throttle sticking... well sort of.

**iandicke** · 07-24-2010, 07:50 PM

I have a 2002 and the throttle seems to be sticking. However, it's not the throttle spring diaphragm that sticks, it seems to be something internal. When I bring it up 2-3k rpms in neutral, there's no problem and I can see that the springs snap back as they should. The same goes for pulling the throttle all of the back with the bike off. Everything snaps back into place as it should. But when I'm accelerating and really laying on the throttle and I pull in the clutch, it will not go back to idle speed very quickly. In fact it seems to rev higher and higher because there's no resistance from the gears. It will eventually go back to idle speed, but it takes 4-5 seconds. (making it quite difficult to accelerate smoothly through the gears)

I don't think this is the spring diaphragm sticking in this case either, but of course I can't watch it while I'm driving. Any help would be much appreciated.

**Guba** · 07-24-2010, 08:13 PM

Possibly some varnish? Recommend some Sea Foam. If it's gummy inside it'll disolve it.

**flitecontrol** · 07-24-2010, 08:53 PM

Do you still get the delayed response even when you manually twist/close the throttle?

**GearJammer** · 07-25-2010, 04:20 AM

Sounds like the slide (what Honda calls the carb piston) is sticking a bit when you get beyond the lower rpm range. With the bike OFF and you twist the throttle wide open, there's no gas or vacuum pressure in the equation and your throttle snaps back......when running, you've got fuel and vacuum pressure inside there and it sounds like that's when it's hanging up in the upper rpm range. The SeaFoam as Guba suggests might do the trick....

**iandicke** · 07-25-2010, 06:35 PM

Well, I ran a bit of seafoam through it and let it sit for about 24 hours. The problem persists. I didn't use a very high concentration of it, so I suppose I could try to ride off or siphon out some of the gas in the tank and put the rest of the bottle of seafoam in there. After putting in the seafoam yesterday, I rode it for about 10 miles to work the stuff into the whole system.

So I have the same issue if I rev the engine very high when its in neutral as well. However, in that case it just gets stuck and I have to pop it into first and ease the clutch to slow the engine back down. This still happens if I twist the throttle back forward, so I don't think its an issue of sticky throttle cables.

**flitecontrol** · 07-25-2010, 06:58 PM

An easier way to up the concentration of Sea Foam is to remove the carb drain screw, get the gas out, replace screw and use a syringe/turkey baster/whatever works to fill the carb with straight Sea Foam and let it sit. You can catch the Sea Foam when you drain it from the carb and use it in the gas. May need to run through a coffee filter if it picks up any sediment.

If that doesn't work, you may need to clean the carbs and replace any defective parts.

**GearJammer** · 07-25-2010, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GearJammer

Sounds like the slide (what Honda calls the carb piston) is sticking a bit when you get beyond the lower rpm range. With the bike OFF and you twist the throttle wide open, there's no gas or vacuum pressure in the equation and your throttle snaps back......when running, you've got fuel and vacuum pressure inside there and it sounds like that's when it's hanging up in the upper rpm range. The SeaFoam as Guba suggests might do the trick....

Sorry for any confusion, "iandicke".......I don't think your throttle cables are sticking, I think it's possible that your "vacuum piston" inside the carb might be hanging up when it's been pulled higher up in the carb body as you give it more throttle. Under the carb top, you've got the "vacuum piston" (a slide with a rubber diaphragm on the top of it and a spring that slides inside of that). My guess is that something in that area is causing it to hang up......

**iandicke** · 07-30-2010, 04:25 PM

Thanks to all for the advice. I tried everything flitecontrol recommended, but to no avail. Now I'm debating whether I should clean the carbs myself or take it in.

**flitecontrol** · 07-30-2010, 04:45 PM

If you look on this forum for the How-To on carb disassembly, it is pretty straight forward. I think the container of carb soak I bought was $20 or less. One will clean a lot of carbs. Once the carb is removed, disassembled, and soaked (metal parts only!), the orifices should be blown out with compressed air. Wear eye protection to avoid getting it in your eyes. Then reassemble and install. If you have a service manual it will have detailed instructions.

If you decide to have it done, check around for prices. Removing the carb yourself will greatly reduce the cost involved. I know Jack's (Jack's Rebel Warehouse - Rebel Catalog, Honda Rebel parts and accessories) and carbworx.com offer carb cleaning services. Believe carbworx charges around $40 per carb plus parts and shipping charges.

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