How hard is it to clean the carbs on the ninja? :( NOOB!

[drdriftking007]

wanting to clean my carbs for the first time myself. Is it difficult? I know the ninja250.org site have steps but I feel like I might screw up.

[Stingray1000]

Good question!

[davenay67]

Originally Posted by drdriftking007

wanting to clean my carbs for the first time myself. Is it difficult? I know the ninja250.org site have steps but I feel like I might screw up.

You say NOOB in your thread title. Is this referring to the Ninja or to mechanical aptitude in general..??

We all start somewhere, and carbs aren't a bad thing to work on (especially as the Ninja only has 2) so long as you are very careful, take your time and work in a clean environment. I like carbs because I can take them off the bike and then work on them inside the house in warmth and comfort. Just leave the carb spray until you get outside though.

Follow the instructions on ninja250.org, treat everything with great respect and you should be OK.

[drdriftking007]

Originally Posted by davenay67

You say NOOB in your thread title. Is this referring to the Ninja or to mechanical aptitude in general..??

We all start somewhere, and carbs aren't a bad thing to work on (especially as the Ninja only has 2) so long as you are very careful, take your time and work in a clean environment. I like carbs because I can take them off the bike and then work on them inside the house in warmth and comfort. Just leave the carb spray until you get outside though.

Follow the instructions on ninja250.org, treat everything with great respect and you should be OK.

lol I am talking about my mechanical aptitude haha

[jayman87]

Hey, these vids helped when I did might cleaning.

Carb Removal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7bCEuefvgY

Carb Overhaul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJVHu8itDls

Well they would have if my carbs actually needed a cleaning. My bike sat for two months with no stabilizer in it. When I started it, it felt like it was struggling a little.
I always let my bike idle a min before I take-off and warm it up on the road, and it would die twice before that minute was up(not just the first start, for the next week). So I yanked the carbs and as I got inside to clean them they were already spotless. Float bowls so clean I could have my morning cereal in them. All those hours wasted, and I still had to put them back in and hope I didn't screw them up. Turns out I needed a valve adjustment. My valves were super tight.

[Solunatic]

Actually cleaning the carbs isn't the difficult part about cleaning the carbs. It's getting them off and back in the bike that's the problem! if you've never done it before, follow the guide on ninja250.org and be prepared to call your bike all sorts of terrible names. Cleaning the carbs itself is pretty simple, I've never used carb cleaner, just gasoline, my fingers and a shop rag. For cleaning the jets i use a set of gauge pins and push em through, but the right gauge wire from the hardware store would probably work just as well. Be careful with the diaphragms though. They're kinda fragile and i hear expensive to replace. My general rules are don't clean them with metal, and only use gas or carb cleaner. since it's your first time you may want to label parts with tags or something and then compare them to the pics in the guide as you reassemble, and only do one at once so you have a physical reference. It really sucks to get everything back together, look in the bin and think "now where the hell did that come from?"

[dirty nasty]

Originally Posted by Solunatic

Actually cleaning the carbs isn't the difficult part about cleaning the carbs. It's getting them off and back in the bike that's the problem! if you've never done it before, follow the guide on ninja250.org and be prepared to call your bike all sorts of terrible names. Cleaning the carbs itself is pretty simple, I've never used carb cleaner, just gasoline, my fingers and a shop rag. For cleaning the jets i use a set of gauge pins and push em through, but the right gauge wire from the hardware store would probably work just as well. Be careful with the diaphragms though. They're kinda fragile and i hear expensive to replace. My general rules are don't clean them with metal, and only use gas or carb cleaner. since it's your first time you may want to label parts with tags or something and then compare them to the pics in the guide as you reassemble, and only do one at once so you have a physical reference. It really sucks to get everything back together, look in the bin and think "now where the hell did that come from?"

All of this. The carbs on these bikes are simple and straightforward. Getting them on and off SUCKS. That's why I recommend you do this modification.

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Battery...r_carb_removal

It is THE BEST modification to make the bike easily serviceable. It's a lot of work to do, but think of it like this. If you don't do this modification you will have to remove the rear wheel and rear fenders every time you need to remove/install the carbs. If you do this modification it's only a matter of taking out the battery, removing the tray and pulling back the air box for all the clearance you would ever need to get at the carbs. Believe me, you will screw up putting the carbs together correctly your first few times. They will need to come off and go back on multiple times before you get it right.


Also, read up here for info on how to take apart and clean the carbs.

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Intake

Another bit of advice. Be VERY careful when removing the screws on the carbs. They strip VERY easily. They are also not a standard #1 or #2 phillips screwdriver. They're a special size made by some Japanese company. So after removing the phillips head hardware I would take a trip to my local hardware store and replace all the phillips head stuff with stainless allen head hardware. I do this with all my carbs and it makes maintenance a breeze. You'll never have to deal with stripped screws again.

[jayman87]

Originally Posted by dirty nasty

Another bit of advice. Be VERY careful when removing the screws on the carbs. They strip VERY easily. They are also not a standard #1 or #2 phillips screwdriver. They're a special size made by some Japanese company. So after removing the phillips head hardware I would take a trip to my local hardware store and replace all the phillips head stuff with stainless allen head hardware. I do this with all my carbs and it makes maintenance a breeze. You'll never have to deal with stripped screws again.

I like your style dirty.

[davenay67]

Originally Posted by dirty nasty

Another bit of advice. Be VERY careful when removing the screws on the carbs. They strip VERY easily. They are also not a standard #1 or #2 phillips screwdriver. They're a special size made by some Japanese company. So after removing the phillips head hardware I would take a trip to my local hardware store and replace all the phillips head stuff with stainless allen head hardware. I do this with all my carbs and it makes maintenance a breeze. You'll never have to deal with stripped screws again.

They are also steel screws in an aluminum body....a bad combination unless you actually like the screws to freeze in there over time. A bit of grease on the threads helps, or even use some lightweight loctite.

Even a flat slot helps in getting them off. Like dirty said, that type of philips head is a bugger.