| Author | Message | ||
     Kinger |
Last December my dad called me and asked if I could get a week away from home for a motorcycle trip. I thought, that would be fun, let me see what I can do. So I made arrangements with my wife for her to be off the week I would be gone and we began planning our trip. My dad wanted to join a group called Wolf's Head Rally (http://www.wolfsheadrally.com) in Two Harbors, MN for a Lake Superior Circle Tour. The tour takes 5 days and takes you along some of the most scenic roads in Northern WI and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Unfortunately I can not vouch for the ride through Canada since I began having trouble with my bike of day 2 of the ride and it got bad enough on day 3 that I opted for the trailer ride back over the border to make arrangements to get me and my bike 500 miles to home. Prior to leaving on the trip I performed most of the requirements for the 7500 and 10,000 mile service. Since I was between the 2 schedules I did almost everything on the 10,000 mile service list except steering head bearings and lubricating cables. So the bike had new plugs, wires, about 500 miles on new primary fluid and chain tensioner and fresh oil. The bike ran flawlessly for about 900+ miles. The trouble started the morning of day 2. While riding up the Kewanau peninsula to Copper Harbor, MI, I came up over a little hill doing about 55 mph. The bike cut out, then back fired. I pulled over, could see anything that was out of place, leaking or broken. Looked over the bike carefully and then started it back up. It instantly ran as good as it had been. So we continued on the ride. Later the same day it did the same thing, except this time I was on level ground. It cut, back fired, I pulled in the clutch and hit the start button and off I went. That night I consulted the owner's manual for possible causes for this type of behavior. I checked spark plug gap (it was within range but I put it to the minimum at this time), checked electrical connections and everything seemed fine. On day three the bike was running fine (despite the heavy down pour we were riding in). Once again after 50+ miles of trouble free riding the bike did the same thing as the day before. The second time it back fired it was about 15-20 miles after the first. It then happened a third time, before we got to the Canadian border. At the last stop before the border I called my local dealer (Hal's HD/Buell) to see if they had any ideas about the cause. I know diagnosis over the phone doesn't necessarily work, but it was worth a shot since the closest dealership was 165 miles in the wrong direction. The service department said with out checking the computer that it could be the A/F mixture or TPS is off. I asked and he stated that it should be fine to ride but it will run like crap. So we headed for the border to go through customs. We passed through the US side of the bridge and as I went over the bridge the bike died out 3 times and the revs began to have a mind of there own. Once through customs I couldn't go more than 50-75 feet without the bike cutting out. At this point I opted, somewhat out of frustration, for a ride back over the border in the chase vehicle. I was fortunate that my father in law is semi retired and had the time and the truck to drive from Wisconsin Rapids, WI to Sault Saint Marie, MI to pick me up. I made arrangements with Wausau HD/ Buell to drop the bike off for service. They called me with in an hour of dropping it off to tell me that the bike runs great and there are no trouble codes. The could not test ride it because it had tipped over in the chase trailer and bent the front brake disc. They ordered the part and that should be repaired today. They are then going to test ride it and see if they can duplicate the problem. Anyone have any thoughts on what may be wrong? I am thinking fuel filter at this point, but I can not figure out why the bike would lose power. Thanks for listening to my long winded story! | ||
| Peter |
Check your side stand switch. | ||
| Uwgriz |
That was going to be my guess. | ||
| Skully |
Ask Blake about kick stand switches... Keith | ||
| Bomber |
hell, just disable the damn thing and take your lumps if you ride off with the stand down (mumble mumble mumble) I replced two of the silly things until I looked closely at it, and realized that even a gentle washing would get enough water in there to drown a fish . .. . . . worst quality part I've seen in a long time . . . .. . mebbe the design/vendor has been changed, but I'd by-pass it soonest | ||
| Bads1 |
Check the fuel line vent hose when you get the bike back.If it's clogged, crimped,or pinched it could do that after building to much pressure in the fuel tank. | ||
| Kinger |
Thanks for the ideas guys. I was so frustrated that I couldn't find a computer to get to before the trailer fiasco with the brake. I am sort of hoping that the dealership can't duplicate the problem on a test ride, so I can just get the bike back here and ride around locally (where a truck is readily available  ) to figure this thing out. | ||
| Darthane |
Ditto what BadS1 said. My Blast was doing the same thing just before Homecoming 2001. Spidey and I stayed up all night trying everything we could think of to fix it, turns out the fuel tank hose was pinched. Negative pressure in the tank - blammo, stalled bike. | ||
| Doncasto |
Although perhaps not a common on the FI bikes, you might also check battery cables at the battery and where the positive cable attaches to the starter. They have been known to vibrate loose in some cases suffer from broken connectors. I seem to also remember hearing about broken connectors/wires on sensors that gave off intermittent failures. | ||
| Chainsaw |
check for spark. check coil and ignition wires. my truck had similar symptoms when the coil went bad. | ||
| Socal |
When my 96 S1 was doing exactly what you described, as far as cutting off completely (no guages, lights), and then suddenly responding to a push on the start button and firing (sometimes while I was still rolling), it was just as Doncasto described - loose battery cables. Although they were still tighter than finger-tight, they were loose enough so that it'd cut out on me while riding. I'm not sure which connection though - I would tighten them at all locations! (pretty sure it was at the battery posts) | ||
| Kinger |
Thanks for the additional ideas guys. I tightened both connection at the battery because the bike would start on day 1 of the trip. That was caused by a loose positive terminal connection. I also tightenend the negative terminal. I am in the waiting (for parts routine) right now. The brake disc was supposed to there today, but it didn't show. If it is not there tomorrow, I may tell them to forget it, since wednesday evening is my only chance this week for a 6 hour trip! We shall see. Thanks again. | ||
| Bads1 |
Kinger you have mail. | ||
| Kinger |
Well it took a little while, mostly my procrastination, I figured out the cause of my bikes problems. Turns out one of the wires leading to the ignition coil had rubbed through and was shorting out. Spliced it together taped and wrapped and we are good to go. Also switched out my head light to a 2 light set-up. |
