Running rough

[frkn_toaster]

2002 r1150r --

Hola, message board! Out of hibernation and riding everyday, recently (in the last few weeks) gave the tie-fighter a tune up including oil change, valve adjustment, TBS, tranny fluid change and brake bleed.

It HAD been running great. But in the last couple of days it has been running pretty rough - died at low RPM (1500-2000) in traffic the other day. I had warmed it up, maybe it could have used a longer warm-up. But it is also just running rough. Idling a little bit low also.

I have seen a lot of this on the forums being attributed to bad stick coils, but I have single spark - that means no stick coils, yeah?

So I'm just wondering if anyone knows exactly what I have screwed up here I took a video of the rough idle (it's rough at highway speeds, too) - honestly unless you also ride a sewing machine with stock exhaust you probably can't even hear anything on this - but maybe someone's got superman-like sensitivity to this particular thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu_s9FVbFfg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xbEkMNqNuI

I'm looking to check a few things out tonight: spark plugs, timing, throttle bodies/idle. Anything else I should look for?

I'm attempting an iron butt 1000 this weekend, so I'm hoping I can get it running smooth in the next two days - fingers crossed! Thanks for your help.

[iowabeakster]

A couple quick ideas...

Where the throttle bodies mount to the cylinder, sometimes an air leak can develop. If you spray some carb cleaner around in that area, you might here a change in sound as it sucks in the fluid, and fills the leak.

Or maybe the hoses where you hook up the device to do the TBS, might have a crack or leak.

Otherwise you seem to be looking in all the right areas.

[riceburner]

2002 r1150r --

Hola, message board! Out of hibernation and riding everyday, recently (in the last few weeks) gave the tie-fighter a tune up including oil change, valve adjustment, TBS, tranny fluid change and brake bleed.

It HAD been running great. But in the last couple of days it has been running pretty rough - died at low RPM (1500-2000) in traffic the other day. I had warmed it up, maybe it could have used a longer warm-up. But it is also just running rough. Idling a little bit low also.

I have seen a lot of this on the forums being attributed to bad stick coils, but I have single spark - that means no stick coils, yeah?

So I'm just wondering if anyone knows exactly what I have screwed up here I took a video of the rough idle (it's rough at highway speeds, too) - honestly unless you also ride a sewing machine with stock exhaust you probably can't even hear anything on this - but maybe someone's got superman-like sensitivity to this particular thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu_s9FVbFfg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xbEkMNqNuI

I'm looking to check a few things out tonight: spark plugs, timing, throttle bodies/idle. Anything else I should look for?

I'm attempting an iron butt 1000 this weekend, so I'm hoping I can get it running smooth in the next two days - fingers crossed! Thanks for your help.

Does the single spark not use the Stick-Coil system then??

I thought it did. on the twin spark bikes it's the main plugs (the ones in the "top" of the head) that are activated by the stick-coils.

[rdsmith3]

If it had been running great, and it suddenly is not, maybe you got a bad tank of gas?

Also, have you severed the dreaded too-tight wire ties near the front fork?

[sweatmark]

Check throttle cables - seated in the adjuster ferrules?

[Dr. Strangelove]

A WAG, but what did you use for the throttle body sync?

If you made a water/some other liquid manometer there can be a pitfall during sync that may go unnoticed.

Where you connect the vacuum hose to the brass nipple on the rear of the jugs, that area gets VERY hot during a TBS and if you're not watching for it, and even if you are, the plastic hose you use can soften and collapse and seal shut, thus preventing vacuum from reaching the column of fluid in the manometer, and negating your throttle body sync.

I would think a way off the mark TBS could do what you describe. Stick coils could also, though.
If you used a TwinMax then, never mind...

John

[clutchpuck]

She's not responding! We used the twinmax. It was way out of balance when we checked it last night so we spent 10 minutes putting it back in. The Seafoam helped raise the idle even before we started work on the balance.

Confirmed: no stick coils on this 02 single spark, as far as I can tell.

-the husband (ha)

[Boxer]

Riceburner- I had a single spark. The single coil, which operates both plugs, is mounted up under the front of the gas tank. It can go bad too, and mine did in Arkansas, but it gave me fair warning with hot pops and acrid odors.

[towerworker]

Dual spark hit the US with the 04 yr model. Which used stick coils for primary plugs. 03 and back have conventional coils and plug wires.

[frkn_toaster]

Update! (If the husband's wasn't enough - I post at night, man!) - we re-synced the throttle bodies last night (Twinmax, indeed). And seafoamed the tank and it seems to be running smooth again.

I was thinking a bad batch of gas, but I've also ridden it pretty hard since the last TBS - maybe I just make that TBS a monthly thing. It's definitely an easy enough procedure.

Thanks for the info, guys!

[frkn_toaster]

Double update:

Got the Iron Butt Saddlesore done! (1000 miles in under 24 hours) I scraped in with 6 minutes to spare, haha.

So after all that the bike was running poor again - poor high speed performance, bad idle, so I started going down the checklist.
I checked the ignition spark and it's good.
I check the air filter, K&N, new 3-6000 miles ago....

WELL THERE'S YOUR PROBLEM. That sucker was gnarly - black and covered in bugs. Cleaned it out and oiled it up, rode the bike around today and it's spinning like a top. Woohoo!

[riceburner]

Riceburner- I had a single spark. The single coil, which operates both plugs, is mounted up under the front of the gas tank. It can go bad too, and mine did in Arkansas, but it gave me fair warning with hot pops and acrid odors.

Cheers - I didn't know that.



hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I wonder if I could cobble a single-spark coil & HT leads onto my dual-spark engine?? (and thus get shot of the hated stick-coils)