.png "Powered by vBulletin")
I was zipping along the 401 and every now and then I lost a little power for just an instant. Fuel was at critical so maybe I'm getting the "Feed Me" dance - whoooops! I'm already on reserve! I exited early and topped up. A couple clicks later I started getting that now familiar power loss and intermittent failure of one cylinder. It revives a bit when I twist it hard (low jet to high jet). I suspect my tank has sediments in it and when I run on reserve one of my carbs can stop up. Then it backs up fuel into the airbox which spills out the drain onto the road. It's happened a couple times and I've been fixing it by draining the floats and purging the fuel hopefully along with the obstruction. (yeah i know it's about time for an in-line fuel filter)
But this time there wasn't any spillage and my trick didn't work after dumping 1 and 4. I can't reach 2 and 3 with the bike all at a million degrees so I wandered off for dinner out while it cooled. When I got back it was even worse, I'd lost cyl 3 AND 4. Now this can't be a clog...
I pulled the emergency toolkit and popped sparkplug 3 out. The chamber didn't stink of fuel for some reason and the plug looked 20 years old (6 months)on the outside due to my incorrigible habit of driving all Canadian winter. However, it was a perfectly clean toasty tan/grey on the inside. I held the sparkplug boot in my right, the clutch with my left and pressed the starter with my forehead and got blasted in the mouth with a jet of sooty air from the open cylinder duuurrr. No spark though. Same with 4. What the hell? I examined the coils and they power 1,3 and 2,4 respectively (not 12, 34)and the connections were all fine. double what the hell there's no way they can both fail 50% it's impossible.
I gave up and phoned the legendary Ted Rose and arranged to dump the now useless (except as a loud and poisonous space heater) bike on him.
When I was refastening the tank, I checked the fuses for some reason. The headlight's fuse had some ash in it and looked like a flash had gone off inside, you know - like those disposable flashes for cameras back in the day. The filament looked ok though and my headlight worked. I've never seen a fuse all messed up like that though. Usually there's a clean break right in the middle. I always have spares taped under the seat so I replaced it and the bike ran perfectly. GAHH HULK SMASH!
Total damage: $150 in lost work, (well, not lost just postponed) 12 bucks for dinner, I have to get up early to cancel with Ted and 18 cents for the stupid headlight fuse.
But this time there wasn't any spillage and my trick didn't work after dumping 1 and 4. I can't reach 2 and 3 with the bike all at a million degrees so I wandered off for dinner out while it cooled. When I got back it was even worse, I'd lost cyl 3 AND 4. Now this can't be a clog...
I pulled the emergency toolkit and popped sparkplug 3 out. The chamber didn't stink of fuel for some reason and the plug looked 20 years old (6 months)on the outside due to my incorrigible habit of driving all Canadian winter. However, it was a perfectly clean toasty tan/grey on the inside. I held the sparkplug boot in my right, the clutch with my left and pressed the starter with my forehead and got blasted in the mouth with a jet of sooty air from the open cylinder duuurrr. No spark though. Same with 4. What the hell? I examined the coils and they power 1,3 and 2,4 respectively (not 12, 34)and the connections were all fine. double what the hell there's no way they can both fail 50% it's impossible.
I gave up and phoned the legendary Ted Rose and arranged to dump the now useless (except as a loud and poisonous space heater) bike on him.
When I was refastening the tank, I checked the fuses for some reason. The headlight's fuse had some ash in it and looked like a flash had gone off inside, you know - like those disposable flashes for cameras back in the day. The filament looked ok though and my headlight worked. I've never seen a fuse all messed up like that though. Usually there's a clean break right in the middle. I always have spares taped under the seat so I replaced it and the bike ran perfectly. GAHH HULK SMASH!
Total damage: $150 in lost work, (well, not lost just postponed) 12 bucks for dinner, I have to get up early to cancel with Ted and 18 cents for the stupid headlight fuse.
Comment