spark plugs - are they telling me anything ?

[Redman]

OK,,,,so I clipped one of the wires about a 1/4 inch, had a biatch of a time getting the boot back on, certainly is not easy to screw it back on, that is for sure.........

.

See how there is a little rubber boot on the plug cap?
Put that rubber boot on wire first and push it up a little bit out of the way, then push-screw the cap onto the wire, then pull the boot down onto the cap.

.

 

[GateKeeper]

still stalling

still stalling

Redman - Thanks for the tip....

So I did the other 3, even put a dab of di-electric grease buttoned it all up, put on new rubber boots as well, top and bottom, added another 1/4 bottle of seafoam.

and....

still the same crap, she will start, she will go, she will even idle after warming up for a bit, no choke required, I can turn her off, and restart, but she will still die on me after running on the road, come to a stop, and she will drop the rpm's and stall....

I went out tonight about a 10 minute ride, stopped off at a coffee shop, met a friend there, shot the breeze with him for a bit (he loved the bike) by the way he has a nice BMW R1200 I think it was, all the gadgets, even the windshield goes up and down with the touch of a button...

so anyways, about an hour goes by, I am going to head home, get on the bike, no choke, hit the start button, she starts and more or less idles, I don't sit around too long, and drive off (30 seconds or so) ride her good down the road, 60-80 km per hour, and get a few green lights, then a red light, gear down, almost to a full stop, drop the bike into neutral and stop, feet on the ground, and she STALLS.......

Panic mode, as soon as she died the bloody light is changing to green.....

clutch in, hit the start button she fires up, drop her into first, and get going, bloody F150 behind me and crawling up my arse......

get home fine no issues the rest of the way as I had all greens, and when I had to stop or slow down, I kept blipping the throttle, get into the driveway put her in neutral, release the clutch side stand out, I have to open the garage, and she sits there idling with absolutely no issues.....

I will have to pull the plugs to see how they look as well, just no time right now, maybe take a run tomorrow and at lwast pull the 1 and 4 plug, 2 and 3 are a pain.....

I give up....

this is what I did earlier in the day...

sorry for the crappy pictures....

.

 

[spyug]

drop the bike into neutral and stop

Jeez you don't want to do that. Its always best to leave it in first gear with clutch in and one on the mirror to watch for jackazzes running up your keester. Rememember I mentioned the Viet guy that came up right behind me when I had your bike out Friday? If I hadn't moved forward as I saw him coming, I'm sure he would have hit me.

I'm still thinking it is a carb, idle circuit issue, and possibly those air mixture screw o-rings.

Another thought I've been having ( mostly about my own bike issues) is the possibility of air leakage through the holes that the butterfly shaft goes through. The schematic shows o-rings on the outsides of the carbs and we don't normally change those. I'm thinking if they start to break down in the dip then we would have a problem with air getting in wouldn't we?

Something else to ponder on.

Hopefully it will get better as you ride this week.

Cheers,
spyug

 

[7981GS]

GK, do you have a tight fit on your vacuum hose from the #2 carb to the petcock?

Eric

 

[GateKeeper]

drop the bike into neutral and stop

Late last night and no one behind me at the time, so it was OK, was just trying out different ways....of which neither seemed to make a difference.

I'm still thinking it is a carb, idle circuit issue, and possibly those air mixture screw o-rings.

This is a possibility, hard to say, they were changed, along with all the others, and being so small, could easily get damaged, etc...

GK, do you have a tight fit on your vacuum hose from the #2 carb to the petcock?

as far as I remember yes, but I can and will check on that today, just to make sure...


Worse case scenario, there is a bike shop just around the corner, going to go and talk to them as well see if they have any ideas, thoughts, suggestions, don't want to pay anyone to diagnose and fix the problem, but if I cannot get it sorted out, another set of eyes and ears on the problem might come up with something....

Today I will go for a bit of a ride and pull the plugs, to at least see what they look like after a good little run

Thanks for the tips and ideas

.

 

[wanrep]

Have the carbs been synched with vacuum gauges?
It can have a big effect on plug color and idle issues.

 

[GateKeeper]

Have the carbs been synched with vacuum gauges?
It can have a big effect on plug color and idle issues.

Thanks

Yes they have..



Have not had a chance to go out, perhaps today, give her a good run around town, and come in and pull the plugs, see if anything has changed

.

 

[GateKeeper]

So on the off chance, I might have a fuel issue, I drained number one carb, and it seems to be OK

some of the specs you might see are probably because I didn't clean the plastic bowl very well prior to draining into it, over all I think it's OK






But I did a few electrical tests while I was feeling in the mood and here is a synopsis of what I have found

Bike was cold and sitting overnight in the garage, has not been touched, other than my emptying of the #1 carb, and so I got my digital volt meter and with the bike off put the leads onto the battery and got a reading of

12.7 volts

I started the bike up, running with a bit of choke I check again I get

14.4 volts

pick up idle to 3000 rpms, get 13.3 and go to 5000 rpms still the same 13.4

I release the throttle, choke was off and the bike dies

clutch in hit the start button and she fires up no problem, turn the key to off and she turns off

check voltage show 13.3

turn key to ON position I get 12.2

back off and it shows now 12.7

turn the key to ON, start up bike, idling at 1400 rpms now and showing me 14.2 volts

what the hey...........

turn the thing off and come into the house and write up this story....

what gives...............

.

 

[gustovh]

What gives you ask...good question, go to the stator papers and run the tests, it does not take long.

Try takeing apart the gas cap and cleaning it, you may have a plugged vent.

Is it a 16 valve motor?
V

 

[Steve]

Those voltage numbers are showing me that the charging system is trying to work, but there might be a poor ground connection from the R/R to the battery.

Check to see where the R/R is grounded. Many times, it is simply grounded back to its mounting bolt, which is rubber-isolated from the rest of the chassis, and relies on yet another wire that might be connected to the chassis or the battery. Try running a new wire from wherever the R/R is currently grounded directly to the battery and see if your voltage at speed improves.

.

 

[GateKeeper]

What gives you ask...good question, go to the stator papers and run the tests, it does not take long.

Try takeing apart the gas cap and cleaning it, you may have a plugged vent.

Is it a 16 valve motor?
V

done the tests before, all seemed to be in spec, but something might have changed, will make time to try again.

gas cap was taken apart, cleaned, and reassembled, I think it's all OK I can hear it breathing (if I can describe it like that)

yes 16 valve

Those voltage numbers are showing me that the charging system is trying to work, but there might be a poor ground connection from the R/R to the battery.

Check to see where the R/R is grounded. Many times, it is simply grounded back to its mounting bolt, which is rubber-isolated from the rest of the chassis, and relies on yet another wire that might be connected to the chassis or the battery. Try running a new wire from wherever the R/R is currently grounded directly to the battery and see if your voltage at speed improves.

.

wiring is all stock, no additional anything, I did go through it all before assembly, cleaned everything, di-electric grease on all contacts, I will check on the grounds, and add a secondary, I have a main ground from battery to engine, I don't know of any other, or I don't remember, will check, and add if necessary as per your suggestion.

Thanks guys

.

 

[GateKeeper]

FOR SALE......well it will be soon

FOR SALE......well it will be soon

So I took the bike to work today.......first time in a very long time....

started up this morning, bit of white smoke, took a few minutes to warm up, and she settled into an idle somewhat, but being pressed for time and wanting to go, popped her into 1st and took off.

no issues, got to work OK

went home for lunch, again no issues

now, going back to work, moving along fast pace, and lights catch me off guard, have to down shift fast, and brake hard to stop and not go through the intersection ( I thought I was going to beat the light change) anyways get the bike stopped at the line, and she

FRIGGEN STALLS...............................aaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhh



lucky no cars behind me, hit the starter, a few cranks, more than I wanted and she starts up, blipping the throttle to keep her alive, light turns green and off I go.....

get to work, turn her off, and walk away......

CRaP



one used bike, just rebuilt, selling for half price, since I can't get her to stop from stalling and cutting out on me.....this one if anyone has forgotten....

going to park it right beside the for sale sign I now have on my front lawn for the house,,,,gonna be a package deal......

I am not a happy camper

yes I will check the grounds, I have not gotten to that yet, busy entertaining real estate agents, bloody pain in the a$$ they are also....

 

[spyug]

Based on my own recent experiences, I'm thinking its the carbs and the more I think on it and the more talking I do with my buds I'll bet it's got to do with float level adjustment.

There is not a lot of leeway there and while mine looked good by eyeball, they were too high by 3 or 4 mm which was definitely enough to push it to the lean side of performance.

I'll bet dollars to donuts that's the major culprit and we are going to have to pull those puppies off for a good old look see.

Don't dispair if mine can get sorted, yours surely can be fixxed too.

Cheers matey,
spyug

 

[shwaz]

jeez that's a gorgeous bike. dont give up on it! i hope to have one of those someday.

hope you have some luck figuring it out!

 

[GateKeeper]

Based on my own recent experiences, I'm thinking its the carbs and the more I think on it and the more talking I do with my buds I'll bet it's got to do with float level adjustment.

There is not a lot of leeway there and while mine looked good by eyeball, they were too high by 3 or 4 mm which was definitely enough to push it to the lean side of performance.

I'll bet dollars to donuts that's the major culprit and we are going to have to pull those puppies off for a good old look see.

Don't dispair if mine can get sorted, yours surely can be fixxed too.

Cheers matey,
spyug

Anything is possible.....

but the carbs were fully cleaned, all O rings changed including the intake boots even put in new SS bolts, got the whole kit from cycleorings, the only ones I did not change are the ones on the choke tubes ?

floats were all adjusted, well as best as I could, maybe I did not do such a good job and I could be off....

she really has a hard time to stay at idle, especially after a hard run, say from light to light, and come to a stop, unless I am blipping the throttle, she will idle down so low, she will stall, and that is not a good thing...

sitting in the driveway, after a new start, wait a bit, take choke off, she will sit and idle, all bloody day long, go figure...

jeez that's a gorgeous bike. dont give up on it! i hope to have one of those someday.

hope you have some luck figuring it out!

your in luck,,,,you can get mine,,,,going cheap right now.....

seriously, I am just peeved off right now with the bike and the lack of idle and stalling, so I am sort of just ranting a bit....

Thanks for the compliment, and hopefully I will get her issues sorted out, and keep her for a wee bit longer....

.

 

[BigD_83]

1/2 price sale

1/2 price sale

Half of what it is worth, or half of what you've got into it?

That looks like a good gift for my brother in TO.

Don't give up on it. You have invested far too much sweat equity to let it all go now.

 

[shwaz]

i mean, if it's really aggravating you, i could, you know, just come get it out of your hair. just as a favor. you don't even have to pay for my gas. :-\\\

 

[GateKeeper]

Half of what it is worth, or half of what you've got into it?

That looks like a good gift for my brother in TO.

Don't give up on it. You have invested far too much sweat equity to let it all go now.

i mean, if it's really aggravating you, i could, you know, just come get it out of your hair. just as a favor. you don't even have to pay for my gas. :-\\\

Between the 2 of you guys, seems I would owe your guys.....

I will just hold onto it for now.....

and I really hope I can get to the bottom of the issue

Thanks for the vote of confidence.....

 

[BigD_83]

I agree with Spyug. Sounds like a carb issue.

BUT...as I understand it, dropping low (bogging) on idle points to running rich. The problem gets worse as it gets hot; suggests richness also, as lean conditions generally result in racing idles. Of course, it could also be fuel starved.

What results did you get back from your plug chops of a while back?

 

[GateKeeper]

Unfortunately no plug chops done, have not had the time as of yet....

Got a few other things going on, and the bike is not getting the attention I need to give it right now unfortunately

Hopefully things will settle down a bit soon, and I will be able to devote more time to remedy this problem...

Thanks for all the input