Continued problems

[baaloo.phd]

Hey gang...

 

This bike is frustrating me. I replaced the plugs and sync'd the carbs. Plugs were fouled. Looked rich. I turned the screws in to 2 turns out (Was at 2 1/2). I rode 120 miles yesterday and I got an underwhelming 26 mpg. (15 miles at 75mph; rest under 60mph). So I used a heat gun and checked the cylinder temps. All the same around 220 at the time. It seems to be firing on all cylinders. At the same time, first gear has no torque and I wondered if it was the nature of the bike. Now I think something else is going on. I wish I had a comparison to know how they are supposed to run. My comparisons are a Road Star which is Vtwin and a Valkyrie (Boxer 6). I don't know what to do with it at this point. Suggestions? Do you think a 2011 needs a carb rebuild already?

Edited April 23, 2017 by baaloo.phd

[MikeWa]

Hi Christopher

 

The plugs should not be coming out black and sooty. The RSV does not have overwhelming torque in first gear but it isn't that bad either. Your mileage does sound off though. On the open road most people experience over 40 depending on conditions. Even 35 would be ok. If you can find another member in your area perhaps he can ride yours for a comparison. I would not expect you to need a carb rebuild but I also don't know your mileage or the overall condition of the bike.

Best of luck to you as you get things sorted out.

 

Mike

[Flyinfool]

Age and miles have little do do with needing the carbs pulled and rebuilt. All it takes is one winter storage that was not done correctly and the carbs can be gummed up.

1st gear should just about pull the front wheel off the ground.

you should get near 40 mpg. Some get a little better and some a bit worse, but in that ballpark.

These bikes run amazingly well on 3 cylinders, there have been people that have run a whole year not realizing that they were running on 3.

 

I would start by giving it a heavy dose of SeaFoam, a full can to a tank of gas and then take it out and ride it like ya stole it, park it over night and then ride it like ya stole it again. do this for a couple of days till the tank is near empty then refill and see how things are. This is the cheap and easy thing to try first.

 

From a cold engine, start it up and monitor the exhaust pipe temps to see if one heats up slower than the rest, this is likely your weak cylinder. it could be spark, fuel or mechanical.

 

Can you give us some history on the bike?

[baaloo.phd]

Thanks for the input. The bike has 5600 miles on it. i bought it at 4800. Its a 2011 (originally sold the same year) so it probably has been sitting a while. There are small indications that it was stationary. Ran sea foam through it. Not much change. The carb sync modestly helped performance. Doesnt seem to be leaking. No vacuum leaks that I can find.

 

it definately does not pull the front wheel up.... it almost stalls in first gear, feels like its taking off in second.

[XV1100SE]

The Venture likes high RPM. If you are used to v-twins you need to wind it up more. Horsepower peaks around 3400 to 3700 RPM (from memory). Redline is around 6200 RPM and you can wind it up to that without issue - the rev limiter will kick in.

 

As for mileage...you'll find you shift at higher speeds. Until you are over 65mph you won't go to 5th gear. Shifting too soon will bog the motor and you'll use more gas.

 

That is really low mileage considering the bike is 7 years old. Anything that fuel goes thru would be suspect. Cheap to change the fuel filter (bit of a pain to replace it but read the write-up in the 2nd Gen tech section. I agree with the Seafoam but I'd add a full can to a 1/2 tank or even less fuel. Start it and run it long enought for the Seafoam mix to fill the carbs then let it sit overnight. Next day run it harder than you have...varying the throttle to open and close things in the carbs. Seafoam cleans with the fuel is flowing.

 

As mentioned, with bike cold check the exhaust pipes from all four cylinders. They should heat up at the same rate.

[BlueSky]

These bikes don't pull off from a dead stop that well. But once it gets moving, it should be very strong. A lot of members who own Gen I Ventures are switching the rear gear to a VMax rear because it is geared a little lower and helps this condition. I would assume a Gen II would accept a VMax rear gear also. But I don't know the gear ratios. I'm sure other more knowledgeable members will chime in.

[93 venture]

Check air filters and check over the whole intake system, if that thing sit very long a critter may have made a nest in your intake system, just about anywhere it wants, also check to make sure all of your choke plungers are going all the way back in, has seen some of them stick and cause a rich burn and fouls plugs. where all of your plugs black?

[baaloo.phd]

Two of the plugs were black. The front 2. Also, I did a cold temp check. After 10 minutes the front cylinders were 85-100 degrees. The back cylinders were around 300. Im guessing that aint normal?

[XV1100SE]

Two of the plugs were black. The front 2. Also, I did a cold temp check. After 10 minutes the front cylinders were 85-100 degrees. The back cylinders were around 300. Im guessing that aint normal?

 

 

Not normal...as you already know. So you aren't running on all 4 cylinders

[BlueSky]

The front two cylinders aren't firing.

[Yammer Dan]

Do a BerryMan's soak. Or Sea Foam. I use BerryMans when one is running really crappy. Start and run til you get it all out. Then new set of plugs and hang on!!!

[Marcarl]

Squirt a bit of carb cleaner into the front cylinders while you have it running. If things improve or get worse, you have a fuel problem, if things stay the same, look for an ignition issue.

[bongobobny]

I had an issue a few years back where it was only running on two cylinders, and it turned out to be a plugged up carb vent hose, probably from an insect. I have forgotten, though, if it kills either the front or rear carbs, or one side, but it is an easy check. Locate the two vent hoses, black rubber hoses around 1/4' diameter, and simply disconnect them and try to blow through them. The vents for the fuel bowls are combined two into one and then to atmosphere. What happens is if the vent becomes clogged then as the fuel bowl empties air gets into the bowls. When fuel tries to fill the bowls the air can not escape and it builds up air pressure and prevents the bowls from filling with gas. No gas in the bowl, no fuel to the cylinder, so no explosion and no heat...

 

If your issue is no spark then the plugs from the two dead cylinders should be soaked with gas when you pull them, especially immediately after shutting off the bike before the gas has a chance to evaporate!

[CaseyJ955]

As a general rule avoid ethanol tainted fuel where you can for any carburetor equipped vehicle. Let that junk sit in the carbs for any length of time and your bound to have some problems.

 

I'm not as familiar with a gen2 as much but does the Shotgun method hold valid as it does for a Gen1? Just thinking that if there was some ethanol in it, and it did sit a while some of the corn squeezings could be gumming up a jet block or two. If the bowl vents are patent then a Shotgun might do the trick. Seafoam is good, ethanol is bad.

[bongobobny]

Actually, I think the "shotgun" method was invented by the VMax crowd and will indeed work with a 1st gen...

[V7Goose]

If you fire a shotgun into that engine, I'm pretty certain that you will have more (and different) problems. I would not do that. Although I can certainly see it having a wonderful benefit for an ugly V-Max.

 

There are about a billion threads on this site dealing with the carbs and general tuning issues. I know that finding those might be a bit of a challenge for new members, but spend some time in the tech library . . .

 

You have mentioned doing a temperature check - problem is, there ain't really any places on a water cooled bike that you CAN actually check individual cylinder temps. You could try the exhaust header bolts, but I do not even find that reliable because you cannot get consistent aiming on the identical spot for all four cylinders. The only reliable way to check for cylinder firing on startup is the fingertip test, where you have to reach in UNDER the header pipe to touch the real pipe near the exhaust valve in the first 30 seconds or so after the engine starts from COLD. That pretty chrome pipe you see is just a heat shield, so any test there is of zero value.

 

I have never seen a 2nd gen that actually needed a carb "rebuild" (in the old time sense of that term), but virtually any one of them that hasn't been ridden daily DOES need the jets cleaned. Seafoam is a wonderful product, but it can do absolutely NOTHING at all if the idle jets are totally plugged. The jets do NOT sit submerged in fuel, so if there is not fuel actually being pulled through them while the engine is running, NOTHING can clean them. The ONLY way to be sure those jets are clean is to pull the carb assembly and pop off the bowls to spray a strong carb cleaner directly into the jets after you remove them. Again, this is covered in great detail in the tech library.

 

Find my tech article on adjusting the carbs - follow it to make certain the idle air circuits/jets are clean, then set those air screws to about 4 turns out - that is a good static setting IIRC, but I think I cover that in the tech article.

 

Last comment is about the vent hoses - that engine will NOT run correctly if those vent hoses are not open and properly routed to the opening in front of the air filters (AND those lower fairings MUST be in place).

 

Goose

[CaseyJ955]

I have an ugly Vmax and that is where I learned the trick, also worked on the Gen1 Venture which is definitely preferable to pulling the carbs. It clears it up enough to get some Seafoam through to finish the job over a few tankfuls.

 

I didnt know if the Gen2 carbs would respond do it, I'm glad to know that they dont.

[V7Goose]

I have absolutely no idea what the "shotgun method" is or if it would work for a 2nd gen - I was simply making a joke about how much damage you would do to any engine if you shot it with a gun. I'll admit that I also editorialized a little bit by indicating that I think some vehicles deserve to be shot.

 

None of that was actually germane to the OP's request for help, so I apologize for the short side trip.

Goose

[baaloo.phd]

Ok... So I did the Seafoam with no change. So i pulled the carbs. Cleaned the carb/jets and reset the float levels. Some of the jets were completely plugged. The floats were all set way too high (Thanks Goose for the post). Everything else was good. While putting it back together I found an electrical plug that was disconnected. It was to the coil for the right front jug. My problem found! I still have some tweaking to do, but it sure runs sweet now.

[Sylvester]

This is the perfect spot for me to post. Rebuilt the carbs on my 2002 and reinstalled. Fired it up yesterday and got up to temps and had lots of backfire trying to set the idle at 1000 rpm. Let sit until this evening and fired again, warmed up some and cut back choke and it idled at 1000 rpm but the right side exhaust was cold while the left wasn't. I did put new NKG plugs in it so I am thinking coils?

Maybe there is more if you can respond.