| Author | Message | ||
     Styxnpicks |
I got some blinker fluid and muffler bearings for that flag line | ||
| 07blast |
Hi I'm new to motorcyles I bought a 2007 Blast a few months ago and I heard this is the pace to go for troubleshooting. The bike had just over 5000 miles when I bought it and the seller told me it doesn't will start to bog down and die unless give throttle. I was just so excited so I just screw it and bought it thinking it wasn't a big deal. I've been riding for like 2 weeks(100 Miles) and I've had no problems besides that idling issue only a couple of times. But on my way to work the other day I accidentally jerked back on the throttle pretty rough and the bike bogged down and died. I pulled over and it wouldn't start back up. Someone pulled over(who claimed to be a biker and seemed like he knew what he's talking about). He said it was the battery. He hooked up his minivan to the bike and let it sit for like 20 minutes. Bike started and was able to get to work. After that the bike would start right away then die after 30 seconds. Once it died it wouldn't start it would sound like it was trying to turn the engine over but nothing. If I let it sit for an hour I can come back and start it right away again but it'll still just die. Guy who pulled over said it might be the regulator but I fully charged the battery and tested the volts while trying to start the bike and got like 10.6 which from what I understand means the regulator is good. Anyways I put a whole tank of gas in there and now it'll start every time and idle for a little longer and it'll sound normal but the rpms start to drop and it now it seems giving it some throttle doesn't help at all. I'm sorry for the long post but I don't know where to go from here. It might be something small and stupid so please any help would be appreciated. Update: I went out earlier and tried to ride it. I left the kickstand down and obviously the bike stalled and now it won't start unless I open the throttle a little bit and when I close the throttle it dies. What's going on? | ||
| Missionbolts |
Got a bit of packed snow into the belt, must've chunked-up under the belt & jammed it as it went over the drive sprocket. Snapped my belt! Just as I getting into having a Blast out on the snow!  | ||
| Missionbolts |
07Blast, When GearheaderIko sees your post, all your problems will be solved! I might take a couple cracks at it in the meanwhiles. Possible vacuum leak in the rubber boot between carb & engine? Testing that could be done by taking the boot off, look for cracks on it's outside while squeezing it. Put some very thick grease on the sealing edges of the boot when you put it back. If I saw any cracks, I would coat the boot with black RTV in two layers, then order a new one. (got to ride while waiting on the mail) | ||
| 07blast |
Missionbolts the previous owner put on Dan's superboot could it still be a problem? Also a friend told me to clean the carb upon removing it I didn't notice a fuel fliter i should have one right? | ||
| 07blast |
Not sure if that's related to the issue or not and I'm not mechanically inclined at all but from what I can tell the carb looks clean (Message edited by 07blast on February 04, 2019) | ||
| Missionbolts |
07Blast, Just my shot in the dark. I was thinking that the automatic cold start might coverup the symptoms of a vacuum leak. That cold start usually will not kick back on when re-starting soon after the engine stalled, as it works by a heated element that takes a while to cool down enough to operate again The new boot should have addressed any intake leaks I would recommend looking inside the float bowl just to see what's going on in there. If it looks spotless, and the carb's venturi looks clean of any dust or dirt, then I wouldn't worry too much about the carb needing to be cleaned. But the position of the main needle and the jet sizes might be checked to see if any changes had been made I would also try starting with the airbox lid off, as a test of the air filter There ought to be a filter sock inside the fuel tank, as a part of the shutoff valve One of the things I don't like about these bikes is the lack of a proper drain screw on the carb. There's a spot where it could have been on my bike, but it was left blank. So no easy way to check for water or see if the float level is correct There's a few riders having problems with the bank angle sensor & kickstand switch. Both of those are part of the ignition system and are used to kill the engine. So next time it fails to start, pull the sparkplug wire to see if the ignition shut itself off (Message edited by missionbolts on February 04, 2019) | ||
| 07blast |
Missionbolts, The float bowl was dry and didn't even smell like gas but there was gas coming from somewhere when I took the carb off. Also with the carb remover if I move the slide up and let it come down it makes like a suction noise don't know if that's normal or not. Also don't know how to check the jet sizes. I'll try removing the air box lid. And can you explain more about the spark plug wire? Again I know nothing the more detail the better. Thanks! | ||
| Missionbolts |
07Blast, Sorry, I take it all so much for granted, I skip things without noticing! For the time being, don't worry about jet sizes or needle position. It's just a little more in-depth stuff. you'd be taking the carb apart for that! The sucking sound is normal for that type of carb, it has to do with a diaphragm in the top of the carb, underneath the black top. When you move the slide, it will move air through the passages as that diaphragm flexes up & down I'd be more concerned about not having gas in the bowl! Maybe the engine ran itself dry and there's something wrong with the fuel supply? How full is your tank, and have you ever used the 'Reserve' position? The valve on the gas tank has three positions. On/Off/Reserve. When looking at the valve, all the way counter-clockwise is the 'On' position. It's also marked right by the lever. In that position, you will not be able to use all the gas in the tank. In order to keep the bike running down the road, you would switch to the 'Reserve' position. From the seat, you would pull the valve lever forwards, up then over the top & to the rear until it stops If you removed the carb, then you already took off the entire airbox. You can still remove the lid while that's off the bike. Just look for the small screw 1st Normally for routine maintenance, the airbox lid is removed from the right-hand side of the bike. It's that annoying black plastic hump that likes to massage the back of your leg while riding. I think that's Mr Buells way of saying 'Hey you're not sitting the right way on my bike!' There's that one little phillips head screw at the bottom rear of the lid, and a bunch of snap clips all around the lids edge. When removed, you will be looking right at the air filter and down the carbs throat where you can see the slide If the filter is dirty enough to restrict airflow, it will cause the carb to run a lot richer & maybe flood the engine. Starting with the lid off will allow air to bypass the filter. The filter is a really oddball design. You can't tell how dirty it is by looking at the outside, you would have to remove it and look inside. It come loose like pulling a cork Testing to see if the engine still has spark is easiest to do by pulling the plug wire off of the sparkplug. You don't need to remove the plug, but that might make it easier for the next part, and it wouldn't hurt to check the condition of the plug while your at it. With the plug removed, I would put the plug back on the sparkplug wire, and let the plug rest by itself so it's touching the top of the engine. Then crank the engine over while watching the plug. I would make sure the plug is in the wire so that you can see the gap. There should be a nice blue spark when the engine it turning over. It's a lot like an electric fence, so don't spill your beer on that plug while cranking the engine! I know from hard won experience that it's not that funny. Your friends might think otherwise... | ||
| 07blast |
Missionbolts, I'm throwing the carb back on and I'll check the spark plug? Don't I have to remove the gas tank or something to be able to reach it? Also when the bike first died I figured I ran outta gas so I flipped it to reserves. Before I tried starting it again that good samaritan said it was the battery and hooked me up to his van. Was able to start back up. Not sure if it was the battery or switching to reserve. After that I only had like a half gallon so my friend brought me 2 gallons of gas and she would start no problem but then we started having the idle issues | ||
| Missionbolts |
Sparkplug is under the tank, so you do need to remove the tank. The tank is easy with the fuel line already being disconnected from the carb. On the left side of the engine, just behind the lower edge of the tank, there's a thick black wire going from the ignition coil to the engine. End of that wire has a 90° heavy black rubber boot. Sparkplug is hiding underneath that boot. It removes like a cork, just twist it a little & pull slowly. Sparkplug needs a deep socket, I think it's a 13/16". There's a special sparkplug socket which is the same thing as a standard deep socket but includes a rubber insert that holds the plug. You don't really need that special socket, so any deep 13/16" should work I'm not so sure about your battery, or charging system. But without that minivan and while your bike is running, there ought to be more than 12 volts. Anytime your battery is down to 10, that's technically a completely discharged battery and it needs to be charged as soon as possible! It should be around 12.5 with the key off. While cranking, voltage shouldn't drop below 11 unless cranking for longer than normal | ||
| 07blast |
Yeah it was sitting at 12.5 with the key off dropped to 10.6. I'm gonna check again and see if it's still dropping. If it is I'll go get the battery tested. Btw the seller said it was a new battery and it looks new but I don't know. If the battery is okay could it be the regulator. I've had a couple people including minivan man that the regulator may be shot. Is there some easy tests I can do to check the charging system too just to make sure it doesn't destroy a new battery. | ||
| Missionbolts |
When the engine is running, the battery voltage should be higher than where ever it was with the key off. Like 13.5 volts would be nice. If the voltage stays the same as with key off, or lower, then the charging system isn't doing it's thing. That can be the regulator. Or it could be something wrong in the connections to the coils that generate power, or the coils may be shorted or broken open. There may be other things that can take out the charging system | ||
| 07blast |
Alright thanks! Also I'm reassembling the bike after taking the carb off. Two things I noticed was that the air filter doesn't look too pretty and the tube that goes through the air box and to the carb right before the air box there is a T connected thing that has some white gravy looking crap in it. I'm guessing that's not supposed to be in there? What's the tube for and what's that crap in it | ||
| Missionbolts |
That tube is to make california lawyers leave the Harley lawyers alone, being that the Harley Davidson Company owns all the rights & properties to the Buell empire. That's the only thing preventing Harley from going belly-up due to all the new riders buying sportier bikes for less monies Except that Harley shut down the Buell operation because it felt weird to make bikes that perform better than everyone elses... Anyways, that evil black serpent routes vapors & fumes from inside the crankcase back into the carb where those fumes can clog the works 'White Gravy' is an evil mixture of engine oil & moisture combined into a unholy curse aimed right at the heart of the innocent engine! Most Blastards will rip all of that out of the airbox, plug the hole and run the hose down below the frame where it can drain out onto the pavement like a proper Harley ought to Or you can put a catch can on the end of the hose and take the used oil to a recycling center I put mine in the woodstove in order to save trees | ||
| 07blast |
Is that the crankcase breather hose? And is this a sign of a bigger problem? Also thanks for all the helpful info really appreciate it | ||
| Missionbolts |
07Blast, The curse of the 'White Gravy' is not a big issue for an air-cooled engine. There's no coolant leaking issues on these Blasts But it is a caution that you might want to delete the hose, as it's not cool to have oil flinging down the carb It could also mean that the lower section of the hose is totally full of oil and you're seeing the overflow which has finally reached the level of the airbox On my bike, so long as I keep it under 60 and never ride hard, it runs fine for oil consumption. But when I cruise at 70 & ride it like it had been broken-in correctly, it loses a lot of oil. Only 10,000 miles on it and it needs to be rebuilt! I think a lot of the oil may be blowing out the breather hose. That's why I made sure the hose is way off to one side where it wont dribble back into the rear tire. The hose is connected to the engine at the very top of the valve cover. You will see how that works when you remove the fuel tank. There's an odd plastic thing up there that the hose is attached to. The rubber grommet it goes into is usually loose enough that it leaks oil out onto the valve cover. Not really an issue if you can't see it, but it will collect dust & dirt up there and make a mess of the engine | ||
| 07blast |
I'll work on it during the week and look out for anything troubling and definitely come back here for help. Thanks again! | ||
| 07blast |
Hi 07blast again, I slapped the carb back on the bike and everything's connected right. However I did tinker with the idle screw and air mixture screw. How to I properly adjust those? Also I was able to start the bike just fine and even took it around the parking lot for a couple minutes at 10mph. When i parked it and tried starting it again it wouldn't start unless I was pulling the throttle a little. And wouldn't stay running unless I was reving it. The thing that was pretty odd was that I wasn't able to remove my gas cap or oil dipstick after shutting off the engine. I had to use pliers to turn the dipstick and get it out. I've never had to do that while checking oil. Is that bad? | ||
| Missionbolts |
Got to wonder, where's everyone else at? 07Blast, oil dipstick usually likes to stick in place. If I tighten mine just a bit extra, I need pliers to remove it next time. The difference between just enough and a bit too much is very small and can be done with only two fingers. Likely you just tightened it a shade more than you had been doing The only time I check the oil level is right after getting home & shutting the engine off. If the bike sits overnight before you check the level, it could have drained a small amount back down into the engine. There's a check valve in the oil passages to prevent that, but I never trust those The gas cap however is a lot more interesting. If that isn't coming off the tank like normal, maybe the vent in the cap isn't working. The vent allows air to get inside as the fuel is used. If the vent doesn't work, then a vacuum will build up inside the tank and that can do a couple things. One is the vacuum will make it very difficult to remove the cap. Two is that fuel will not be able to flow down into the carb Maybe that's why the float bowl was dry? And maybe that's why the bike is acting up? There's a tipover valve that closes off the vent hose. If you remove the plastic cover that's on top of the tank, you will see that hose at the very front of the tank, in front of the gas cap. Maybe the hose is pinched off, or the valve is stuck closed? Look at the entire length of the vent hose to see if there's anything that would keep it from flowing. With the gas cap off, try blowing into the end of that hose to see if it is ok Factory recommended idle speed is very fast, to cover-up a poor intake port design. I would wait until the engine is warmed up all the way before adjusting that, then try for something that sounds like 800~1000 rpm's The other adjusting screw would be more like the idle mixture adjustment and is normally hidden behind a plug to make those california lawyers happy. So somebody has removed that plug, maybe even replaced the screw with a longer aftermarket version that sticks out in the open. I would very lightly screw that all the way in until it bottoms out, being careful not to mash the tip of the screw in the metering hole it will be resting against. Then turn it back out 1.5~2 turns | ||
| 07blast |
Also should note that when I removed the hose that runs from the petcock to the carb and turn the petcock on gas flows out maybe that hose is clooged? Will check that other one by the gas tank too thanks | ||
| Missionbolts |
Yup, hose to the carb should also be checked. I've once found a distributor vacuum hose that had a ball bearing jammed into it about a foot down from the end. Somebody's poor idea of how to plug the hose while checking the timing. Just never know. I've had mud wasps build their nests inside hoses left open too long | ||
| 07blast |
Alright cool. Also is there a trick to get the transmission drain plug out and adjust the primary chain with the stock exhaust. The primary chain adjuster still has that spacer on it which leaves me to believe that the previous owner may have slacked off on maintenance. I already changed engine oil but shrugged off the transmission fluids cause I couldn't reach it. | ||
| 07blast |
Also what viscosity oil should you use with the blast. 20w50 is what in using, that right? | ||
| Missionbolts |
I just take the muffler off. Makes it a lot easier to deal with. The forward lower muffler mount is a bit of a pain to put back, as it's a collection of loose parts instead of a nice one piece insert. The rear mounts are also a bit of a puzzle, but it's not that impossible. The collar nuts at the cylinder head might require a special tool. The frame has a control arm that blocks the inside nut from normal socket wrenches. I was planning on grinding that notch to allow a larger diameter socket extension, but then both nuts flew off while I was out on two different rides. So I've replaced them with custom extended length cap nuts & safety-wired them into place Checking the tranny oil level is normally done by removing the left footpeg bracket. A 3/8" extension with a gooseneck and a short socket will just about snake past the top of the rear shock in order to remove the three nuts holding that Then you can remove the clutch adjusting cover to see where the oil level is at. Sure would be nice to have had an oil fill/sight plug somewhere else on that left side case A magnet retriever tool is a good thing to have for this part Putting those nuts & lockwashers back is best done by having someone with very small hands do it for you. Or put some heavy grease in the socket and try to stick the lockwasher to the nut, or sticky grease on a fingertip to do one part at a time, or wrap some tape around the socket to hold the nut & lockwasher on the end, or put a high power magnet inside the socket. I kinda wish the studs were welded to the frame & the nuts went on from the outside of the footpeg bracket... (Message edited by missionbolts on February 05, 2019) | ||
| 07blast |
That sounds like alot of work. I only have some screwdrivers and little socket kit that's all. I'll try taking a go at it. Aslo I was able to pull the carb off without loosening the clamp around the boot. Maybe that's the cause of the problem?? | ||
| Missionbolts |
I run 20-50 in the engine because of how fast the oil disappears. It's like as if the engine has a lot more miles on it than the odometer does I use regular car oil for the engine and motorcycle oil in the tranny, but it wouldn't matter too much if I ran the motorbike oil in the engine. It just costs a bit more. The tranny oil is also running through the clutch plates, so that needs to be a wet-clutch type oil without any extra friction reducing agents I've been getting away with using another 20-50 in the tranny. Seems to shift ok. But then it helps that when I 1st got the bike, I needed to take the tranny apart to fix a shifting problem. While it was apart, I polished the shift drum & smoothed off a lot of rough edges on the shift forks & dog clutches for each gear set. There wasn't a lot of finesse put into the Blast engines, so lots of burrs & unfinished casting lines inside. So I would think my finishing work has more to do with how well it shifts than the oil. You might not have any issue using 20-50 in the tranny, but I would have to recommend a lighter oil without knowing for sure. I'm not so sure about the Harley house brand oil. I've never heard of anyone outside of the Harley dealerships actually using that stuff | ||
| 07blast |
Ok. Also if my boot was loose would that explain why there was no gas in the carb? Might be a stupid question but again I've only owned a bike a couple months. | ||
| Missionbolts |
07Blast, A loose boot won't have any effect on fuel getting from the tank to the carb. But the tank vent not working will The loose boot may be yet another problem. I'm not familiar with the quality of that boot design, so maybe it just doesn't fit like the original? Or maybe the clamp is too large to crimp the boot down all the way? I would change the clamp, and when re-assembling the boot,put marine grade grease on the sealing edges of the boot. That type of grease wont absorb water. Something like what boat trailer wheel bearings will use. The grease helps make the boot go into place easier, and it will help seal the connections without actually gluing things together Be prepared to find more than one problem, none of which will have anything to do with each other. That's typical of any 2nd hand vehicle | ||
| 07blast |
Ok I'll clamp that down and check hoses tomorrow. Also what's the voltage supposed to be when trying to crank? How about when it's running? Some people are still insisting it's a bad battery (Message edited by 07blast on February 06, 2019) |
