Liquifire Help

Post by **guitardude081** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 8:33 am

Jeff (Prodj69jd) and I finally got out to ride. My Liquifire seems to be far from perfect. We made it across the lake, and my brake adjuster came loose. When we came back, we had to go up a hill, and Jeff's Sport made it right up. I goosed the throttle on the Liq, and all of a sudden it wouldn't take any load. Once I got up to around 35mph, it ran fine. We milked it over to the Paul Bunyan park, and loaded it up. We found out that the track adjuster bolt came loose. It wasn't even contacting the rear axle. Would this cause the sled to act like it wouldn't handle a load? My other problem is that the crankcase keeps filling with gas after I shut the sled off. Every time we unhook the impulse line, and drain the case, it fires right up. It doesn't want to idle on it's own, and it's a bitch to start after it's been running. It also seems that my thermostat isn't opening. The lower hose on the radiatior leaks, but it seems that it leaks because there's too much pressure. I thought my head was leaking coolant but the thermostat cover is dripping down on it. Everything has been gone through, the carbs have been rebuilt once, and cleaned twice. Does anyone have any advice on what is wrong. It's been 13 months, and all I want to do is ride the damn thing, but it's been giving me problems every step of the way.
~Jack

harleysportster · Post by **harleysportster** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 11:02 am

Jack,
The crankcase is loading up with gas either from a leaky diaphram in the fuel pump or the needle/seats in the carbs are bad. The excessive coolant pressure is caused by a bad (sticking closed) thermostat.
Repairs needed:

Test the impulse port of the fuel pump with a carb tester, or just rebuild it anyway.
Test the needle/seats in the carbs with a carb tester, or replace if in dault. Another simple way to test the carbs, remove them and place them in a bowl upright and let them set over night(tank fuel valve on). If the bowl fills up with gas, the needle /seats need cleaned or replaced.

Test the thermostat by removing it and placing it in a pot of boiling water. With a cooking thermometer, measure the water temp. when you see the stat opening, compare the temp. reading to what it should be. More than likely it needs replaced.

Danzig · Post by **Danzig** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:11 pm

The themostat should open at 108 degrees.

bob15 · Post by **bob15** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 8:53 pm

You can also pressure test the cooling system with a radiator pressure tester (Stant #12270). This will also make sure there isn't any other water leaks.

bob

Post by **guitardude081** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:24 am

The carbs are rebuilt, but the kit I bought had the wrong needles and seats, so the originals had to be reused. I have to replace the thermostat gasket, so the thermostat will probably go in with it. Where do I get a thermostat? I just need to get the thing tuned so that it will start right away, and not leak fuel. The sled didn't get overly warm, but it seems that the lower hose on the radiator may be bad. The key question that I have is if one of the track adjustment bolts came loose, would the sled not want to act under load? Once it hit 35 mph, it was fine. It is definatley a fast sled because I barely goosed it, and it took off on me. I want to have this thing reliable by the time I go to Sandy. I don't want to ride my buddies 89 Jag if I don't have to.
~Jack

Danzig · Post by **Danzig** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:46 am

Found you a thermostat on DKtrader located on e-bay. $9.99 Item #4590629120.

MuskyBear · Post by **MuskyBear** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:11 pm

I also had that same problem with mine where the gas leaks into the engine and floods it out making it real hard to start. I put a gas shut off valve in the line from the tank to the fuel pump, then open the hood shut the fuel off, let it idel for a min. then turn the motor off, never had a problem after I did that. You need the needle and seats with the viton tip, but they are expensive.

Post by **guitardude081** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:43 pm

Danzig, that is not for the 80's liquifires. It has a different gasket, housing and part number all together. As for the viton needles, I have those. I think a float is still sticking open. WILL A MISSING TRACK ADJUSTER BOLT CAUSE THE SLED TO NOT HANDLE A LOAD VERY WELL? I can probably tackle the carb problem, but I want to make sure that my load problem is exactly what I think it is.
~Jack