1st Bike with an engine question

[CGNY87]

Been riding my 1st bike for a while and am having a small problem with it.

Its a 2007 Ninja 250, bought this July with 1100 miles on it. My only problem is that the idle seems to be too low or something. I have to keep the choke on at least a little to get the bike to idle without stalling out (even after it is warmed up). I tried adjusting the idle to a level the bike seems comfortable with (a little below 2000 rpm) and it seemed to work. It stayed there while in neutral with very little, if any, movement. But as soon as I give it a little gas and then let off it drops to 1000 rpm or lower then stalls out.

Is this normal? Im new to bikes and manual transmissions. Any simple fix for this or should I take it in to get looked at?

[BrianTSmith99]

No expert here :/ I've not had to deal with carbs in a LONG time My time will come again

Has the bike sat for a time with gas in it?

I've heard people swear by Seafoam here. And I recommended to a buddy that had a stumble off idle and I just heard it fixed it! He empied the tank, put in a can of straight Seafoam. Run that thru. It took full choke to keep it running and it STINKS. Do this in the open. Then add another can, and fill the tank with gas.

I'm sure someone else here more knowledgable will have more help!

Brian

[CGNY87]

it possibly could have...anyone have more advice?

best way to use seafoam if that is what is needed

[StarGate]

As already stated, it could be a partial blockage on the pilot jets cause by sitting too long with gas in it. Seafoam might work but I've never tried running it at full strength. I would just get a can and add some to the tank per the mfg recommendations or just slightly stronger than what the mfg recommends. If that is the cause of the problem, you should start to see some improvement in performance by the time you can run one full tank of fuel/seafoam mix through it.

[rustygunner]

Seafoam, approx. 1/4 can to a full tank of gas and go ride. Use the same amount of Seafoam and then let the bike run for about 10 minutes before you store it for winter (or for any legnth of time).

[CGNY87]

not planning on storing it yet...just trying to clean out the crap

just a note Seafoam says it will not run an engine without gas (50/50), it cant run on 100% seafoam, so emptying the tank is a not adviced

[rustygunner]

I wouldn't recommend running 100% Seafoam anyway. Maybe 1/2 can Seafoam to 3-4 gallons of gas.

[CGNY87]

well used a little over 1/3 of the bottle, with about 3 gallons in the tank then ran the bike for around 30 minutes at about 5000 - 6000 rpm. I went for a ride today, im still having the problem with the rpm needle searching then dropping off after giving it some throttle. I gotta keep the choke on so when it drops it doesn't go too low.

My sputtering at low rpms seems to be less tho.

Anyone kno how long I should give it to work? I wasn't sure how long it would take to clear any clogs

could an oil change help? i have been planning on doing one now that it is getting colder. Not sure when the last one was done

[StarGate]

Oil change isn't going to affect this problem. I would give it about 2 full tanks of mix to clear up and if it's not running right by then I'd plan on pulling the carbs and cleaning them.

[rustygunner]

Run two or three tankfulls with the Seafoam and see how it does. With only 1,100 miles on the bike when you bought it, I'd say that your carbs are gummed up.