broke down on side of road

[Jim Hyman]

Barry, The best thing to do when buying a used bike is to have a full tune-up done, unless the previous owner 'proves' that a recent tune-up was done. At 7600 miles, you're due for a valve adjustment. The fuel petcock is vacuum accuated. Gas will NOT flow when the KLR is not running (or cranking over). If you suspect a problem with the gas tank vent causing a problem, the easiest test is to open the gas cap & see if this solves a lack of gas problem. It doesn't sound like your problem is related to the petcock. The high reving could be caused by the throttle slide hanging up momemtarily. When you momentarily turned on the enrichener (not really a choke lever), the gas mixture was too rich & caused the engine to sputter & drop revs. A carb vacuum leak also sounds unlikely, as you report good running (except for the 'backfire'). I'd suggest a full clean & service of the carb, including checking the float level. You may want to loosen & tighten all the exhaust mounting bolts. There are 2 muffler bolts at the rear (near the seat line) and 2 head pipe bolts at the front of the engine. Loosen all 4, then tighten the head pipe bolts first, then finish with the muffler bolts. If you're going to service the carb yourself, you'll want both service manuals (KLR600 'base' manual and KLR650 'supplemental' manual). Be carefull with the rubber carb diaphram. The KLR650 website has links to a well written article on servicing the KLR's carb. Professor A9 Federal Way, Wa. [USA] ------------------------- --- BCDIRECT@e... wrote:

> Hello Fellow KLR owners. I've been reading the threads > over the last few weeks and finally found a used A-7 for > $1500.00. It has 7600 miles on it. I love it! Until > today. I was riding along and when I pulled in the clutch > all of a sudden the idle got faster. Tried reving it to > get it to kick down but no luck. Then I pushed the choke > lever and back and I came down to normal. Actually lower > then normal idle. Then it spit and sputtered till I got > up to speed and seemed OK. I was crusing along an then it > died and there I was on the side of the road. Tried > restarting and it cranked over but no start. Gas was fine, > tried in res just to be sure, still nothing. Waited a few > and with a combination of choke and throttle got it to run. > It was running fast like it did earlier. Managed to get it > home on the fast idle. > > WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON WITH MY NEW (used) BIKE? As > a side note. I've had a backfiring problem when I > decelerate since I got it. Ran good except for the > backfiring until today. There doesn't seem to be any > exhaust leaks at the header. I took off the gas line > at the tank with the lever to on and no gas comes out. > Is this normal? I did however turn it over with the gas > line off and gas flows freely while it is cranking. > > Any help for a new KLR owner slightly disappointed.