DR350 Thread

[MrPulldown]

Did you check to see if your slide is worn out. With the carb off the bike. Which sounds like it is out most days. Place your fingers on each side of the slide. If you can push it back and forth with a click click click, then it is most likley worn. Might be luck and replace only the slide. But like most on here will tell you, ASK BENDER, your pumper is toast.

Don't think the new tank has anything to do with it.

[2bold2getold]

Might check the tank cap vent. If it's not venting right it should starve, not flood, but I've seen a lean condition that causes popping/missing fill the intake/carb/air filter with oily messy crap. Just throwing out guesses. Really hard to do this stuff long distance.

[2bold2getold]

Originally Posted by jmderyke

anyone the differences between the brake lines on the 90-94 dr350 and the dr350s bikes? They have different oem part numbers, my front line is shot and was looking at aftermarket lines. I imagine maybe the length is a little different with the same banjo connections?

I used one of these on my dr350. http://helusa.com/store/index.php?cP...1476fa95a662eb Works/fits good. On another bike, I took the old hose to a place that makes hoses ( http://www.stuarthose.com/ ) for about anything and they made a rubber one from scratch for about $35.

[RuggedExposure]

Originally Posted by MrPulldown

Did you check to see if your slide is worn out. With the carb off the bike. Which sounds like it is out most days. Place your fingers on each side of the slide. If you can push it back and forth with a click click click, then it is most likley worn. Might be luck and replace only the slide. But like most on here will tell you, ASK BENDER, your pumper is toast.

Don't think the new tank has anything to do with it.

Its possible, I'll check that. But the bike only has about 4k miles on it. Could the slide cause it to run stupid rich?

Originally Posted by 2bold2getold

Might check the tank cap vent. If it's not venting right it should starve, not flood, but I've seen a lean condition that causes popping/missing fill the intake/carb/air filter with oily messy crap. Just throwing out guesses. Really hard to do this stuff long distance.

I'll try running it without the cap to see.

Someone else mentioned on here, and talking to Bullittman281 over the phone, I may have one of those tiny air passages (fuel filter side of the carb) clogged up. Tomorrow morning I'll run some torch tip cleaners through there to see if any sand or anything comes out.

Friday I'll be going back to town to run errands and I'll pick up the old tank (its at my shop) and install that back on the bike.

The Acerbis tank is getting sold though. $200 o.b.o.

[slartidbartfast]

Originally Posted by RuggedExposure

Its possible, I'll check that. But the bike only has about 4k miles on it. Could the slide cause it to run stupid rich?

I doubt it. A badly worn, undersized or broken needle (tip missing) could though, as could a needle that is not seating properly in the slide for some reason.

Someone else mentioned on here, and talking to Bullittman281 over the phone, I may have one of those tiny air passages (fuel filter side of the carb) clogged up. Tomorrow morning I'll run some torch tip cleaners through there to see if any sand or anything comes out.

Try to blast some carb cleaner through those passages (always wear safety glasses, DAMHIK). If you get some squirting out, you know the passage is clear.

Enrichener not sealing closed might cause some or all of the symptoms you are seeing too. You can blow carb cleaner through that circuit and see what happens when you open and close the plunger.

Final thought is that if the float assy were bent or otherwise distorted to one side, it could be touching the inside of the bowl and hanging open

[heirhead]

Hello,

Bet $.05 its the cap, as have had same thing happen twice, with brand new plastic tanks.
Hope it is. Good luck.

Heirhead

[MrPulldown]

The acerbis cap is vented.

[Anonawesome]

Just an idea. The petcock on the stock tank is vacuum operated with a hose running to the carb. Whereas the acerbis petcocks are not. Not sure if the pumper carb has this since I just ordered one, but you could have an open vacuum line on the side of the carb, which would need to be capped.

[Greg Bender]

Originally Posted by Anonawesome

Just an idea. The petcock on the stock tank is vacuum operated with a hose running to the carb. Whereas the acerbis petcocks are not. Not sure if the pumper carb has this since I just ordered one, but you could have an open vacuum line on the side of the carb, which would need to be capped.

This is true for the CV carb, but not for the pumper carb. The petcock for the pumper carb is the simple on/off/reserve affair with no vacuum connections whatsoever.

Regards,

Gregory Bender

[dav_dman]

Originally Posted by MrPulldown

The acerbis cap is vented.

its SUPPOSED to be. Unless the mold line has flash and it's blocking the vent, etc.

i actually had a plasic tee that was blocked from that once that caused my magna not to vent and leave me stranded a few blocks from home.

Just pull the cap with your ear down close and you'll hear it when you open it. Could also run it with the cap cocked slightly and you'll know pretty quickly...a bit dangerous but not if you're careful

[Greg Bender]

Originally Posted by RuggedExposure

Its possible, I'll check that. But the bike only has about 4k miles on it. Could the slide cause it to run stupid rich?

I'll try running it without the cap to see.

Someone else mentioned on here, and talking to Bullittman281 over the phone, I may have one of those tiny air passages (fuel filter side of the carb) clogged up. Tomorrow morning I'll run some torch tip cleaners through there to see if any sand or anything comes out.

Friday I'll be going back to town to run errands and I'll pick up the old tank (its at my shop) and install that back on the bike.

The Acerbis tank is getting sold though. $200 o.b.o.

I'm not so sure the pumper is toast. When I decided to replace my old pumper, the symptom that was most annoying me was the inability to return to idle, especially when warm. It still ran pretty good throughout the throttle range, but it would "hang" at high idle. As soon as I fit a new pumper (same jetting), all was right with the world and I also enjoyed a small improvement throughout the throttle range that I had not even noticed before. From the video I viewed, the symptom's with RuggedExposure's DR350 are not similar to my symptoms.

A worn slide will allow more air in, causing a lean condition, and thereby raising the revs. A worn slide should not, in and of itself, generate a rich condition (at least I am not seeing how that could happen).

RuggedExposure, I completely understand your frustration, as mechanical bits have gotten the best of me many times over the years. As others have said, I too believe the problem is very simple. I would encourage you not to give up and not to use the DR for target practice.

I was at a Guzzi rally a number of years ago and a guy had a beautiful Eldorado with a custom paint job. Stunning, really, and I don't say that very often about custom paint jobs on the Eldorados (most leave me with a bland taste in my mouth). The Eldorado would not run correctly. A few of us fiddled with it some (at lot of loose ground wires, etc) and it ran better. But, the owner was frustrated and traded it straight up for a Moto Guzzi SP1000. The SP1000 is a fine machine, but this example was not the equal of the Eldorado (not by a long shot in my opinion). Once home, the new owner of the Eldorado replaced a $3 condensor and the Eldorado ran beautifully.

For those who don't know, last year I swapped the nearly new pumper carb on my DR350 for a CV carb. My goal was to obtain additional range with my Clark tank without a need to carry additional fuel. I met that goal and remain very satisfied with the performance of my CV carb. Shortly before leaving for a dual sport rally in Nevada, I had fiddled with the CV carb for some reason or the other and I was certain it was reassembled properly. But, it wouldn't run properly. It took *forever* to warm up and then it would cut out horribly starting at mid throttle. I was convinced it was fuel mixture screw or a need for different jetting or some such other problem (CDI, coil, etc). I thought I had it fixed and was all packed up and leaving when the problem reared it's ugly head not a 1/2 mile down the road. It wouldn't pull 50 MPH. Frustrated, disgusted, wasting hours dealing with this on a vacation day, not fun. I replaced the CDI and tested - no change. I replaced the coil and tested - no change. I replaced the spark plug and tested - no change. I replaced the voltage regulator and tested - no change. Finally, I tossed on the pumper carb and the problem was immediately gone. I didn't take the time to investigate the CV then and there (I was off to Nevada), but I later discovered I had failed to seat the rubber diaphragm properly on the top of the CV carb. I had a HUGE air leak and the slide simply wasn't raising to permit more fuel/air into the engine. A simple problem caused by yours truly that took me many hours to sort out.

Here is a thought on something to check - are you certain that the choke (an enricher, really) is sealing when it is closed? You might take a look at that just to see. It could be that it is continuing to dump fuel into the circuit even when it is physically closed. If memory serves, there is an o-ring to seal the enricher to the body of the carburetor, and then a rubber seal on the front of the "piston" that closes the passageway??? Sorry, I'm a bit hazy on those details. Anyway, that is something to check.

Don't give up! Hope this helps :>

Regards,

Gregory Bender

[jmderyke]

Originally Posted by 2bold2getold

I used one of these on my dr350. http://helusa.com/store/index.php?cP...1476fa95a662eb Works/fits good. On another bike, I took the old hose to a place that makes hoses ( http://www.stuarthose.com/ ) for about anything and they made a rubber one from scratch for about $35.

Thanks, I figured it shouldnt be a problem

[dav_dman]

Agree. And sometimes it's good to take a break for a day or two and go riding or do something else then come back to it a little less aggravated with it.

[cwc]

Originally Posted by mwilliamshs

Appreciate the input!

My largest areas of concern at the moment are charging systems. I know the bikes OEM part numbers differ but I wonder if one might fit the other in an emergency or as an upgrade?

I think there might be some significant wiring harness issues trying to adapt different electrical parts. I've no experience with the DR250 so probably shouldn't offer advice on that.

On the other hand the ignition system draws very little current, so if you had a charging system failure you could just run off the battery charging it occasionally. You would want to unplug the lights.

If you really want part interchangeability you should consider a 98-99 DR350 instead of the DR250. The earlier e-start 350's have different parts such as sprockets, rear wheels, wheel bearings etc.

On the other hand, you aren't going that far and if everything is in good shape now you probably won't need anything.

AND, you really don't want to carry all that stuff with you.

[RuggedExposure]

Originally Posted by markk900

BTW: are you really sure injection is going to be so much more reliable?

FI is supreme in my book. Almost every carbed bike I've owned has givin me hell and ended up being the demise of those bikes. I started out with a '94 Kawa Vulcan 750. It was incredibly fast for such an old heavy bike, but it would not start if the bike was cold. It would not start if the bike was hot, would not start on any sort of an incline/decline. Even the local stealership couldn't figure that one out. I ended up parting it out on ebay.

I had an '05 Honda Shadow 750 that was great, luckily the carb never gave me many problems on that one.

My '98 KTM 620 developed carb problems and ended up getting traded.

The '03 Yamaha TTR I just sold last week was traded to me since it had carb problems. I worked the gremlins out of it to where it was more reliable, but it still had some ghosts.

I have an '08 Kawa MeanStreak 1600 with FI and nearly 20k miles on it. Since the day I bought that bike I have thrashed it, modified it, and put it through hell. But it still goes like a champ and passes almost anything on the road, except for the gas station.

I cannot wait for my tax return so I can drive my happy ass with cash in hand over to Tuscon or Albuquerque (both are 4 hours away) and get a Terra 650.

Originally Posted by dav_dman

its SUPPOSED to be. Unless the mold line has flash and it's blocking the vent, etc.

i actually had a plasic tee that was blocked from that once that caused my magna not to vent and leave me stranded a few blocks from home.

Just pull the cap with your ear down close and you'll hear it when you open it. Could also run it with the cap cocked slightly and you'll know pretty quickly...a bit dangerous but not if you're careful

I will give this a shot by taking the cap off and stuffing a rag in there to ride around.

Originally Posted by Greg Bender

Don't give up! Hope this helps :>

Regards,

Gregory Bender

I have the carb completely apart and sitting in a citric acid solution since yesterday. I will also poke through the passages with a torch tip cleaner (carefully) to make sure no grit or sand is lodged in there and reassemble to see if anything if it helps.

Originally Posted by dav_dman

Agree. And sometimes it's good to take a break for a day or two and go riding or do something else then come back to it a little less aggravated with it.

ya, you're right. But its incredibly frustrating for me considering that I'm having to drive my truck or wife's car to work everyday when I should be riding this suzuki on my hour long commute to save some money.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy taking things apart to see how they work and fixing them when they go bad. But when something is down for months on end, and seems to stop working for no reason because the motorcycle gods have frowned upon my bike, it chaps my ass. I make too much money to have a junker that gets worked on more than it gets ridden, and its worth more to me to throw money at the problem and fix it than spend time working on it to no avail. I work a 50-60 hour week and have 2 hours drive time in my commute everyday. My spare time is worth gold to me.

If ammo wasn't so scarce right now this bike would be my new target stand out in the pasture.

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I will keep trying.