2002 Yamaha V-star 650 Custom - turns over but then dies
The bike was serviced by a shop ~12 months ago and got a full carb cleaning (and a few other minor things). I rode it a couple of times and noticed it was idling high, so I reduced the idle screw a few turns to where it idled smoothly when hot.
After a couple rides, life got busy and it went back into storage. Before storage, I put in a fresh tank of gas w/ added fuel stabilizer, I shut off the fuel petcock and then opened the drains on the carb bowls to empty any remaining gas, and closed those screws again.
Last week, I pulled it out of the garage and tried to turn it on. When I turned on the petcock, it leaked, and I saw the shop replaced the replaced the spring clamp that holds the fuel line to the petcock with a worm gear clamp, and there was a tiny cut in the line there; I trimmed a centimeter off the line, re-clamped it, and put it back on, and the leak is gone.
When I powered on the bike, it ran for a few seconds then stalled out. Repeatedly trying to start it did nothing. I tried fiddling with the choke, with no luck. If I let it sit for a few minutes, it turns over for a few seconds, then dies again.
I thought maybe the gas was stale or the carbs were clogged, so I unclamped the fuel line and drained ~1.5 gallons (all my gas can had capacity for) and added two 16 oz bottles of sea foam. I tried putting a little bit of sea foam straight down the fuel line, to get a higher mix in the carbs, but even a trickle was backing up and spilling over the top of the tube.
My fear is that the carb got clogged again, but as I think about, I'm leaning towards the fuel filter being clogged. That would explain both why it's starving out AND why the tube wouldn't accept more liquid. It makes some sense to me that, with the petcock closed and the bowl drains open, the fuel line would still be holding fuel (since it has no air return to allow it to drain) and that fuel in the filter could have gummed up over a year of sitting idle. Unfortunately changing the filter means taking off the seats, tank, and fuel line again, but that's a lot better than taking the carb out and cleaning it.
Can I get your feedback and ideas, before I launch into that?