XV535 carb problem cure

Nothing much to see here, I'm just recording a cure for a Virago carburation
problem so it can be Googled for as it seems quite a common thing.

My XV535 was bogging down at high revs and I was having to back off the
throttle to make the engine rev any faster. I suspected the diaphragms might
be damaged so had them out, polished up the slides, checked for splits etc.
Nothing; all perfect. Balanced the carbs to no avail, weakened the mixture,
new plugs, cleaned out the air filter, checked the intakes for air leaks...
nuffin helped.

I took the carbs off and removed every single jet to make sure they were
clean, which is where I discovered a potential problem: inside each float
chamber is a jet block with three holes in the bottom (a novelty which may
well appeal to some). Two of these holes contain a jet, which can be
unscrewed and cleaned, and the other is just a blind hole. The two jet holes
are supposed to be blanked off with rubber bungs which look like top hats.
If these have been removed at any time it would be easy to forget them, or
to put them in the wrong two of the three available holes.. This is what had
happened with mine. Simply swapping one of the bungs into the correct
orifice cured the bogging-down completely and it now revs like a mad
bastard. Or as close as a 535cc V-twin can get to being a mad bastard.
Definitely better anyway. The bungs do go a bit soft too, so could leak
petrol past.

I also bent the tabs on each float up very slightly to weaken the mixture a
bit as the plugs indicated it was running a bit rich.

That's it. Done my bit for mankind today. I'm off for a beer.

 

It's always nice to sort a problem like that.

 

Mmm that wont weaken the mixture

 

That was my thinking too but Mr Clymer says "d. Carefully adjust the tang
(Figure 50) on the float. Bending the float upward very slightly to lower
the fuel level; bend the tang downward to raise the fuel level. If the fuel
level is set too high, the result with be a rich air-fuel mixture. If it is
set too low, the mixture will be too lean.
e. Install the needle valve, float and float bowl.

9. Install the carburetor assembly and repeat this procedure until both fuel
levels are correct.

CAUTION

The floats on both carburetors must be adjusted to the correct position to
maintain the same air-fuel mixture to each cylinder."

....So I thought 'Who am I to argue with him?'