| Author | Message | ||
     Rick_a |
The other day my Suzuki DR650SE acted like it ran out of fuel...yet it idled and started fine. It could be ridden at roughly 15MPH in 1st gear. The SuperTrapp race muffler I had on it has had to be repaired on occasion due to vibration related failures. I feared the core may have come loose causing a blockage against the end cap...that said...it felt more like a fueling issue. I checked the simple stuff first...wiring (chafing is a constant issue), coil, blockages in fuel and vent lines, etc. Finally, I decided to remove and inspect the carb. It was remarkably clean for a 36,000MI bike that sees a lot of use in bad weather and occasional use offroad. Everything looked fine on initial inspection so the first thing removed was the main jet...which seemed a long shot considering the cleanliness of all fuel system components. It was obviously blocked. What came out of it was a tiny ant. It must have crawled in through the unfiltered float bowl vent and made it's way in there. I've never seen or heard of that happening before. Anyway, it coincided with the arrival of a Delkevic muffler, which was a strange coincidence. That muffler is stunningly well made for the money (despite having to literally wrestle the link pipe) and sounds boss. It's all stainless vs the alloy SuperTrapp body that has been a source for years of frustration. | ||
| 86129squids |
Got the little bastards invading my kitchen...   Guess I'll be putting out the Advion gel later. | ||
| Etennuly |
Had exactly that problem on a motor home generator carb. Just one little shit got in there. It was still alive when it came out. It lived for about five minutes submerged in gas. Tough little buggar. | ||
| Ratbuell |
have fun with stinkbugs in the motorhome water heater and furnace. They smell so GOOOOOODDDD when they're on fire! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Weird! I never heard of this ever. Perhaps northern ants fear death more? Less curious? | ||
| Bandm |
https://imgur.com/a/5KSaIrP | ||
| 86129squids |
Joe- ewww! I hate those little F'ers. Had the bright idea one day to feed one to my big leaf fish, usually hits electrified houseflies like a bigmouth bass... spit it right back out. | ||
| Airbozo |
I had a colony of ants setup house in one of my drain lines near the garden. Couldn't understand why it kept backing up in the summer. Put a snake down the hole and pissed the buggers off and as they started to swarm, the snake broke something free. It was fun to watch thousands of ants and eggs wash down into the creek. Grants Kills Ants have always worked for me (but they do contain arsenic). Use the Tezro bait traps that contain Boric Acid and are not as toxic, but work almost as well.Wipes out the entire colony and in my shed at least, there is now 2 huge piles of ants. Looks like the few survivors push out the dead ones before dying themselves. | ||
| 86129squids |
AirBZ- fire ants? Yeesh. Someone said you could pour a bottle of Dawn or some other specific brand of liquid soap on the mound, it'd dissolve their exoskeletons. IIRC the same brand they use to clean oil off of wildlife after an oil spill disaster. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The oily bird brand is Dawn, IIRC. | ||
| Rick_a |
We used to have fire ants out back...but the wife killed them all off. In our house we get some sugar ants in the summer...they tend to like any of the sweet coffee creamers if spilled on the counter in even the slightest, most diluted of films...and the cat food...even from a gasket sealed container if they can find it. For the bike ants, those came from the work parking lot. After a hard rain the ants end up all over the bike. | ||
| Ducbsa |
Oily bird? Sounds like something from a British porn site? | ||
| Aesquire |
There are fatalities every year, when insects & but nests, clog pitot tubes giving out to airspeed and altitude instruments on airplanes. More, from clogged fuel vents. When the fuel flow is impeded, often during the climb after take off, engine stoppages are a major cause of aviation fatalities. There are terms..... "The impossible turn" is the often failed attempt to reverse course to get back to the runway, too low, slow and out of space & time. More terms, stalls & "departure spins", "controlled flight into terrain". Jokes. The "cooling fan", aka the propeller. "When the cooling fan stops, the pilot starts to sweat". It's a too common problem. |
