Motorcycle Repair: cleaning a carburator, kawasaki vulcan classic, kawasaki vulcan classic 800

Question
hello,
I have a Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 800 1996. i bought the bike used in October of 2004 and rode it for 2 months and have not done anythng since.  one person also told me that because i didn't put in STABIL it may have damaged the carburator.  my bike is turning over but is not starting.  i thought it was initially my battery because my bike was cutting off on my while i was riding it. a local mechanic has told me that my carburator needs to cleaned.  is there a way that i could do this on my own at home? what can i do?

thank you,
marc sincavage


Answer
Sounds like your jets are plugged. To clean the carb, it must be removed, disasembled and soaked in carb cleaner to get the dirt out.If you have never worked on a carb you might want to let a mech do it for you.
When you park the bike for an extened period of time, turn the petcock off and run the bike until it runs out of gas. Keeps the carb from varishing up.
Good luck and happy riding
Mike