Pilot Jet Question

[JonnyBlaze]

Hi. New here. Working on a minty 2004 250 with 3000 miles. Been sitting since 2008. Got it from a chick on craigslist. So got it all torn down to clean the dirty carbs and have a question regarding the pilot jets 38. Is there a hole down the center of it? I don't see one and I can't for the life of me get it unplugged. Please let me know. Thanks.

[Motofool]

Welcome, Jon !!!

There a hole there.
Soak the poor thing into carburetor cleaner for several hours.
Do not use a steel wire to unplug it.

[Ghostt]

Welcome, be sure to remove the pilot jets, it's important to make sure not only the hole, is clear, but also the ones on the side of the jets.



Also make sure the pilot circuit is clear, will will need to remove the idle mixture screws to do this, and you might as well order a carburetor kit from @ducatiman at the very least, some carburetor parts are consumables, and not a forever parts.

If the carburetors are that bad I'd personally send them to @ducatiman for a full refurbishment.

[JonnyBlaze]

Thanks for the replies! I removed all the jets with the acception of the pilot circuit. Didn't want to mess around with adjustments... I did clean out all the holes on the jets with except for the center pilot jet. Needed to confirm on here that there was in fact a hole there. Lol. Glad I did. I just ordered 2 pilot jets. Should I really mess with the pilot circuit and if so, what is involved in tuning or what do I need to do? I also cleaned the slides and the needle etc.. One of the slides was sticking but that's taken care of now.

[ducatiman]

this bike sitting for 8 years is mandatory to clean ALL, EVERY circuit....the alternative?

"if you leave your carbs an excuse to do them again...you will"

You really need to disassemble, split, examine the decel and vac hoses between (replace?)

Circuits? Pilot, starter (enrichenor), air & main AND the fuel paths and float system.

If you are not replacing ALL orings and float valves with NEW, you are truly going to be doing this again.

Machine clean (sodablast, ultrasonic) the way to go....you just can't compete in a home garage setting against the results of modern equipment.

[ducatiman]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Welcome, Jon !!!

There a hole there.
Soak the poor thing into carburetor cleaner for several hours.
Do not use a steel wire to unplug it.

further info ...

a 38 Keihin pilot is .38mm which is .0149"

Within my enterprise, I choose to "index" the pilots, to verify they've not been "hogged out" or excessively reamed.....or partially occluded. Micro drill bits are perfect to both "size" and clean_to_size. Jets can (and do) *partially* occlude, needing to be opened to their as delivered factory ID. The actual metering orifice is thin, at the end of the jet, and does not run the full length of the jet.

Simply "seeing daylight" is not acceptable, IMHO.

I submit (correctly sized) steel wire IS ok....using forethought and finesse.

Any microscopic imperfections are compensated for within pilot screw adjustment anyways.

[JonnyBlaze]

All fixed! Took them to my buddys and he cooked them in his ultrasonic cleaner. Carbs weren't bad at all. Just the jets had some corrosion on them. Bike runs great!

[Ghostt]

Once again using the proper equipment, yields positive results, imagine that!