Not Running Right.

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

the fluttering you describe is a miss, and it sounds like the issue I had at the national. go back and re-read my description. a couple times if you need to. see if that fits. BTW lay off the seafoam. Have you drained the bowls into a glass container? if not, do that and let us know if theres water in it. Steve

[kzz1king]

Will the addition of the sea foam make it difficult to tell if there is water in the fuel Steve?  You know I need to pour some gas in a glass jar and add water. Let it set and then add a little SF and see what happens.

the fluttering you describe is a miss, and it sounds like the issue I had at the national. go back and re-read my description. a couple times if you need to. see if that fits. BTW lay off the seafoam. Have you drained the bowls into a glass container? if not, do that and let us know if theres water in it. Steve

[dvitous]

I had mine running great... til one day on the way home from work, it was like I lost 2 cylinders.. and reeked of raw gas.
 
No hydro, but turns out that the rubber tip on one of my float needles had 'decapitated' -  assorted rubber bits floating in the gas I drained from the bowls, and the rest of the tip found upon disassembly.
 
Pulled the plugs, one looked particularly nasty... brushed 'em all but didn't replace.
 
Carb clean/rebuild kits... got a good synch on it... and it's running kinda crappy   Kinda flat, more vibrations that it should have.
 
Well... in my haste, I neglected to tighten the block-side boots before synching.  Tightened those up... i suspect may be a cause.  Also spring for new plugs - need 'em or not, it's not a bad $10 to spend if you're goin in anyway.  So once I get some time to pull the tank... I'll change plugs and re-synch.
 
Too darned hot to ride anyway 
 
 
 
 

[Tele130]

Hey Dan we should try to hook up sometime.  Your not THAT far away..........or me either for that matter.   I'm in Milwaukee.

OK.  Today I was able to drain the float bowls.  No water.  Just beautiful golden GO-Juice.  However, in the bottom of the jar there were about 6 to 10 tiny white specks of something.  They don't glisten in the sun......not metal.  Weird?

[Tele130]

Tomorrow I'll be brave and pull the carb tops off, remove the slides and go fishing.  Worse I can do is screw something up.  Then I can send them down to Steve.
(Thatsmeantt as a good thing)


I have a rally to attend July 19th-22nd. (Remember the Alphabet Road Rally.......thats where we have it.)  Not too worried.  I have a 2011 FZ1 with 240 miles on the clock to take  


Although I have to admit myself to the hospital afterwords for month of Physical Therapy

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

be careful when you put the slides back in. The MUST be fully seated in the circular grooves, or when you put the top on you'll pinch / cut / destroy the diaphram. HTH, Steve

[Tele130]

be careful when you put the slides back in. The MUST be fully seated in the circular grooves, or when you put the top on you'll pinch / cut / destroy the diaphram. HTH, Steve

   Thanks for the heads up Steve.  I know for you this is no big deal.  For me, it's Trial by Fire   You'll be the first to know if I have an issue.

Many Thanks.

[Summit670]

Air filter cleaned after the problem showed up, right?

My pickup coil/s went bad on my 87.  The coils are an easy replacement.   $120 DIY.  There is also a gap spec for the coils and is an easy adjust if needed.

[Tele130]

Air filter cleaned after the problem showed up, right?

My pickup coil/s went bad on my 87.  The coils are an easy replacement.   $120 DIY.  There is also a gap spec for the coils and is an easy adjust if needed.

Yep. Cleaned and re-oiled. New plugs and coil sticks.

[Summit670]

Pickup coils are different than coils or stics.  These are the contactors or whatever that are located behind the timing cover and there are two of them with one wire running up under the seat/tank.  Easy to replace.  $120 total.

I believe these are the coils that tell the other coils when to fire when the engine timing mark/plate starts to pass them they are activated.

[Tele130]

My Connie is back on the road!!!!!!  She seems to running like a champ.  I'll find out for sure in the morning.

First off:  Thanks Steve for your help.  It was a piece of cake.

I took Steve's advice and ran a piece of Safety Wire down through the center of the carbs till it bottomed out in the float bowls.

 Just remove the black Carb Top Cover.....(four screws).  Careful, it's spring loaded.  Remove the spring and carefully remove the Slide/Diaphragm assembly.......the main jet needle will be protruding from the bottom of the slide.  I removed the jet needle from the slide and wiped it off.  Ran the piece of Safety Wire down through the Main Jet opening till it touched the bottom of the float bowl.  (I did that a couple times on each carb).  Reinstall the slide assemble making sure it's properly seated.  Drop the Main Jet Needle into the center of the Slide......Make sure the needle is not cockeyed, if it is, it's not in the center hole.  Reinstall the spring assembly into the Slide.  Find the nipple on the inside of the Top Cover and place the nipple inside the top of the spring,  Slowly lower the carb Top Cover down over the Slide Diaphragm assembly and make sure the Top Cover seats in place.  Reinstall the four screws.  Be sure to drain the Float Bowls when your done.  Three more times and you got it. 

Now I'm sure I got all the Technical stuff wrong but once you see it you'll understand what's what..........the Shop Maintenance Manual is handy also .

OK, that was the hard part.
  This is where I planted my size 12 in my backside.
The clamps on intake boots #2 & 3 were loose.   I was able to get about six rotations of the clamp screws to get them tight.

So what really fixed the problem?  I wish I knew for sure.  I can say that it felt like it was sucking air giving it that "Miss", "Fluttering" sound/feel.  I had experienced this before getting the foam piece placed right with Steve's 2 Min Mod.

No matter what.  My Connie is ride-able again and I'm a HAPPY CAMPER!!!!!

Thanks for all the post in this thread guys.

[snarf]

 

[Tele130]

Let me know how it turns out Chris. 

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

being that it was sudden onset, I'd say there was something in one of the main jets. That's how my bike did it too - there I was, doing roll-on races with Colin's zgrx and suddenly shoodaben didn't want to play anymore.    Steve

[Tele130]

being that it was sudden onset, I'd say there was something in one of the main jets. That's how my bike did it too - there I was, doing roll-on races with Colin's zgrx and suddenly shoodaben didn't want to play anymore.    Steve

 
And if that doesn't leave an empty feeling in your gut.................

Thanks again Steve. That's a great, simple trick that works.   Should get the Mods and make that a "Sticky". 

[redzgrider]

Now if only we could find a way to do the same thing with the pilot jets...

[Tele130]

Now if only we could find a way to do the same thing with the pilot jets...

Give Steve a week or two on it. I'm sure he'll come up with a trick. 

[EmptyG]

OK - update on my issue - I've been traveling for w@rk the past week and a half so didn't have time to work on it.

I flushed the carb bowls, removed a few more flecks of "something", still wasn't running right.  Went ahead and followed Steve's advice and pulled the slides/needles, poked around with a bit of wire and then used some "canned air" from my computer repair bag to blow down through the jet from the topside.

refilled everything with fresh fuel and went for a short (15mile) ride.

Good news is - everything seems to be back to normal! Pulls steady in all gears from 1k clear through to redline.  OK - well -I didn't redline the top couple gears but 1-4 all went well.

So - I'm cautiously optimistic that the issue is resolved! 

This afternoon I drop the kid at camp for the week, and the wife is scheduled for all 2nd and 3rd shift this week so I'll actually be able to get some riding time in. - of course - I'm sure that means it'll rain all week...

thanks for all of the advice everyone!

seeya

Mark

[JDM]

being that it was sudden onset, I'd say there was something in one of the main jets. That's how my bike did it too - there I was, doing roll-on races with Colin's zgrx and suddenly shoodaben didn't want to play anymore.    Steve

Steve, do you still contend that the fuel filter in the tank is adequate for the job?  I think it is about as good as the OEM petcock.   

[MAN OF BLUES]

Steve, do you still contend that the fuel filter in the tank is adequate for the job?  I think it is about as good as the OEM petcock.

I'm not answering for Bubba, But I'll say the screen in the tank does it's job......don't forget, there is a hose between the petcock and the carbs.....and it's made from rubber that ages and degrades....