Freebird Posted August 22, 2006 #1 Posted August 22, 2006 Plugging the AIS System The AIS is an emissions system which introduces oxygen-bearing air into the exhaust ports on the exhaust stroke. This induces further combustion of hydrocarbons in the exhaust pipe and greatly reduces emissions. It is driven by intake vacuum pulses. The only purpose of this system is to help satisfy our good old EPA requirements. Though good in theory, it's bad in that under certain conditions it can cause a HUGE backfire on deceleration that actually sounds like a shotgun going off. The first time this happened to me, I thought we were being shot at and my wife almost jumped off the bike. Disabling the AIS is a simple process and one that will not affect the performance of your bike in any way. The following is one way of doing so. There are two assemblies that you have to deal with. One on the rear and one on the front. We'll start with the rear and it is very easy. On the right side of the bike, just below the rear shock, you will find the first one. You'll want to disconnect the large hose with the gold clamp. Now..you can use most anything to plug the hose. I used rubber stoppers that I had picked up at a local Home Depot store. You can find these in the hardware department but a wooden dowel rod or most anything of the proper size will work fine. Look carefully and you can see that I have stuck the rubber stopper into the inlet on the AIS valve. Now in this next picture, I've simply stuck a piece of duct tape over the end of the valve and stopper. You can probably skip this step if you want but being born and raised in Texas...it's just part of my upbringing. Any job worth doing is worth using a bit of duct tape on. Besides...it keeps the plug where I want it and not up in the hose somewhere. Now you put the hose back on and you are done with the rear. That wasn't so bad was it? Don't worry...though essentially the same process, the front will give you plenty of grief simply because it's harder to get to. Now the front AIS valve is located just in front of the oil filter. The attached blurry picture is a bit hard to see but you can see the gold clamp that secures the hose you'll need to remove. Now....there are two ways to do this to make it a bit easier. The first way would be to do it when you do an oil change. With the filter removed, you can pretty much forget the rest of this write-up. Simply disconnect the hose as you did on the rear, insert the rubber plug, add the duct tape, reconnect the hose and you are done. If you are ready to do this and you are not ready for an oil change, here is a tip that will make it easier. Just below the drivers floorboard on the left side of the bike (shifter side), you will see two allen bolts. These are the bolts that secure the AIS assembly in place. Remove those two bolts and the assembly will be free, held only by the hose that you will disconnect. You can now pull down on the assembly enough to get to the clamp without skinning your knuckles. Once the hose is off, the assembly just drops out. Now...just plug this hole in the assembly as you did on the rear. Put it all back together and you are done. Not a difficult job at all. Figure about 30 to 45 minutes total.
silvercrew Posted September 28, 2006 #2 Posted September 28, 2006 What is the purpose of putting the hoses back on if you have installed a plug in the inlet? Could you just cap off the hoses as well?
gibvel Posted September 28, 2006 #3 Posted September 28, 2006 My guess is that it's neater with no hoses hanging. I would imagine that plugging the hoses and leaving them would accomplish the same thing. Like I said, though, it's neater if you put the hoses back on.
Al Bates Posted September 28, 2006 #4 Posted September 28, 2006 December 8, 2004 Popping or Backfiring. AIS (Air Induction System) This may not be the solution for some folks. There are many ways to do this. This is how I correct the popping or backfiring on my 2002 RSV. I purchase the RSV used with 6000 miles from a dealer. On the way home I heard this popping or backfiring noise. I return to the dealer and explain the problem to him. He kept the bike for 4 days. When I got it back it started popping again. Then I decided to look into this myself. After looking over there work I have to say I was surprise of the poor work men ship. They half way plugged the AIS system and said it was fixed. I then research and figured out how the AIS works. To make a long story short I found that fuel was leaking from the carburetor and running down the carburetor manifold into the vacuum port then down the vacuum hose to the back AIS air cutoff valve. This 1/4 inch vacuum hose controls the AIS air cutoff valve. What I found was that fuel (maybe from seating) run down to the AIS air cutoff valve and prevented it from working properly. My solution was to plug the four AIS cylinder ports. That's were it all starts. (See picture) By plugging the AIS tubes that would eliminate the AIS from that point on. Now all the AIS can be removed. (see other post on how to permanently plug and remove the AIS) I decided not to go this route because of the warranty. This is my fix. Follow the rear steel cylinder AIS tubes down (see picture) there will be a short 1/2 rubber hose at the end of each pipe. Remove the short rubber hose and place a marble or still ball bearing into the 1/2 rubber hose (lubricate if you wish). After installing the ball bearing or marble move it up until it touches the steel cylinder pipe were the rubber hose slips back onto the steel pipe. Replace clamps. Do this to both rear cylinder pipes. Next I placed a small steel ball bearing into the 1/4 inches vacuum hose from the carburetor manifold. (this is on the opposed side) (left side setting on seat) next to carburetor. Slide the 1/4 inch ball bearing next to the manifold port. Install the clamp (see picture) I did the something to the front AIS tubes. The fronts are arrange a little different. I did not fine any fuel in the front AIS air cutoff valve. The front requires pulling the bottom of the radiator away so I could get to the short 1/2 inch rubber hoses. I had to drain the radiator first. It seems to be only the rear causing the problem. A friend did only the rear. We spent about 15 minuets and it corrected the problem. (stop the popping) I sense helped a few others this way. I hope this helps. See picture below. AL Bates
Freebird Posted June 18, 2007 Author #5 Posted June 18, 2007 Just an addition to this thread. I am not recommending that anybody do this but since my AIS was plugged anyway, when I bike was no longer under warranty I completely removed the AIS system. Removing it is simple enough but once you do, it is pretty much destroyed and you will not be able to put it back on so be sure that this is something that you want to do. The problem is that you have to cut the brackets on the rear AIS to get the metal tubes out of the frame of the bike. After removing it, I used copper tubing caps from the local hardware store to cap off the ports. When you remove the lines, you will see some high temp gaskets inserted in the ends. I removed those gaskets and used them inside the copper caps to ensure a good seal. I also cut some slits in the sides of the caps so that they would tighten down better. Then just used hose clamps to secure them. These have been on now for about 3 years with no problems.
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