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2004 KLR-650: Draining the Carburetor Bowl

Warning

I am not a mechanic or a representative of any motorcycle or tool manufacturer or anything else official. This page is only my notes on doing this procedure myself. I have read the service manual, and so should you. Although I believe what I have documented here is correct, I make no promises and you do this at your own risk.

Objective

Water and debris can build up in your carburetor, after long storage or riding in dirty or wet conditions. There is a drain that allows you to bleed such contaminated gas out of the bowl. My service manual suggests doing this every 5000 km or after a winter’s storage. Draining the carb is also good practice before winter storage to avoid having gelled gas varnish the inside of the carburetor.

Tools Required

Potential Difficulties

Procedure

Locate the carburetor, on the right side of the bike just under where your knee would be.
Carb drain location
Inspect the carb closely. At the bottom is a small drain nipple, and a small drain screw.
Drain components
Connect a short length of gas line hose to the drain nipple.
Attach drain hose
And run the house into a container on the ground.

In this photo, the end of the hose wouldn’t stay in the container — it kept wanting to curl up. So I just ran it through the hole in the handle of a pair of scissors, and that kept it in place in the container.

Hose to container
Loosen the drain screw about two turns. It uses a 3mm hex wrench.
Loosen drain screw
Let the gas drain for a few seconds, until any apparent water or debris stops, then close the drain screw firmly.
Gas draining

Congratulations, you are done. You may find the bike a bit harder to start next time, since the carb bowl is empty. That will be a one-time thing.