Re: FI2000 2 Pot help

[1SG CAV]

does that cylinder have good compression?

Maybe the jet is plugged.

[1SG CAV]

Anneoakley
I pulled my plugs today they were blacker than my bike. Cleaned them up, did a mild adjustment on the power commander. O got it running where I can ride it now. SO an advance tuning will/ should fix my problem.
With the power commander I can lean it out.

[annieoakley]

I have taken the Fi2000 off completely. No difference. Okay, I printed off the self-diagnosis. This will be all new territory for me....cool! I'll let you know what I come up with. Thanks Chief.

[chief]

To run the bike needs, fuel, spark and air... if you are getting good spark, you need to start looking at the fuel system.

The FI2000 can be disconnected to eliminate it as a problem.

The question now is that cylinder getting fuel?

Are you getting any error codes on the ECU?

http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/ECUFaultCodes.html

[annieoakley]

Thanks, I put new plugs in did the check, got good spark from both, bike is still only running on one cylinder. (grrrrr) It is starting to look like I am running out of ideas.

[1SG CAV]

pull the plug , then stick the plug wire on the plug, set it against the jugs so it is grounded, (do not hold it with your hands, unless you want YOUR battery charged)rubber handled pliers works. then turn the motor over look for spark. check with two different plugs,(one that you know works). If the good plug doesn't work then it's the wire, if it does then it's the plug.
Happy Hunting.

[annieoakley]

Walk me through the steps...do I need a special piece of equipment to check the spark? If I can avoid sending this bike back to a shop I am willing to dive in and complete this on my own. I'm a hands on kinda person so I love working on things. But a motorcycle engine is a little different than tearing apart my old 88 F-150. I knew that truck inside out before replacing it, and I never had this issue before. Thanks for your help and input. 

[chief]

Annie - sounds like only one cylinder firing...

Pull the plugs and do a spark test.

If spark is a problem, Check the coil wires, plug wires and plugs....  I've heard of all three causing these problems.

[bullride28]

no your not the only two with this trubel . anny pull the plugs let it air out hr or so ,new plugs it works for me but its not the cure .sometimes when  i start up lots of rich exhaust and smoke lights on 2000fi going nuts if i shut it off an restart its OK i know it drives me nuts .

[annieoakley]

new battery, took off the new cobra part, checked all fuses, relocated my rectifier (hey, at least I can fix something that still works right ) put the battery on the charger overnight, jumped on this morning and fired it up. (Well at least it started,. do I get points for that? ) Now I have a habit of polishing the inside of the tips on my pipes to keep them nice and sparkly. After firing up the beast for about 30 seconds I check the tips of the pipes. The one attached to the front cylinder is still polished, but the one to the rear cylinder was completely covered black and also what appeared to be unspent fuel. So, I let the bike sit a while, cleaned the tips again, and fired him up. Let him run for a minute and started holding onto the pipe at the rear cylinder. Within a minute the pipe is pretty warm so I don't want to keep holding on to it anymore. Reach up to the front pipe...ice cold. Front cylinder not working at all?!?  anyone want to take a stab at that one?

[chief]

Batteries are a source for all sorts of problems on modern vehicles...

Have a look at the reference page over on the website. There are some batteries and P/N's over there. I replaced mine last Jan - with a 18amp battery - a little extra ummphh.

http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/drifterparts.html

Cheers.

[1SG CAV]

the battery is a FTH16-BS as far as where you get it is your call. There are only three battery manufactures in the world (maybe four), everyone purchases from them and puts their own name to the product. NAPA is a good example, they take product out of a plain box and put it theirs and calls it NAPA parts.
i've been playing with the settings on my power commander. I can chnage the way it runs (from real shitty to just crappie) So i think an advance tuning will fix the problem. Playing with the velve trim I was able to lean it out. So to the dyno man it will go.

[annieoakley]

Clipped wire...hmmmmm I have homework tonite I am going to check my fuse to my ECU and the rest of the fuses on the panel. (do you think I could get that lucky???) Now as far as the battery goes I didn't look at it when I had the seat off, what is the size or part # on that and is Walmart acceptable as far as batteries are concerned? I buy my lawn mower batteries there but this is a whole different world! I am going to unhook the fuel commander before I try restarting my bike tonight. When someone tells me $1000 I start retracking my steps and if it is something as simple as checking the wires for nicks and cuts I think I am a capable individual. Then if I find something questionable and out of my league I go to the pros.

[1SG CAV]

I got my bike from my son-in-law. He wanted my tractor,I wanted the bike.  My son-in-law put the items on the bike. The power commander is very easy to take off and reinstall. I done it several times. The hyper-charger was installed by son-in-law after his Dad dropped the bike crushing the air  intake system. My Son-in-law is a horse shoer (Farrier) not a mechanic. He clipped a wire to the circuit board on the throttle body. This shorted it out. ($975.00) OUCH. The directions to install the power commander are very easy to follow and is easy to install. The maps aren't always right on though. So the best thing to do is have the bike put on a dyno and have it advanced tuned, ($245.00) I have tinker with the setting using my laptop. I found I was wrong at what the valve trim did. So today I'll play with that and see if I can make it run better. I will keep you informed.
Bob W.

[annieoakley]

well here is the deal....My bike will not even start now I called another dealer and told him my sob story....my bike does not have the power commander just the cobra fuel commander. The new mechanic said I would not like him because he is going to take off the new cobra fuel commander and replace it with the dyna power commander (another $400) but before he does that he is going to start from scratch and work from there. I asked if an old battery could be causing problems and he said sometimes replacing the battery works. Since I don't know how old the battery is I think I will start there. He also gave me the bad news that it could very well be my ECU since the previous owner added all of the after market items and they screwed up the ECU.....are you sitting down?......$1000 or more to straighten it out! That's why I think I will start with the battery . He wanted me to take it back to my first mechanic since he had already had his hands into the bike, I told him I was not comfortable with leaving my bike there since not much was accomplished in 4 weeks. He agreed and said if I brought my bike in it would still take a while to get all of the issues taken care of. WOW little more info than I wanted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you put your power commander on yourself?

[1SG CAV]

Anneoakley  I was just reading the manual to my power commander. I have a question for you. Have you ever had your bike hooked to your computer, to update maps or change things yourself? I believe I found one reason my bike is running rich. The valve trim was set to 4, which means it's running 4% richer than normal. Add this with the increase the maps add and we have a real rich mixture.
Reading this and never having my bike professionally tuned, might be the real problem. All the tuning to my bike I've done with my laptop.
So i do truly believe now that having it dyno tuned will fix my problem...... I will keep you posted.

Bob W.

[chief]

Thank you both for keeping us advised.

Cheers.

[annieoakley]

I will do the same.

[1SG CAV]

I found a shop about 30 miles from my house. for $245 they'll do an advance tuning of the power commander. they say they can make it run like a top. we'll see. I am going to put the smog control back the way it was. At least it ran then. these guys are a private shop. The Kawasaki dealers here have both sucked me for cash and my bike still doesn't run right. Will keep you updated on this issue.

[annieoakley]

At this point I think we are. When I picked up the bike yesterday, my tach was completely disconnected, Now I'm going to have to put that back on, $300 later and my bike barely made it home. The part he did put on my bike I could have ordered from JP cycles and put it on myself. That was the part that was supposedly on back order for 3 weeks. I'm going to call a couple of shops that are about an hour away from me and pick their brains. If I get a better answer from one of them I will bum a trailer and haul it over. Coil or injectors?? what are your thoughts? He at least narrowed it down to the front cylinder (but I could tell that before I even took it in) Too bad we don't live down the street from each other, we could get both bikes in the same building and fix them at the same time! We will outsmart these two bikes!

[1SG CAV]

I think we we put our heads together, keep each other informed. Just maybe we'll figure out what the problem is with our rides.

Are we the only two with this problem???

[chief]

Agreed... time to get someone else to look at it.

[annieoakley]

Changed my mind!!! I just called to see how it was going and he wasn't working on it. I'm bringing him home tonight! I'll give him a bath and a good polish and then I am calling another dealer for help. If I have to trailer him clear across Indiana to get him running right I will. Almost a month in the shop is way outta control.

[annieoakley]

According to the mechanic my plugs look good, their not fouled nor fuel soaked. He keeps saying electrical (coil or losing spark) I have a tach on mine too so he disconnected that to see if there was a connection problem there, no dice. I asked if there could be a problem with the plug wires themselves and he said that since there were two plugs per cylinder he could unplug one and it wouldn't hurt anything. Huh? I'm not a mechanic, but that doesn't make sense to me at all. I am ready to sign up for classes to become a certified kawasaki mechanic then maybe I can take care of my own bike, and help you solve your problem

[1SG CAV]

besides not installing the FI2000, the only thing I haven't tried is taking off the hyper-charger. I disconnected the power commander didn't work. new throttle body helped but didn't really work, tried different maps on the power commander not much help there either. I'm waiting on a plug wrench to pull the plugs.I want to see what they look like. right now I can't even ride around the block.