Hello,

It's been awhile since I've been on here, my DT has been running great. I went to post this in the Suzuki
section, not surprising, there has been little activity recently, I apologize for dumping this question here, I understand if You tell me too bad.... But I need
​need some quick help, thinking this is my quickest choice, instead of logging into another forum. Trust me, I'm not a Suzuki guy, have always had DT's. I'm working on a 79 TS185 for a friend,and about to pull what's left of my hair out. It had'nt ran for 15 years, so the bowl was thoroughly cleaned, jets, passageways.
Air filter not great but ok til a new one is sourced.
I fitted an in-line fuel filter...
I've had the carb off 3 times now. First time, both
jets were not 100% clear. Subsequent times, they
we're. It started an ran after the first time, I took
it for a good ride. Now, it won't fire unless I give it 
a quick shot of fuel down the cylinder, and won't
stay running. I didn't mess with the float height.
Again, I apologize, but figured the experts here
can give me some suggestions please ? It's a 
bearcat taking the carb off and on, as the manifolds are hard plastic unlike ours that are rubber....
thank You Very much.

I guess its slightly possible its pushed the crank seal out from behind the mag [cdi mag on those] but pretty unlikely. Right side can't easily go anywhere as is inboard of the bearing. On the face of it i think the carb is still compromised. [That's being kind talk for go find what ya missed haha]. Choke system where it sucks out of the bowl needs to be clear in the little jet at the bottom where the choke tube fits down. Long time since being in those carbs but had one on my DT250 for a while. Be sure there's not something getting sucked up against the main jet & sitting in the bowl cap at the bottom. Pilot [idle] jet has to come out of the carb & has a super small hole in it. Could go maximum rich on the needle clip just to see if it helps. Either its sucking great gobs of air from somewhere of the carb isn't passing fuel like blocked jets or the main jet that feeds it all once up past idle. Could run your hand over the mouth of the carb to hand choke it once it fires & find the point of strangulation that lets it keep running--then decide where to go. I did see one of those carbs with a fuel screw plus an air screw. If you have that type [don't think you will] the fuel screw will be on the motor side [front of carb] & up underneath, so screw it out to two turns. Air screw is at the rear of the carb on an angle most likely on "right side" on those & have it about 1.5 even one turn out as a starting point. Being US it might be capped of so can't be played with easily.

God Bless for the quick response, and the time You took. I've removed it once again right after I posted.
It started and ran briefly couple times, then as it 
died, it gave a backfire similar to the sound of a 22
long rifle. F#$%&!* thing....
You are right, no screw on the motor side, but as You described air screw at the back, at an angle.
One of three areas I can critique Suzuki on, (so far) the exhaust pipe interferes 
with the adjustment of that as it does with the removal of the damn spark plug ! Area 3 is the aforementioned hard ​​​plastic manifolds....
Suppose if it's any consolation to myself, I'm glad I
​​​​​have a D.T, not a T.S., (B.S.?!!!!-) I'm not a hater tho,
but it's about pushing me to be one ! Sure hope it's
not crank seals. Been riding since I was 8 y.o., I'm 61 now, and rode today. Gotta say I'd never needed
too much help with carburetors, always just took 'em apart, cleaned, replace what was necessary, and they were good to go (a DT tho,!).  I'll try Your suggestions. Kinda wondering about the choke/tube bein' an issue.
But considering the title of this posting, I'm thinking I'm right and so are You ! 
​​​​
​​​​​

I'm close to 76 haha & can't remember being 61. So backfire opens an electrical can of worms. If it was a Yamaha i'd be looking at the crank key locating the flywheel because if the flywheel nut isn't very tight the weight of the flywheel will rip the key in half. I guess no reason why the same shouldn't apply to Suzuki but by memory the 185 has a quite big taper. First think of course is plug--not oiled as in black burnt onto the insulator. A Clean plug but wet with oil won't stop it but Black deposit on the insulator will. Suzuki have a good ignition cdi that'll burn through most things to spark though. I worked mostly in a yamaha shop a lifetime ago but suzuki & honda too over the years. Good luck.

HaHa ! Still got some youth I'd say. Hmm yeah,
the backfire, and crank key = wow. All along I've
told myself, You've got good spark, so wouldn't
have thought ignition...but that backfire....
Plug condition, certainly not fouled, but clean
and DRY. I will pull the wheel tomorrow. This inter-
web thing, it can be kinda cool...THANK YOU
RT

Before you do that, feel how tight the nut is, If its super tight its unlikely to be the crank key, but if finger tight then yep. Flywheels on those by memory needs a puller with three bolts through a heavy plate with big puller bolt in the middle. Important thing it "don't" screw the 3 long bolts in further than the thread available in the flywheel or--bad things happen--coils get ripped. Sorry if i'm telling you everything you already know. I went looking for a puller & everything they showed was similar to yamaha. But if its got the 3 holes then this random video i found below shows someone using what i was talking about, as they don't have a thread in the centre like Yamaha. [125 Suzuki's do but not 185 that i remember]. Anyway, i think this guy is pushing his luck screwing the 3 bolts in that far but he got away with it so maybe there's more thread depth there than i thought. Either 'that' or the bolts were stepped so can't turn them in too far. Might've been 8mm stepped down to 6 for maybe 5 or 6mm length to the step--guessing.

Wow, fantastic advice, thank You again....Yes
all I have for a puller is our standard center
puller, and I had figured Suzuki's engineers possibly had another "idea" and was wondering, when
You mentioned a big taper, (good memory !)
I will indeed check the nut first before anything.
Jeez, I remember the old 90% carburetor trouble
is ignition, and 90% ignition trouble is carburetion !!!
​​​​Can't thank You enough, so far, not to mention
the video. I will post up my findings. Have a great evening.

​​​​​​
 

So, late getting online tonight, just came in from the shop. Had unexpected company this a.m., put me 
behind all day. Was just in the middle of taking the 
carb off, AGAIN. Thought I would double-check for the 3rd or 4th "double check" time. Got the bowl off,
but that's as far as it got, as they were here.
Didn't get a chance to get back to it til a couple
hrs. ago. About all I ended up doing was pulling
the cover off to see if the flywheel was part of 
the equation. RT, it wasn't finger tight.. but 
definitely confirms it takes the 3 position puller.
So, hopefully I can get it fit in at some point this
weekend to examine the carburetor. Had some 
overflow noted when I looked at it first thing this a.m....

Ok its probably not the crank key problem then but good idea to look--& tighten it well. Key might be visible once washer are out from behind nut although that's not always failsafe as all ya seeing is the top half of the woodruff key so it goes wherever the flywheel ends up if shorn off. There'll be timing marks somewhere around the flywheel so if you line them up & check if the piston is [guessing] say 2mm from top the crank key is probably ok. Just saying that to save you having buying a puller unnecessarily--but good idea to look anyway, & eyeball the coils--nothing unscrewed etc. Try another plug regardless. I'm terrible at chasing the complicated end of problems when it's only run out of petrol haha.

I will do that today at some point, after I complete my non-favorite task of getting some mowing done.
Course, lots of things fall into that category, anything that doesn't involve a motorcycle !!!
I appreciate the continuing great advice. Again, I
will post what the issue is,was, eventually.