| Author | Message | ||
     Pumpernickle |
I am a new Buell Blast owner as well as a new rider. I have a idling/stalling problem with my bike, a 2000 model. I've searched the forums but no other posts seem to describe my problem. About a week ago my bike starting to have a idling problem. It starts up and idles for about a minute and then slowly die out unless I open the throttle. It also dies when I slow down and downshift after I pull in the clutch. I have to open the throttle to keep the engine from dying during coming to a stop. Then after I come to a stop, it has a hard time idling as well. Sometimes it will idle weakly and other times it will just die. I have no problem getting moving and my bike does fine as long as I have the throttle open a little. I've noticed that there is a frequent popping noise in or behind the plastic box by my right leg (i think this is the airbox?) and that sometimes my bike dies after this popping starts. A few weeks ago I accidentally (and stupidly) put regular gas instead of premium in my tank and had a little trouble with this same problem, but not as frequent. It is rideable as long as I keep the throttle open a little, but I don't like to have problems with it. Any help is great, I'd like to fix this before winter comes. Thanks | ||
| Ezblast |
Das boot - replace intake coupler. EZ | ||
| Pumpernickle |
Ok. For future reference, what could have caused this to go bad? Was it the regular gas I put in my tank? | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
It's a weak link in the Blast. What normally causes it to fail prematurely is removing the stock air cleaner and running the carb unsupported or a bike that backfired through the carb. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Or age. Depending on where the bike lives and/or where its kept, can cause the rubber to deteriorate faster. | ||
| Ezblast |
Always use premium - regular will screw you - word. EZ | ||
| Vsingle |
There are numerous design flaws related to the intake coupler (boot) Sharp corners in the grooves, sharp corners on the manifold. The manifold has metal to metal contact with the head, which transfers a lot of heat into the manifold, especially after shutdown. Temps as high as 265 F have been recorded. Nitrile rubber temp range is only to 226 F. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Most of which has little to do with why they fail. | ||
| Vsingle |
Well then, what are the reasons the boot is, as you state, "a weak link"? | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
I listed them. Maybe I should have written weakest link, as if the bike is stock and running properly, the boot will last a long time. I don't consider the boot that much of a problem. I've only had one fail and that was with an unsupported carb after running some rough back roads "at speed" and it already had 8000 miles on it! | ||
| Vsingle |
You listed the conditions under which some boots have been observed to fail. Conditions are not causes. It's been pretty well established that intake boots may fail unexpectedly even on bone-stock bikes. To say that boots "will last a long time" on stock bikes is simply ignoring the evidence. It may last a long time. It may disintegrate in less than a 1000 miles. You apparently have had good luck with one. That's great; it doesn't change the observed and reported results from lots of other riders experiences. The stock boot is a poor design. To test that statement, consider each feature and then ask if that feature would be an improvement if it were increased. For example: the sharp corner radius on the inside of the boot grooves. Could we expect longer life if the corners were made sharper? Would the boot last longer if we could make the intake run hotter? | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Considering I've been doing this over 12 years, have more than one Blast and have worked on more, I know what goes on with the boot and why it fails. Could a better boot be engineered? Sure. But the reality is boots on a well running stock Blast rarely fail, except in the case of normal aging. While heat might play a factor, in reality, age and temperature fluctuations in different climates do more damage. Few stock Blasts have seen the temperatures mine have seen while racing in 115F heat. Biggest cause of failure is backfire through the carb. That's a running problem, not a boot problem. Why do they split. In first part because the design grips the carb and manifold very well. Second is because twin cylinder bikes running a single carb have a considerable amount more of space for the backfire to expand. The Blast has very little. If the boot didn't split, you could end up with carb damage. How many boot failures are from improper assembly? I don't believe in spreading unwarranted paranoia. Being a Harley already gives one strike against it. I don't see your point in boot bashing, unless you're getting a cut from the "SuperBoot" sales. Blast bashing also convinces more people to sell their Blasts because they are unreliable. Which is untrue. Not sure how long you've owned your Blast, how many you've worked on, how long you've been active online helping people solve their problems or how many motorcycles you've owned. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
The whole "if the grooves were sharper, would they be better" doesn't make any sense. Since when is having more of something a test of viability as a design? | ||
| Vsingle |
I could not care less about a poster's expertise, nor history. If you post something that doesn't ring true, I'm going to call you on it. You dismissed my observations about the design of the boot, stating "most of which has little to do with why they fail". In this latest posting, you indicate that your belief that "seasonal temperature changes" are a factor in the deterioration of boots. Yet when I pointed out that heat-soak from head to intake exposes the boot to temps that exceed the material service specs, you dismiss my observation. I haven't bashed anything. You however, state "being a Harley gives one strike against it". You imply that I am getting some kind of financial gain from the sale of "Super boots". I never mentioned anything about Dan's Superboot. You state that stock bikes do not generate the same amount of heat as your racing bike. Do you have the the research to back that staement up? Do you know what your racing bike head and intake temperatures are? Do you know what stock blast temps are? It is entirely possible that a stock bike, given it's extremely lean factory set-up and tune, runs hotter than your race bike. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
I yield to your unknown experience and unqualified expertise.  \ | ||
| Ezblast |
In this controversy I give V single one valid point - that the engine heat factors does exceed the boots tolerance to heat factor - contributing to failures down the line. I've noted BMW uses different synthetic boots on it's intakes, but their size is not useable by us. Oh well. ErikO's experience on everything else is basically correct, with the age of rubber, sitting, drying, and cracking just as valid. As far as racing vs stock - ErikO definitely knows the affects of both on a boot - being a long time owner and helper to both in his life - experience does count for a lot in life - it would be foolish to discount it. I still don't see the reason for this argument though unless you have a solution - a sharper edge would only make for a tear to more likely happen. My thought on the matter - from a guy on the other side of the boot fence - in other words - I've been through dozens of them - maybe over a hundred by now - tried many different support systems for them, and really have only found one "better" item - which is not needed for stock applications. I dis-agree about it being a dead horse, but I do understand ErikO's frustration - you need to bring something more positive to the table than the critique of other's experience. One good observation does not make all other points valid - it is still only one good observation - period. I would like to know what else - in a positive - that you have on the topic? - I bet even Thumpe - a serious engineer himself - is listening as well - please enlighten us if you have something of value to contribute - I'm sure we are all ears! - lol EZ  | ||
| Vsingle |
I considered my initial posting on this thread as a positive contribution to the knowledge vault. It was promptly dismissed as irrelevant. When I asked for clarification, I was told that boots last a long time on stock bikes. Really? There seems to be a whole lot of evidence to the contrary, which I tried to point out. I'd still like to see some data about racing bike temperatures compared to stock bikes. Without the data, actual measurements at the track, the "knowledge" from experience doesn't count for much in my book. |
