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[Brazilla]

Hi chaps, not been on for a while as everything running great! Put on some ace bars which changed the riding experience and got an extra few mph! 350 iron barrel btw.

Anyway, had an issue a few times where i'll be riding along and the engine just gradually loses power and dies, it'll keep going very quietly as I come to a stop, the issue has come and gone quite sporadically so I was putting it down to bad gas. It can take a while to restart although other times it can be instantaneous. I have checked all the things that seem obvious to me and ultrasonically cleaned the carb and fitted a new spark plug, slightly mystified at the moment. Any ideas welcome..

More recently I noticed another issue that may have been present for a while as I seldom need lights on; the headlight and side lights do not work (indicators are fine though) I am wondering if the two issues could be linked? Either way I have to get the multimeter out and find out my issue.

Thanks in anticipation!

PS. At what mileage do folks tend to decoke heads, I just did it on my Ural which has a very high mileage. Bullet has 4k on it so far when would you recommend?

[hagis]

Hi sounds like your battery is on its last legs and not holding its charge- as for a decoke if its running ok leave well alone.

[Boxerman]

The engine dying could be a blocked tank cap breather. Next time it starts to lose power, try undoing the tank cap and see if it picks up
Frank

[Brazilla]

Thanks guys, think the battery is ok. It's fairly new and I put on the Boyer powerbox after reg failed and fried the last battery. Reading on the ammeter is fine, will check though eh!

I will try the fuel cap too, mine has had the lock drilled out at some point, it's worked well until recently but worth a check as well!

Thanks again!

[Gwilly]

Quote.. "it'll keep going very quietly as I come to a stop," unquote..

Mine was doing this last month but often stopped completely.

Turned out to be the small filter under the petrol tap was filled with a gel, water and old fuel i guess..

Pull the pipe off the tap and try running some into a glass jar, if it slows down to a drip then release the filler cap to eliminate blocked cap vent..

[Brazilla]

Don't want to speak too soon but think I solved engine issue, cleaned fuel filter, petcock and filler cap in ultrasonic cleaner. I have only been for a short ride since I did it but it felt cured, felt like a new bike!
Lighting issue is obviously not related! Seems obvious now anyway! I suspect a bad earth somewhere!

Cheers chaps

[Presto]

There’s good advice here – about the problems that restricted fuel flow can cause. It’s often overlooked, while something more ‘technical’ is looked for as the cause of an engine ‘dying’ or ‘fainting’. I had the same problem - but I didn’t detect the cause - on a 650 Sachs (very nice bike!). After a (fairly) fast stretch the engine would begin to die, almost as if it wanted to tighten up before a seizure. The cause was found (at last) to be nothing more than a partially blocked fuel filter on the fuel tap.

[Brazilla]

Hope it's useful to some! I am guilty of coming on here looking for advice then not doing a follow up post to determine what worked, that is what is useful to newbies like me browsing around looking for solutions to a problem.

Bullet ran fine today except for one quite funny issue, I had to go to the hospital for a blood test, on way out I stopped at the picket line to talk to a friend. I decided to go in the round direction so I could ride past and give them a honk of support, this went well but after turning round to go past again in the correct direction I turned the choke off to early and went past silently before stopping in front of everyone, most embarrassing!

Fuel problems are easy to overlook I think, I've been wrestling with getting my Ural running nicely and then started to investigate the fuel tank, it was full of all sorts of gunk so I've now had it cleaned and coated, everything prior to that point was pretty much wasted if I wasn't getting clean fuel with a good flow. Lesson learnt!

[jefrs]

For your electrical/lighting issues I would look to when you changed to ace bars and disturbed the wiring.



At one time I would blow air back up the fuel line to clear the internal tank filter on a Bantam which was forever gunging up with 2T oil. Eventually I removed the internal filter completely as the lower one was easy to clean out.

[Brazilla]

I have ended up with two threads here, after delving into the wiring I have ended up going for a full rewire! I have all lights and horn working but not connected up yet as I want to get charging and spark working well before adding anything else, going Efi and new coil while in there!