| Author | Message | ||
     Crazygirl |
Had my blast for 6 years. Been good to me. But now I got a new bike and ready to sell. I have a buyer, but I have a small problem. The blast was farting and popping on startup and in 1st and 2nd gear. High gears were fine. So I checked it over. Found a major crack (almost in half) in the rubber between the carb and engine. Ok fixed. Still popping. So I cleaned out the carb, found some clogged jets. Put it back together. Yeahhh...starts great no popping and farting. Thought I had the problem fixed. Well have a new one and its worse than the other problem. Now the bike iddles great, but as soon as you put it in gear to take off, it dies. Its not the spark plug or the wire, checked it already and its fine and new. Re-checked the carb its put together right. Cleaned all the wire connections and such. I can get it to rev and drive it but you have to really cracked the throttle to get it to stay running. I've heard people say timming and such, have no idea how to adjust it. Any help would be great. | ||
| Swampy |
By pass yourkickstand safety switch. Unplug it and jump the wires. | ||
| Crazygirl |
I dont' think that's the problem. Kickstand was never a issue before. This problem started after I cleaned the entire carb out and put it back together. Like I said I can take off if I rev the hell out of it and it goes. Have to keep it revved or it will kill in gear. | ||
| Ezblast |
Several posibilities - cloged jets, torn diaphram, tear in boot or boot badly installed - GT - JBOTDS! EZ  | ||
| Crazygirl |
Thanks for the suggestions Ez but checked all that. Jets are unclogged, entire carb is squeeky clean, there are no visible tears or pinholes in the diaphram (triple checked) Boot is brand new (checked prior to installation)and installed tight and checked. It starts great...Idle's great just bogs and dies when I try to go anywhere. Its not the kickstand because it would start to go, I just slightly move the throttle in first and it starts to die. Like its not getting enough gas or something. And Yes the gas is on. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
How does it do if you take the gas cap off or loosen it? Did you forget the vacuum plug on the carb? Float adjustment okay? (not accidently bent) I would recheck carb assembly. | ||
| Crazygirl |
Haven't tried the gas cap thing. But I know the carb is put together right. I have a 68 barracua car and I've done the carb on that. I know how a carb goes together. The float is adjusted right. My husband even took it apart again (We've Done it 4 times now) Float is adjusted to specs in svc manual. The carb plug is in too. Its driving him insane because he works on bikes and hotrods too. He has an old 80 shovelhead, you'd think this would be easier to fix than that. But the problem seems to still be eluding us. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
I hope you werent insulted by the "recheck carb" remark. Even the best make mistakes. The choke/enrichener may not be working. Will it run if warmed up? The timing is set with a timing light just like the old Shovelhead (uses the same clear plug that goes in the timing mark hole). Or it can be set statically using the LED on the ignition module. Follow the repair manual for the static/LED way. Its very simple and accurate. | ||
| Crazygirl |
We were thinking it might have something to do with the choke. Kinda seems like the choke won't come off. We were leaning toward that or the timing. Still playing with it...Day 4. Thanks for all the suggestions its been helpful. | ||
| Ezblast |
Check to make sure your header hasn't come loose on the head and that the boot is installed correctly - Good luck! GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Crazygirl |
I think I finally found the problem. I removed the vacuum plug going into the carb and the o-ring on the outer edge fell out, in two pieces. Gonna buy a new one tomorrow and see if it fixes my problem. | ||
| Crazygirl |
Well I finally got my part. Sorry I gave the wrong part in the post. It was the gas enrichner plug. Well we got a new o-ring. But it was the wrong one, my husband of course being the gearhead that he is, tried to force it on. Most of you can guess what happened. The plug bent while forcing it and he broke the pin off. So I had to buy a whole new Gas enrichner. Got it today and put it on. Didn't seem to fix the problem. We rechecked the float and adjusted it a bit. Fixed it somewhat but still doesn't want to run consistantly. Keeps dying. Idles like a dream but once you go to take off it wants to kill. You have to keep the idle pretty high to keep it running. If anyone can think of anything, besides the boot, clogged jets, spark plug or float let me know. Been at this for a month now. The strange thing is it started as a idle problem which was attributed to the clogged jets and the torn boot. Now the idle is fixed but now its a problem with the general run of the bike. My husband is thinking electrical which of course is not his area of expertise. Its not the kick stand sensor, if it was the bike would die right away when taking off. It runs just has to be in high idle for it to do so. This problem is really annoying.  | ||
| Jerzydevil |
Did you check the air mixture screw? Mine was doing something similar to this shortly after I bought it, and come to find out, it vibrated out while I was riding. | ||
| Crazygirl |
Where do I find the air mixture screw? | ||
| Swampy |
The air mixture screw is at the spigot side of the carb, the end facing towards the engine, and is located on the bottom side of the carb. On stock Blasts there is a aluminum plug that has to be removed before you can adjust the idle mixture screw. To remove the plug you would run a small drill bit through the plug and pry it out with a wire. It still sounds like a clogged main jet or torn or pinched diaphragm, they are a little tricky putting back together Look here: http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/hd_cv_mods.htm | ||
| Crazygirl |
Well we took the carb apart yet again, just to make sure its all right. Double checked the diaphram and there are no holes not even a pinhole in it. Check the timing on it and its fine. Even unplugged the kickstand sensor and nothing seems to fix the problem. Even changed the spark plug wire with a new one. The jets are clean. We've done everything possible to this bike and can't find its malfunction. I think I might actually have to give in a buy a service manual. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
"buy a service manual"? Now thats crazy talk! No, its a good idea. When you say 'unplugged' the kickstand sensor, you do mean cut the 2 wires and connected them? You didnt pull out the TPS (throttle position sensor) out of the carb? (dont-you'll never get it set right again). Try unplugging (just unplug-nothing else) the AE & TPS plugs from the carb and see how it runs. Its summer so the AE should still come off eventually. Sorry if some of this has been covered or done, I just didnt want to re read all the posts. | ||
| Swampy |
Ignition module! When everything else has been checked, rechecked, and rechecked again, and when it gets to the point of being so fustrating that you just can't stand it anylonger.... | ||
| Naustin |
This group ought to buy a spare Ignition module to share. That way, whenever we have ANY weird problem, we can borrow the 'community ignition module' to swap in and see if it fixes the problem BEFORE going totally insane and tearing the bike apart 3 times. If it does fix it, you will have saved 3 weeks of frustration and you can just give the community module back to the group and put in your order for a new one. If not, then you can proceed to take your carb apart 3 or 4 times...  | ||
| Swampy |
I have a bad one I can share! | ||
| Bitbear |
Crazygirl -- there's a link to the service manual around here somewhere; a search will find it. It downloads in separate chapters in PDF format and prints out easily. I've used it and it is, of course, a great help. | ||
| Ezblast |
Is the vacuum plug working - I ask because you've checked the boot, yet it still sounds like a vacuum leak or mis-aligned float. There is an M2 with this exact problem - ouch! GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Crazygirl |
Well I talked to a mechanic at my local Harley. A guy we know, so we know he's not just trying to get us to buy parts. He used to work on the blasts. Said he had a similar problem with one and it turned out to be the brain box. He says he's got one from a class bike with a bent frame they have been scavanging for parts because they can't sell it. He said though there is a way to test the brain box. Apparently the manual tells you how. If anyone has a manual could you look it up and give me the instructions. Would be alot of help. I'd hate to have this guy waste the time pulling the other one off just to find out its not the problem. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Swampy, I believe, just posted the test instructions for the module, but I dont know where. I'm sure he'll re post them (his abbreviated version, not the manuals). Please buy a manual. They are on ebay all the time or I'm sure Appleton HD will order you one at a badweb discount. PS I dont care what the manual says, if its the module it can still drive you crazy and test good. Ask to 'borrow' the one from your local dealer. Mark it (so they know they get theirs back) and if it doesnt solve your, problem give it back. | ||
| Flrider7 |
Mine did the same thing once after installing a new throttle cable. It turned out that the gas tank vent line (the hose from the front of your gas cap)was pinched a little under the fuel tank. It would idle just fine, but go to leave and it would die everytime till I wiggled the line out from under it's captor. I hope it's as simple as that.  | ||
| Crazygirl |
Well its been a year and no my blast is still not working right. We haven't really worked on it much since I got a new bike last year but still want to sell the blast. I borrowed a MANUAL from my local dealer. Installed the new brain box given to us by the dealer. After finally getting the timing set right the bike starts, idle sounds good and after about a minute the bike dies. Jets are clean, carb is clean, boot is new, spark plug is new. At least we can get it to start now so thats some progress. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Try bypassing the kickstand safety switch. Basically all you do is connect the 2 wires going to the switch together. | ||
| Sarodude |
You may need to be more specific about "dies". Is it sudden? Is it a gradual drop in idle until it just won't idle? Are you doing anything when it dies, or is it Start, then hands off? The blast is a simple bike. Problems are easy to trace. Ya just gotta be clear and systematic. -Saro | ||
| Crazygirl |
Everyone who has been trying to help me....Thank you so much for you imput. I finally found the problem and your gonna love this one. Finally got the bike to start up the other day and had to rev up the throttle pretty high to keep it running. The muffler was backfiring alot but I thought no big deal until chunks of dog food, YES dog food started shooting out of the muffler. You see we had a little bit of a mouse problem awhile back and well it seems that they found a really nice place inside my blast's muffler to build a home which they brought plenty of food inside to feed themselves. So I guess I could say I probally have the most unique answer to a bad running bike...Make sure the Muffler has not become a home for Mice. I can laugh now but before I figured it out it was ready to beat that bike with a sledge hammer and sell if for scrap. | ||
| Ezblast |
Thats so wrong!  |
