09KLX: I bought the Sea Foam at Advance Auto Parts for about $10 for the can. Use the full treatment for two tanks of gas--the instructions are on the can. Be sure to run the bike for at least a few miles at a time and, if it works for you, you will notice a dramatic change in the starting behavior after a few days. Your exhaust will smell a little funny and your mileage will drop about 10% on these two tanks.

I read about the Sea Foam in other posts online and figured I had nothing to lose. It was originally for boats and marine equipment, but its uses have expanded to any small engine, and even cars.

Please note that my bike was sitting on the dealer floor for 14 months before I bought it--so I was almost sure that my carbs were gummed up a bit.

Regarding using the choke on hot starts, I'll agree with the other poster that I shouldn't have to do this. But it's a guaranteed start for my bike every time. So I have a bike that starts cold and starts hot every time, the first time. As tempted as I am to drill like you suggest, I don't like fussing with things once they are working!

Started the bike this morning at 25 degrees, first crank. It was really too cold to ride into work this morning, but it's supposed to be 50 this afternoon

 

Running the gas out will make it start right up weather its 40 below or the bike sat for 6 months. Its proven, I have done extensive research over 5 years on 3 bikes. Its written all over this forum and the XT 225 site. Do a search. Trust me I know of what I speak of.

 

There is an addtional step in deej's "drain gas" method that he left out. After you drain the fuel bowl, you have to do the following...you put your left out, you put your left foot in, you put your right foot out, and then you shake it all about, you do the hokey pokey, and then you start to shout...that's what it's all about.

LOL!...sorry deej...I couldn't resist.

 

This post is useless without pictures.

Where's Dan888 when we need him?

 

????
Hang on, all I have handy right now is a pic of TNC eating corn on the cob.

 

For the record in cold weather I start cranking the bike and slowly pull the choke out. Works every time for me. That is only one of the methods people have come up with. Do a search to find some of the other options. If I had to run the bike out of gas everytime I would definitely try TNC's (I think?) suggestion of drilling out the idle jet. Search for his thread on it, it has the info you would need. Maybe he will chime in and put up a link.

"Who is the master you or the machine?" Nice one David. Never let it get the best of you.
Dan

 

C'mon dan...don't you still have that picture of me doing the Hokey Pokey at that last motorcycle race we went to? I do have a picture of you trying to start your KLX in cold weather just before that race. Nice helmet.

That step of drilling the starter jet out to .018" is an easy task. And dan...Alfred E. Newman does not know how to do links...and neither do I. I work on motorcycles, not computers.

 

LOL, um... fraid I lost that one of you dancing. Sorry? Also, I don't really remember my bike (with a big honkin tank )being on your trailer in the snow????? You sure that shot is of me? Looks like too much of a tough guy to be me.

"I work on motorcycles, not computers." .
Here's TNC's thread.
https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...ad.php?t=31683

 

Tough guy or insane guy...and not me, BTW.

 

Here is an interesting site on CV carbs

http://www.drpiston.com/Cvcarbs.html

"STARTING CIRCUIT

The starting circuit (often called the choke circuit--but it doesn't really "choke" anything) provides a special fuel supply needed to start the engine, when the engine is cold.

Why does the engine need a lot of fuel to fire when it is cold? For a fuel mixture to ignite, it needs to be made up of very tiny (atomized) particles of fuel suspended in the air. Cold fuel tends to stay in big drops which don't ignite easily. Also these big drops tend to cling to intake walls. So in a cold engine, a lot of the fuel doesn't atomize correctly and is just wasted. Therefore you need more fuel to start with to make up for these losses, and assure that enough of it is atomized to give you a mixture which will ignite properly. As the engine warms up, atomization becomes much better and more complete, so less fuel is needed to create the proper air/fuel ratio, and the start lever can be let off.

The starting circuit is really a separate system in the carb. It takes its air from a port in the bore which is located in the main air path before the slide and the butterfly. It gets its fuel from a separate tube running into the float bowl. When the start lever is pulled at the handlebar, a plunger is lifted which opens the air and fuel passages. The engine is then cranked, and since these passages are small, you get you get the needed air speed going through them with enough venturi effect to draw fuel from the bowl into the air stream. This mixture exits from a port on the engine side of (after) the butterfly and goes on into the cylinder.

This circuit, if working properly, is designed to provide the proper mixture all by itself to start the bike. Hence the admonition; "start your bike with the throttle closed." (Note also that closed throttle starting is also easier on the starter, since the piston is not pulling in a full gulp of air. Compression is about half of normal and the starter doesn't have to work as hard to crank the engine.) As the bike warms up, the plunger has a half open position which cuts the fuel back but leaves the air open, leaning out the mixture. On full warm up the plunger is closed and cuts off both passages. Note that different bikes have different starting habits, and a quick blip after the engine catches helps with some of them. Outside temperature can also affect how you use the choke. (O.K. I'm calling it the choke) More choke on cold days, less on hot days. "