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Posted by CDNRatMan
- March 16, 2016, 15:19:06 PM I too am not a mechanic but am dangerous in trying to figure things out that is why I have GB and Troll on my speed dial for help.....
But one would think if it was fuel related it would happen in any gear if you run along in that gear long enough.Some lads were having issues with the fuel venting of the gas caps, most of course were when they had been riding in top gear and long enough for the tank to want to vent. But if you were for some reason on a road that did not allow you to get to top gear and forced you to ride along say in third for the same distance then the tank should be wanting to vent...correct.....
So Oldschool now goes out and checks his battery connections, they are nice and clean plus tight. If that is ok and squared then he goes for a ride, after a bit of a run he hits the kill switch and coast to a stop and removes the plugs and checks for the correct colour, and we move forward from here.
Posted by Tfrank59
- March 16, 2016, 14:41:50 PMRatman, but isn't there some sort of pump that's part of the fuel petcock on these bikes? That might be what he's referring to not an actual fuel pump per se. Still anything like that is going to be not related to a gear or a speed you're going but to fuel flow. And again I'm not a mechanic but since he says it's coughing and spitting, it makes me think it's carburetion not electrical--just a shot in the dark.
OK correction: it's a vacuum controlled petcock – I knew there was something different about it – but could this be related to the problem? Here's a link from an earlier discussion about the petcock: http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/index.php?topic=20936.0
Posted by Troll
- March 16, 2016, 14:40:10 PMMake sure the battery connections are clean and tight. My W-650 had a similar issue when I first bought it. Riding along, minding my own business, and it would almost seem like it hopped out of gear for an instant....only happened in 5th. Turned out it was a slightly loose connection at the negative battery post. Fixed that, and it hasn't happened in years. NO fuel pump on an 800. Gravity feed to a carb. If the pipes are black, it usually means that you are running rich...but no lead fuels with alcohol may skew that observation. Best place to look for a mixture problem is by looking at the plugs. White, too lean, tan just right, black, too rich.
Posted by CDNRatMan
- March 16, 2016, 14:32:33 PM ok unless I am really off the mark here and we have enough experts that will weigh in with a remedy so, if the bike starts and is running properly in all gears but 5th , I will say it is not the battery, not sure how the kickstand switch would be involved only in 5th gear, I know that the Kaw rep and all the mechanics I talked to said not to use irodium plugs in the 800 engine.
There is no fuel pump on a 800 that I know of. I'll bet it is the carb and it just needs to fine tuned.
Posted by Tfrank59
- March 16, 2016, 13:50:56 PMI'm not a mechanic so I'm kind of going out on a limb here – can you replicate the problem without going 65 miles an hour in 5th gear? In other words is it when it hits a certain point in the RPM range the problem occurs, so that you can better diagnose it maybe in your driveway in neutral or on a side street in second gear? I'm just trying to help you get a handle on what's going on with your engine, since diagnosis is what's needed and doing that on a freeway ain't very safe. Good luck, ride safe, and let us know what you learn.
Posted by oldschool
- March 16, 2016, 12:08:32 PMI ride a 02 800 drifter. I Grampsized the bike when I bought it used. Runs great except sometimes when I am riding in 5th gear at 65mph, the bike sputters and coughs. Once the engine died but started back out after I pulled the clutch in then back out. I changed the plugs. Old plugs only had 3k miles, looked ok. I put Roadburner dual exhaust on it. I noticed the baffles are black were the exhaust exits the pipes. Might be running rich. Anyway, I have read on forums it could be the battery, it could be the kickstand switch, fuel tank venting etc, etc. One guy changed battery, fixed the problem. One guy ran irodium plugs, fixed his problem. I want to know if Grampsizing has anything to do with it. I also heard maybe I need a new fuel pump. To many maybes. Has anyone on this forum had this issue and if so, what was the fix.