Re: Cleaning Carbs
 

Ran some fresh fuel redex treated through my system, but turns out it was a sticky choke cable causing the issues, but can't hurt to have this in the fuel until I get some riding done.

Re: Cleaning Carbs
 

I've been using RedX for over forty years and it's never given me any problems and has always kept my carbs/fuel systems good and needing less maintenance.

I've also used it for,"Liquid De-cokes" on the top-ends.People say modern fuel is cleaner and less carbon build up but it still builds up over time from what I have seen.

I might buy one of these cheap Borescopes for giggles to have a look at the crowns of my pistons,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7mm-6-LED....c100005.m1851

Re: Cleaning Carbs
 

I don't know if the OP is still around but this is the most relevant post amongst the Redex/snake oil love in. Get a second opinion, and be prepared to stump up. A couple of hours sounds about right, the SV isn't the quickest of bikes to work on. Don't get suckered into expensive ultrasonic cleaning, unless you have literally dug your bike up from out of the ground and pulled worms from the various orifices.

Re: Cleaning Carbs
 

The most common problem with the carbed SV's is sticking choke plungers and rusty choke cables sticking because they have gone rusty after the splitter box (I always apply light oil at the splitter box whenever I am working with the tank up). Of course Redex would do nothing for this, but without a definite diagnosis and at £2.00 a bottle from Wilko I would certainly be trying it before coughing up for two hours labour.

Re: Cleaning Carbs
 

redex is cheap, easy to use and will never do any harm and could save a lot of unnecessary stripping down. Should always be first port of call with fuelling problems.

Re: Cleaning Carbs
 

+10.

Same here.As soon as I lift the tank and remove the Airbox I lube all the carb mechanisms.I use either GT85 or a bit of ACF50.So far my 1999 Curvy has not given me any Choke/Carb problems :)

"An ounce of prevention is worth a Pound of cure" :smt038

Re: Cleaning Carbs
 

Would love to know how an ultrasonic clean would be any different to pulling the jets and shoving weld tips through them (which is what 99.9% of mechanics will do) and spraying the carbs with carb cleaner (which, again, 99.9% of mechanics will do, and they won't even remove the slides so the bloody slide boots warp).

Plonk the carbs in a big enough ultrasonic cleaner, let it do it's thing, blow the holes out with an airline - this WILL sort an absolute plethora of carb issues and should cost next to nothing. Unless of course you're talking about a proper job being done...i.e. carbs stripped down to components, everything cleaned properly, reassembled then cleaned in an ultrasonic tub just to be safe...then yeah, it's not cheap, but why would it be? It's labour and skill intensive.

Re: Cleaning Carbs
 

Having had one done that sorted my carb problems (not on an SV) - I agree. The main cost was labour in removing the carbs. The actual ultrasonic clean was virtually free - in fact you can buy your own ultrasonic cleaners for not that much money.

Re: Cleaning Carbs
 

I paid Harpers Ultrasonic to sort my V4 VFR carbs (the most complex carbs to work on, period) and he did an amazing job. I had a new Lite-Tek seal kit applied to it as well, the whole carb assembly was rolled down to it's bare components and everything reassembled, the bike ran abso-bloody-lutely amazing after. The seal kit is also ethanol proof, so added long term peace of mind. Think I paid £145 all in.