VS800 Carb Maintenance

Hello everyone,

I bought a 2000 Intruder 800 last year and have been enjoying it ever since. I noticed when I got it she was in desperate need of a carb cleaning, but procrastination winning i havent gotten around to it. Last week i noticed that my front carb was pushing fuel through the vent/over flow tube. From my experience this is normal a sticky float. I have done some research and it seem there is a couple of things that could cause this.

 Have any of you had this issue before?

I have also read that these carbs can be difficult getting back into sync if you have to remove them. I will admit this is beyond my scope of knowledge. After removing and cleaning would i need to have these carbs re-synced?  If so, should i just take it to a trusted mechanic and let him do the whole job?

When removing the carbs do you all recommend doing a rebuild, if so what kits have you used?

Thank you in advance for your opinions and wisdom.

Hi Ron, I have no experience with the VS sorry, From your explanation and own experience with sticking float valve's, would it not be best to try running a couple of tanks of fuel additive/cleaner through first before taking the carbs out, maybe that might clear the issue? Also, are the float bowls removable without taking the carbs out? that might give access to the float valve for inspection without need to re set things up?.

That is a good question I will do some follow up pictures and videos tomorrow

[url=[/url]">the float bowl is in a tight spot the diaphragm is accessible from the top.

Going by the title, the best carb maintenance I know of is regular redex being put in the fuel tank

I have the 2001 VS model, and haven't had any problems with it yet, but it only has 3000 miles on it, and I've only owned for about six weeks and rode it a handful of times. That being said, my boss, (who's a bike junkie), said it may be wise to run some carb or injector cleaner through  a tankful of gas as Sim noted just to keep things well as they are. I was wondering if any of you pros had a suggestion for what may work best? Since the bike is normally aspirated, would injector cleaner serve just as well, or is there a "carburated" specific cleaner that will work better in the fashion of a fuel additive in the tank? I've heard a fair amount of discussions about Seafoam brand, but don't know anything about it, and don't want waste money on something if it's just the popularity of a brand name. Grateful for any suggestions in the right direction...