What is this tube? Kawasaki stx1100

[IanCharles]

Hi everybody! New to the forum and to engines. My Kawasaki STX 1100 sat for a couple years in a hot garage and just wouldn't start, so I had somebody rebuild the carburetors. Well during the process he had a seizure. now, the ski will run but with the throttle at maximum, I'm getting intermittent power. I'm thinking it might be a fuel clog, but I'm not even sure everything is hooked up properly. so first question: can anybody tell me what this metal tube is for on the carburetor? I've marked it with a yellow arrow in the picture. also the fellow removed the engine and in the process cut the wiring harness. Well apparently there are two brown wires, so my question is does it matter if those brown wires are connected in any particular order to the other wires on either side of his cut? Thanks very much for your help, and please, I've spent at least 3 hours searching for answers, so I promise I am not just posting a question that I could answer easily myself!

[thudd3rski2]

i am not familiar with the triple carbs but i would say it is a pulse line. that line creates a push pull action on the diaphragm using the vacuum from the crankcase

[steve45]

Welcome aboard, Ian!

That is the fuel pump. I don't remember which connection is which, but there should be markings on the casting: IN, OUT or RET(urn), and a sine wave symbol which indicates the pulse line that goes to the crankcase. It looks to me like you have the pulse line attached to where one of the fuel lines goes. The return lines lets excess fuel return to the fuel tank. The hoses are different sizes and the larger size is the return line. Fuel gets to the carbs via tubes on the engine side of the carbs. The hoses really need to be secured to the fittings properly.

I looked in the service manual and it's just about worthless when it comes to hose routing on that model.

Make sure you also have the oil lines attached to the carbs!