Not Running Right.

[Tele130]

And thats one thing I'm going to look at. Right now I'm at a Rally (Remember the Alphabet Road Rally?  That's my back yard and where I'm at now. I was 10 miles out passing a slower car when in mid pass she started to act up again. Right now I'm waiting for it to cool down a bit before I start taking it apart. After doing what Steve recommend she ran super fine. Why all of the sudden it went south at 70 mph?  Don't know. But the fuel line decaying could be the culprit. I'll let you know what I find.

[Tele130]

Well?  I just performed "The Trick" again. This time the results were a failure. I'm really not in a position (Location) to pull the carbs and take them apart.  At this point it looks like I'll sit in the A/C and read a book.  Or , pull out early and limp her home.

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

To jdm and tele - When my bike did it at the national the carbs had only been on for 3 weeks since I had completed a total cleaning and reassembly. Since the issue was a blocked main jet in my case, and since I know it didn't come through the fuel line, as such a large piece of trash would have held a needle valve off the seat and caused an overflowing carb, I'm sure my trash came from one of the vent tubes. all it takes is a bug looking for a new home, and spiders are bad at that sort of thing - Steve

[JDM]

To jdm and tele - When my bike did it at the national the carbs had only been on for 3 weeks since I had completed a total cleaning and reassembly. Since the issue was a blocked main jet in my case, and since I know it didn't come through the fuel line, as such a large piece of trash would have held a needle valve off the seat and caused an overflowing carb, I'm sure my trash came from one of the vent tubes. all it takes is a bug looking for a new home, and spiders are bad at that sort of thing - Steve

That makes sense to me. I am sure spiders can make nests. I still say the filter is about as good as the OEM petcock. Thanks for the come back. JD  (PS Steve if you got a hole in the diaphragm would it not give you similar symptoms?)  I would like to thank you for the info you gave about a plugged main jet.  It is good info and could save someone a lot of problems.  I just hope I can remember it if it happen to me.  Again Steve Thanks you are a good man.

[Tele130]

I spent my whole rally time diagnosing/ wrenching on the Connie ( Not bitching, it is what it is). Once I get back to a normal computer and not my iPhone I'll post what was done and what was found. I will say the the "Best Guess" was the fuel line. I'll be home Sunday evening. Right now she's running like a stripped assed ape!!!!!

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

Jd, a hole in a diaphram would give the same symptoms. In fact, my very first inclination to pull the carb tops was because I wondered if, during all the high rpm runs  we were doing, a spring bounced and got out of position and made a slide stick down. Understand my springs are cut and don't exert as much tension as stock springs do, so it's a possibility, though not a likely one. I was "running all the possibilities" if you know what I mean.
   I also have a spider problem in my shop - the damm daddy longlegs are trying to takeover, so that's why i suspect it was a spider that got lodged in the main jet - Steve

[connie_rider]

I've often wondered how trash gets by the screen that is in the gas tanks. I know it isn't a total filter, but should stop most debris. While your looking at the fuel hose for degregation, look at the petcock diaphram.
Explanation: I recently replaced the diaphram in mysons petcock. During the repair, we found that the rubber on the inside of the diaphram (gas side) was basically gone. What was there, was decomposed/grains of rubber.
So, possibly the problem people are having is the rubber from the diaphram is getting into the carbs.


But, I have another thought. Did you look at the fuel line to see if it was kinked?
When you've worked on the carbs etc, you've removed the tank. (and moved the fuel hose)
The fix you found may have been a kinked hose not a blocked jett etc.

The hose can be fine when the engine is at idle. But the kink can restrict the flow and cause insufficient fuel flow. Or, it can kink/close more as it heats up or vibrates. I ran into this problem while on a ride. On thattrip, rerouting the fuel line solved my problem.

Ride safe, Ted 

[JDM]

I've often wondered how trash gets by the screen that is in the gas tanks. I know it isn't a total filter, but should stop mose debris. While your looking at the fuel hose for degregation, look at the petcock diaphram.
Explanation: I recently replaced the diaphram in mysons petcock. During the repair, we found that the rubber on the inside of the diaphram (gas side) was basically gone. What was there, was decomposed/grains of rubber.
So, possibly the problem people are having is the rubber from the diaphram is getting into the carbs.


But, I have another thought. Did you look at the fuel line to see if it was kinked?
When you've worked on the carbs etc, you've removed the tank. (and moved the fuel hose)
The fix you found may have been a kinked hose not a blocked jett etc.

The hose can be fine when the engine is at idle. But the kink can restrict the flow and cause insufficient fuel flow. Or, it can kink/close more as it heats up or vibrates. I ran into this problem while on a ride. On thattrip, rerouting the fuel line solved my problem.

Ride safe, Ted

I would almost bet the petcock diaphram is no good with ethanol fuel.  Does anyone know what the diaphram is made of so we can check to see if it is compatible with ethanol?   

[Tele130]

I did check the diaphragm.  It appeared to be prefect (The Petcock is only a year only....well?, "IN SERVICE" for a year)

This junk was located in the #2 carb's float needle port...(Sorry, I don't know the technical name......my bad).




It was black and hard.


And then, the float needle fell from the float upon removing the float from the bowl.  These dark speckles came off the needle it self.



I took a Q-Tip and soaked it with fuel, held it with a pair of long skinny needle nose pliers and took a swab of the inside of the fuel line.  The Q-Tip came out with black smudges all over it.  With that info we concluded the fuel line was decaying inside and allowing this debris into the carbs.

The fuel line was replaced and a "In Line" fuel filter added.  Carbs were cleaned and reassembled.  She be running good now.................no?

[mdr]

Yup.  That's why I just use the plastic stuff now - well one of the reasons.  I just don't believe the reinforced automotive fuel line is good stuff to use.  Kinks too easily for one.  Too hard to look at and tell it's condition for another.  I tried the stuff from Murphs (Motion Pro) and it got hard and kinked after a couple years too, so I got the cheap stuff at CycleGear and replaced it.  Half the price and lots more of it.  I'll see how it holds up in comparison.