| Author | Message | |||
     Jrdz |
Ok. I will describe exactly what happened after unplugging the TPS & auto-enrichener. The bike turned over fine, strong and she idled normally. The idle started to slow down, just like it does before it dies, and it popped (backfired?) again, BUT, it didn't die. It went through another cycle like this, idling good, backfiring, but not dying, and then backfire, dead. It's the same as before. To answer your questions, Erik, no the carb has not been apart at all except for removing the float bowl to change the slow jet. I did take longer than I should have, and I noticed that Ez had mentioned to try to be quick here so that the float does not readjust itself. Could that be it? Furthermore, no other parts were disassembled by accident, nor on purpose. I am not shimming the needle. Should I be? I have thus far resisted the temptation to open the carb and clean it, per your instructions. I took the carb apart myself, as I am trying to learn how to work on the Blast and with all of your expert input and advice, not to mention all the detailed how-to's online in regards to the carb, I was pretty confident I could do these things myself. Now I am doubtful. Something you mentioned was striking. You mentioned that pieces fall out, and I did notice there was a derelict metal pin in my garage. It was not near the motorcycle, but it could have been a piece from the carb that fell out, which I placed elsewhere to return to it later, and then just forgot. In fact, I thought it was the pin that held the float in place. It sure looked like the pin in the diagram from the service manual, but when I checked the float it already had that pin in place, so I put the derelict metal pin away. I'll check again to see if that pin actually does belong in the carb. There was a few times when I was working on the carb, where I would forget to tighten the boot and the carb would backfire and pop out of the boot, turning the bike off, but now it's on tight and it still turns off as if the carb is popping out. I think you're right, it sounds just like the issues from the boot mentioned elsewhere in the forum, but despite going through the steps others followed to fix their Blasts, I can't fix mine. I even suspected the air intake manifold and took a flashlight to it to see if there were any cracks in the metal that might explain this mystery, but a crack seemed unlikely due to the obvious resilience of that thing, and the quick peak only confirmed my assumption, no crack. The small light on the ignition module does seem like it corresponds to the engine rpm (although I could be wrong), so this points to the problem not being the ignition module, maybe? Finally, I want to thank you guys for all your help and patience. I'll probably need more of both, but I wanted to express my gratitude for your help up until now. | |||
| Ezblast |
Try the air screw at 2 1/2 turns out, see if that stops the popping, leave carb unplugged. EZ | |||
| Jrdz |
Ok. Very interesting things going on. After unplugging the TPS and auto-enrichener, and turning air screw 2 1/2 turns the bike stays on a lot longer. It almost seemed like it was fine, but it died again. Also, another interesting thing, the bike turns off if the petcock is set to ON, but stays on if it is set to RESERVE. This may just mean that I am low on gas, but I pumped a gallon of premium today after draining the tank to see if that helped. It did help, but it didn't solve the problem. The old gas looked pretty bad, it was milky. I would think that a gallon would be more than enough to get me out of the RESERVE range, but I might be wrong. Maybe something wrong there? So, things seem to be getting better, but the problems are not gone altogether. I don't get a lot of backfiring anymore (maybe the gas), but it still turns off, albeit after a long time. What do you guys think? | |||
| Ezblast |
I had that issue! - lol - replace petcock. EZ | |||
| Gearheaderiko |
Milky gas? Thats never good. I cant remember ever seeing milky gas. Besides draining and/or flushing the gas tank, it seems as if its running and starting well enough to ride without a problem-so ride it. Fill up the tank (w/premium) and keep filling up at 50 miles until you've run some gas through the bike. Then address the remaining issues. Bad petcock-maybe, but if it runs on reserve its okay for now. Make sure the tank is venting. You can remove the gas tank vent hose at the fuel filler and blow through it to be sure its not clogged/pinched. There were some models that had a tank "rollover valve" recall 2004 Buell Blast FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Recall - RECALL ID# 74173 - FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Recall Date: July 23, 2004 Model Affected: BLAST Component Affected: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Recall Summary: ON CERTAIN MOTORCYCLES, THE VALVE WHICH WAS DESIGNED TO ALLOW AIR TO REPLACE FUEL IN THE TANK DURING OPERATION COULD MALFUNCTION THEREBY STARVING THE ENGINE FOR FUEL. Consequence: THIS SITUATION COULD CAUSE THE VEHICLE TO SHUT DOWN WITHOUT WARNING, WHICH COULD LEAD TO A CRASH, CAUSING THE POSSIBILITY OF DEATH OR INJURY. Remedy: BUELL WILL REPLACE THE VENT VALVE. THE RECALL BEGAN ON AUGUST 27, 2004. OWNERS SHOULD CONTACT BUELL AT 414-343-8400. Potential Motorcycles Affected: 656 Or yours could have gone bad. Leaving the gas cap loose should alleviate that problem (be but EXTREMELY CAREFUL if you ride with the cap loose and do not ride that way with a full tank). You can also test it the same way you tested the vent hose. If you have venting issues they normally get worse the less fuel you have in the tank. But at this point, if its starting and running okay, put some miles through the fuel system to flush out whatever bad gas you have left. .....and you dont know anyone that would like to see your Blast not run by adding something to the gas? | |||
| Jrdz |
Ok. So here's what I am going to do: I will ride the bike to run some gas through it. Maybe bad gas is whats causing these issues. I will replace the petcock, but while I wait for the part I will leave it on RESERVE. Just to be sure, I should leave the TPS and auto-enrichener unplugged, right? The bike still turns off, but it idles much more smoothly and for a longer period of time. I'll start it up and give it a little throttle every morning, that should warm her up, and then she should be good to go until it cools down again, then I'll just repeat the cycle, turn on, give it some throttle warm it up and go. Hopefully it was bad gas, but we'll see. And yeah, that gas looked bad. It would sit clear, but then it would begin to murk after a while. This was in the float bowl, so maybe some of that bad stuff is still in there. And as for the final question, I certainly hope no one would target me. I'm just an unassuming, poor college student. lol My poor Blast. | |||
| Gearheaderiko |
I would plug the TPS and enrichener back in but at least try it both ways. With it unplugged, it may (probably) run too rich after the engine is warmed up, but that should mostly be at low rpms. Since we still dont really know what your problem is, thats what I'd do. | |||
| Gearheaderiko |
PS Sabotage came up in another thread concerning ex-girlfriends! Its not however a regular part of motorcycling, so you should not be concerned. | |||
| Jrdz |
Ok. I thought I'd update the thread with some info on how the bike is performing. So, I've been riding the bike up and down town, and I've even taken her on an hour and a half long trip to try to burn all that bad stuff out. It turns out this is my new favorite ride. It's south on I Rd. until you hit Military and then head East as far as you want to go. It's beautiful. Wide open road, some awesome curves and some rolling hills. If any of y'all ever come to the Rio Grande Valley, I recommend it. Also, I added some Sea Foam to the tank the second time I filled her up to be thorough. I'm still waiting on the petcock, and I think it'll be a few days before it's in, but I'd like to report a strange event. One day when I was driving around the back-roads I set the petcock to ON to see what happened and she rode fine for a good while, but then she began to stall and pop. She finally quit on me as If I was out of gas but I had just pumped so I knew that was not the case. I peaked into the airbox and I found a nasty murky liquid around the venturi ring. I guess it's some of that bad gas, but that stuff looked even worse than what I had found in my float bowl last weekend. On another note I have come to the conclusion that either the TPS or the auto-enrichener are the culprits behind the slow idle and engine cutoff. A few days ago I decided to plug the carb harness back and she idled bad and died. I unplugged it and she was lively as ever. In light of this, I would like to ask: Do I replace both of these? And, if so, how would I go about doing these things? I still have not adjusted the primary as I am still confused about removing the adjuster bolt completely to remove the spacer. Do I have to remove it? And, if so do I have to remove the muffler? It seems to be in the way. And, finally, I would like to ask some general advice for doing the drilling mod on the stock exhaust. I figure if I'm going to take it off to adjust the primary, I might as well drill the hole in there to get some more dBs out of the Blast. I don't want something as loud as the aftermarket exhausts, but I would like something a little louder than stock. | |||
| Ezblast |
You don't remove the adjuster bolt, just loosen it - lol - here is the easy way - ride around for a half hour, park leave on, chock wheels, adjust outward till you hear a change in sound, then adjust inward till sound disappears, set and tighten - done. You don't have to take it off to adjust the primary. I would replace both, but if you want to test them to see which is bad, tests are in the manual. You can drill the exhaust without removing it; That other stuff is from that spigot pointing towards your carb, turn it away and clean out the the airbox when it starts leaking the stuff, your airbox is now a proper catch can - lol EZ | |||
| Jrdz |
Got it Ez, thanks. I'll take your advice and replace them both. But, how would I do that? Do I just google TPS and auto-enrichener? I though I was going to have to replace the whole carb, but that's not right is it? Do you think I could find those parts at an H-D dealer? | |||
| Ezblast |
Yes - just use a parts manual to order from a Buell affiliated HD dealer, one of our sponsors, or Chicago HD. The spacer just slides out when loosened, it just looks like its solid - its not. As for the numbers needed - go to my bikes webpage - find link in profile, then go to my bike's group, join, then hit the file section - the numbers you need will be there. EZ | |||
| Jrdz |
Nice. Thanks again, Ez. About modding the exhaust pipe, I still don't know if I'm up to it. I don't know my way around drills. I was nervous enough drilling to get to the air screw in the carb, but since I didn't mess that up I thought I could do the exhaust mod, but now that I look at it it looks like I'll have to drill at an angle because the drill doesn't have enough room to go in straight between the rear wheel and the muffler. And, I am apprehensive of removing the rear wheel because I'd be afraid of tampering with the breaks. I'm afraid of drilling at an angle and messing something up. But, is this the way to do it? | |||
| Gearheaderiko |
FWIW: I dont see any reason to believe that drilling a random hole in your exhaust is going to do anything but make your bike louder and devalued. If you go to sell it you're going to have to replace the exhaust or come down on the price. If you do it cleanly, weld in a proper exit and paint it, then you might get away with it. Otherwise its just butchery. The extra power you might get is hardly worth the time and money you'll lose. Any other marketed exhaust is going to perform better. | |||
| Ezblast |
Actually its a cut similar to the drummer cut, when they where experimenting, just relieves some back pressure sooner - it works, the easy way that is not so noticeable is to duplicate the hole on the right with one on the left - much gain - no, because the stock header is way restrictive, however, the sound is mellower, not louder - still quieter than a Pro-series exhaust as well. However, this mod in conjunction with a few other mods, does make for a better running, stock looking Blast. Its just like recommending 45/170 jetting for the stock configuration - lol EZ | |||
| Jrdz |
I understand that the mod may seem like somewhat of a risky move on my part, since I have no experience with these kinds of projects. Maybe I'll hold off on doing this mod until I feel I've got a better handle on it. I'll keep reading the threads, and I think someone posted a how-to on another forum. You're right to say it will make the bike louder, but I don't think it will necessarily lower the value. That is subjective, and it seems to me that it is irrelevant at this point because I probably won't sell my Blast. I love it too much! But I will try to do it as cleanly as possible Erik. I'm not interested in the power gains as much as I am in the sound the project will yield. I want something a little fuller than the stock sound, but I don't want something too loud. MasterN02 has a video on youtube which shows what the mod will yield, and I think it is worth the time and money. I understand that there is an aftermarket precisely for what it is I wish to modify, but I am concerned (1) with reliability issues, and (2) with the amount of cash I'll have to drop. The aftermarket exhausts are pricey, and I have read that they have issues that need to be addressed. So, I will have to concern myself not only with the initial investment, but also with modifications to the aftermarket exhausts that will add longevity and reliability. I figure I might as well mod what I already have. Not only that, but I like the stock look of the Blast. I find it aesthetically pleasing the way the exhaust is positioned on the Blast. But, I agree with you that I should avoid butchering the Blast, and will take this into consideration If I get lazy and decide to make a choppy cut, over a modification that will be thorough and well executed. | |||
| Ezblast |
Yeah - that's what I said! -lol  EZ | |||
| Jrdz |
lol. I guess it is as much fun modding the Blast as it is riding it. Maybe I'll be eating my words in the not-so-distant future. | |||
| Swampy |
If you can afford it get an aftermarket exhaust, you will save atleast 25 lbs of weight, yes inside that very nice looking stock exhaust is a solid block of cement, just to help keep the front wheel on the ground. I did drill a number of odd holes in the back of the Big Kids Blast stock exhaust, it makes it louder, not much does little else. | |||
| Jrdz |
That's the problem. I can't afford it.  Maybe later this year. That's pretty crazy though. 25lbs. I guess it's part of the mass centralization, eh. | |||
| Gearheaderiko |
You'll do fine. If you can get the idle mixture screw plug out without destroying the carb, things like pulling the rear wheel off will be easy (in fact, its very easy). Dont make the mistake of stockpiling mods to do over a weekend. Do them one at a time. Otherwise if you have a problem, we wont know which modification caused the problem and that really makes it frustrating (mostly for you though). Also make sure you have the necessary tools. If you are sure its the enrichener, change that only. The TPS, if faulty, will just jump between advance curves. Annoying while riding, but it shouldnt affect much at idle. It also needs to be adjusted, while the enrichener is just a replacement. It is interesting that your Blast idles better with the enrichener unplugged. That indicates that your Blast needs a richer mixture at idle (it would be very unlikely that unplugging it would cause a lean condition. I'm not sure thats even possible). Just modifying your exhaust to be louder is just fine by me. I just wanted you to be informed. You'll also realize that the exhaust exits right under your ears. Its going to seem much louder than it really is. "Loud pipes save lives"  | |||
| Jrdz |
It is very strange. But, I am pretty certain that is what it is now. Like I said before, If I connect that carb harness she'll idle rough and die every time. As soon as it's unplugged she's good to go. Thanks everyone for all your help. I feel much more acquainted with my Blast and there's nothing like hearing her start right up after so much trial and error. Also, that's some good advice Erik. When I was trying to find out what was wrong before I would often go through a lot of solutions. I would use the old spark plug, thinking I bought a wrong one. I would rejet the carb back to it's old stock setting. I would use the old boot because maybe the one I bought was bad, and I would turn the idle screw out/in. So when I cranked it again and there were good/bad changes I didn't know what had caused the differences! I was just so desperate. But I'll heed your words. Easy does it. Me and the Blast have got many miles ahead of us. Speaking of which, I was looking at the spec sheet for my Blast and they listed the MPGs at 69 city/72(?) highway. Is that really accurate? My previous motorcycle was a Honda Nighthawk and that was supposed to get 70 MPGs. But she was a 250cc. Is it possible that an engine with approximately twice the displacement gets the same MPG? I ask because that's one of the reasons I got a bike. They are so much more fuel efficient than cars. Or they get better mileage at least. So if my Blast really is getting those MPGs I can't imagine ever replacing it for another motorcycle. | |||
| Ezblast |
60/65mpg stock using supreme - darn that was a long time ago - lol EZ | |||
| Gearheaderiko |
Though its not unheard of that some will get the 70mpg highway. I think 69mpg around town was optimistic at best!!! The quality of gas is not the same as it was when the Blast first came out (as EZ alluded to) and consistent high mpg has suffered  | |||
| Jrdz |
I'm back! After a two month hiatus from the forum, school is finally letting down enough for me to attempt to fix the Blast. Emphasis here on the word attempt. Since I was having so much fun riding the Blast with the TPS/Auto-Enrichner harness disconnected I almost forgot about the problem. But every startup had me rolling on the throttle a little to get her warmed up and doing this in packed parking lots was beginning feel a little awkward. So, over the 4th of July weekend I decided to dive in. I went against Erik's advice and I stockpiled all the work for one day. Big mistake. I replaced the TPS, replaced the Auto-Enrichner, replaced the petcock and I even switched the handlebars to the Superbike bars so I could tuck in when on the highway. After all the replacements I connected the TPS/Auto-Enrichner harness back in and eagerly hit the start button. She came to life without hesitating and I could hear the RPM's increasing. I was pretty proud of myself as they began to decrease (having perceived this as a successful auto-enrichner replacement) . And then, to my dismay sputter, sputter, thump....thump.....dead. NO! I looked over the forums today and I realized I did not reset the TPS. Problem is I've read the manual, and the instructions found at the top of the carb section, and I'm still confused as to how I should reset the TPS. My questions are: 1. Do I have to buy the Breakout Box Adapters & the Breakout Box to adjust this thing? And 2.What is the throttle plate I am supposed to scribe(additionally what does that mean?)? I am confused as to how to do this reset but I've got a feeling it's what is causing the problem (Here's to wishful thinking). In the meantime I'll have to disconnect the harness again. | |||
| Ezblast |
No - the box is to protect wiring - some liquid wire coat or good electrical tape will easily fix the two wires you have to bare - I would bare a tiny part of each of the two wires and tape my meter points to them, then just follow the manual till it is set. Manual instructions:
EZ | |||
| Jrdz |
Whoa, now we're moving into intimidating territory. I've never stripped wires (or messed with them, outside of dealing with home a/v) but I should be able to do it. I'll have to go out and buy a multimeter. There's a Harbor Freight nearby. I'll stop by tomorrow and hopefully have a chance to adjust the TPS. Thanks for the PDF, Ez. By the way, while trying (desperately) to adjust the idle speed to find the sweet spot where the bike would not idle too high, nor too low, I over-tightened the throttle cable adjuster on the controls. It snapped off and now the plastic that allows for a tighter or looser setting is just hanging there. For a while I thought that it was making my throttle stick, because when I would roll on it the throttle would close again real slowly. I thought this would make for unsafe riding so I had held off on using the Blast, but today I realized that the throttle was slow to close because the layer of duct tape I had placed on the handlebars below the controls, per your suggestions (as an alternative to drilling holes in the bars for the guiding/securing nubs) increased the diameter just enough to make the throttle close slowly. Silly me. It took me a whole two hours to figure that out. In regards to this incident, if the throttle is back to normal, is it safe to ride with that cable adjuster broken? We've had a spell of rain down here for a while now, so I've been off the Blast for a week. I'm dying to try out these new bars, but I don't wanna ride if it's unsafe. | |||
| Ezblast |
If it doesn't feel or look loose at the carb - you are fine. EZ | |||
| Jrdz |
Excellent! | |||
| Ezblast |
However, I would replace sooner or later - lol EZ |
TPS Re-Set