running poor again

so.. i was taking a 20 minute ride with my girl, and bike started acting up low end. i got to my destination and inspected a few things. turned the petcock on prime and still same rough stuff. it is acting like it was acting when i had the airlock in the fuel filter.

so i tried a bunch of different orientations and finally without a filter to see how it ran.

still runs bad

tried it with the gas cap open. still bad.



i recently added a new seal for the gas cap.

and added 2.5 ounces of sea-foam to a full tank of gas.

i ran that seafoam gas for 85 miles.

right at 85, the trouble began.

ive topped it off since with more gas sans seafoam

ive had an inline filter on this bike the entire time. the valves are in spec as of 1000 miles ago. the carbs were also wet set about 1000.

the bike runs good top end.


i dont know what the hells going on. just pissing me off.


i plan to take the carbs off and buy myself a color tune as the number 1 and 2 plugs look pretty lean. number 3 and 4 are far from rich also.

im still just baffled as to why it ran good everyday for many months and now this.

if anyone has any suggestions. shout.


the throttle seal on the left side has a small split in it. i need to replace that. the seal is in great shape other than that split in it. really supple and it still appears brand new. all throttle shaft seals were brand new 2 years ago.



could that be causing this?

 

oh yeah. everything stock.. cables and boots all look good.

 

any split in the throttle seals is a potential concern....sucking in air where it should not be.....easy to replace since it is on the outside left carb.......are you sure you are not sucking in air elsewhere.......intake manifold boots....airbox/carb boots.....vacuum caps ???.......seems that a propane test would be order as well.....

 

i hope to run it tomorrow and sniff out some air leaks if any.

thanks for the reply.

 

i put the carb tune on it and when it isnt stumbling around. it pulls a nice even sync.

when i have the choke on it isnt even. when i take it off its even. is that normal as well?


i do NOT have a creeping idle. at idle the throttle response isnt that good.

once the rpms are up it takes off with a blip of the throttle.

 

After starting and getting the Plant warmed-up; having the Enrichment Circuit opened, ... even a little will likely cause an overly-rich situation contributing to bogging-out.

The Plant needs to be able to IDLE without "Choke".

 

the bike does idle without choke. and up until yesterday ran great all around with out choke. but now it just alternates from from a steady idle to almost starving out. and i get either a good idle or the bad one. nothing seems consistent.

if i want it to take off easy i'll put on the enrichment and the rpms will shoot up past 2000 and the main jets take over. but the bike is screaming at 2000 at a red light and i feel like and idiot.


and my plugs looks more lean than rich. making me think im not using too much gasoline.

 

The infamous seafoam could have loosed up some gunk in the fuel delivery system. Running the engine a couple miles at high rpm might help, worth a try...

 

yeah. i was hoping the same thing. probably crack open the carbs tomorrow.
i ran it on the freeway yesterday, top end. very smooth and nice. shitty at all the red lights..

thanks for the reply rick and sektorgaz.

 

oh yeah. i ride the bike almost everyday about 25 miles.

 

Change the inline filter for starters; it might have done its job and now be clogged or at least restricted.

 

i swapped out filters and tried a strait one, a right angle one and without one. still not running properly. going to open carbs and inspect i assume. after i look for possible air leaks.

thanks for the reply.

 

I had a similar problem with my bike not idling cold and hard to start. It progressively got worse over a two week period. I ran through all the stuff you have, only to find out in my case the choke cable holder on the carb had come loose and the enrichment circuits were not opening. Once I corrected that the bike started and idled like it was suppose to. Only mention this so you might visually check that all the circuits are fully open when the choke is on and fully closed when the choke is off. Just a thought, hope this helps.

 

I'm thinking that the Sea Foam loosened up some gunk in the carbs and you might have to take them off and clean them.

 

^ VERY good possibility.

 

well. had the carbs all apart today, pulled idle circuit business, reassembled, and now we see to be good. there was some visible residue on carb #1 idle and main jet. im going to stay away from sea foam. i thought i was doing myself a favor by supplementing a little bit from time to time. but not so sure about using it anymore.

thanks everyone for the responses.

 

Seafoam does a good job at what it does: removes gunk from your system. Problem is that gunk isn't just in the tank so the filter can't catch it all. There's gunk all the way down to the engine, and any tight points along the way (mostly in the carbs) will get caked. Best to just use a little bit at a time and run the full tank; clean it sloooowly.