wjbertrand
Ventura Highway
I noticed this on Sunday when riding with Jim Henke, Dave Berzins and Tim Graham. Took the car yesterday but rode the bike again today and noticed the problem again. It usually happens when riding around a constant 70 - 75 MPH. Also in lower gears at similar RPM (4000-4500) I back off the throttle just a tiny bit and the engine feels like someone completely shut the key off, then before I can react it resumes, but with a semi-violent surge / jerk. This is much larger than the subtle lean spot issue these bikes are known for. As I'm riding to work I'm wondering about the fuel pump, possible vacuum leak, spark plugs (48K on them), injectors gummed up, what could it be? Then I happened to be looking at the dash when it did it again and notice the tachometer, basically shuts off (drops to "0"), and then bounces back in sync with the power surge. Now I'm pretty sure it's an ignition problem, rather than a fueling issue, based on the tach observation assuming the ignition also powers or sends a signal to the tachometer. Also the sudden onset / recovery better fits some kind of intermittent electrical issue.
I'm going to check all the obvious stuff, Coil, battery & ground connections, the coils themselves and the spark leads. I've seen some similar older posts but not exactly what I'm experiencing. There's no "FI" light (though I've not checked for codes), the bike has about 148K on it now and other than some early (~20K) problems with a MAP sensor error, this is the first time I've had a running issue with it.
Wondering if there's any experience with this problem to draw on?
I'm going to check all the obvious stuff, Coil, battery & ground connections, the coils themselves and the spark leads. I've seen some similar older posts but not exactly what I'm experiencing. There's no "FI" light (though I've not checked for codes), the bike has about 148K on it now and other than some early (~20K) problems with a MAP sensor error, this is the first time I've had a running issue with it.
Wondering if there's any experience with this problem to draw on?