Bike not runing well

[wurlyvalve]

Well. Rammed some wire up and down the port under the tank. Felt ok. Sucked and blowed through the breather pipe, seemed ok, little restrictive for general day to day breathing.

Ran the bike to the petrol station, ran it out of fuel. The float bowls still had some fuel left in them but the tank was empty. Filled up, 18litres, deliberately over filled slightly and for the first time in the 3.5years I've owned the bike I had a puddle under the sump of petrol. Eureka. Slapped a bit the meths in there for hygroscopic good luck.

Rode ok. Went to start her up this morn and still only one cylinder until warmed up.

Hmmmm. Then I saw a thread about porous cylinder head castings sucking coolant in through the inlet port. Hmmmmm. Checked the expansion tank.... empty. Filled her back up, see whether any more is used in my 150mile ride home. I'm feeling a little deflated though.

Cheers,
Glen.

[Rod.s]

Checked the expansion tank.... empty. Filled her back up, see whether any more is used in my 150mile ride home.
Glen.

The expansion tank should be empty when the engine/radiator is cold, the purpose of an expansion tank is to allow the coolant to expand and partially fill the tank when hot, then when cold the resulting cooling and contraction of the coolant in the engine/radiator will suck the fluid that is in the expansion tank back into the engine/radiator.

Filling the expansion tank when cold will only result in excess coolant being expelled onto the ground when the engine is hot.

Make sure that the pipe in the expansion tank is sitting on the bottom of the tank, this will allow for complete return of all fluid.

[wurlyvalve]

Do they run them empty? Oh, ok, fair point, different to what I'm used to. All my other vehicles run with a marked amount in the tank when cold and then stacks of volume for hot expansion. My mistake.

Still playing up in the rain. It was fine, running sweet as, until I touched the brakes and slowed for a wee break. There after bag of poo. And the temp gauge dropped from 60c to the bottom stop at about the same time. Whether that is an indication of cause rather than an effect I'm not sure. I'd still think there was roughly 10kW of power to push me along at 70mph regardless.

Cheers,
Glen.

[coxylaad]

Really you should just buy my 878 engine and be done with it

[wurlyvalve]

Message from the wife "Oh glen, buy that engine".
I want to, and probably will. And the exhaust. And maybe the wheels.

But first, I need to be 100% sure that my bikes' bad running isn't purely my wuckfittery. I even treated her to a new years eve wash. I wash her every year, whether she needs it or not! - the bike, not the wife.

-----------------------

Left hand HT lead was resting across the frame. Could the rain have caused arcing problems? It was a new HT lead fitted however many few months ago. I followed Cobba's (I think) recommended list of DynaTek coils and copper core tinned HT leads. With the exception of not fitting relays (as my resistances and voltages were quite healthy) and the 3mm thick silicone over sleeve for the HT leads. Maybe that was a mishtake.....

Twisted the HT lead away from the frame and she fired first click on both cylinders.

Cheers,
Glen.

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

does he have a weight comparrision between the wheels???

[wurlyvalve]

Latest update. Obviously progress is slow, rain in England being such a rare event.

If I leave the bike parked outside in the rain, the cam cover around the left hand spark plug cap has a puddle formed around it.

If I leave the bike overnight in a dry garage then ride her off in the rain, the left hand HT lead has water running down it and the bottom inch or two of the rad fan shroud is clearly wet.

If I brake whilst riding in the rain, then pull over, I find a puddle of water formed around the left hand spark plug cap.

I happen (due to getting fed up of speedo drive failures) to have fitted a Koso 3R dash. The temp gauge and sensor report with seemingly more sensitivity. After hitting the brakes, in the rain, I could see that the last temp gauge would nearly instantly drop below the bottom of the scale and would never lift back up to 65c until it ran on two cylinders. The new digital gauge does the same, albeit with greater clarity of dropping from 68c (if at 30mph) to 53c. And again, it's a nearly instant step change.

My bodywork is nearly standard, it was completely standard when I bought the bike and it exhibited this behaviour then as well. My main change from standard is I have an aftermarket Thundercat front mudgaurd. It does not seal between the front half and the standard plastic rear half of the original Thundercat. Should I whack some gaffer tape across my crack to see if that stops rain water spraying from the front tyre? Should I gaffer tape form a 'fender extender' to see if that is the ticket?
What do I need to gaffer tape to stop rain forming whilst parked up on the side stand?
Should I do as my 'friends' at work suggest and drill a hole in the cam cover to help the rain drain? Might also slow the oil consumption......

Cheers,
Glen.

[trixynut]

..Should I whack some gaffer tape across my crack..

Obvious but water runs downhill so maybe leave the bike in the rain then lift the tank up (easy job, it hinges on the back bolt) and check around and upwards from the plug cap. Could water be getting in the airbox and puddling, then running out?

[wurlyvalve]

My conclusions thus far are:

Water is collecting between the fan shroud and the radiator. Slowing down, braking, tipping left seems to allow it to escape and drop on to the left hand spark plug/cam cover/HT lead.

The changes to the front end are: 120/70 tyre, Thundercat forks, Thundercat rear mudguard half, aftermarket Thundercat cf front half mudguard, dropping the forks down 11mm (or whatever it was) from the front tyre profile change.

Gaffer taping the slit/crack/ aperture between front and rear half of the mudguard did not fix the issue (singularly).

Gaffer taping a 'fender extender' 1 1/2" deep has fixed (albeit with the crack still taped up) the rain issue.

Coolant temp has risen about 5degrees on a dry day (used to run 75c at 70mph now runs 80c at 70mph - for similar ambient). Coolant temp no longer plummets when I ride in rain.


I suspect the main factor was dropping the forks/70prof tyre as I did this almost immediately after buying the bike. I currently suspect that the radiator is having water spray externally cooling it which then runs through the fins and pools up behind in the shroud of the fan. I suspect a thin sheet of ally bent up and dropped down to run under the radiator will be the cure rather than 'fender extenders' and gaffer tape. But that will come in due course!
I imagine this pooled water was doing my ignition coils in.
I wonder if ditching resistive plugs would help? And adding the resistor somewhere else????? Nuts idea.


I've not even begun to look in to the water pooling after parked up for a weekend issue. Maybe the R1 sidestand is holding the bike just a little bit too upright, slanted enough to run to the left but not enough for it to drain off the side of the cam cover.

Cheers,
Glen.

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

There is also a 10k resistor in the plug caps. Look inside the plug cap your see a brass bung that unscrews and inside there is a resistor and Spring.

[wurlyvalve]

Ditched them, but thanks, yes. Threw them out a few weeks ago after reading up another thread.