Question 1977 Honda XL 125
Question My 12 y.o. nephews bike I'm hoping to get running for him. Sat in the barn for the last 10-15 years (previously belonged to his mother). Cleaned out the Carb and jets. Changed the oil ect. Took the old ratty air filter off. Ran fuel directly to the carb thru a new inline filter. Starts easily with the choke on. Warms quickly (30-60) seconds. Can't get the bike to run without the choke on. Refuses to idle smoothly. Able to turn off the choke and use the throttle to keep the engine going above approx 2000rpm. Your thoughts please. Thanks, Tim
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Answer Sounds like the idle jets are still plugged. Pull the carb and the small jet in the carb and see if you can see through it. I take a strand of copper wire from an electrical wire and push it through the jet to make sure it's clear. Just soaking them won't clean it out.
Hi Jim, Above is the answer Rich gave me. Problem is I've never heard of "idle jets." I've heard of needle, main and pilot jets. Are you able to go the www.westernhonda.com, look at there diagram for the carb on the 1977 Honda xl 125 and tell me be number which jet that Rich is referring to or just tell me what you think the problem is? Thanks, Tim
P.S. Unable to follow up with Rich as he imputed that he was "maxed out" after this question. Guess this question put him over the top.
AnswerIdle jet is the same as the pilot jet.
But going by the microfiche it looks like you do not have a separate pilot jet. It could be a drilled hole in the carb body.
It does look like you have an idle mixture screw (in a riser facing down - parts 7/8 in the fiche) which you should extract and clean. That might be your problem. If you do extract the screw (and any springs and o-rings under it) try to keep track of how many turns it was set to so you can get back to that setting. Otherwise you will need to adjust it by watching the RPMs.
Using a fine strand of copper wire is a good idea as the old build up will often not clean with carb cleaner.
