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Blitzkrieg69
| Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2013 - 02:56 pm: |
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I'll try to keep this as short as possible without leaving out any details. Ran out of gas yesterday. While waiting for fuel, noticed front header bolts were gone, flange dangling. Got fuel, rode 2ish miles home, ran fine, just loud. Went and got some nuts, waited for it to cool, and re-secured header. Attempted to restart, and it would crank, but not start. On recommendation from someone, tried starting at full throttle. Nothing but a loud backfire. I smell fuel, so I removed the plugs. They're fouled, but it was running fine when I parked it. I've got new plugs, but don't want to foul them trying to restart if that's not the underlying issue. Is this common? I checked the plug to the coil pack, and it's fine. Suggestions? |
Froggy
| Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2013 - 06:12 pm: |
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It is quite easy to foul the plugs if you do short trips like your 2 miles home. Swap the new ones in and see how it does. |
Blitzkrieg69
| Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2013 - 08:14 pm: |
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My mechanical ability isn't fantastic, so I had a local guy come over that works at an independent dealership and has a shop in his garage. Got the plugs back in, and after minutes of cranking, got it to fire and run, but running like shit, lots of backfiring and not wanting to idle. After running the piss out of it in the garage for a few minutes, he took it for a test ride, and as long as he was on the throttle it seemed to run fine. He tells me he thinks it was something in the gas can or bad gas, and that an injector may be sticking or a valve sticking open, and recommends filling up the tank with good fuel and adding seafoam. This guy quite obviously doesn't have any buell experience. Spent 30 minutes on the bike then over an hour talking my ear off about how amazing he is. Anyway, gonna get a new gas can tomorrow and some fuel, some seafoam, and hope for the best, unless anyone else here knows a good wrench in the Phoenix metro area? |
Mog
| Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2013 - 08:17 pm: |
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Any one know if the ECM may be out of wack after trying to compensate for the major exhaust leak. Just restart if possible (a few times after a few minutes rest each time) and let it idle a while and then a nice long 20 mike gentle ride? Anyone know? Blitz, how is it going? |
Blitzkrieg69
| Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2013 - 08:29 pm: |
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Yeah, she won't really idle. If I keep the rpm's up she'll run, with the occasional backfire. She'll idle sometimes for a 10 seconds maybe, that's about it. Tomorrow I'll get a new gas can and some seafoam and try again. The neighbors have been pretty patient with the noise, and it's dinner time. |
Reepicheep
| Posted on Sunday, January 06, 2013 - 08:51 am: |
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For sure start with new gas. The air fuel valve can get confused... it should self correct, but if you have ECM spy you can reset it to a more normal state yourself quicker so it will relearn quicker. You also have an idle adjuster on the bike, that might need adjustment, at least while the motor is relearning. And there could be something else wrong (like an intermittant cam position sensor, a temp sensor, or a wire somewhere). Did you really manage to loose both exhaust nuts and loosen the flange, but not bust a header stud? That's pretty remarkable, you are lucky! |
Blitzkrieg69
| Posted on Sunday, January 06, 2013 - 11:17 am: |
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Where do I find the idle adjuster? I've got the fuel drained, about to go get some clean fuel and seafoam, and it would be nice to have the idle turned up a bit so it won't die while the new gas and seafoam do their thing. |
Harleyelf
| Posted on Sunday, January 06, 2013 - 11:33 am: |
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It's a screw facing up toward the gas tank on the throttle body. Many have a flexible tube attachment that lets you twist it without twisting your arm through three right angles. |
Blitzkrieg69
| Posted on Sunday, January 06, 2013 - 01:18 pm: |
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2 gallons of fresh premium fuel, a little over 2 oz. of seafoam, and she started right up. Video Let her run for a bit (yes, she idles), then took her for a short ride. Once my neighbor gets home so I have backup, I'll take her up and fill her up, add a bit more seafoam, and take her for a longer ride. She's still a tiny bit rough as the seafoam works it's magic, and there's still considerable sputtering and popping on decelleration, but that's how she was when I got her. I think I'll also reroute the crank case vents out of the intake today too, from what I understand that may help with the popping. Thanks for the help guys. If anyone happens to know a good Buell tech in the Phoenix metro area, please let me know. Next weekend I would like to put a K&N filter on, delete or open up the airbox, and most importantly either get a race map or an EBR ECM installed. At this point I don't really want to monkey with learning ECMspy and doing my own, maybe once things at work are less stressful and I have more time. |
Ocbueller
| Posted on Sunday, January 06, 2013 - 06:53 pm: |
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Did you replace the header gaskets? Feel for exhaust leak when you first fire it up before it gets to hot. SteveH |
Blitzkrieg69
| Posted on Sunday, January 06, 2013 - 08:52 pm: |
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I wasn't aware there was supposed to be a gasket, so that would be a no. It must have either gotten burned when the header flange came loose, or or shredded, or removed by the previous owner. I will have to order some. In the mean time, I guess I'll just put up with the popping. It probably annoys my neighbors more than it does me. I did double-nut the flange to the studs tho, so they won't back out again. |
Reepicheep
| Posted on Monday, January 07, 2013 - 07:53 am: |
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They are a lead / fiber gasket, so they might have been in there but all mashed down and hard to see. On an XB, if the rest of the exhaust is right, you should not have to double nut the headers. I lost a stud on my XB after loosing the bolt that held the front of the exhaust hanger to the motor. Didn't catch it in time. |
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