3 bars of gas in 41 miles

[flyday58]

Took Akihabara out for the first long continuous ride since its rescue from under a leaky shed back in February. Lots of lovebugs, yuck. It used 3 bars worth of gas in 41 miles. No obvious leaks, although a continual low-grade gas odor while riding. I haven't had the carbs synced since I got it so that's gonna be where I start. Carbs have been low-level rebuilt, new seals and o-rings, new diaphragms correctly seated. All clamps are correctly installed, all hoses and vacuum plugs look good. Would a bad sync use that much gas? It also doesn't have the guts to maintain 60-65 going up a mild hill, and most on here claim the 1st gens will scream. Mine kinda yells in a threatening manner, but no screaming.

 

So, thoughts?

[Eck]

I strongly suggest you add a half can of sea foam to the gas tank, add fresh gas on top of the sea foam and run it again. Once you get down to a half tank add the rest of the sea foam and more fresh gas topping it off. Run it again.

You should see an improvement in mileage. If not, then go for the sync....

My rationale:

No use trying to sync first if there is anything gummed up in the fuel system. Clean it out first, then if mileage has not improved, press forward with the sync job.

Good luck!!

Eck

[Black wing]

have you topped up since to make sure that the levels are reading right and that the gas is really used.

and when i first put mine back on the road i had an issue with bad float needles, would be fine when it was off but once i started riding the pumps would overflow the carbs and would dump out behind me through the over flow tubes. no real indication other than a strong odor while riding, and the bike would become very sluggish

[flyday58]

Will do the sea foam thing, checking the actual level when I top off. When I stop, nothing drips from the overflows, but I'll get down there and look upon return to base. I'll keep y'all posted, thanks for the tips.

[MiCarl]

The fuel gauge is approximate at best. Check by filling up, if you put much more than a gallon in you're using too much fuel. The fact that you smell fuel is an indicator that it probably isn't the gauge.

 

Vacuum leaks (including the diaphragms) tend to make it use too little fuel, unless bad enough to shut down one or more cylinders.

 

If you are using too much fuel the most likely cause is the fuel levels are too high in the carburetors.

[videoarizona]

Took Akihabara out for the first long continuous ride since its rescue from under a leaky shed back in February. Lots of lovebugs, yuck. It used 3 bars worth of gas in 41 miles. No obvious leaks, although a continual low-grade gas odor while riding. Snip>>

 

So, thoughts?

 

 

In my case about a month ago it was bad gas. I put some SeaFoam in and then new gas and ran it out...then a new tank of fresh gas...and all is fine.

[Flyinfool]

When the bike is cold, start the engine and monitor the temps of the exhaust pipes to see if it is running on 4 cylinders. Be careful it only takes a short time for the pipes to get hot enough to burn you. These bike run amazingly well on 3 cylinders.

[flyday58]

Thanks for all the replies. We have a winner! The fellow aviator was right, #1 is not firing. Explains a lot. Like why the slight oil film on the exhaust outlet never burns off. Guess I'll dig in tomorrow. Can't believe it runs this good on only 3 cylinders. Just like my 2005 Smart!

 

Thanks, FF.

[djh3]

My bro-in Law had a Kawasaki that ran like a bat outa h___ on. 3 Cyl, but thats all it had. LOL Actually I would have voted for bad gas.

Edited September 15, 2014 by djh3

[saddlebum]

Thanks for all the replies. We have a winner! The fellow aviator was right, #1 is not firing. Explains a lot. Like why the slight oil film on the exhaust outlet never burns off. Guess I'll dig in tomorrow. Can't believe it runs this good on only 3 cylinders. Just like my 2005 Smart!

 

Thanks, FF.

I had an issue with #2 not firing. Remove the battery and battery box. Pull the connectors from the TCI and clean all the terminals with emery cloth and penetrating oil. Once that is done flush it with contact cleaner. While your at it clean the connectors going to the coils and the one going to the stator as well. My bike has run like a dream since I did all that and I was about to replace the TCI. Also if you have the OEM plug boots unscrew the brass contact inside and carefull drop out the little spring and tiny round cylinder that is behind the screw. Make sure they are clean and OK.

[flyday58]

First I'll pull the sparkler, it might just be dead. Going to the doctor first, then I'll jump on it, jump on it, jump on it.

[flyday58]

So. Verified no spark at #1 cylinder. Put in a new one, no spark. Ohmed the prisec coil, all fine. My vintage Venture manual said to ohm the cap. #1 was .5M ohms, the rest were at 4.5K or so.

An aha moment. Not the band from the '80s...Anyway. Took the cap apart and the plug receiver had the high resistance due to corrosion and crud. Once I cleaned it up I had good continuity so put it all back together.

 

Worked almost 2 hours, I can't get any readings now. It reads an open circuit. Took #2 apart to make sure I had reassembled in the correct order. Now it won't read either. #3 and 4 still read 4.5K Ω, these two nada. Whaddideye miss?

[Grandpagak]

I would try fresh gas first of all.. it really can make a difference..

[Flyinfool]

Did you take the cap off of the wire?

If you did, did you cut off 1/4 inch of wire to get to a fresh end for reassembly?

[gibvel]

Don't know if the caps are the same as for the RSVs but, there's a little resistor inside the cap. If you cleaned the ends of that with anything abrasive you just made it useless.

[flyday58]

Don't know if the caps are the same as for the RSVs but, there's a little resistor inside the cap. If you cleaned the ends of that with anything abrasive you just made it useless.

 

Why is that? I used 1000 grit to clean everything up, then cleaned with contact cleaner. The resistors themselves still show around 4.5k Ω. But when I reassemble the parts I can't get any reading other than infinite resistance. I also tried ohming the caps without reassembly and again get infinite resistance on both caps. I would've thought they would read continuity, but they don't. Is there something else molded into the caps that would cause this high resistance?

 

Puzzled.

[gibvel]

I was just posting what V7Goose found out when he was cleaning caps.

 

If I remember correctly there's the screw, then the resistor, then a spring, then a flat brass disc. This is the internals of the caps on the RSV. I'm not sure if it's the same on yours. When I took mine apart several of the brass discs fell apart and were useless so I made some.

 

Your best bet may be to PM V7Goose and let him know what you've found and see if he has any insight on it.

[flyday58]

Okay, thanks.

 

I got the caps to register again, but still no spark. Started cleaning contacts and when I got to the TCI I decided to open it up for a look-see. Turns out most of the water dripping in from the shed it was parked under for years went into the TCI. Lots of corrosion in there. So before doing anything else I'll shop for a replacement 26H on fleabay. Unless someone here has one they'd part with...:mo money:

[Flyinfool]

It is common to see corrosion inside of the TCI.

There are 8 diodes that get it really bad. They can be replaced for very cheap. No guaranties but it is worth a $2 shot. Normally if you can replace the diodes before they fail you are golden, if it is the diodes that have already failed, then there is no repair of the TCI possible.

 

You may want to check with Dingy on this site. He was selling an after market TCI that is priced better than OEM.

[flyday58]

How was it even running on 3 cylinders??

[ATTACH]87005[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]87006[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]87007[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]87008[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]87009[/ATTACH]

[Prairiehammer]

How was it even running on 3 cylinders??

[ATTACH]87005[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]87006[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]87007[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]87008[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]87009[/ATTACH]

 

 

Indeed! OMG! That has to be the worst appearing TCI innards yet!

Talk to Dingy.

[Flyinfool]

:scared: :scared: :scared:

 

WOWZER!!!!

 

That is an ugly one for sure.

 

I can see in one of the pics that there are diodes that are broken in half. These are the diodes that when they go they take other non replaceable components with them. In short, that TCI is toast.

 

I agree that I am very surprised that it was even running on 3 cylinders.

Actually these bikes run pretty good on 3 cylinders you can go a long ways and never notice that one is not firing. You may have been down to 1 or 2 cylinders from your description.

 

When you get the new TCI. do not mount it back in the stock location, either put it on top of the air cleaner or inside of the left fairing. Either place will keep it dry and the factory wires are long enough to reach either place. I used Velcro to hold mine in place.

[flyday58]

 

When you get the new TCI. do not mount it back in the stock location, either put it on top of the air cleaner or inside of the left fairing. Either place will keep it dry and the factory wires are long enough to reach either place. I used Velcro to hold mine in place.

 

Did this when I first got the bike as when it warmed up, it got a pretty pronounced misfire. Moving it to the top of the air cleaner solved that problem, except for occasional back-farts during warm-up. I'm just lucky it didn't quit when I was way out on the county roads (translated: no cell signal) this past weekend.

[flyday58]

Installed the new TCI today. Took a while to sort out a no spark issue. After running wires, connections, checking for voltage, operation of sidestand, clutch, and kill switches and various other dead ends for 3 hours, went back to basics. The battery had dropped too low to support sparklage, so after a quick 5 amp charge it almost jumped to life! I think I've been running around on 2 cylinders, because the oil burned off of both rear cylinder exhaust outlet stub pipes. Filled the garage with smoke, wife was not happy!

 

Ran out of time, leaving town early tomorrow for three days. When I get back I'll look into a possible issue with an air leak. Idle was kind of hunting and hanging, but it's only run about five minutes so probably the ole "seafoam-ride-it-like-you-stole-it" deal will help. But it revs like never before, can't wait to get on the road!

[Venturous Randy]

One thing these bikes are sensitive about is spark plugs. Once you have run a good dose of Sea Foam through them and had problems like you have had with the TCI, you need to replace the spark plugs. Unless I missed something, I saw where you replaced just one spark plug.

RandyA