| Author | Message | ||
     Sgthigg |
Here is my problem. I ride my Buell EVERYDAY. She runs awesome. I rode it home lastnight from work as usual pulled her into the garage and shut her down. This morning I tried to start her up and she was running off the rear cylinder only. When I give it gas it sputters and then the front cylinder kicks in. I sawpped out the fron plug and the wire. She ran fine so I took it out down the road. Ran fine until it got warmed up then it was back to runing off the rear cylinder AT IDLE. When im on the gas she runns fine no power loss or sputtering. Only when I get off the gas does she start to run off the rear cylinder. I reset the tps no help. Set idle. New plug. New wire. Checked spark, got spark. I know this is next to impossible to diagnos over the internet, so what I am trying to ask i guess, is suggestions of things I can do before I take her to the Dealership. Thanks | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Often tightening the battery terminals solves what appear to be unrelated electrical mysteries. I remove the terminals, clean them with fine sandpaper, then reattach them and tighten the screws with a screw driver head on a socket wrench, using blue Locktite. Hope that helps. | ||
| Nutsnbolt |
dude, when are you comin out to Lejeune? By the way, is that Stuart Mesa? mark | ||
| 45_degrees |
Bad injector or injector wire or possibly the coil?? | ||
| 99buellx1 |
partially clogged injector? | ||
| Sgthigg |
I did the active test with the VDSTS on the injector and coil. Both passed, is that good enough? Nutsnbolt..Kind of wish I was going to lejeune..Im going to iwakuni in January instaed. Stuart Mesa? Uhh im kind of confused... | ||
| Daves |
what did the plug look like? | ||
| Smokescreen |
Check your kickstand switch. It doesn't throw a code when it goes out. I had a similar problem, bike would start hard and would run on one cylinder. It was the kill switch for the sidestand trying to shut the bike down. It may not be the same in your case but it only takes a second to check. Smokescreen | ||
| 45_degrees |
If it's intermittent I wouldn't trust the test completely. I would still be suspecting something to do with those two items. Does the replacement coil/plug wire come with a new spark plug cap? | ||
| Sgthigg |
the front was fouled/black. I am not sure if it was from giving it gas when It first started out on one cylinder, trying to make it run or what. It smelled like gas. I swapped it out with a old one I had laying around she ran fine till she warmed up. Then she was back to running on one cylinder..I didnot take that one out, I had to get to work. I will as soon as I get home tonight. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Hey Smokescreen would it be possible to have you take a snapshot of your kickstand switch? I keep hearing people talk about them, but my bike doesn't have one, and my manual doesn't say anything about one. I wonder, is it exclusive to S models? | ||
| Tq_freak |
its exclusive to the 03 model, 04 and up dont have kickstand switches, I would pull the front plug and see what it looks like but if on the way home it doesnt the same thing at idle it isnt goin to look nice and pretty. I would think that it would be on the ignition side more then the fuel side. Check your front wire and see if it is cracked, night is the best time to check for the "light show" and check the connection to the injectors to and make sure they are tight, maybe use some dielectric grease. How does the buell coil work is it simmilar to an HD where there is a wasted spark ie, they both fire at the same time regardless or is it sequecial. | ||
| Sgthigg |
Tq freak. both coils fire at the same time. | ||
| Sgthigg |
Oh and no error codes are thrown. | ||
| Tunes |
Sounds like the previous replies covered it all. What you have is: When warm, at low rpm, the front cylinder is misfiring. The plug is sooty-black which means a rich condition. A plugged injector would cause a lean condition at all throttle openings. You mentioned you smelled gas. Sounds like the fuel delivery system is working. Something is preventing the front-cylinder spark plug from firing at low rpm. Usually, when a sudden problem arises, it's electrical. Electrical has two items to consider: Failed component or bad connection. Failed components can be intermittent, which really sucks. Bad connection includes: connectors not seated, fasteners not tight, broken wire, shorted wire. You replaced the spark plug & plug wire. The coil has two halves, one for each cylinder. I.E., if you swap plug wires, the bike will not run. Coils can go bad. The injector connections can be loose or bad injector. Unlikely be another bad plug or wire. ECM? Probably not. Sucking air? That would cause a lean condition. Sounds like your right on it. Please keep us posted. | ||
| Pwnzor |
its exclusive to the 03 model, 04 and up dont have kickstand switches Good, I'd have disabled it if my bike had one anyway. Thanks for putting that to rest. | ||
| Brineusaf |
Could you temp sensor be bad maybe? Maybe the bike is thinking it is overheating, and killing the cylinder. Note- I am saying this from the top of my head, I am not referencing the service manual, so I do not know which cylinder is cut out if this occurs. Just a thought. | ||
| Sgthigg |
I think i just fixed it...(thank god now I can sleep, seriously). I dont know what I was thinking when I said I replaced the wire the first time around. I didnt. I got to looking at it and it was hanging off the coil. I replaced it and fired her up. She idled like new. No sputtering etc. I just have to wait till tomorrow to fully test it out. I got a good feeling its fixed. There HAS to be a tool out there to make putting those wires on easier...Anybody got a clue where to get one? Brine good thinking, however i am pretty sure there is only one head temp sensor and its in the rear and also only cuts out the rear when she over heats...I might be wrong too. I will keep that definetly in mind down the road. (Message edited by sgthigg on November 02, 2006) | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Even if it was overheating it does not completely kill one of the cylinders. It goes into skip-spark mode, where it will make it seem like you are hitting the rev-limit. | ||
| Swordsman |
Overheating would have been giving you some funky flashing check engine lights anyway, would it not? Rules that possibility out. Glad things are looking up. It's always frustrating trying to figure out what's wrong... I've been doing the same with my car lately (according to the dealership, I needed a $720 catalytic converter, but lo and behold, a $6 gas cap fixed the problem. Crooks!). ~SM | ||
| Daves |
Glad you got it figured out. | ||
| Sgthigg |
Ahha,, thanks 99buellx Yep that was it just the wire. I guess when i reved it up it would arc from the coil to the wire, and then make it fire. Either way I rode her today as usual. No problems. Im just glad we got a place like this site to combine ideas ans suggestions to help each other out. Now only if i knew what to do with my addiction to my lightning.  | ||
| Daves |
There is no known cure. |
