Loss of power on the way to work this morning

[VifferJim]

Hi all -

Here's the story:

I've had the Kat out three times since finishing the paperwork and getting 'er inspected. Friday was great; yesterday - even with the rain - was even better. But this morning, I took the Kat to work.

It's a 12.5 mile run from door to door. All the way in, she was fine. That is, up until I got to the off-ramp into the city. Once the bike got of the highway, I lost a lot of power and the bike sputtered the rest of the way in to the garage.

I'm going to check the fuel filters; the screen over the petcock... Anything else I should check??

[JZ67]

might seem simple but how much fuel is in the tank? Sputtering is a sign that it is time to turn the petcock to reserve.

[steves]

Drain the carb bowls and check for junk. May be worthwhile to clean the carbs out and check the floats too.

[VifferJim]

Thanks, guys.

Sputtering is a sign that it is time to turn the petcock to reserve.

I thought about that and switched it about half way through town. How long does it take to clean up, though... I rode a half mile on RES and she wasn't acting much better when I parked. The fuel gauge shows about 1/4 tank.

Drain the carb bowls and check for junk. May be worthwhile to clean the carbs out and check the floats too.

I'm going to do that as soon as I get home. What I thought, too is that I'd check the fuel level and, if it's low in the tank, fill it up just to see what happens (thinking maybe the petcock screen is gunked up at the bottom).

On the other hand, filling it would just mix all that junk back up again and make it harder to get out of the bike.

Bright side - a construction worker heard me come in and came down to check the Kat out... he spent 10 minutes talking to me about the restoration and his GSXR...

[VifferJim]

Went out and turned her over at lunch... still a bit sluggish, but she sounded a lot better than this morning.

There is gas it it - quite a bit...

More and moren, I'm thinking cleaning the carbs will fix my issue.

[steves]

I'm starting to wonder if you didn't get some water in your bowls. If that's the case, then the water may be displacing the gasoline and causing the sputtering. You did say you were out in the rain the other day, right?

[VifferJim]

I'm starting to wonder if you didn't get some water in your bowls. If that's the case, then the water may be displacing the gasoline and causing the sputtering. You did say you were out in the rain the other day, right?

Yep, was out in the rain yesterday and put the bike up in a shed during the rain storm we got last night. But, she wasn't left out in the rain for more than a minute or so.

The reason I don't think it's the bowls is that I drove about 11 or 12 miles this morning and the bike was very well behaved all the way in... just once I got into town, she started to sputter. Wouldn't it have started to act up long before then?

[VifferJim]

Guess I'm pulling the carbs this week...

We drained the tank, checked the petcock and even pulled the fuel filters off (thinking that maybe we weren't getting adequate fuel flow)... no change.

The idle is for shiate and only when I get it up into the 4-5K range does the thing feel like it's clearing itself and opening back up. Otherwise, I smell unburnt gas fumes and the pipe/can is unbelieveably HOT...

[md86]

Will it idle normally ? I'm THINKING fouled plug for some reason .....

[VifferJim]

Will it idle normally ? I'm THINKING fouled plug for some reason .....

Nope - I notice the difference right away when I turn 'er over...

I'll pull the plugs to clean them up while the carbs are off. But, wouldn't a fouled plug not fire at any speed? The bike seems to finally get up and go at higher revs (though it still doesn't feel like it should).

[UndrTakr24]

Could it be a vacuum leak somewhere? not pulling in enough fuel until it gets up in rpm? I had a problem like that, It was sluggish on take off and wouldnt clear up and run like it should until it got up there in rpm's, and it turned out to be a vacuum leak? Just a thought...whats the experts on here think?

[VifferJim]

Here's the deal: We pulled the carbs off the bike tonight. There's definitely junk in the carbs (gritty paiste like residue in the bowls.

Tomorrow - we're going to clean/rebuild the carbs and replace the plugs while we've got 'er opened up.

Should be able to get a few good days of riding in before the weekend.

Sunday is the first Sunday ride to Ephrata - my first one... gotta have her purrin' by then.

[knight_rider]

That should do the trick for ya. I had a friend of mine that had the same problem and it was because of some gunk in his carbs. We took them off, cleaned them (make sure to check your jets too) and she purred like a kitten. A fouled plug will make her choke at any speed and keep it from idling anytime. Hope you get out for the weekend!

[VifferJim]

Carbs were torn down, cleaned and put back together; then pulled and cleaned the plugs. Reinstalled the plugs and carbs and after a few burbles, she's running smooth again. Still not entirely clear on what caused the problem (or what caused the thing that caused the problem - I'll 'splain).

The carbs seemed relatively clean, aside from a little junk in the bowl on #1. The others were fine. We still tore 'em down for good measure, though.

The plugs look like they're original to the bike - NGK CR8EA's. #1 was fouled; #2 and 3 were fine; and, #4 was a little cruddy but not bad. We flushed the tank twice to get whatever residue out of them we could (there was a good bit of slit in there, too).

Future projects: replace the plugs and tank.

it was late by the time we got the Kat running so we shut down and will pick up after work today, maybe run 'er out for a cup of coffee in Camp Hill and back just to see how she acts.

But my question: Why did #1 foul and not the other 3. Is this only because of the crap coming through the #1 carb or could I have other problems?

I know I have to sync my carbs to smooth it out a bit, but can't imagine that it's so out of whack that it would create that kinda problem. Could it??