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Power Loss, Please Help!

  • Thread starter Thread starter lallyrh
  • Start date Start date
L

lallyrh

Guest
I have an 85 GS700ES with about 18000 miles on it now, I'm am in the process of riding it from Indiana to California and have run into a problem.

In Missouri, I noticed I was riding up a hill and the bike just died, my fuel gauge was halfway in the red, so i figured it was fuel, switched it to reserve and a few minutes later she fired right up. Power was OK after that.

The next day, she slowly started to lose power, i could feel it bogging down on the hills. No smoke or anyhting in the exhaust, my riding buddy says the exhaust is clean

Today the problem seems to be gettting worse, and i need to downshift to 4th gear to maintain speed. the bike died twice on uphill climbs within ten minutes of each other. I pulled the petcock and the filter screen was totally clean. I put some hose clamps on the vacum lines going to the petcock, but that did't have a big effect. I then put the petcock on "pri" and it does marginally better, but she still has barely enough power to make down I-40! After I put the petcock on prime, the bike used 3.1 gallons of gas in 85 miles!

Take in mind that I have gained a significant amount of altitude on this trip, I have gone from 500ft to about 7000ft.

The air filter is clean, and the bike is gettting fuel, so i think the next thing that I check will be ingnition, but I have no idea where to start.

Please help! Any and all ideas are welcome!
 
I'm thinking the bike had a rich mixture problem before you started the trip.
With the higher elevation and hot motor, you're running even richer. This will carbon stain the plugs (correct heat range?) and weaken the spark, among other things.
If it is a rich mixture problem, you can try a couple of easy things and test. I'm considering you're on the road and would like to try something simple, at least first.
If your mixture screws will turn easily, try turning them IN 1/2 turn from where they are now or maybe 1 turn if 1/2 doesn't have much effect. I don't know where your screws are set or if they're set correctly, but a stock bike generally has them about 1 to 2 turns out in "normal" elevation. Keep a record of any adjustments so you can return the screws to their previous setting if you don't like the results. This MAY make the bike a little more cold blooded at start up, but could help with the rest of each ride.
Another easy thing you can do is to temporarily "modify" the air box by unseating the air box lid and sliding it to allow more air into the carbs. Get some tape or ? to hold it in place. Test. You may even try removing it completely and test but I doubt that would be needed. Maybe you can find a happy medium for the time being and achieve a better fuel/air ratio. You can adjust it according to elevation, etc.
 
lallyrh said:
Are the mixture screws on the top of the carbs ner the engine?
Click to expand...
Yes. Just be careful because they can be stiff/tight and it's easy to strip the head off trying to move them sometimes. Turning in leans the mixture and out richens.
These are part of the pilot circuit and most of their effect is from idle to about 1/4 throttle position. So they would have some effect on mixture while cruising in top gear around 65/70 mph and less.
 
Probably a failing petcock because of the suddeness of the issue. I drove from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Bakersfield, California on 40.
 
He did say earlier that the petcock screen looks clean and placing the petcock to prime didn't stop the problem. So that would eliminate the thought of the petcock diaphragm not opening up all the way and fuel starvation resulting.
His problem doesn't sound that sudden to me. He's gone a long way and if he's rich he may be gradually fouling the plugs and that would worsen a rich mixture problem.
 
chef1366 said:
Then does new plugs solve the problem for the moment?
Click to expand...
Temporarily possible...sure. But I think the real problem is too much fuel/lack of air in the mixture. The POSSIBLY fouling plugs are just the by-product of a rich mixture. If I'm right to begin with?
 
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