I am pretty sure I am overheating. Drat

[Boriqua]

While I have taken some 40 mile plus round trip rides they were usually under 60mph and I kept the tach at around 4000. I havent had the guts yet to go for a long highway stint but decided if it is going to be general transport I had to give it a go. If I cant trust it then it doesnt matter the time and money I have invested it may have to go.

So I went out today and did 30 miles at highway speed. Here that is between 70-75mph if you dont want to get killed. I rode out about 15 miles and got off the highway and hit the light. Idled wonderfully at 1100 rpm. Long light and I began to worry but no problem .. sweet sweet idle.

Jump back on the highway headed home and kept it pinned at 75-77mph. I get off the highway and it idles perfectly. Now its about 2 miles to home and a good bit slower at about 40mph

I live in a retirement community and the speed in the area is 10 mph. I live in the very back of the community. I crawl through the community and the bike starts to act a little weird.

I pull into the driveway and the idle drops to about 700 and then it starts to stall and the oil pressure light starts to blink and i quickly shut it down.

It was 102F on my ride. Same thing happened yesterday when I went zipping around at 7000-7500 rpm for shortish bursts but same outside temp. I let it cool down and took it out again yesterday but drove my usual old man pace at 3500-4000 rpm and put 20 miles on it without issue.

Started right up today.

Going to pull a plug later but I am pretty sure I am not running lean. Actually the bike has been running awesome. Nice reaction when you crack the throttle and as long as I am not doing 30 miles of highway speed it purs. Wife and I have done up to 50 miles without issue but at no more than about 50mph. 0 to 8000 rpm without any flat spots. Doesnt seem to be using oil, no smoke and no odd smells .. it just decides its tired and wants to shut down. Is it just being old and cranky ... my wifes theory!

Here is everything done
New petcock
20w50 synthetic oil 350 miles ago
New coils
New plugs, wires and caps
New dyna s
Checked valves
Cleaned rebuilt carbs
Synch carbs
New stator
New RR
New Battery
I put 6 ounces of seafoam in with my last fill up
Running premium but we are on the summer blend so loaded with ethanol.

 

[dorkburger]

How are the intake boots / o rings ( if applicable?) I didnt see them on your list. Intake air leaks can cause idle fluctuations and lean running.

 

[Boriqua]

One of the previous owners changed them as all the boots are like new and pliable. I purchased all new clamps but all the rubber was good. Rubber here doesn't last very long so they must have been very recent. When I was running lean because of air leaks my bike rpm would increase... This just kinda petered out when I stopped in the driveway. I am still waiting for the bike to cool down more so I can pull a couple of plugs but its up to 105 now so I may have to wait until tomorrow.

I know it may be a waste since I did an oil change 400 miles ago but I am going to try and go back to the mobil1 10w40. I know its counter intuitive and is against everything I ever knew but ... my bike was running cooler with the mobil1 10w40 than it is now with the castrol syn 20w50 as measured by the oil temp dash gauge before I removed the dash. Weird.

Similar conditions.

It also started with less noise and idled just a little nicer. Wish me luck .. I would hate to have to put it on the market after all the work! It has to be reliable transport first and entertainment second.

I just think I must be missing something .. My little triumph bonneville would run all day in the heat. I did buy it new in I think 2006 and the gs is 35 year old technology though.

My pipes arent discolored and I will check to see if I burned any oil but judging by the sight glass it wasnt.

 

[dorkburger]

Schooled. ... I wasn't aware that intake leaks necessarily caused caused higher idle, I thought the main symptom was inconsistent idle. Thanks.

 

[GS1150Pilot]

I don't think it is overheating. You've been overworrying about this lately, however. Look at AF mixtures, filtration (air and possibly fuel), etc.

 

[Guest]

Why are you running premium? Is your engine knocking for something? Also, I run my idle around 1,500 rpm+ because of my altitude and the ones I ride at.

 

[GS1150Pilot]

Good question there, too. Run the bike on the lowest grade fuel it will take.

 

[Boriqua]

Alright I am going to go get a jug of regular gas and see how it goes. I am down about 3 gallons now. I am living at about 1600-1700 ft but my rides take me much higher. I will turn up the idle a touch after the oil change. I thought the idle increased as it got super hot not the other way .. do I have it wrong?

 

[GS1150Pilot]

1100 seems like an already high idle.

 

[Boriqua]

ok not a great day in novice motorcycle mechanics. I turned the idle knob up a snudge and will see what it is like tomorrow but .. I also did the oil swap. Except .. I never change the oil without changing the filter, not once ever in my entire life but because it had only been 400 miles since my last oil change I just drained the oil and added the new... Problem is ... without changing the filter I am probably about half a quart over now. It is not showing in the sight glass checked on center stand.

Sigh .. to be so stupid after having done so many cool things in ones life. I swear this motorcycle was sent by the gods to take me down a peg or three since I had previously thought I was pretty smart!

I also topped up the gas with about 3 gallons of regular and when I say topped up I mean spill it all over your gas tank. Bad bad day.

So now the questions is .. is my bike going to blow up with that extra half a qt of oil and I should not start it until I go to the dollar store and buy a turkey baster to drain off some of the oil or should I be ok.

Not easy being green
Alex

 

[chuck hahn]

Does your filter cover have a drain bolt like some of them do?? If so just drain the filter well good and recheck the oil after that.

EDIT..I dont kn ow if it will just drain of whats in the well or not but if you wipe the drain pan real clean you can dump some oil back in if it drains more than half a quart or so.

 

[cowboyup3371]

As far as the dropping idle is concerned, I have a different suggestion only because of an issue with my bike. I had the same basic issue where everything ran fine when the bike was cold but after about 15 miles the bike would slowly die when we came up to a stop. After awhile, it wouldn't be so slow but almost immediately on a stop and even starts would get tricky. After a suggestion was made to me, I re-adjusted the clutch cable both into my case and at the handlebars and performance cleared up immediately.

I'm not saying this is your issue but I would consider looking at it.

 

[Boriqua]

pulled two of my plugs just to take a peak and they were bone white. I checked every which way to sunday over several hours to identify an air leak and there are none.

So I went to my carb pilots I now have them turned up to about 3 3-1/4 but it still feels a little Lean but it is not stalling when crazy hot and the idle is dropping at lights nicely .. just not as fast as it had been. I cant get much more rich on my pilot screws I dont think. If memory serves I can only go out 3.5 turns and I am almost there.

Bike is ripping hot now though so I am done for today but ... I installed a new air filter when I started this project. Then I found oil in the box and decided I over oiled it so I washed it in dish soap and reinstalled. I pulled it today and it feels dry to the touch. To balance my air/fuel without adding more fuel does any one think maybe I should oil up that filter again?

I am glad I made the oil switch. Dont know why but my bike loves that mobil 1 and runs so nice and fairly quiet with it in there. I think I will just stick to that order a case and make life and oil changes easy.

 

[Boriqua]

Yes, get rid of the excess oil. Actually, save it if you can and reuse.

Be sure to never let your bike idle more than a few mins in the garage without a fan blowing on it. When you see a bike where the header pipes are deep blue that means someone ran the bike without airflow for too long.

Thanks Ed .. I had trouble sleeping thinking about my stupid mistake so I was out at 6am and drained off the excess into a clean container. I figure I have half a qt now to top up with. I use a turbo fan placed about a foot from the cylinders. The only small spots of blue on my pipes so far is right up at the manifold where I stupidly sprayed some wd 40 while it was running on two pipes. Otherwise they are beautiful shinny silver.

Going to try and reoil my airfilter and see if I can get more consistent Reaction from my carb adjustments. it seems to be the only place that at this point can be allowing extra air. I even did the damn weather stripping around the door.
alex

 

[Cipher]

I wonder what my bike would do if I was running at highway speeds for a long run then puttered along at 10MPH....................
What sort of filter did you put in I though Suzukis used a dry paper element.
If uou have an overoiled filter that would cause enleanment.
The Seafoam would also serve to enlean the mixture
Lots of convential common sense guys running two strokes in snowmobiles thought incorrectly that a bit more oil was good for their engines as ambient temps rose in late winter.
Alas this too causes enleanment and holes in pistons.
Interesting that a heavy oil would peg higher on the gauge

 

[Boriqua]

I wonder what my bike would do if I was running at highway speeds for a long run then puttered along at 10MPH....................
What sort of filter did you put in I though Suzukis used a dry paper element.
If uou have an overoiled filter that would cause enleanment.
The Seafoam would also serve to enlean the mixture
Lots of convential common sense guys running two strokes in snowmobiles thought incorrectly that a bit more oil was good for their engines as ambient temps rose in late winter.
Alas this too causes enleanment and holes in pistons.
Interesting that a heavy oil would peg higher on the gauge

I used a uni foam filter. I believe it was what was specified but I cant swear to that.

Old people can be cranky .. kind of like old bikes. I dont know if I ever had a bike that liked cruising along at 10mph but going any faster in the community will certainly bring out zealots with torches. Most already are not thrilled with MC owners and there are a couple of guys with really loud bikes that dont make it any easier for the rest of us. To each their own.

So at this point I am clutching at straws. It ran GREAT for about 400 miles and then started to misbehave. Our temps are very high and our humidity is usually very low. It started when I went on an especially spirited jaunt. I really just think I may have dried out the air filter after having cleaned it in detergent and running it in our temps and humidity??

I havent found a single even potential air leak. All my rubbers are in good shape and I sprayed half a can of starter fluid around and went over every clamp. The air that may cause a lean condition is not coming from an extraneous source and my screws are set on the rich side and I am still getting white plugs.

Just trying to be systematic ... I have to imagine it is just drawing to much air through the air filter almost as if I had put on pods. I am NOT a mechanic and 80% of what I learned I learned here but .. I have been trying to absorb the information instead of just following instructions so I could understand how it all works ... and ... it leads me to believe I have to shut down some air or go to bigger jets to add gas to get the balance right. I am using the jets specified for the bike currently and have no modifications. Stock pipes and airbox setup.

The sea foam and/or the summer blend gas are certainly messing with me too. I will report back what happens in the morning ride with the newly oiled filter.

By all means I am ready to just ride the bike and not spend so much time working on it so if anyone has other thoughts ... PLEASE let me have em!!.
Alex

 

[Cipher]

my apologies enrichment not enleanment on the air filter
ever thought of doing a night run? is it appreciably cooler there at nights?

 

[RichDesmond]

I used a uni foam filter. I believe it was what was specified but I cant swear to that....

I'm pretty sure that your bike came with a paper filter. I'd go get a stock filter and put that in the airbox.

 

[Cipher]

dear lord its 30 celsius at 6 am!!!
How do you live in that climate!

 

[Wingsconsin]

I will offer this - but know I have a '83 GS850GL

I once ran my bike with a bit of a heavy dose of Seafoam in it - it ran like junk for a while until I thinned the mixture with more fuel.

A Constant Velocity carb will compensate for altitude well up to 14,000 feet elevation - IF yours are CV (?) this should not be a problem.

Running good plain old gas instead of High Test (premium may help)

I run a K&N oiled filter in my bike and I am very careful with the amount of oil used. Too much is not good in my experience.

Good Luck