| Author | Message | ||
     Mikej |
Seth, Do you have a service manual and parts book for your bike? Do you have a way to lift the rear tire off the ground? (Centerstand, swingarm/sportbike stand, Bulldog stands, rafters to hang a lift from?) Pull the spark plugs and see what they look like. Then shine a small bright flashlight into the sparkplug holes and see if you can see the top of the piston. Also remove the air filter cover and make sure things are good and clean in there. These are just the easiest starting points to check. Check what you can and then get back to us. What do the plugs look like? What color is the formerly white ceramic around the electrode? Is there any carbon buildup on the spark plug? If you can see the tops of the pistons, do they look thinly colored, or do they look like a lava field? Is your air filter clean and fresh? Was the inside of the air filter housing covered in oil? Have your rocker box breathers been rerouted away from the air filter or are they still venting into it? Does the intake mouth of the carburator and the slide look nice and clean, or do they look all gunked up? Finally, do you do your own service on your vehicles, or if not do you have a good dealer near you? 1,900 miles on a 3-5 year old bike says it hasn't been rode much, could just need a little attention. MikeJ | ||
| Sethspeaks |
Hi Mike, Thanks for the suggestions, I'm brand-new at the motorcycle thing. I do have the service manual but at this point I'm not really comfortable doing much work on the bike. I need to find a good dealer. The closest one to me is HD of Fort Myers, Florida and they are not very Buell friendly. I posted this same question in the ignition section and it was suggested that I have it dyno-tuned. Is that something that any Harley shop could do or would I need to take it to someone with Buell specific experience? Also I forgot to mention in my last post that my mileage is terrible, about 109 miles before I hit reserve and then it takes about 3.6 gallons to fill it. (S1WL is supposed to have a 5.5 gal tank with a 0.6 gal reserve, right??) Once again any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. It took me 3 years to finally get a Buell and I REALLY need to be riding it :-) Thanks, seth | ||
| Mikej |
Seth, There are a bunch of people on the site here from Florida, and hopefully some of them will contact you either online or by email with dealership suggestions. I'll check later today and see what the current rate is for a dyno-time and tuneup. The key is finding someone who both understands v-twins _and_ performance, and avoiding anyone with a bad attitude. Unless it's the good kind of bad attitude, then it's okay (but that's kind of hard to understand and explain the difference). If your dealer is anti-Buell, then definitely find a different service center or dealership. There are sportbike shops around who are also knowledgable about Buell engines, and they'd also be a good idea to find. You can still use your local H-D dealer for common items, even if they hate Buells. Just be certain to park your Buell front and center when you go there, guaranteed a bunch of their customers will be looking at it with smiles. There's a little Buellitude inside everybody. ps, (edited after checking mapquest.com) I think there's a good aftermarket/performance shop about 120 miles north of you, but don't know if you want to go that far, but do know they have a dyno and good mechanics who are performance oriented. Anyway, I've never been to Florida, but maybe one of the folks down that way will see this and reply. They're probably all out riding today. | ||
| Jima4media |
Josh, What is the difference between the FI manifolds? Why the new model? Thanks in advance... Jim X-2.5 | ||
| Blackbuellm2 |
WOW Just did the carb fix last night. What an amazing difference. For the first time the bike will power the front wheel up in second gear. No yanking on the bars, just a quick shift and let 'er rip. In town no stutter, no pop, no backfire through the carb. Thanks MUCHO Aaron for the assist. If you haven't rejetted the carb on your bike do it. It took me all of 2 hours total. It's time well spent. | ||
| Jasonl |
SethSpeaks - Sounds to me like you may have a lean condition. The pinging and heat are from the stock jetting I believe. I just rejetted my 98 s3 after jetting it too rich before. It came stock with a 195 jet but needed a 190 after I adjusted the idle and various other things. I would suggest reading the carb tuning article on www.americanthunderbikes.com . Then you could check out the carb tuning article on www.sportster.org . Keep in mind the sportster.org article is aimed at 50-60 hp sportsters. Found out some interesting things while jetting my cycle. To read the plugs you need to run for a minute at a target speed (mine was 3500 r') and then kill the engine and pull the plugs. I found out that my 185 jet was too lean. Seems that the higher the dark line is on the inside of your electrode is how rich or lean it's running. Mine was all the way at the base of the white part of the electrode. Got the 190 jet installed today and testing will soon commence. | ||
| Clydeglide |
Seth, Call HD of Naples. My friend has his Hog worked on there and he is very happy with their work. He puts very high miles on his bikes so they see that shop alot. I believe they are also a Buell dealer. Clyde | ||
| Clydeglide |
Mikej, Yes, I was out riding today. 83 deg F almost cloudless. My wife rode her Buell and a few miles from the house I believe I saw Smadd going the other way . Thanks for thinking of us. Clyde | ||
| H_Man |
HELP! HELP!! Yesterday and today were great days to be on the bike, but it won't start. I rode for a bit on Sunday (4/8) and had no problems. The bike first gave me starting trouble Tuesday (4/10). It hasn't worked since then. I'll do an archive search but I'll post this plea for help here and in the Electronic & Ignition and Starter sections to try get some quicker direction. Symptoms: The starter engages but the engine won't kick over. I have a '00 M2. Actions: (1) I checked for, and have, spark; (2) All the fuses are okay; (3) Took off the air filter and visually examined the Carb. It seems to be getting gas; (4) THere's gas in the tank; (5) fuel supply valve IS NOT on "off"; (6) I changed the plugs. Since I changed the plugs and have spark, I'm tempted to believe it isn't an electrical problem. But I cant figure this out. Any and all assistance is welcomed. H-man | ||
| Josh |
Jim: $40 and a machined surface for the intake gaskets. The old one looked larger at the intake, but I don't have a gauge for that. I installed the new one because I had a hard time with the original getting the fuel injector bracket off & messed up the threads a little. Otherwise I'd have returned it (if I had gotten it locally). Josh 99 S3T | ||
| Y2k01x1 |
heeelllppp! picked up brand spanking new 2001 x1 lightning on monday and it has been back at the dealership since tuesday. had 4 miles on the odometer when i picked it up and i put about 80 easy miles on it monday. problem with the idle. bike starts fine, runs fine, but won't idle for more than a minute or two, then shuts down like it ran out of fuel. dealer has checked everything, no trouble codes, nothing. read somewhere here about someone having similar problem. turned out to be a faulty bank angle sensor. i mentioned that to my dealer and they looked at me like i was nuts. dealers gonna try to contact the factory on monday. anybody with similar problems or any ideas? | ||
| Sethspeaks |
Thanks Clyde, I'll check out HD of Naples seth | ||
| José_Quiñones |
Josh, From what I was told, the new manifold is slightly wider (.040" or something like that) and has the machined intake seals as you mentioned. In the sense that you should have less intake leak problems it's probably worth it. Y2k01x1, Something is sending a "kill command" to the motor. The bank angle sensor is a good place to start. Check that it's mounted correctly, so it doesn't think that you are past 55 degrees (as if the bike's on its side on the ground). More likely it's getting hot as the motor warms up and its opening the circuit, shutting down the bike. Swap parts until you find out what it is. | ||
| Jima4media |
Y2K01X1, The only time my bike does that is when I leave the kickstand down. Let us know what you find out. I've never heard of a problem like that before. Jim X-2.5 | ||
| Airborne |
Y2k01x1: Just a guess, also one possible thing to check amongst many. The safety switch on the kickstand can have a intermittent short(sometimes it works sometimes it don't). My bike would just quit running as soon as I put it in gear to take off. Trouble-shooted the safety cut off circuits and narrowed it down to the sidestand switch. My cheap solution was to pull the sensor off the end of the wire. Twist the two wires together. Soldiered the connection to insure it wouldn't fall apart and covered the bare soldier connection with heat shrink wrap. Kept on rolling after that. There are other safety circuits to check on that might cause your problem. Neutral indicator and the little switch underneath the clutch lever. If there is a intermittent short or open in any of these circuits (caused by the vibrating engine) an unwanted kill signal can be sent to the ignition system and shut off the motor. | ||
| Y2k01x1 |
thanx for the tips! when i mentioned a possible faulty bank angle sensor, the dealership people looked at me like i was a dumbshit and didn't know what i was talking about. unfortunately, the dealership people think they are the experts and aren't ready to take advice from someone with a total of 85 miles under his x1 belt. because the bike is under warranty, i have to let them figure out what's wrong so any necessary parts and labor will be gratis. if i ever complete the 500 mile break-in, i'm planning on losing the stock helmholtz air box. does anyone know if there is a forcewinder xr2 that will accommodate the intake air temp sensor? i've e-mailed them and received no response. their website does not provide a lot of application info. also, the buell catalog shows a pro-series oval carbon fiber race air cleaner assembly (part no. 91422-99y) for '99 and later s3/s3t for $289.00. i'm guessing that this setup should work fine for my 2001 x1. i don't want to keep the stock air box and use buell's x1 race air cleaner assembly (part no. 91420-99y). anybody know for sure? please let me know. thanx! | ||
| Dart |
What would I have to do (carb jetting) if I installed a sidewinder intake and K&N filter on an almost totally stock Y2K M2. The only mod I've done so far is the recommended carb jetting(#45 slow jet, #195 main jet, N65C needle, and idle mixture screw 2 1/2 turns from seated). I figure if I install this intake, my mixture will lean out and I'll need to re-jet the carb. | ||
| H_Man |
At Arvel's suggestion, I pulled the plugs to verify gas was getting to the cylinders. The plugs were wet. I left the plugs out to allow the cylinder to air out. When I returned and replaced the plugs, still no start up. I also tried cranking her up while the plugs were out. I could feel the air being forced out the holes from the pistons, so I don't think its a compression problem (remember, I just rode the bike last Sunday). I'm still searching for ideas. The manual indicates it's a fuel delivery problem. But I just don't see how. Appears to me like she should be starting. Does anyone think it might be the ignition module preventing the bike from starting?? For all else who may help, see a couple posts above for the H&P of this problem. H-man | ||
| Hans |
H_man: Maybe you returned too soon. You can refresh the air in the cylinders by cranking with the throttle wide open. You have then also to get rid of the extra gas from the accelerator pump. Best is just more patience while recharching the battery. To burn spilled gas with a match ? Splendid idea. That nobody found that out earlier. Yes, it works well. Good idea. It works very well. It works too well. Where the devil came all that flames from ?? Oh, there was just a little bit gas leaked into that slid apparently. Mmm, got to shut off the petcock before the gashose starts burn...TOO HOT already... If there was on that moment not a friendly autobus driver who stopped and took his mega fire extinguisher my son`s friend would not have a scoot anymore. Hans. | ||
| S2no1 |
Hans, Your son's got me beat. I'd never think of doing this on the Carb side. Now if we can get Chuck to drop by, we can actually do some safety researc for Buell!!!. How wet do plugs need to be before they are fouled? Arvel | ||
| Troop |
Dart - I have those carb mods to go with my YoDude intake system and V&H pipe. My 00 M2 runs PERFECT !! No stutters/sputters/hic-ups/etc. Should work great for you. Enjoy | ||
| Tripper |
Does anyone have the instruction sheet for Dynojets Kit 8110 for the '98 S1-WL which they can scan or fax? Thanx! | ||
| Tims |
Are the people here, who are making 80 to 90 rear wheel hp with their Buells doing so with the stock intake manifold?? | ||
| Aaron |
Yes. Stock Thunderstormed S1's and S3's made in the 80's. There are plenty of Buells into the 90's and 100's with the stock manifold. | ||
| Buellzebub |
YES 2 97s1 stock lightning heads c/w race header and a/c, white bros e-series, tweaked carb, 87.5 Rear wheel HP, 84 lb/ft torque @ 15 discs in muffler still playing with total number of discs may be able to recover a bit more power. running 19 discs now, will have bike back on dyno next week, seat of pants DYNO feels like im still gaining hp as i increase the number of discs. | ||
| H_Man |
Here's the latest on getting my M2 running. I had planned on testing the coil for continuity, but I followed one of Mikej's suggestions from Saturday/Sunday first and the bike roared to life -- though briefly. Mikej suggested spraying some starter fluid in the carb. I did that with the fuel switch off first, then I tried it again with the fuel line open. The bike turned over and would run. But not on it's own. I had to continually twist the throttle to keep her running. A couple times it would rev high without me doing anything. I could have this wrong, but I thought the mix was too lean because I had to blip the throttle so much to keep it going. BUT, when I pulled the plugs, they were black. After all this here's were I am. (1) The bike still won't start and run on it's own; (2) I know the electrical system's okay; (3) I know the hang up with the fuel delivery system; (4) I'm not sure what the problem is; (5) I think I need to reduce the gas in the mix. Please keep all your comments and suggestions coming. While I'm pretty handy with tools, I'm a neophyte when it comes to all thing motorcycle related. A greatful H-man | ||
| S2no1 |
H_Man, At the risk of ... oh heck what's life without a little risk. Try Sparky's technique first. However, since it apparently won't start at all (even held wide open) it's like the float or the main is hanging up. If you got some sediment in the float bowel then you may have a piece of dirt in the carb somewhere holding a needle open. If Sparky's technique don't work then first, just tap "lightly" the side of carb (works on my Dad's 46 and all Rochester/Holly Chevy carbs) with a screwdriver handle. DO NOT STRIKE HARD. And try it again. Last time my S2 flooded it took three tries to get it cleaned up. Once I got it started I held it at about 2000 for a while to clear the carb. Ran fine after that. Arvel Chuck, Leave your matches at home. I don't need any testing of my port, it's just fine.  | ||
| Airborne |
For anyone interested, I have had several inquiries as to my cheap airbox modification I made for only the cost of a K&N airfilter, $35.00. Actually the mod is the result of a high speed excursion into a grass field. Click my profile link for a picture of the Mod. I’ll try to get some close up pictures to post with this shortly. Step One: removal of the defunct stuff that’s not needed now. Remove these items. (Not the way I did, you can use a screwdriver) Airbox cover and air filter. Disconnect the IAT sensor from wire plug. Remove the breather hose from snorkel and the T connector from the two breather hoses. Unscrew the bolts holding on the C shaped bracket underneath the snorkel and the snorkel. A plastic donut looking part might come loose or stay on. I don’t remember if it was loose or not. Gently push the grommet and wire for IAT sensor through airbox backing plate. Remove airbox backing plate. Step Two: Making new gaskets. Get gasket paper from your local auto parts store. Use the plastic donut from between the snorkel and throttle body as a template to trace and cut out two new gaskets. The old one won’t work and are probably torn up by now. Step Three: putting the parts back on. Find a washer that will fit onto the bolt and allow room to rest against snorkel that fits the hole in the 2 o’clock position of snorkel as looking from the right side of bike. Insert bolt and washer into that hole. Slip on one of your home made gaskets to that bolt so it will get sandwiched when you slide on the plastic donut. Hold it; wait… now slip on the plastic donut. Apply the next gasket that will fit between the snorkel assembly and the throttle body. This is the hard part you will need to put the whole assembly up to the throttle body and work the bolt in the 2 o’clock position with needle nose pliers to turn the bolt. A third hand would help here. Turn the bolt until it is in but not tight. Just enough to hold the assembly in place. Replace the C bracket under snorkel and tighten down other two bolts. Go back and tighten down the first bolt. The two holes in the top of the snorkel will need to plugged up. I found that the caps from oil bottles will fit nicely and will need to be glued in place. I used gasket shellac as a glue. Anything that resists oil and heat will work. Reconnect the IAT sensor to snorkel and fit the new airfilter to the inlet. Reconnect the breather hoses also. Note: If you have one of those catch cans or have routed the breather hoses someplace else the breather hose connector on the snorkel will have to be plugged up also. | ||
| Mikej |
H-man, Yep, like everybody else, I'm thinking it might be close to time to remove and go thru the carb. Question: this is about the time some regions switch from winter blend to summer blend of gasses, could you have gotten a tank of junky-gas at your last fillup? How long after your last gas purchase did the bike start acting up? Removing the carb is relatively simple compared to other tasks, but draining the tank and adding known good gas might be a quick fix. It might be remotely possible you got a watery tank of gas, or a sediment-mix from the bottom of the fuel tanks at your local gas station. Just a remote possibility, but if it were me I'd be for removing the carb. | ||
| Blake |
H-Man: One thing to ask yourself. What if anything did you change on the bike since it last ran okay? Did you install a new breather or airbox assy? Did you happen to stick a screw into the fourth hole where the airbox/snorkel tube attaches to the face of the carb. That's a breather hole. Don't ask me how I know. |
