darthandy Posted July 22, 2014 #1 Posted July 22, 2014 Last week I washed the bike (Garden hose - low pressure setting on nozzle) and happened to spray some under the gas tank. Started the bike afterwards to go into the garage - no problem. Cleaned the air filter elements and went to start the bike - problem! It took full choke and 1/3 throttle and it ran really rough and wouldn't take any throttle. It seemed to be running on only 2 cyl. Rear exhaust pipes heated up a lot faster than the fronts. I let it dry some more and went back out and tried again It was still hard to start but suddenly picked up revs, but still rough and now seemed to be on 3 cyl. It would take throttle but only very slowly and lots of afterfires through the exhaust. I let it warm up hoping things would improve if it got dryer but no change. I turned it off and waited a while. I tried again and heard the fuel pump going at a good clip (It had been slow before but I forgot I had just started the bike) as I hit the starter. Once it started, I tried giving it more throttle but this time it actually did backfire through one of the carbs (Blew some residue out the overflow tube) and kept afterfiring through the exhaust. I pulled the plugs out, blew air in the plug caps (one plug looked normal the others had varying amounts of soot on them) and put in a new set of properly gapped NGK iridium plugs. I blew air around the coils (The ones I could see anyway) and put it all back together today and tried starting it. It started well, but still wouldn't accept throttle and was afterfiring (Not as badly) through the exhaust. I turned it off and started it again several times and, with the choke, it starts well, but runs rough, afterfires and won't accept any throttle. Also, I have a lot of exhaust smoke coming out of the right rear pipe at the junction where it goes into the motor. I'm no mechanic and I'm ready to take it into a shop (Not the local Yamaha dealer - I wouldn't trust them to wash the bike!) if I can't find the problem. My only other thought is that maybe a coil got fried and that's causing the problem but I don't know how to test them - assuming I can find them - they seem to be well hidden. If anyone has a good idea. please let me know, otherwise I have to figure out how to get the bike to the nearest independent repair shop (Them I trust) and spend what I fear will be a lot of money. Thanks, Andy
Pegasus1300 Posted July 22, 2014 #2 Posted July 22, 2014 I have had this happen before as well and found the problem to be mist/condensation from the hot engine after wash causing problems in the tci box. It didn't seem to matter if the water was low pressure. There was enough steam coming off to cause a condensation problem. If you haven't done so already you should probably move it to the top of the air cleaner. On my bike I could either let it sit until it dried out or I could ride it until it dried out and ran right.
darthandy Posted July 22, 2014 Author #3 Posted July 22, 2014 I have had this happen before as well and found the problem to be mist/condensation from the hot engine after wash causing problems in the tci box. It didn't seem to matter if the water was low pressure. There was enough steam coming off to cause a condensation problem. If you haven't done so already you should probably move it to the top of the air cleaner. On my bike I could either let it sit until it dried out or I could ride it until it dried out and ran right. Thanks for the idea, but the bike is unrideable - it won't take any throttle at all. Not sure how you got he TCI on the air cleaner - or was that a first gen? Mine is a 2nd gen - RSV. Andy
bongobobny Posted July 22, 2014 #4 Posted July 22, 2014 Pull your air cleaners and see if they are soggy. See how it runs with them off...
darthandy Posted July 22, 2014 Author #5 Posted July 22, 2014 Pull your air cleaners and see if they are soggy. See how it runs with them off... As I mentioned above, I pulled the bike into the garage after the wash to clean out the air filter elements. They were quite dry. Afraid it's not that - oh, by the way they were brand new items installed just a few days before and had been taken on a 500 KM trip, part of which wound up being on gravel roads - that's why I was cleaning them so soon. Thanks, Andy
XV1100SE Posted July 22, 2014 #6 Posted July 22, 2014 ... that's why I was cleaning them so soon. Did you go with K&N's? If so... when you "cleaned" them, did you put the spray on them afterwards? I have K&N's and the first time I did mine I over "lubed" them and the bike wouldn't run. Had to take them back out and soak up some of the K&N fluid. Afterwards the bike ran normally. Too much restricts air flow.
darthandy Posted July 22, 2014 Author #7 Posted July 22, 2014 Did you go with K&N's? If so... when you "cleaned" them, did you put the spray on them afterwards? I have K&N's and the first time I did mine I over "lubed" them and the bike wouldn't run. Had to take them back out and soak up some of the K&N fluid. Afterwards the bike ran normally. Too much restricts air flow. No, I got stock filters. Andy
eusa1 Posted July 22, 2014 #8 Posted July 22, 2014 (edited) first thing you need to do is see what cylinder is not firing or miss firing. start the bike and take a damp rag and touch the pipes where they come out of each cylinder and see what pipe DOES NOT sizzle the water on the rag, they will get hot very quickly and warm does not count! pull that spark plug wire off that dead cylinder and stick a good plug into the loose plug wire and restart it while grounding the base of the plug to metal. to verify good spark. the spark plug cap itself is replaceable from the of the coil wire #4xy-82370-00-00 , they can often get a fine hairline crack in them and make this type of concern. they are screwed into the end of the wire and easy to remove. best of luck, hope this helps Mike:080402gudl_prv: Edited July 22, 2014 by eusa1
MikeWa Posted July 22, 2014 #9 Posted July 22, 2014 Take an air hose and blow off your spark plugs and the area around them. Mike
darthandy Posted July 22, 2014 Author #10 Posted July 22, 2014 first thing you need to do is see what cylinder is not firing or miss firing. start the bike and take a damp rag and touch the pipes where they come out of each cylinder and see what pipe DOES NOT sizzle the water on the rag, they will get hot very quickly and warm does not count! pull that spark plug wire off that dead cylinder and stick a good plug into the loose plug wire and restart it while grounding the base of the plug to metal. to verify good spark. the spark plug cap itself is replaceable from the of the coil wire #4xy-82370-00-00 , they can often get a fine hairline crack in them and make this type of concern. they are screwed into the end of the wire and easy to remove. best of luck, hope this helps Mike:080402gudl_prv: Thanks, I'll try that later this evening. I'm pretty sure it's the right rear cylinder but this should be a good test for it. If that doesn't show anything, it's going to a nearby dealer who is way better than the local one. Andy
eusa1 Posted July 22, 2014 #11 Posted July 22, 2014 don't run to the stealership yet!! feel free to call
Kirby Posted July 22, 2014 #12 Posted July 22, 2014 Drain the carb bowls snd see if there's any water in the gas. Water will plug off your jets.
darthandy Posted July 22, 2014 Author #13 Posted July 22, 2014 Drain the carb bowls snd see if there's any water in the gas. Water will plug off your jets. I think I'll keep that as a last resort. Since it started and ran fine to get it into the garage, I don't feel that the chances of that happening are too high. Just to be clear, I was gently rinsing soapy water off parts of the bike and only shot a fairly small amount under the tank at very low pressure. The problem really seems to be electrical in nature although, knowing Mr. Murphy and his annoying law, I can't rule out anything. Andy
darthandy Posted July 24, 2014 Author #14 Posted July 24, 2014 Well, I ran the engine till the pipes were hot and all four of them caused a wet rag to sizzle. Still after firing through the exhaust and won't accept throttle unless it's done very slowly and won't idle unless the choke is on. Beginning to think that the water had nothing to do with the problem and it is something else that just happened to start around the same time. Either way, it's beyond whatever I can handle so it's off to the dealer tomorrow and here's hoping it isn't too expensive. Andy
Ace Posted July 24, 2014 #16 Posted July 24, 2014 I would do what Kirby suggested and drain the carb bowls and check for water. The symptoms you are describing is exactly how carbs react when the jets are clogged with water. Also, does your fuel pump come on when you turn on your key? If the tank level is low and the fuel pump isn't working the bike will act the way you are describing.
Marcarl Posted July 24, 2014 #17 Posted July 24, 2014 Just for the fun of it, start the engine with the air boxes off, and then when it's warmed squirt some carb cleaner or WD40 or propane into the intake. If this makes a difference it is most likely fuel related.
Wizard765 Posted July 24, 2014 #18 Posted July 24, 2014 Does a 2nd gen have a TCI? If so where is it located.. to me this all sounds like the TCI got wet or even damp and needs to be dried out.. remove it and bake it in an oven for awhile to get it dry.. This is EXACTLY what my 84 ran like with a bad TCI.
darthandy Posted July 24, 2014 Author #19 Posted July 24, 2014 how did you clean the filters.... Used compressed air to blow them out. Something I've done many times before. Andy
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