How much does it cost to have the carbs cleaned?

[Davezter]

Hi everyone,

I bought an 02 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic. It ran fine the day I bought it, but when I got it home we had a period of really bad weather followed by an ice storm. The motorcycle has been in my garage now for about a month and today I tried to get it started. I charged the battery and could hear it trying to start, but couldn't get anything to happen. Yes, the fuel switch was on, the ignition was on, engine switch was on... so it was something else.

I called around to the local Yamaha shop here in OKC and they said that they thought it could be the carbs and was told that if that was what was wrong with it, then it would be between $210-$280 to have them cleaned.

This seems pretty high to me, but being a total newb I have no idea. I just don't want to be a total sucker, so I thought I'd post here and see if anyone had any thoughts.

Thanks,
Dave

[mgdavis]

I don't think you should need a carb cleaning after just a month.

I'd try some Stabil in the tank first, or drain the fuel and refill with known good fuel.

[badinfluence63]

I sent my S&S Super B back to Wisconsin (I think that was the state) for like 100-150$ and they totally R&R'ed it. That was about 10 years ago though. It was like brand new! I was happy.

[Lion_Lady]

You've got to understand that you basically asked the shop to diagnose the problem without even examining the "patient."

Would you do that with your car?

Would you actually expect an auto mechanic to be able to tell you what the problem is, based on your description, AND to tell you how much it will cost, over the PHONE?

If he told you it was something else, and was going to cost $50, you'd take the bike right over, wouldn't you? And what if the problem was something else and ended up costing twice or three times as much? You'd really be ticked off, huh?

So. Better for the shop to high-ball somewhat, and be thought heroes when the problem is much simpler and cheaper to fix, than the reverse. Take it IN.

P

[Davezter]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I took it to the shop that guessed it might have been gunky carbs, but it turned out that it was only the spark plugs when they took a look at it. While I was there I went ahead and had them perform the second service. I was in and out in 1.5 hrs for a total of $170. Not sure if that's good or not, but it's less than it would have been if they'd tried to get me to clean the carbs.

-- Dave

[Lion_Lady]

Yeah, carbs are teeny tiny, with little delicate pieces. Takes about an hour to disassemble, before cleaning. A real PITA, and therefore expen$ive for a shop to do.

P

[DivideOverflow]

Yeah, carbs are teeny tiny, with little delicate pieces. Takes about an hour to disassemble, before cleaning. A real PITA, and therefore expen$ive for a shop to do.

P

It might take a shop an "hour" to disassemble some carbs... I had all 4 of my VFR carbs off and prepped within 30 minutes. Soaked all the metal bits for an hour (or whatever the time requirement was) in a carb cleaner bucket, and had em assembled and mounted in another 40 minutes, and that was with about 10 minutes of head scratching to make sure I was doing it right.

You can just get the haynes/clymer manual for your bike and do a lot of this stuff yourself (if you have time and are even the least bit mechanically inclined). The manuals go through everything step by step.