Pilot screw broke

[popkat]

Anyone had this happen before ?, Bike not been ridden for 10 years, started a year ago but ran badly, no surprise there. carbs pretty clean in the float bowls but pilot jets blocked, got them all sorted but when checking the pilot screws the front one was all gooey but cleaned up easy, the rear one left the thin piece in the hole. I think this is a blind hole so no pushing it out, tried tapping the carbs to drop it out but think it's being held with goo, keeping spraying brake cleaner on it but not holding much hope. Seems a shame as the carbs looked to have come up good, but if I can't get it out need new carbs. only want some off a standard un messed with running bike.
Or if anyone's had the same problem and got it out how did you do it ?.

Oh and not being rude, I know what I'm doing so don't need obvious suggestions, thanks

[tony.mon]

Will a very small easy-out screw into it?
Or, last resort, try drilling into the piece with a slightly larger drill than the hole; it will bite and try to screw in on the spiral flutes of the drill, being brass, and if you can stop the drill quick enough it may jam inside the piece and you can rotate it as you pull.

Never seen this before.
Good luck with it...

[Varastorm]

This sounds bad,

I would try heat, no naked flame but a soldering iron with a thin ground tip. Hold it on the remains of the pilot to hopefully heat & melt the old fuel gum. Then use a heavy duty sowing needle to wiggle it free.

Be Very careful though, buckets of water & water soaked blankets at the ready & the camera so you can film it if it goes wrong & get a few quid back from you've been framed

[lloydie]

I've had this happen before , it's the very tip of the mixture screw that snapped off ,
I had to replace the carb as I couldn't get it out (even with lube) .



Lube, no lube, it's your choice .

[popkat]

This sounds bad,

I would try heat, no naked flame but a soldering iron with a thin ground tip. Hold it on the remains of the pilot to hopefully heat & melt the old fuel gum. Then use a heavy duty sowing needle to wiggle it free.

Be Very careful though, buckets of water & water soaked blankets at the ready & the camera so you can film it if it goes wrong & get a few quid back from you've been framed

Now there's an idea, I've soldered brass before on a choke plunger (not storm carbs) where the end snapped off and it held really well. So if I tin the tip it might pull it out or rest the iron on the broken bit and switch it off it might solder the tip of the iron to the brass then pull out when cooled down, probably won't work but worth a try. good call Vara

It'll have to wait until Tuesday when I'm back at work.

[popkat]

I've had this happen before , it's the very tip of the mixture screw that snapped off ,
I had to replace the carb as I couldn't get it out (even with lube) .



Lube, no lube, it's your choice .

That's whats happened, pain in the butt as I would have had the bike running today, I tried grease on the end of some lockwire to try and pull it out but the goo is holding it tight, tried penetrating fluid and that did nothing to loosen it.

I need to pull the carbs of my bike again so going to check the pilots on that too now I've seen this, should be ok as it's not stood for anywhere near the time of the other one, but worth a look to sure.

[lloydie]

That is a good idea


Lube, no lube, it's your choice .

[thunderbolt]

A couple of thoughts.
Spray carb cleaner is better and more effective than brake cleaner in my experience.
There has to be an idea around compressed air that can be used to blow it out.
Good Luck

[NZSpokes]

I would agree on a air blast. 120psi or so. But you will need to block the other passages with your fingers.

Oh and dont look down at it when you do it.

Worth a crack. Spray some cleaner down all the other passages to.

[sirch345]

I need to pull the carbs of my bike again so going to check the pilots on that too now I've seen this, should be ok as it's not stood for anywhere near the time of the other one, but worth a look to sure.

That's something I need to do on my Storm's carbs, I think I'll leave it for now until nearer the end of the summer after hearing about this problem, although my bike hasn't been standing for 10yrs either, so hopefully it will be okay.

Good luck with getting the broken bit out Malc,

Chris.

[Varastorm]

That's something I need to do on my Storm's carbs, I think I'll leave it for now until nearer the end of the summer after hearing about this problem, although my bike hasn't been standing for 10yrs either, so hopefully it will be okay.Good luck with getting the broken bit out Malc,Chris.

I don't think you'll have any problems if you use the bike often Chris. I think this is a very extreme case of gummy old fuel Chris.

I have an old set which I cannibalise for bits when playing around with jetting & they are in a pretty bad gummed up state.

It took me close to half an hour to clean the emulsion tubes the other day, but are no were near as bad as Popcat's.

[8541Hawk]

Just to add a little bit of info on pilot jets.

That small hole down the middle actually turns into 3 smaller holes inside the jet.
You can see this if you look through a clean jet.

It is also why I don't spend much time cleaning pilot jets, I tend to just replace them as the time it takes to actually get them clean once gummed up is not cost effective for me.

[tony.mon]

Sonic cleaners do the trick well enough.

Pity the bloke who has to stand there all day with a pilllar drill making those.....

[sirch345]

That's something I need to do on my Storm's carbs, I think I'll leave it for now until nearer the end of the summer after hearing about this problem, although my bike hasn't been standing for 10yrs either, so hopefully it will be okay.Good luck with getting the broken bit out Malc,Chris.

I don't think you'll have any problems if you use the bike often Chris. I think this is a very extreme case of gummy old fuel Chris.

I have an old set which I cannibalise for bits when playing around with jetting & they are in a pretty bad gummed up state.

It took me close to half an hour to clean the emulsion tubes the other day, but are no were near as bad as Popcat's.

Thanks Phil for the vote of confidence I just noticed recently when I went to adjust the rear air screw it didn't want to turn easily, so I didn't force it, I'll wait until I take the carbs off so I can see what's going on better. The bike is not left for more than six to eight weeks at a time so hopefully will be okay.

Apologies for thread high-jack,

Chris.

[E.Marquez]

I deal with this a lot.

Many of my trainer bikes use a small 26mm Mikuni carb with the fuel screw on the top of the carb,, it collects moisture and debris and when you try and remove, it seizes in place.

And I do the seized screw extraction for a few local shops as I have a much better success rate than most of them.

I removed them with heat and left hand screw extractor.
Carb goes in the sonic tank for 30 min, tempo set to 65 degC
carb out, i use a bottoming tap to chase the threads to the top of the screw

Get the mill hold down set up correct, carb back in sonic tank for another warming dip, then straight to the mil..(good drill press should work as well)
I use a centering counter bore mil tool to get a hole started dead center of the screw (mill end cutter is more rigid and less likely to wander off center then a drill bit)
Then switch to a left hand screw remover, that is left hand cutter on one end, tapered remover on the other..If not seized badly the left hand cutter will grip enough to back out the screw....if not, flip the cutter to the screw remover end and that bits right in and backs out the damaged fuel screw.

Run the tap in the threads almost all the way to the bottom.. DONT GO TILL BOTTOMED OUT.. you you will ruin the tapered seat.

Test fit new screw.. install O ring, washer and spring new screw.. your back in biz.

Pictures of a few seized extractions can be seen at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marquez- ... 4583883162