RF900...great bike ...won't start today
 

I had a valve adj.@ 25k , bike ran great. @ the same time I bought a Victory sport cruiser so I didn't ride the RF much , less than 700 mi. since 4/07/06. At some time I added oil to the engine to top it off. I usually don't ride very hard in terms of high RPM , just cruise maybe 90ish max. I usually shift @ maybe 4krpm or less. About 2 weeks before the 4th of July I ran the bike @ idle just to keep the carbs' fuel fresh, I blipped the throttle a few times , to around 6k rpm to blow out some carbon and then let it rest. On the 4th of Juuly weekend I worked on the sprockets/chain and had to start it, it started ok and it idled a few minutes thats all.
Ten days later I worked on the sprockets, had it all done and now the bike went from bad to worse. It wouldnt idle., I thought it was flooding but it wasn't getting enough gas., when I turned the throttle when starting it would just do a turnover like it wanted to run,.it would only run when the throttle was all the way and badly @ that. I pulled the plugs.....the were oily...??????? I look at the owners manual and it said too much oil would make it hard to start. I clean the plugs and try to get the oil to pass through a few times....clean plug ...try to start.. again... I also drained out some oil to bring it to the lower level. The bike still wont start and even backfires. If there was too much oil in the crankcase when I was blipping the throttle earlier ,around 6000 rpm,what did it do. Is it possible the fuel pump died too and maybe wide open throttle is the only was it would run???
What would happen if I spray starting fluid into the airbox??? Would it flame back??Any suggestions? :eek: If I had to reset the idle speed adjustment how would I go about it if the bike won't start. Is clockwise for higher rpm?

RE: RF900...great bike ...won't start today
 

I don't know your particular modle but from my limited experience yes clock wise is more fuel for the idle. The first thing you should check is the fuel filter. If you don't have one then read the rest of this post.
The bad news is it sounds just like what was wrong with my GS850 when I tried to bring it back from the grave. Rust scale settled on the floats and needles. It seems like it happened rather quickly in your case but none the less thats what it sounds like. My only option was to tear down the carbs and clean all the internals with gas and a toothbrush. If you do this start by getting four small boxes labeld 1 through 4 and keep all your parts in the proper box do not take a part from carb 1 and put it in any other carb etc... you can leave the carbs attached to each other just remove the top caps, diaphram and needle from the top and the fuel bowl from the bottom. If you tap the bowl lightly a few times after removing the screws it should come off with out damaging the gasket or atleast mine did. Run a light fine wire through any ports and jets make sure you take off all the yellowish tarnish from everything you can. Dip the carb bodies in gas and swish around scrub and repeat. Be mindful not to damage or bend the floats. Scrub like hell put it all back together. But before you start the motor back up get you an inline filter with the finest element you can find and install it. Hopefully the first part of the post helped you if not good luck with the cleaning.