Warm engine issue: inconsistent sputtering, stalling, etc

[RyanR]

99-600, 13000mi, bought it at 11k and it's completely stock so I'm not quite sure what's been done with it in the past. I did an oil change at 12,500 miles though.

The bike starts just fine and runs well when cold. However, once it's thoroughly warmed up, it starts to inconsistently sputter/misfire and then it starts stalling out at idle at traffic lights. I can also hear the valves ticking, this was apparent before the oil change though. This problem has been gradually getting worse for the past 500mi's and I'm not quite sure what do to about it since I don't know jack about carb engines and I don't want to call the mechanic/dealer without knowing at least vaguely what's going on in there.

I read on here that I may need to do a valve adjustment, however, it would still be nice if I had a general idea of what's wrong before I bring it to shop and get reamed for diagnostics.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

[akarob]

I'm not looking forward to doing mine. It's part of routine maintenance on all bikes but these bikes have a setup that makes the job a bit more complicated.

You can save some money by removing your own plastics before you bring it in.

[TRH1]

This sounds like your bike is running rich. I had this same problem a few years ago and i found that one of my carburettor floats was set too low, so I adjusted to the setting in the manual and it worked.

[KenpachiZaraki]

Check your plugs, they'll tell you if your running too rich or too lean. That's the simplest way of diagnosing, then after that, you might need to clean you carbs and or adjust them.

[RyanR]

Well my friend and I tore the bike apart today and discovered that cylinder 1 had a faulty spark plug wire boot (part that attaches to the valve cover). This was causing it to run well when cold, however, once warmed up, that wire would separate and causing arcing to occur, shutting down the cylinder and then another one sequentially. This caused the bucking and overall bad running symptoms.

The bike runs great now, we just electrical taped the wire back on and I'll be ordering a new one very soon! I'm very relieved it was something simple!

[kevin2502000]

Well my friend and I tore the bike apart today and discovered that cylinder 1 had a faulty spark plug wire boot (part that attaches to the valve cover). This was causing it to run well when cold, however, once warmed up, that wire would separate and causing arcing to occur, shutting down the cylinder and then another one sequentially. This caused the bucking and overall bad running symptoms.

The bike runs great now, we just electrical taped the wire back on and I'll be ordering a new one very soon! I'm very relieved it was something simple!

Those wires thread onto the cap, you should be able to cut off 1/4 inch and thread it onto the wire righty tighty, lefty loosie.