That was wierd

[stevethelondoner]

Hey guys,

was riding on a toll road today, slowed down to get through the Toll booth, shifted down, when i got through I started to throttle up but the bike lost some power and was kind of sputtering without backfireing. I shifted down one more cause i thought maybe it needed more revs but it still did it...I kept the trottle open and it eventually smothed out. I got to my mates and went and got done what i needed to get done. Came out, started the bike and rode home with no trouble. Anybody got any idea what happened???? Now I did have some Gas that i got for the Fay storm we had and around a week ago i put that in the bike...it was mid grade that i always put in but it may of been a little on the older side. Could that of done it? It just felt like it was missing getting gas here and there....short lived thatnk god because i thought i was going to be on the side of the highway today.

Cheers and Ride Safe

 

[Dilligaf]

Sounds like bad gas, water, or a clogged jet.

 

[Joel]

Similar situation happened to me recently. Do you by any chance have a ziplock bag taped under your seat with your registration, etc.? I did and it was being sucked into the air intake. Very embarassing. :y72:

 

[dazco]

Well, just for the record and some food for thought, having had my speedmaster for 3.3 years i have to say this is the kind of thing i have had happen many times for apparently no reason. i love this bike, but of the dozen or so bikes i've owned i have never had one that has had so many mysterious episodes of sputtering and cutting out and even dying on me. Most of the time i have never been able to figure these things out because the bike will then run fine and not do anything weird for weeks or months. i sometimes wondered if it was my mods, and it may have been looking back because it hasn't done any of these things for quite a while now. and it seems as tho it stopped around the time i put a larger pilot jet in. it was the one thing i never changed when i modded the airbox and installed pipes. I never did because everyone else seemed to leave thier pilots alone and seemingly had no issues. anyways, i can't say that was it or not, but i have had so many issues like you described and other similar things that seem fuel related.

that said, a few things to look for are clogged or pinched fuel breather tube that comes off the underside of the tank. if you remove the tank it can get pinched and cause a vacuum in the tank causing fuel to flow intermittantly. Also check the ignition wires where they connect to the coils. They are IMO a design flaw because the ends don't go min far enough and fit snugly enough. I once had one come out completely when i hit a bump. I also added a inline fuel filter after the petcock which caused a lot of this kind of thing so i removed it. Finally, there is a fuel filter where the line connects to the carb inside the hose. It's tiny and very hard to get to, but if it clogs that can cause things like this. And i once removed the petcock and found the screen quite clogged after only about 9k miles. These tanks seem to shed that coating inside the tank when new and all the pieces can clog up the filter.

Mine now runds fine and very rarely does anything like that, but man oh man did it ever torture me for the first couple years ! if you have modded yours i'd really look at that because i have a strong feeling these bikes become very finiky when altered from stock.

 

[Dilligaf]

I am with Daz in suspecting the petcock.

 

[CarlS]

I had this happen on Mae Lyne's Bonnie. It was trash in the carbs and and a partially clogged jet. I cleaned the carbs and the jets and no more problems. The other posts have listed other causes of this; I have read most of these causes in various forums. Also, incorrect air gap on the pick up sensor can cause similar problems.

 

[stevethelondoner]

[quote author=CarlS link=topic=2036.msg14116#msg14116 date=1223553175]
I had this happen on Mae Lyne's Bonnie. It was trash in the carbs and and a partially clogged jet. I cleaned the carbs and the jets and no more problems. The other posts have listed other causes of this; I have read most of these causes in various forums. Also, incorrect air gap on the pick up sensor can cause similar problems.
[/quote]

Hey mate, I am not liking what i'm reading on this problem let me tell ya. Did ya have to take the carbs completly off? Blimey what a pain in the rear end that will be. When my mate and i did the jets we in no way was gonna take the bloody carbs off. he has experience in re-jetting he did his harley and when he said we really dont want to be taking them off it made me think that this is probably a big problem area not to be played with. It didn't do it on the way home so it made me think it was just a bit of junk in the carb and it cleared itself. Blimey I only have like 1,600 miles on it. I filled with good gas yesterday on the way home.

Cheers

Ride Safe

 

[CarlS]

Yes, I took the carbs off. I first pulled the bowls and found a lot of crud in them. Finding that, I opted to pull the carbs so that I could thoroughly clean them and not worry about carb cleaner getting on the paint or chrome. That meant that I had to balance the carbs after I put them back on. You might try adding some carb/injector cleaner to your fuel when you fill up. I would try that first.

Oh, I also thoroughly cleaned my fuel tank.

 

[grandpaul]

You shouldn't need to re-balance the carbs as long as they stay bolted together.

 

[CarlS]

I did keep the carbs together - I didn't make the mistake of separating them. I checked the balance after I put the carbs back on and test rode it. The balance it was just a tad out. It may have been that way before I took the carbs off.

 

[avion]

It's coz you're being too nice to her steve, next time on the highway nail her good 'n hard, the way she likes it.
That should clean up the plugs, jets 'n valves.

...

 

[stevethelondoner]

[quote author=avion link=topic=2036.msg14164#msg14164 date=1223571436]
It's coz you're being too nice to her steve, next time on the highway nail her good 'n hard, the way she likes it.
That should clean up the plugs, jets 'n valves.

...
[/quote]

I hear ya mate....hahahahahahaha

Ride Safe