1100G (GK) running rough, sharp stutter

[Redman]

……..

.
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Had a great ride, out for about an hour.
Greatly enjoy the GK. Thinking THIS is the bike I will have until I can no longer hold up a bike.
…::.

Went for another ride in early evening.
Out for a while and Bike started running poorly, sharp stuttering. Made it back home. Made me wonder how much longer I want to deal with this.

Got it into garage and walked away from it.

Next morning sat down there and pondered, and walked away. Early afternoon I stood there for a while, and walked away.
late afternoon I sat down and pondered, then took off the lowers.
seemed to start okay and would kinda rev.
Let it run for a little bit.
But noticed that 2& 3 pipe would burn back of my fingers just quickly tapping them. 4 pipe hot, 1 pipe just warm could push back of fingers up against pipe.

took out no1 plug and it was quite wett and nearly black. I cleaned it up, then checked spark. Good spark and the hole chuff chuffing and blowing gas vapor.

started up and seemed a bit better, went for ride and it seemed better, not good but better - for a couple minutes - then back to the stutter stut stut stutter. Turned around and back to garage.

sat there pondering, thought of ohm checking coil and caps….. and then noticed gas dripping out of air box, and then it slowed and almost stopped. Petcock not in PRIme position, was in ON position as should be. And gas’s dripping stopped.
Ah, carb flooding only when engine running, must be that a carb float needle not seating, probably # 1 carb.

pondered some more. Thinking that need to pull carbs (they were completely disassembled cleaned dipped rebuilt with RobertBar orings about 3 years ago)…. But I don’t want to have to.

thinking of float hanging up, or bit of grit in needle valve…. Thought of old trick or rapping tapping on carb body to rattle whatever loose.

got about a 2foot length of 1x2, and rubber mallet. Held the 1x2 loosely about half inch away from carb body, and with rubber mallett tap tap whap whap thunk thunk in various places on carb body. And a couple times with the 1x2 sticking through from other side.

started up, seemed good. Went for ride.
All better. Stopped a couple times to check for gas dripping - nope. Went for about 20 minute ride - all good.

[Nessism]

Good job Dave. Be sure to run fuel stabilizer at all times, unless on a trip. All it takes is a little grunge to ruin your fun.

[Big Block]

Easier/cheaper than dealing with an EFI issue anyway. Glad you cured it.

[alke46]

Dave, where you live do you have the opportunity to use pure gas? Non ethanol?

I would assume if you have this choice, you probably use it.

[Redman]

Hum….
I was thinking some accumulated grit…. Or some wear in float mechanism…. And wondering about chance for reoccurrence.
but you guys seem to be suggesting gump formed in gas. Bike did sit most all summer(without stabilizer) (was gonna work on charging system “next week” for about 12 weeks) but since then has been running and a a few tanks in September-October.

and I don’t pay much attention to real gas verse ethanol this or that percent.
do use stabilizer over winter months.

[93Bandit]

I suggest running a can or two of seafoam through the bike. I usually run 1 can in a tank of gas. It's getting kind of late in the season to do that, if you can burn a tank before winter, go for it. If not, pour in a can before your next fillup, top the tank off and store the bike over winter. Come spring, run it hard and maybe run another tank with seafoam. I usually run a can of seafoam every spring, so far it's kept the ethanol gunk away.

[Suzukian]

Seafoam is almost magical. Don't use more than the recommended amount though. It can wash the cylinder walls, and prematurely wear the rings. This is when people use a can in every tankful. Use the suggested amount. Marvel Mystery Oil is also great to use with sea foam, it's viscosity tends to coat sitting bikes really good,so crap doesn't build up, and the electrolysis is halted. Same thing with that though, use the recommended amount. It lowers the gas Octane rating if you use just a little too much. When I worked on airplanes, I was taught and shown special oilers that used Marvel Mystery Oil, as these vintage engines really relied on lead for top end lubrication. When those engines are rebuilt, larger inside diameter valve guides are used to make up for the Low Lead Av-gas.