[ciresmis]

Hello from Houston,
I have had some recent issues with my 2006 VTX1300C. I got sick and ended up doing what I said I would never do. The bike has sat up in my garage for more than a year. Aside from this blunder which is completely my fault, I have not been able to get the bike running. I have "hired" several people from nextdoor dot com, but none of them were able to get the bike going again. Here is what I can tell you:

1. The old gas was discarded and new gas used.
2. The carburetor was rebuilt using an All Balls Rebuild Kit.
3. Gas tank hoses replaced as was the battery.

You have to spray the carberator with cleaner to get it started. The bike will run as long as you continue to rev it up or keep spraying. The minute you get back to regular idle, it dies. I have not taken a look at it again in about a month. With the situation as it is, my first thought was the gas tank hoses since it seems as if gas is not getting to the carb. These were replaced, but the problem persists. I am not sure what else to do. It sounds like something simple, but I am not sure what that might be. Not now at least.

I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance for taking the time.
Eric

 

[07Blackcherry]

check petcock to make sure it is in correct position, long part of arm pointing up is RESERVE, down is MAIN tank, crosswise is off. Make sure vacuum hose to petcock is attached properly and not cracked. You might try putting a piece of hose on petcock, remove fuel line where it attaches to carb, open petcock and put gentle suction on hose to make sure petcock is functioning. when gentle suction is applied to vacuum hose, fuel should run out of fuel hose. Check filter where fuel hose goes into carb. That is a good place to start, cause if it ain't getting out of the tank, it ain't getting in the carb.

I am sure others will be along to offer other suggestions as well.

 

[Vinish]

Check gas tank vent line to make sure it is not kinked or pinched.

 

[MR VTX]

Yeah, the petcock diaphragm is known to go bad, especially if the bike's been sitting for awhile. As a quick fix (and test of the petcock diaphragm), you can open the petcock up and reverse the spring inside. This will turn it into a gravity-fed system and you'll have to turn it off/on after/before each ride.

Also, was the carburetor soaked in a good cleaner? If not, the passages & float bowl may still be gunked up inside. It should be torn down completely and soaked and then rebuilt.

BTW, I live in Magnolia. What part of town do you live?

 

[okinawahall]

Hello from Houston,
I have had some recent issues with my 2006 VTX1300C. I got sick and ended up doing what I said I would never do. The bike has sat up in my garage for more than a year. Aside from this blunder which is completely my fault, I have not been able to get the bike running. I have "hired" several people from nextdoor dot com, but none of them were able to get the bike going again. Here is what I can tell you:

1. The old gas was discarded and new gas used.
2. The carburetor was rebuilt using an All Balls Rebuild Kit.
3. Gas tank hoses replaced as was the battery.

You have to spray the carberator with cleaner to get it started. The bike will run as long as you continue to rev it up or keep spraying. The minute you get back to regular idle, it dies. I have not taken a look at it again in about a month. With the situation as it is, my first thought was the gas tank hoses since it seems as if gas is not getting to the carb. These were replaced, but the problem persists. I am not sure what else to do. It sounds like something simple, but I am not sure what that might be. Not now at least.

I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance for taking the time.
Eric

I had the same issue you have. I let my bike sit for two years. Found this Youtube video and followed his instructions on how to properly clean the carb and my bike runs great. Cost me nothing.

 

[Ophbalance]

Another thing to possibly replace is vacuum tubing. It will not run properly, or at all, if you have a bad vacuum leak.

 

[ciresmis]

Thanks to all of the advice and instruction. I will probably take another stab at this next weekend. I will use all of the above information to help me determine what the problem is. I will let you know. Thanks again.

 

[henkvdb]

I learned from the Cafe here over the years that you should not "throw up your hands" on a 1300 unless you have installed the all-balls fix.

 

[ciresmis]

UPDATE: After going through all of the suggestions above, I still had the same problem. I had done everything I could do, so I hired a new guy to come out and take a look. He guaranteed the work or there was no charge. Right off the bat, he had the same problems I had, and nothing seemed to work. He eventually took the carburetor off and went home with it. After several days, he came back, put the carburetor back on, and like magic the bike started right up and ran like a champ. He said the jet from the All Balls kit was not replaced. The original was stripped and left in place. He removed the stripped jet and replaced it with a new one. So one of the geniuses I hired before had stripped the jet and just left it there. It was clogged all along. The new guy said the screw looks like a phillips but it really isn't. He said if you use the right size a phillips will work and that it looked like someone had used a phillips that was a little too large.

Anyway, this voyage is now concluded. Now to fix the flat tires.

Thanks for all the help. This place always was full of great people willing to share their knowledge. I'm glad some things never change.

Eric

 

[okinawahall]

UPDATE: After going through all of the suggestions above, I still had the same problem. I had done everything I could do, so I hired a new guy to come out and take a look. He guaranteed the work or there was no charge. Right off the bat, he had the same problems I had, and nothing seemed to work. He eventually took the carburetor off and went home with it. After several days, he came back, put the carburetor back on, and like magic the bike started right up and ran like a champ. He said the jet from the All Balls kit was not replaced. The original was stripped and left in place. He removed the stripped jet and replaced it with a new one. So one of the geniuses I hired before had stripped the jet and just left it there. It was clogged all along. The new guy said the screw looks like a phillips but it really isn't. He said if you use the right size a phillips will work and that it looked like someone had used a phillips that was a little too large.

Anyway, this voyage is now concluded. Now to fix the flat tires.

Thanks for all the help. This place always was full of great people willing to share their knowledge. I'm glad some things never change.

Eric

Not trying to be a jerk and glad it is fixed but doing the work yourself following the video I provided would have saved you money, time, and agrivation. Plus you know it's done right.

 

[prkuehn]

UPDATE: After going through all of the suggestions above, I still had the same problem. I had done everything I could do, so I hired a new guy to come out and take a look. He guaranteed the work or there was no charge. Right off the bat, he had the same problems I had, and nothing seemed to work. He eventually took the carburetor off and went home with it. After several days, he came back, put the carburetor back on, and like magic the bike started right up and ran like a champ. He said the jet from the All Balls kit was not replaced. The original was stripped and left in place. He removed the stripped jet and replaced it with a new one. So one of the geniuses I hired before had stripped the jet and just left it there. It was clogged all along. The new guy said the screw looks like a phillips but it really isn't. He said if you use the right size a phillips will work and that it looked like someone had used a phillips that was a little too large.

Anyway, this voyage is now concluded. Now to fix the flat tires.

Thanks for all the help. This place always was full of great people willing to share their knowledge. I'm glad some things never change.

Eric

Glad you found a good mechanic to get it straightened out. I’m sure getting that solved will be a relief.

 

[ciresmis]

Glad you found a good mechanic to get it straightened out. I’m sure getting that solved will be a relief.

Not trying to be a jerk and glad it is fixed but doing the work yourself following the video I provided would have saved you money, time, and agrivation. Plus you know it's done right.

How? I had gone through all this already.

 

[SPARKY5151]

UPDATE: After going through all of the suggestions above, I still had the same problem. I had done everything I could do, so I hired a new guy to come out and take a look. He guaranteed the work or there was no charge. Right off the bat, he had the same problems I had, and nothing seemed to work. He eventually took the carburetor off and went home with it. After several days, he came back, put the carburetor back on, and like magic the bike started right up and ran like a champ. He said the jet from the All Balls kit was not replaced. The original was stripped and left in place. He removed the stripped jet and replaced it with a new one. So one of the geniuses I hired before had stripped the jet and just left it there. It was clogged all along. The new guy said the screw looks like a phillips but it really isn't. He said if you use the right size a phillips will work and that it looked like someone had used a phillips that was a little too large.

Anyway, this voyage is now concluded. Now to fix the flat tires.

Thanks for all the help. This place always was full of great people willing to share their knowledge. I'm glad some things never change.

Eric

That mechanic is right and wrong. All the screws that look like Phillips head screws on the VTX are actually "JIS" screws (Japanese Industrial Standard). Although they look like a standard Phillips screw they take different screwdrivers to remove them without so much of a chance of stripping out the head of the screw. Go to Amazon and enter JIS screwdriver set in the search bar (I know it will change it to HIS but go ahead and search and it will return a bunch of screwdriver sets and a number of them will be JIS. The set I bought is the Hozan JIS-4 JIS screwdriver set and I have been very happy with them. I have not damaged a JIS screw head since I started using them and for ~ $18.00 they were well worth the money.

 

[MR VTX]

UPDATE: After going through all of the suggestions above, I still had the same problem. I had done everything I could do, so I hired a new guy to come out and take a look. He guaranteed the work or there was no charge. Right off the bat, he had the same problems I had, and nothing seemed to work. He eventually took the carburetor off and went home with it. After several days, he came back, put the carburetor back on, and like magic the bike started right up and ran like a champ. He said the jet from the All Balls kit was not replaced. The original was stripped and left in place. He removed the stripped jet and replaced it with a new one. So one of the geniuses I hired before had stripped the jet and just left it there. It was clogged all along. The new guy said the screw looks like a phillips but it really isn't. He said if you use the right size a phillips will work and that it looked like someone had used a phillips that was a little too large.

Anyway, this voyage is now concluded. Now to fix the flat tires.

Thanks for all the help. This place always was full of great people willing to share their knowledge. I'm glad some things never change.

Eric

Thinking more about this, I'm not sure what the mechanic is talking about. I've seen the stock jets, DynoJet jets and Factory Pro jets, and none of them are Phillips head. They all use a flat-head screw driver. Maybe the All Balls kit is different?!?