Vmax not running correctly after restart.

[MotoXfreestylin]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this but I have a question. I have a 2001 V-Max with 10k miles on it, the problem is that it runs great until I shut it off and restart it ,then it seems to misfire and just not run right. I’ve taken the carbs off and cleaned them, put a new fuel filter on and no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Denci]

Have you checked the valve lash? then make sure its carbs are synced then timing. I think I would try to rule those out.

 

[sdt354]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this but I have a question. I have a 2001 V-Max with 10k miles on it, the problem is that it runs great until I shut it off and restart it ,then it seems to misfire and just not run right. I’ve taken the carbs off and cleaned them, put a new fuel filter on and no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

10k miles is way to soon to worry about valve clearance, do check them at 25k miles . Carbs have to be right. Float levels are critical. Sync needs to be checked anytime the carbs are worked on. I'm thinking one or more carbs are dumping fuel into the manifolds after shutting down, possibly. This would be more of an issue with a warmed up engine. Pulling the plugs after shut down , might give a clue if this is the issue.

 

[Traumahawk]

10K miles on a bike that is essentially 20 years old, is 500 miles a year. Something is probably gummed up, etc. Float height, junk in carbs, etc.

 

[redbaron13]

Man, if you have that old oem pump, pull the feed line off the carbs and cycle it a bunch of times to see if it is intermittently feeding gas. Mine would do that sometimes, or just stop running, I would pull over and wait a few minutes the it would fire right up. I replaced that pump with the Mr Gasket green model. Works great, no more intermittent issues. What a pita to find though, after 50 cycles I found the pump just pushing air.

 

[redbaron13]

Got to have a good battery too!

 

[sdt354]

Man, if you have that old oem pump, pull the feed line off the carbs and cycle it a bunch of times to see if it is intermittently feeding gas. Mine would do that sometimes, or just stop running, I would pull over and wait a few minutes the it would fire right up. I replaced that pump with the Mr Gasket green model. Works great, no more intermittent issues. What a pita to find though, after 50 cycles I found the pump just pushing air.

Ty Red, I was wondering how other low pressure pumps would work.

 

[MotoXfreestylin]

Thank you for all of the replies. I just put a brand new battery in it, I also re synced the carbs when I put it all back together. I am going to pull the plugs and see what they look like. I also noticed when it isn’t running right the idle fluctuates up and down it also backfires while riding when it’s not running right.

 

[Fire-medic]

'Backfiring' through the carbs is a 'too-lean' condition, in my experience.

A good carburetor synchronization helps the bike to idle better, when it needs to be synched, the idle will often 'hang-up' at a high rev #.

 

[MotoXfreestylin]

Today I went and pulled the plugs and the right front plug was wet so I put a spare plug I had in and it made no change. Also while doing this I noticed when I started it and let it warm up that cylinder was not nearly as warm as the other 3. I pulled the plug wire off and the bike ran exactly the same so I tried all the other wires and the bike wouldn’t start when I did that. So does it seem that I have a spark issue or a carb issue. Thanks again for all of the help.

 

[Parminio]

The plug being wet means it's either flooding out huge or the plug isn't firing.

If you were flooding huge and you pulled the wire, you should still feel a bit of difference because then you're flooding and not firing at all.

I think you have an ignition problem.

It's easy enough to test. Leave the plug out but plug it up to the wire and start the bike. If you don't see the plug firing, there's your answer.

Edit to add: You will hear an outrageous popping noise coming out the plug hole of that cylinder. Don't worry about it, it's not going to hurt anything. It's just compressed air.