Egads, new problem after RR repair

[shamer]

Well, not really after - when I first got hit with my recent RR problem (see this thread: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=96315), my first symptom was a dead battery which failed on me out of the blue at a gas station. I went from no problems, literally never a no start situation, to it not wanting to turn over (not even with a jump) and so I ended up having the battery checked - was found to be no good - and I replaced it in order to get it home and figure out what was going on.

Well, to get to my point, it ran kind of funny on the way home. Funny as in low on power, really slow to rev up, I had to slip the clutch out significantly more to get it going out of first - - you know what I mean? While diagnosing the RR situation this week I also noticed that it was running funny again, but after letting it idle for awhile it seemed like the girl was back to her ol' self again - although I was still nagged by the feeling that when I was twisting the throttle back, revving her up, it seemed like it was not being snappy, like it was still taking too long to rev up.

Anyway, confident that the RR problem was mostly behind me, I rode the bike to work today. She started up great this morning - even in moderately cool weather I can just bump the choke up to 3/4 and she'll start within 2-3 cranks. But, again, I was nagged by the lack of snappy response as I twisted the throttle back. So I drive to work - this is really the first real ride since the back quit on me 2 weeks ago - and I couldn't help but feel like it was underpowered & maybe even bogging a little. But it was during the ride home, in weather about 15 degrees warmer, that I can say the bike was definitely feeling underpowered and I was really starting to think there is something seriously wrong. I mean, the bike used to give me quite a grin when I knuckled back & today it just sorta felt like a 250cc bike - it even shuddered a little if I was in too high of gear. And, again, I can't describe how odd it felt for this bike to behave so - piggishly. You guys know how high strung these bikes are, before this battery/RR thing I could cruise through my subdivision in 5th gear doing about 30mph & today it was compaining about doing it in 4th and was much happier to do it in 3rd.

Can anyone offer suggestions where to start looking? Considering my recent electrical issues, could this be coil/points related? Please bear in my mind that although this is the 4th motorcycle I've owned (previous three were when I was younger) I've never had to mess with points or timing on a bike...

Thanks...

Shawn

 

[frosty5011]

You're probably only running on 3 (or 2?) cylinders.

Next time you start the bike, let it run for 2-3 minutes....then with an eyedropper put a drop of water on the top of each header to see if they're all firing. If the water doesn't sizzle or bounce away, that cylinder isn't firing.

Sometimes this is easier than pulling plug leads to see if a cylinder is firing or not. It'll also help narrow things down.

 

[shamer]

Thanks, Frosty, I'll check that - but isn't it obvious when you're down a cylinder? Wouldn't it sound funny?

I forgot to mention that the bike seems to miss occasionally now when at idle - like a 'put' sound every 3 seconds or so - but it seems to come & go, only rode for a total of about 30 minutes today. If it did it before, I certainly never noticed...

 

[nabrams]

Sound like an intermittently failing coil to me. I'd suspect it even more so if they are the original coils. See my other posts regarding this.

 

[shamer]

As I recall, the coils do look old.

I guess I start checking those tonight...

 

[wolfie]

Are you still running on the tank of gas that you bought when you discovered your battery had died? The chances are slim of two unrelated problems occuring at the same time, but it is possible, and a bad tank of gas has made my bike run like you describe, even running on three cylinders. My problem was solved with a fresh tank of gas from a different station. Just a thought, and a cheap place to start.

 

[shamer]

The gas is only like 18 days old in the tank & it was a full tank - I know it goes south quicker than one expects, but not that quick, right?

I didn't get a chance to even go near the bike tonight - my wife put me on a bunk-bed-assembling project & it was already pretty late by the time I was finished - I appreciate all the replies & if anyone has more suggestions for causes behind powerloss, I'm all ears...

 

[Steve]

If this started after you jump-started the bike, I would also suspect the igniter. That is what happend to my 850 last year in Colorado. The battery in my Voyager was low, used my wife's 850 to jump it. Worked OK a couple of times during the troubleshooting phase. Then the 850 battery was low and had to jump it from the Voyager. Not sure which time did it, but the 850 came home in a U-Haul truck.


.

 

[shamer]

Thanks, Steve.

Hey guys, which Dyna iginition system is the one that eliminates the ignitor box? (Can you tell I'm thinking of just replacing everything...)