Winddancer Posted July 17, 2013 #1 Posted July 17, 2013 Hi All.. I have something wierd going on with my engine, and I am not exactly sure whats going on.. I my get long winded in my explination...sorry... When I got the bike I noticed a slight shudder/studder in the higher gears, mostly when it was under load, when you ease back on the throttle, or at a steady and level cruising speed it is smooth as silk. and it doesnt seem to allways happen.. I thought it maybe missing one cylinder so I went to check to see if they were firing, and I noticed the rear right spark plug wire was just stitting in the hole and not pushed down on the plug at all, i look inside and see the nut on the plug is rusty, so it has been this way a while..I re attached it correctly and checked the left rear then the rest, all was good..fired it up.. still sounded the same, quick test, still seemed to ride the same too..smooth.. now as a note.. the while checking plug wires I see the engine is spotless.. very, very clean..(this is important later).. I rode it into work.. all was good, but shudder was still there.. then about 35 min into my commute, it started to loose power, like it was out of gas.. gage said I had between a 1/2 and 1/4 tank and the trip which I reset at each fill said I went 148 miles, so, gas should be good, but thats how if felt, as if I was out of gas, so I switched the petcock over to reserve, and it was worse .. I quickley turned it back.. it bucked and puttered and then power came back and Iwas back to speed and cruising down the road like nothing happened.. I went to the first gas station, filled her up and it took little over 4 gal.. ride home was uneventfull, hot.. but uneventfull except the shudder is still there, so I was going to pull that rusty plug and see if it was bad.. when I got home I let it cool and then went to remove the plug.. not as easy as I thought, need to read and see what the trick is.. but thats a different story.. anyway.. when trying to remove the spark plug and not having much luck I look at the otherside to see if I get a better idea from that side, and that when I seee the nice clean engine now has a coating of a black carbon/oily substance on the rear cylinder head,but it is only on the rear section of the two piece section..( i will try to post a pick) With the apprence of this black sooty stuff I am worried it maybe more then just a bad plug or unblalanced carbs..(I rode in today and cleaned engine to see if it re appears) Does anyone have a clue as to what maybe going on.. Why I am getting this shudder and the black stuff.. Thank you... Chuck
dacheedah Posted July 17, 2013 #2 Posted July 17, 2013 check or change fuel filter, could have a fuel pump on it's way out
Guest tx2sturgis Posted July 17, 2013 #3 Posted July 17, 2013 (edited) Which bike is it? I'm assuming its the Royal Star we're talking about?....you need to first figure out if all 4 cylinders are firing... In the morning, or after not riding it for an hour or more, start it up in neutral, wait about 5-10 seconds, and then quickly...VERY QUICKLY, touch a finger to each exhaust pipe where it exits the cylinder. Not the chrome heat shield...the pipe itself, its very dark colored. They should all be about the same...warm to hot. If one of them is remaining cold, its got a problem. As far as your gas and petcock reserve problem...just checking here, so bear with me: in the ON position, the handle of the petcock is pointed down. If you have been assuming that the ON position is pointed UP...you have them reversed. Edited July 17, 2013 by tx2sturgis
Seaking Posted July 17, 2013 #4 Posted July 17, 2013 Can't add much about the other symptoms except about how you describe it feels like it's running out of fuel. I experienced such symptoms on my own after I bought it used. Only had 20,000 miles on the 2 year old bike. When I would get down to about 1/2 tank it would act like it ran out of fuel.. fill the bike up and she would run reasonably well. Turned out to be a super filthy fuel filter that had never been changed by the previous owner. The fuel pump couldn't pull the fuel through the filter with a lot of head pressure of a full fuel tank to assist in pushing fuel through the filter.. Once I changed the filter (and relocated it for easier access) the bike ran super fine.. Unfortunately, after having to overwork pulling fuel through the dirty filter for so long, the fuel pump slowly but gradually bit the dust later that same year. Start with the easiest and work your way up from there, give the fuel filter change a try and see if that improves things, and see what happens.. Best of luck!
steamer Posted July 17, 2013 #5 Posted July 17, 2013 Water in your tank . pull the hose off the petcock drain some gas into a clear bottle from the reserve possition. look for seperation. .
IronMike Posted July 17, 2013 #6 Posted July 17, 2013 No one said dump a whole can of seafoam in it and ride it like you stole it! ??? I agree. Drain the tank at the petcock. Put a can of seafom in . change the fuel filter and run that out. Then I'd no cure take a look into the next cheapest cure. Some irridium plugs.
MikeWa Posted July 17, 2013 #7 Posted July 17, 2013 I agree. It sounds like bad gas. Drain some out with the petcock in the reserve position. Also if the plug wire was not connected at the spark plug that plug is probably bad. Mike
Trader Posted July 17, 2013 #8 Posted July 17, 2013 wouldn't the plugged filler vent I've read about do the same thing?
IronMike Posted July 17, 2013 #9 Posted July 17, 2013 yeah in the reserve position true. and put fresh gas in with the sea foamnot meaning to run straight seafoam. Go to realgas.com or org whatever and see if you can buy non ethanol gas. Or a local marina. If it is the gas the fuel filter is blocked from full flow. And new spark plugs can't hurt. I'm taking on same problem this way on an 08 rsv that was incorrectly stored last year by po.
RedRider Posted July 17, 2013 #10 Posted July 17, 2013 wouldn't the plugged filler vent I've read about do the same thing? Why yes, yes it would. Next time it happens, open the gas cap. Any vacuum sound? If so, you hit the nail on the head. If not, well you ruled one option out. My money is on fuel filter. RR
Prairiehammer Posted July 17, 2013 #11 Posted July 17, 2013 Hi All.. I have something wierd going on with my engine, and I am not exactly sure whats going on.. I my get long winded in my explination...sorry... When I got the bike I noticed a slight shudder/studder in the higher gears, mostly when it was under load, when you ease back on the throttle, or at a steady and level cruising speed it is smooth as silk. and it doesnt seem to allways happen.. I thought it maybe missing one cylinder so I went to check to see if they were firing, and I noticed the rear right spark plug wire was just stitting in the hole and not pushed down on the plug at all, i look inside and see the nut on the plug is rusty, so it has been this way a while..I re attached it correctly and checked the left rear then the rest, all was good..fired it up.. still sounded the same, quick test, still seemed to ride the same too..smooth.. now as a note.. the while checking plug wires I see the engine is spotless.. very, very clean..(this is important later).. I rode it into work.. all was good, but shudder was still there.. then about 35 min into my commute, it started to loose power, like it was out of gas.. gage said I had between a 1/2 and 1/4 tank and the trip which I reset at each fill said I went 148 miles, so, gas should be good, but thats how if felt, as if I was out of gas, so I switched the petcock over to reserve, and it was worse .. I quickley turned it back.. it bucked and puttered and then power came back and Iwas back to speed and cruising down the road like nothing happened.. I went to the first gas station, filled her up and it took little over 4 gal.. ride home was uneventfull, hot.. but uneventfull except the shudder is still there, so I was going to pull that rusty plug and see if it was bad.. when I got home I let it cool and then went to remove the plug.. not as easy as I thought, need to read and see what the trick is.. but thats a different story.. anyway.. when trying to remove the spark plug and not having much luck I look at the otherside to see if I get a better idea from that side, and that when I seee the nice clean engine now has a coating of a black carbon/oily substance on the rear cylinder head,but it is only on the rear section of the two piece section..( i will try to post a pick) With the apprence of this black sooty stuff I am worried it maybe more then just a bad plug or unblalanced carbs..(I rode in today and cleaned engine to see if it re appears) Does anyone have a clue as to what maybe going on.. Why I am getting this shudder and the black stuff.. Thank you... Chuck Chuck, do you still have the lowers on? Some have removed the lowers and encounter some similar symptoms. Just a thought.
ragtop69gs Posted July 17, 2013 #12 Posted July 17, 2013 No one has addressed the soot problem so I'll give you my If this sooty oil film only appears when the plug is firing that cylinder then I suspect you may have a blown head gasket or cylinder base gasket. Are you able to tell where the soot is coming from? High up or down near the cylinder base? Do you detect any noise from the exhaust header or is it loose? I ask because if your oil ring is shot on that cylinder then a loose head pipe will spray a bit of oil under that senario.
k9cottage Posted July 17, 2013 #13 Posted July 17, 2013 have you over filled the sump with oil and it is coming out the filter housing onto the rear head and are you in to higher gear and not enough rpm .
Winddancer Posted July 18, 2013 Author #14 Posted July 18, 2013 WOW.. lots of suggestions... OK, let me try to go thru all I have done, or tried.. Seafoam.. this was the 2nd thing I did,,First was to drain gas..no help.. I tried the test tx2sturgis suggested to see if all cyliders were firing, and all exhaust pipes were hot, so they are firing..(wasnt able to pull plugs yet, but that test atleast says they are all working) I have the lowers still on..although the right side is a little cracked up from my dads accident,it still hold its shape, form and function so should not have an effect. Oil level I will check.. Fuel filler vent thing, and fuel filter still need to be investigated.. Thank you all for all the help and I deas.. I will let you know what I find.. I actually put in Teckron last night to see if theat helps any... To be cont...... hahaha
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