Adventure Bike Rider

After all the positive support and top advice over the last couple of weeks I finally stopped talking and actually started doing it. Both our XT600's just don't run as well as they should so time to sort it and strip out and clean the carb, a first for me.









This is the easy bit.

If you have a friendly local bike dealer like mine he sonic bathed the carb body overnight for £10 which brought it up brilliantly and really cleaned all those hard to reach places. Just a thought.

Is this the reason it's not running well ?

Steve, relax - it's just nuts & bolts and some other stuff
You and the bike will be fine once you've bonded with the machines innards

Steve T

Tomorrows job putting it all back together after a good clean and fettle. I bought a carb refurb kit, so can replace some of the old seals, however it's the O ring seal between the cylinder and the joining 'cuff' that has the split and that's the one I don't have

I can't find a diagram on my CD manual but some one will know the technical name for it. Between the cylinder and the actual carb there are two rubber and metal cuff/collar/joining pieces, they bolt to the cylinder but have a large jubilee style clip which fastens it over the carb inlets. Does it have a name. it's the seal to one of these two 'bits' that has split.

I assume that would be why is runs rough when not being ridden hard and occasionally cuts out when you come to a stop.

Can't beat the smell of petrol in the living room



Best place for stripping down carbs I'm finding.

Steve T wrote:


Bonding is not quite what Jane is calling it on a saturday night when I'm up at 5.10am. Hee Hee

I have a get out of jail free card. xtzrick who lives close by has kindly offered help, so if all does not go well with the rebuild and restart there is a man who can.

With the split in that seal, you will be sucking in air, which will give you a weak fuel mixture.

Inlet tract or manifold Mr Toad. Cracked or leaking seals are the cause of poor running on the majority of older bikes. I would change the inlet seals on my Buell every 12-18months. You might have to source them from a main dealer.

somethings got on that seal and made it swell, its supposed to be a plain o-ring like the other one! its a standard o-ring, find the size and get a couple online

ask for, inlet or intake manifold rubber o ring seal. check with you local bike mechanic he might have one, a used o ring might do if it is in good condition and you are stuck. This would indeed cause your problem

davsato wrote:


Thanks for that mate, I don't suppose you know what the seals are made of ?

Are they silicone ? Anyone know ?

Interesting that you say that something as got on the seal any idea what.

I don't suppose you know a supplier of the seals who know their stuff, I can't make it into my local bike shop until at least Thursday.

Thanks for the comments

You need to obtain "O" rings or seals that are not affected by modern fuels with a high alcohol content.
The wrong material will swell & crack.
Nitrile comes to mind as a suitable material but these are trade names & there are many.
From experience some old seals are ok & some are not.
Most chinese rubber is not very good & not even protected against UV rays. (eg.cheap Chinese fork gaitors disintegrate in about 6 months)
Get the correct material & it will outlast the bike.
Regs. Brian.

Goes without saying so just ticking the boxes, don't use anything abrasive when cleaning, use a jay cloth with carb cleaner on it and gently rub. whatever you do don't stick anything down the jets, small brass screws with a hole in, stick carb cleaner in and use something to push air through. When putting back together be very care-full not to over tighten, easily done on a carb.

Take the above advise, see if the local garage can sonic clean it.