Scratching my head

[Guest]

I have a 82 GS 1100 ran great all year last year after some electrical issues early in the spring. about a month ago I was riding running about 5500 RPMs and the bike acted like it died. The tack came down to about 3000 then kicked back in. It ran real rough for a minute or two then smoothed out. Thought I may have had some water in the gas or something. Well now it does it consistently it will run up to about 5g's drop down to 3g's and just bounce back and forth. Its always had just a slight hesitation when you got on the throttle but nothing like this. I am getting ready to pull the carbs since they seem the most likely suspect but was going to seek some advice from the experts before I did. I have a run next weekend so any advice will be appreciated!!!

[JTGS850GL]

Does it do it an all gears? All Throttle positions? In neutral? A little more detail would help.

[Jamesp]

Sorry for the lack of details. After the incident happened on the highway its been garaged. Started by putting some cleaner in the gas thinking it was just a piece of dirt since I rebuilt the carbs at the beginning of last year (using our tutorial). When I start it in the garage it is hard to start. Full choke for several tries before it will start. This has never been the case. I barely had to touch the button on choke even after a few hours or a day. When it was hot it would start with no choke most of the time (within a few minutes of riding). It did range from about 1100 to 1500 RPMS when idling(higher after riding a while) other than a small hesitation when I got on it. Ran it to Sturgis and back with no issues. All this to say the bike was real solid performer.

The bike will idle after getting started for a minute maybe two then sputter and die. I can keep it running if I rev the throttle once in a while. If I increase idle speed up to about 2K it still does it.

So the condition I was describing in the first post with it ranging from 3-5K was in neutral after it was hot. I am assuming a massive air leak. I did remove the fuel filter I had on it, thinking it might be restricting the gas flow. no change. Pulled the air box and started. No change. Leaving the vacuum hole to the carbs open really doesn't change it noticeably.

Pulled the carbs and bowls last night the bowls are squeaky clean-I know that doesn't really mean anything. It was late but figured if they were clogged anywhere it would be the small hole in the small tube running down into the bowl. Ran a wire through them, they are open. All floats seem to be working correctly (not stuck)and all seem to be even in height.

Pulling the boots to the engine(from carbs) to make sure the O rings haven't broken next. After that I guess I will rebuild carbs again. Just doesn't seem right that this condition would happen all of a sudden if it were the carbs.

[JTGS850GL]

Might want to check your voltage to the coils to make sure it's not a dirty connection that's getting worse when heated before you tear into the carbs.

[Jamesp]

Is there a thorough write up on checking coils somewhere? Certainly not the best with electric. Takes step by step instructions. I get through it but very slowly. Posplyer can attest to that

[Jamesp]

I found a very loose wire on the right coil. I did the coil test I found in another thread. Coils read 4.2 ohms across the 2 front leads. but ne of the connections was barely holding on they seem kind of wore out. Wire is kind of short to put on a new end so I used a pliers and got it to fit tight again after I cleaned them and put some electrical grease on the connection when I put it back together. If I post on this any more I will move the thread to electrical.

[Steve]

Pulled the carbs and bowls last night the bowls are squeaky clean-I know that doesn't really mean anything. It was late but figured if they were clogged anywhere it would be the small hole in the small tube running down into the bowl. Ran a wire through them, they are open.

That "tube with a small hole in the end" is your "choke" pick-up tube. It will only be used when using the "choke", not during normal riding.

The parts that WILL affect normal operation are the pilot jet (the one hidden by the rubber plug) and the passage inside the carb from the pilot jet to the transition ports and the mixture screw. There is no way to poke a wire to clean them out, you have to remove the mixture screw, spray a little bit of carb cleaner into that hole, hold your finger over the port in the carb throat, then blow compressed air back through the system to make sure any crud gets blown BACK toward the float bowl, instead of wedging it tighter.

.

[geol]

When you tested the coils, you tested for primary impedence. The 4.2 Ohms is pretty much right on the money. There are two 18 gauge (or thereabouts) wires coming off factory coils. These will end in a connector; one each for each coil. The orange/white wire is voltage coming from you right handle bar switch. Turn your key on without starting the bike and pull apart one of these two connectors. Using a multimeter on lowest Ohms setting, put the positive probe on the pin from the O/W wire and the negative probe on the negative battery terminal. In a perfect world, you would see about 12.5 VDC but there will be losses since the power feeding the coils goes up through the ignition switch and back to the fuse block then out (connectors involved here) and back up to the right handle bar switch and through the kill switch and back down to that connector you just opened up. With the switches and connectors not being new, voltage will be lost. This lost voltage doesn't allow the coils to fire to their potential regardless of the health of the coils otherwise. If you do have less than about 11.5 VDC, the spark will be POOR and less than 10.5 VDC miserable. The plugs will soot up regardless of jetting and you will get a bit of back firing as you cruise down the road, gas mileage will suffer as will power.

[Jamesp]

Steve
Thank you for the info. In my little mind I was trying to see if there was a possibility of things being clogged. I was a real blessing when JT mentioned the coils. After I found the real loose connection I thought for sure I had found the problem. I put the bowls back on and installed the carbs. Started right up like it used to. I am going to resinc. First time using a Morgan to tune the carbs so I am a little worried about that. I used to use a bottle set up but it was a pain and took too long to react. Any points on using the carbtune will be appreciated!!!

[Jamesp]

goel
The battery was a bit depleted when I checked the voltage but the coil was getting about 11.8 on both coils. I have believed I needed a new switch for some time. I have gone over all connections when I put Posplyrs Power box on. Replaced several, R&R, Stator from Steve. Thank you very much for the information. It is truly appreciated!!!