[kfthompson]

It has been a long while since I have been in these pages and it shows. I have recently decided to part with my 2008 Military and upon readying her for departure, she has not been very nice. She won't run. I cleaned the carb, fresh gas, a gentle talking to and a whole lot of kicking did nothing to aid this. If I spray starting fluid in the cylinder it will start and run until it is gone. The carb is not spraying or idling. It was working fine when I parked it in the garage. I won't talk about how long ago that was. Question 1: could it be the diaphragm? Can I get that from Mikuni? Part #? (I guess that was more than one q) Question #2-Would it be better to just buy another UCAL and swap the jets? Question #3: Is there another cheaper bolt on solution (PWK 30MM) that would fix the issue? I am trying to help the gentleman that is buying the bike because he doesn't have any mechanical inclinations and I want him to enjoy the bike. He is offering to buy the parts and pay me to fix it. I want to do the best thing. Thanks to all in advance. You guys were a great help about nine years ago when I had this beast on the road. It is still louder than my sportster!

[kfthompson]

Thought you might want to see her before she is gone.

[Nitrowing]

Have you access to an ultrasonic cleaner?
Popped my carb in one and it cured a lot of problems

[AzCal Retred]

"I am trying to help the gentleman that is buying the bike because he doesn't have any mechanical inclinations and I want him to enjoy the bike."

That's an impossibility right up front. Better all around to find another buyer, the amount of post-sale squealing will be quite large. If that atechnical guy had Leno-grade money for a paid on call mechanic, it'd already be in his collection. Save yourself the hassle of a few months of "warrantee work" phone calls. It's not possible to enjoy a 1940's tech machine without being willing to interact with it; sell him a 3' x 5' picture of your machine for $50 and put that towards another sales ad. 

[tooseevee]

It has been a long while since I have been in these pages and it shows. I have recently decided to part with my 2008 Military and upon readying her for departure, she has not been very nice. She won't run. I cleaned the carb, fresh gas, a gentle talking to and a whole lot of kicking did nothing to aid this. If I spray starting fluid in the cylinder it will start and run until it is gone. The carb is not spraying or idling. It was working fine when I parked it in the garage. I won't talk about how long ago that was. Question 1: could it be the diaphragm? Can I get that from Mikuni? Part #? (I guess that was more than one q) Question #2-Would it be better to just buy another UCAL and swap the jets? Question #3: Is there another cheaper bolt on solution (PWK 30MM) that would fix the issue? I am trying to help the gentleman that is buying the bike because he doesn't have any mechanical inclinations and I want him to enjoy the bike. He is offering to buy the parts and pay me to fix it. I want to do the best thing. Thanks to all in advance. You guys were a great help about nine years ago when I had this beast on the road. It is still louder than my sportster!

      If you change carbs now you will have a possibly long, possibly slow and frustrating learning curve of dialing it in and I don't think you want that.

      Also if you put on a different carb that you haven't been intimate with, you are going to be on the phone with the new owner for the rest of your life.

       The tiniest, tiniest, tiniest piece of grit in the Pilot will do what you describe. Happened to me once and I swore it was clear. Took it out again and got in the direct sun with a loupe-type maggerfrying grass and there it was.

      And put a new plug in. These engines eat plugs until you hit on the right one. My engine was fouling plugs in a week. It took me a lot of years and even then I got some of the brand that finally worked really well once and it fouled. Looked closer and found that some of that brand are Made in USA and others are Hecho en Mexico. You can't take ANYthing at face value any more.

[Bilgemaster]

Nice sporty-looking old AVL. From your description I'd guess it's just a dirty carb. You say  you cleaned it. Well, you gotta clean it again...and maybe again after that until she's happy again. Tales of folks with long-mothballed bikes thinking  they cleaned up a cobwebby old carb, but only experiencing success on the 2nd or even 3rd whack at it are so common as to best be considered Standard Operating Procedure. Don't change carbs. That's just opening a fresh and extra-crawly new can of worms. If it was running when parked last, then you've likely just got a crudlet or five harshing your buzz.

There are all sorts of techniques for carb cleaning found in the Forum Archives (guitar strings or copper strands unwound from electrical wiring to clean the cruds out of those jets, "SeaFoam Shock Treatment" for just expelling light "winter layup cruds", Q-Tip-in-a-drill with polishing compound, valve grinding paste or even Crest toothpaste for fuel-level float needle aperture buffing to clear out sticky-needle fuel starvation or over-filling carb bowl gremlins, or indeed a nice ultrasonic cleaner, as has already been recommended--maybe surest of all).

I'd recommend that a good cost-effective place to start might be to pull the carb and just toss it into one of these $20ish tubs from Wallyworld to just marinate for a couple-few days, followed by a little "quality time" with the filaments of your choice for the jets, compressed air and/or a can or three of spray carb cleaner (and WEAR EYE PROTECTION! That spray will ricochet off in all sorts strange and wonderous directions)

Source: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Parts-Cleaner-Chem-Dip-Carb/17491945

If that rousts her from her slumbers, you might then dump maybe half a can of SeaFoam or 4 ounces or so of Marvel Mystery Oil into the fuel to help ease out any recalcitrant fuel system crudlets, and ride that thing a bit to blow out the other cobwebs. Give it a nice oil change and fresh filter, and you can hand it off to that waiting "gentleman" in good conscience. Of course, by then you may then not want to sell it, being reminded why you got it in the first place.

And should that "gentleman" get a little too "unwelcomely clingy"...Well, that's what "call blocking" is for. Just refer him to us. We'll be happy to appropriately address his woes...

[kfthompson]

After all the advice here, I'm going to clean the carburetor again and see what happens. I liked the guitar string idea and a few others. I decided to just tell the guy I am not going to work on it and let him do the rest. I have to break ties or I will not part with it. I'll keep you updated.