no idea whats wrong, PLEASE HELP!!!

ok, so i've been gone a lot lately, about a month at a time, sometimes a little more, and lately when i get back, my 07 RSTD has been taking longer and longer to start. finally got to the point where the battery was dying from too many attempts. it's a new battery. after this last one month away time, i got on the bike, and now it's extremely sluggish, won't get over 65 mph with the throttle wide open, and idles terribly. i thought it might be the fuel pump, changed that, and no difference, aside from it starting right up now. but i just test rode it (changed the fuel filter too) and it's still very slow to respond and maxing out at 65 mph. i've also taken off the carbs, and looked at them, nothing stood out and they were quite clean.

the only change i've made to the bike was adding LED passing lamps, and headlight. now i will admit, i managed to pinch one of the wires installing the passing lamps, which shorted out and blew the fuse for the lamps/dash/turn signals. i replaced the fuse (not knowing about the shorted wire yet) and when i hit my signal, the passing lamps, and taillight would blink... i've since fixed the pinched wire, but now have this fuel problem. could i have managed to fry something that would affect fuel?

any guidance would be greatly appreciated, as this is my daily driver (the wife is NOT happy about waking up at 4 am to take my to work) and i need it fixed ASAP. Thank you!

First thing is to see if a cylinder is not running.

With the bike cold, start the engine and monitor the exhaust pipes to see if one is not heating up as fast as the others. Careful they get to hot to touch pretty fast.

Check to see if you have spark at each plug.

There is a good chance that you have a plugged up fuel passage in one or more carbs from letting it sit. Give it a heavy dose of Seafoam to see if that will clean things up.

Today's gas doesn't last very long, in addition to the above good advice I would suggest draining the tank and replacing it with new gas and the Seafoam.

Tim

Skip the SeaFoam (Yeah I said That) go to Wally World grab a can of BerryMans and dump the whole thing in about 1/2 tank or even little less. This will slap that fuel system up side of the head if it is wanting to act out!!! If that don't help we can work from there. And do the spit test on the pipes when you get it fired up. Quickly and don't leave hide from fingers on the pipes!!!

i have emptied the tank, as i'm getting about 10-15 MPG, and poured plenty of seafoam. will check cylinders and spark tomorrow. thank you very much for the advice so far!

How old are the spark plugs?

I've had a mystery lately where my RSTD failed to restart once for a minute.

Then two weeks later after a ride and again a 20 minute stop, it started but sputtered for 20 miles till it seemed to then run fine.

(I've had experience with bad fuel pumps, this is not that.)

I changed the plugs, which were not were not that old and looked okay. But have not had similar issue since with many days riding.

Once you get this cleared up I think you will have to keep Seafoam (or similar) in it all the time if you regularly leave it parked for long spells. I assume you keep it on a battery tender, but if not, start doing that. I use a solar one on the roof of my carport.

It sounds like you are running on less than 4. If you can find out which are not firing test to see if you are getting spark. If so, you've got some carb work to do, and there are plenty of threads on here to recover without doing a full dismantle and carb job. If you are lucky - but figure out first things first.

Spark plugs were changed out this summer. Yeah I don’t like to let it sit, but being on the navy sometimes it’s gotta happen. Luckily I’m about to go to shore duty where I won’t be gone for months at a time. Thanks for the input. Definitely going to check for firing on less than 4 tomorrow.

The sound is also significantly different. MUCH more throaty.

Snag a crayon somwhere, maybe a restraunt that has kids meals. Then whenyou crank bike and it runs touch it to pipe. If it melts that cyl is firing, no mess no spark/fire.

ALL THIGS BEING EQUAL I'D STILL LOOK AT THE FUEL. When I sold lawn equipment, We would tell customers either empty the tank and run the crb dry or use a fuel stabilizer if the equipment runs less than once per week. I've seen summer blend fuel (regular gas) gel and cloud up in less than three weeks in a closed container. In an open container (your fuel tank assist vented) I've seen again in a open glass container the ethanol pull in as much as 1/4 the volume of the fuel as water

When did you last sync the carbs? Likely not the cause of your issues but certainly can't help to "tune" the carbs.

carbs were sync maybe early last year. i'll look in to that as well, thank you.

Way back in post 1 you said that you took the carbs off the bike, if so then they need to be synced.

Way back in post 1 you said that you took the carbs off the bike, if so then they need to be synced.

:sign yeah that::sign yeah that:

Ok got what might be a stupid question... looking in through the carb joints one cylinder has the valves open. The other three are shut. Is that normal or should they all be shut?

My vote would be with the majority....of carbs. Should be shut.

Sorry...I was thinking that the carb was open. If it is the valves it would depend on where the cam lobes would be. The cylinders fire in different order. If you turn the engine over without starting it you'd see different valves open.

If I'm misunderstanding...then I'll leave it to a knowledgeable person to respond.

Nevermind. Answered my own question. Thanks tho

Ok so here’s where I’m at...

Started it and felt the pipes... heated evenly.

took off off the carbs and cleaned them up some more. Reinstalled them, bike eventually evened out, sounded normal, felt normal. Took it for a test ride... started acting up.

Got home with it nice and warm... the back cylinders were lukewarm. Front were hotter than the dickens.

Changed spark plugs in back, now the back jugs are hot but it still sounds terrible.

Unfortunatly my homemade manometer needed new 1/4” tubing as the stuff I had from when I made it 2 years ago was too brittle. Bought new tubing... now the permatex is drying. One thing I forgot to mention, when I roll off the throttle, it doesn’t quickly go back to idle. It revs quite high for about 5 seconds before the engine SLOWLY returns to idle.

Waiting for permatex to dry to dry so I can sync carbs. won’t be able to get at it again until Saturday.

Sounds like sticky throttle. When you rev it can you manually close the throttle and have the RPM drop?

Ok so here’s where I’m at...

 

One thing I forgot to mention, when I roll off the throttle, it doesn’t quickly go back to idle. It revs quite high for about 5 seconds before the engine SLOWLY returns to idle.

 

Waiting for permatex to dry to dry so I can sync carbs. won’t be able to get at it again until Saturday.

Usually if it revs up then comes slowly down, doesn't that mean it's running to rich. Rev it again and hand turn the throttle down. If idle stays up like before it's usually to rich.

You got a carb vent plugged? Air cleaner plugged or not sitting in there properly?

Collapsed intake boot? (hard to believe this since they are lined with metal...?)

Got me...

any thoughts on possible issue in the electrical system?