‘rather
than' re-remove and re-rebuild your carbs :-\. I gave it a ‘sniff
check' and it wasn't noxious or ‘powerful smelling' at ALL...

so, I used it 'straight', instead of cutting it three parts gas to 1
part cleaner like the carb cleaner bottle recommended. it made a
slight_improvement in the jerkiness of the ‘fixed' throttle settings,
but maybe it was 'wishful thinking' on my part. anyway, first I
drained all the gas from both carbs; I got about an ounce from each
float bowl. then I 'ran the stuff into' the carbs using a tiny funnel.
then I let it 'cook' in the carbs for an hour/drained it out, and
refilled both float bowls with gas, _trying_ to 'pump the gas into'
the carbs with the fuel pump. I even ‘topped up' the half-full tank
with 89 octane, fresh, before todays late day road test, to no avail.

But during todays carb-related festivities, I discovered

1. My fuel pump does NOT "come on" when I turn the key on (I used a
stethoscope touching the tank itself when I turned the key-I wanted to
make DANG sure I could hear ir run over the ambient street noises).
But it didn't run, key on. so I says "ok, maybe I need to put the kill
switch back into 'run' instead of 'kill', but still no dice. Bike in
neutral/no dice. note, when I 'tested' the fuel pump a few days back,
I "hot wired it direct' from the battery with 2 small jumper
leads/alligator clips. so now I'm thinking, "sheesh, maybe this really
_is_ a fuel starvation problem and not a carb problem".

do you KNOW if the GL1500 fuel pump is supposed to be running
continously whenever the key is 'on'? or is there some 'fuel level
sender' or other gizmo somewhere else on the bike (seems doubtful to
me) that sends 'hot power lead flashes' to the pump when fuel is
'sensed' to be needed? most -electric-_fuel pumps (in cars) run
continously, right? do ya know for -certain- wether or not it should
'run' when the key is 'on'? I figured, after draining out the carb
cleaner, and trying to ‘pump gas into' the carb electrically, with the
key ‘on', that this is a ‘known low float level in BOTH bowls with
zero residual pressure in the post-fuel-pump fuel line' type
situation, so, if the fuel pump should EVER come on with the key, NOW
would be that time, buddy-boy".

But it didn't come on, kill switch on OR off. And I'm not at all sure
-when- the dang thing really DOES run, electrically, when fed power
thru my harness...what ‘dictates' when the fuel pump should be running
or not? The bike brain? So, if mine's nor running at the ‘right'
times, uhh, maybe I have "brain damage" (other than the obvious, that
is ;-) <???>

really, though, maybe my fuel pump has either a intermittent ground
(fuel pump to tank, or tank to frame) OR the harness 'power lead' to
the pump itself is 'intermittent' instead of continous...or is there
some ‘fuel pump hot lead activator' on the bike somewhere? Or maybe
the ‘brain' won't let the pump pump UNTIL the engine actually DOES
start? <???> that make any sense?

I'm thinking of running a temporary small ground wire from fuel pump
stud to known good ground. If THAT doesn't cure the ‘herky-jerky'
cruise krap, maybe I'll hook a tiny LED in circuit with the fuel pump
and place the LED taped to the dash/drive it down the hiway/see just
"how" the starvation behavior seems to jive with the tiny led being
'on' or off...maybe tomorrow I should also see if the pump comes ‘on'
when I jump it direct from the battery EVERY time, every other second
or so, for sixty or eighty attempts in a row, or wether it just comes
on ‘when it feels like it'... about half the times it should be ‘on'
and running, roughly..

Well, these are the mysteries that plague me soul... ;-) one thing fer
sure: can't ride it like it is now...