Well I pulled the tank, drained about 1/2 tank of fuel and a large piece (2"x3") of what ever coating they used came out with it. Upon further inspection I could see that most of the coating on the left side is peeling away. Next I inspected the bowls and found cylinder 1 had basically no fuel, 2nd had about half full, 3rd 3/4 and 4th had about half. All had a little dirt/debris at the bottom and were cleaned out prior to re-installation.
Then I pulled the petcock and it was filthy and the bowl was full of garbage and the stem had a slit down the center about 80% of the way to the base. Cleaned the screen and put everything back together and filled her up with a half tank of fresh fuel and fired her up. She seemed to run fine so I took her around the block and she seemed to be running fine once again. I then decided to do an oil/filter change since the previous owner wasn't sure was last done. He guesstimated about 3/4K miles which is to long in my opinion...
Oil was filthy as well so I'm glad I did it. So feeling a little confident I went out with a buddy for about 2 hours and she ran great the entire time except when it came time to go home. I guess she doesn't like her new home haha... Pulled over after she started hesitating really bad like last night and was a little puzzled and upset yet again as she was leaving me stranded 6 miles from home. I decided to smack the cylinder 1 bowl thinking maybe the float got stuck and tried swaying the bike back and forth to un-lodge any possible coating from the petcock, tried starting her and after a little bit of a stubble she seemed to fire up and cleaned up after a few seconds. Drove her the 6 miles home and she ran good.
So I'm assuming it might have been the floats getting stuck or the petcock getting clogged by the peeling coating or a combination of the two. When I had the bowls down I didn't notice any of them stuck or sticky while articulating them up and down. So for now she's running and all seems ok. I think I'm going to replace the petcock as I don't think it should have that split running down the stem and replace the fuel lines as one looked a little dryand brittle on the outside. Thanks for all the replies and suggestions and I hope to some day be able to be the one giving some helpful advice but for the time being i'll listen, read and try to absorb as much knowledge as possible!
Safe motoring guys...
Joe
