Bike Stalling

[Whatever6060]

It's been a long time since I've ridden my bike or been on this forum, but i finally got to riding my bike and had some serious stalling issues.  What happened is that I was riding it around doing errands (probably for like an hour or two) stopping here and there.  Then while riding home it started to sputter and die.  Felt like I was out of gas, but I had plenty.  I pulled over and it died out on me.  Then I tried starting it and it would barely turn over (only when i gave it alot of gas).  When it did turnover the tach did not move from zero (which I thought was really weird).  Then I just ecked it home staying on the gas the whole time (it sounded horrible back hiring constantly and smelled of gas).  Now, the gas in the tank was over a year old (I was pretty dumb and didn't change it with fresh gas).

My first thought is that the old gas gummed up the carbs and they need to be cleaned out.  I wanted to post though before i do it and see if you guys agree or if I'm heading in the wrong direction.

Thanks.

[black and silver twin]

the tach not moving sounds like bad grounds (if you have an 04 or newer model with electric tach) which could also prevent good spark thus no power. also the old gas may have clogged the carbs or fouled the plugs. pull the plugs after running. if there fouled i would say bad spark due to either grounding or bad gas. if there not fouled then I would say clogged carbs. but since you sayed it smelled like gas i think its grounds and/or bad gas.

[inexplicable718]

i think i have the same problem.. Clogged carb.....only if i knew how to clean it myself..ugh

[black and silver twin]

i think i have the same problem.. Clogged carb.....only if i knew how to clean it myself..ugh

Its very easy to clean the carbs

1 remove seat
2 shut off tank petcock
3 remove tank
4 remove carbs
5 remove bolts from bottom of float bowls.
6 remove bowls
7 spray with carb cleaner and scrub with tooth brush
8 remove jets
9 spray carb cleaner THROUGH jets (soak over night and open up with tooth pick if necessary)
10 reasemble.

[Whatever6060]

I never thought of bad ground (I do have an 04).  I did replace my battery recently with a k-mart battery, so the bad ground would make alot of sense. 

I'll check it out this weekend and let you know how it goes.  I appreciate the help!

[black and silver twin]

no prob  good luck!

[Whatever6060]

So went out this weekend and to my surprise it started up fine.  I took a look at the battery box, thinking it was the ground (as it started fine) and realized the negative battery cable is exposed to water (I use a K-mart batter, which I had to turn sideways to get to fit, and the negative side is down and don't have an undertail on it).  Since it was raining that day, the negative cable was probably getting wet causing some sort of short in the system? 

I did change out the old gas and put some new gas in just in case.  I guess I need to make some sort of cover or put something over it to prevent it from happening in the future.

thanks again.

[Carltheproducer]

Strange. I bought a battery after reading this post and I suffered from the same problems. The solution after all was the gas, apparently is was bad gas (a Harley rider said he smelt Diesel) however the bike isn't back to 100%. After getting rid of the gas and putting 93 gas in, the bike will finally crank over and stay on especially during riding but she seems to be hesitant at highway speeds and she makes a choking smoke when clutching. Bringing to mechanic tomorrow in NYC. Also when I was emptying bad gas, I noticed the chain was loose so I tighten it and after riding from Boston to NYC today, it's loose again. Anyone care to chime in?

-Carl

[crzydood17]

necromancy at its finest

[mister]

Michael