Just bought a Kawasaki Ninja 250 with 50 miles on the odometer. The original owner had a minor crash and stored it for a year and a half.

The bike starts with the choke on and will idle, but it won't idle when the choke is opened. While idling on choke, the engine continuously pulses up to 4500 rpm and then returns to 2000. The bike can be run with the choke open if continuously revved.

What steps should I take to get this carb dialed in? I took the air cleaner out and sprayed a bunch of carb cleaner without any improvement. Hoping I don't have to take the carb apart to clean.

Also, haven't changed out the gas, and the owner might have put premium in even though the bike is designed for regular. Don't think it's a gas issue though.

 

I'm no motor expert, but it sounds like it's sucking air somewhere. Maybe something got cracked in the crash?

chaikwa.

 

Could be bad gas or the low speed jet is clogged. First thing to do before tearing down the carb is try a heavy dose of Chevron Techron fuel cleaner or Sea Foam with fresh tank of fuel. May have to run the engine for a while so the cleaner can do it's magic.

MikeyB

 

Crash only caused some minor cosmetic damage, and the guy rode it back home just fine. Something about it just sitting for almost 2 years must have gummed up the bike.

 

Went through the same thing on a Suzuki DR200, the passages in those little carbs are so small that any gumming of the fuel from sitting seems to really affect them. I'd give it a good cleaning and probably screw some new plugs in it for good measure (also after sitting that long I'd also change the oil) and you should have a good little gas miser.

 

I recently bought a little Maytag 72 twin cylinder 2 cycle engine... it did the same thing. Everything was just gummed up. A little carb cleaner did wonders. I haven't tore it down yet but I expect even better results then.

 

After enough sitting around with beers in hand, we finally got the motivation to tear into the carb. The smaller jets, which I assume are the idle jets, were plugged and I couldn't see daylight through them. I let them sit in some carb cleaner and that opened them up. Somehow spraying the carb cleaner in the airbox while running wasn't enough. It took another couple beers to get the carb back in because of how cramped it is while connecting the rubber boots.
I found out a little hand soap helps ease those boots back on the carb.

While we were at it, we drained the gas which looked a little yellow. After putting in fresh gas, the bike started after a ton of cranking and then ran like a champ.

Next up is an oil change and perhaps a valve adjustment. I doubt it had any of the initial maintenance done since it's a 2007 with only 50 miles.

 

The carb cleaner into the air duct can not do anything for the parts in the float bowl as you have noticed.
I do not understand the obsession some mechanics seem to have with spraying stuff into the air intake. (In a very small percentage of the cases it will do some good, but for anything fuel related it won't do zilch)
If you buy an old engine that has sat for a long time just pop the fuel hose off, empty the tank, empty the float bowl - all Japanese bikes I have seen have drain screws on the lowest position of the bowl and a hose that gets the fuel away- and refill the tank with a mixture of gas and carb cleaner( The fuel additive type).
If the engine has a fuel pump let it run on the starter until the carb is filled, if not just let it sit for a day.
In my experience this resolves about 80% of the problems with 10 minutes of "work"

HTH

AlpineRAM