What the heck was that!?

[Blurr]

So I was JRA and and mildly on the throttle going from a 45mph zone to 55mph zone when there was a mild hiccup. I looked down but all the lights were good and the power came back strong. Sinces I was near 90 miles gone on that tank I thought it might be lack of gas, I flipped the res on. I filled up and contenued home. Them when I made my turn off from the highway and gassed it it did it again. But the strange thing was I was solidly in third gear over 5k (ie wot and charging to redline) when it happened.

The bike just fell flat on it's face for a split second, reared wiggled then back on the power. It wasn't like I grabbed the clutch, the bike just kinda bogged down and instantly unwound. Almost like something bound up or the fire was cut for a second; I know I had plenty of fuel. Insantly there and insantly gone. Very disconcerting. Rode home the rest of the way at a less sporty manner and it didn't happen again.

It happened so fast I can't really say it was fuel related. Can't say it wasn't. While I have only become interested in wrenching on my bike since I've gotten the vmax, I've been riding since my dad put me on a gas tank of his old /2 BMW. I have run plenty of bikes out of gas at full throttle and this wasn't like that, then again I haven't done it to the max.

So, ya, what the heck was that.

 

[gamorg02]

check for a pinch on the gas line or something maybe? vents on the carbs pinched?

tough to troubleshoot something liek this for sure

 

[gamorg02]

do you have cops?

 

[maleko89]

Sounds like ignition/electrical to me. My old bike did this and it turned out to be a bad connection to the key switch.

 

[Rollie]

Sounds like ignition/electrical to me. My old bike did this and it turned out to be a bad connection to the key switch.

+ 1 , check all your ignition wires , coil connections . Snip off & reconnect as needed .

 

[tugla]

intermittent coil issue maybe

 

[alorio1]

+1 on all the above, intermittent problems are the worst to find, but it will be back if you don't have a signifigant find. Keep your cell phone close in case it dies completely. I hate intermittent problems........

 

[Maxine]

Sounds like ignition/coils,etc, but could it be the carb floats are not set high enough? some of these bikes are marginal when they leave the factory, and after awhile they start giving you problems under power.
Not sure if yours is stock, but it may be worth a look.

 

[Blurr]

No cops, completely stock but for forks, drilled cans, and better brakes.
Will check connections. First time in 5000 miles of regularly aggressive riding, so I guess it was time. Oh well, like i needed another reason to daydream about Morley's 1500cc chain drive monster...

 

[PATMAX]

It will be back and probably at a bad time. Hope it doesn't get you hurt. I think if it was fuel related it would cough and sputter and gradually wind back back up. Electric gremlins cut coil power instantly usually to all four coils. Potential problems were mentioned like key switch, kick stand relay etc. Wish someone would make a troubleshooting flow chart that works better than the factory manual.

 

[Blurr]

Cleaned all the electoral connections I could find, haven't tried to recreate it, with the roads to wet for a hard run up. We'll see when it drys up.

 

[kdinkelman]

Did you ever figure out this problem?

I had the same issue 2 or 3 times this past week. This is electrical in nature and not carb related.

Then today was the kicker. Wife and I went out on our Maxes. I did not notice any issues on the way to lunch The drive back home was another story. After we rode for 30-40 miles, I started getting on it hard from a stop. Pulling hard in 2nd gear and the bike died completely. Pulled in the clutch and tried the starter. Nothing at all. Pulled over to the side of the road and tried it a couple of more times. Bike starts back up. Tear back out onto the highway again and she dies again. This time several hits on the starter don't do anything. Pull over turn the key off and back on a couple of times. Hit the starter 2-3 more times and she fires back up. I'm not sure if the headlight is working when the bike dies, but I know that the neutral light was as I remember shifting into neutral one of the times I coasted to the side. I take it easy the rest of the 15-20 miles home and didn't try to replicate the problem.

A little background. Had some issues late last year that I thought were due to an old battery (7-8 year old PC680). Go to work with no problem. Hop on to leave and the bike won't start. Push start it and make it home. Battery is low on charge. Connect the charger overnight and it works for a few days to a week or two before the problem re-occurrs. Picked up a new battery and it is fine for a couple of weeks before it starts back up. Figured that it was an intermittent charging issue. From then until a couple of weeks ago, every time I got home, I connected up the charger and have it do a battery check. If the battery is 100% charged, I disconnected it. If not, I charged it. Oh, yeah, the crimp fix was done around the time I put in the original PC680.

A couple of weeks ago, I pulled off the side cover and pulled the pickup coils off and put them and a Venture stator that I picked up off of ebay into a freshly chromed cover. At the same time, I put in an R1 regulator. This work fixed the charging issue.

Hopefully I will have some time available tomorrow to start checking the electrical connections. I'll definitely check the pick-up coil connection, since that was disconnected during the charging fix. I'll also check the ignition switch and kill switch connections to the wiring harness.

Any other suggestions?

 

[SpecOps13]

This could still be as simple as a carb fart. The carbs don't always track like good little guys. Something seemingly impossible can cause them to hick up at any given time... After all, all 4 can't be in perfect sync all of the time. Maybe a float stuck for a second or 2 or even one of the diaphragms..

Cleaning up the electrical connections is good maintenance practice. Just saying, don't overlook the simple explanations in your elimination process...

Good Luck....

 

[kdinkelman]

I have over 63,000 miles on this bike. I know what a carb issue sounds like. This is not a carb issue. A carb issue would not cause the tach to drop to 0 and all cylinders to stop firing at the same time.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[355cid]

I had that exact same problem with my old SOHC Honda. It was the ignition switch. Your problem definitly sounds like an electrical issue to me.

 

[SpecOps13]

kdinkelman: My reply wasn't directed at your issues but towards Blurr's... If you re read his first post, his problems lasted only a second or 2 and then cleared up and ran fine. He looked down and the power was on... I should be more secific in directing my posts...:confused2:




I'll say it again, simple things are often ignored and often turn out to be the problem.

 

[kdinkelman]

Not a problem. Didn't mean to come across like an a$$.

I really needed to put this into a new thread in the electrical. I was just interested to see if he had figured out what the issue was.

 

[SpecOps13]

We're Cool, just suggesting things that might be overlooked, Most of my 89's problems turned out to be extremely weird...