Hey there everyone, I went out for a pretty long Labor Day ride a few days ago on my old 88 Hurricane 1000 (17k miles) and she was performing nicely, until around the end of the ride when she started getting rough when taking off from red lights. I have to give her a bit more gas, anything under 3k RPM is pretty rough now but anything after 3 grand is smooth as it ever was. It was sudden, one red light things were normal then a few miles later this problem started. The idle is also a bit dodgy, she sits nicely at 1,100RPM but seems like she wants to stumble a bit ever since this issue occurred. I can still ride the bike, which is lucky since i'm going to have to get her to my garage, but i don't feel comfortable going too far because i don't feel like stalling at a light. I actually stalled her coming out of my storage unit today. Shes been used pretty much daily since ive owned her, but this bike has had a few previous owners, the most recent of which only had the bike about a year, he didnt do anything but change the oil i believe. I've only owned the bike for about 3 months and she's been behaving her self, i feel like i am going to need to give the carbs a good cleaning, check the spark plugs, and air filter just as good general maintenance, seeing as i've only done an oil change. Does anyone have experience with a problem like this? Ive never cleaned carbs on a motorcycle before, Any advice on cleaning the carbs?

 

G'day Jc, firstly welcome to the forum, secondly don't worry about old grumble bum, as far as rough idle is concerned you could try some carb cleaner, seafoam seems to work wonders.
There are many different types avail but if in the US seafoam would be your best bet.
Also, seeing as the bike is newish to you a service would be give you a good peace of mind.

 

Definately clean your carbs. After the first or possibly second go at it, it's an easy job on these bikes. Also do yourself a favour, check out the manuals provided here on the forum and check your coils to make sure they test withing range. Don't only test them when the bike is cold, as when they start to die, they will be symptomatic when warmed up. If these two things don't cure it, might be time to check valve clearances. All these procedures can be found here on the forum. I didn't work on a bike before I bought my 88. It was a non- runner and if not for this forum and it's info and people I likely would have sold it.... as a non-runner. I now have an awesome bike that I love, and know inside and out. Mine wasn't a single problem, it was a combination.

 

Probably tank rust making it's way down to the idle jets.
When you do clean them put an inline or replace the existing
filter. Check the tank for rust and seal if necessary or this will
be a regular occurrence.

When storing a bike for any duration keep the tank full to the top
with fuel conditioner in it to avoid rust.

 

Good advice from Richard right here and illustrates what this forum is all about IMO, sharing knowledge, experience and giving people the confidence to have a go themselves.

Need any advice or help don't hesitate to ask, and welcome to the forum BTW

 

I've found that the iddle is almost impossible to set in without properly synced carbs. Not a big job but requires a sync tool. Where are you located?

 

Remove.clean.replace.sync.

 

I know exactly how you feel. Two questions, you say long ride, did you re-fuel before the problem? Did it get warmer out when the problem started?

I have had the exact same problem, sounds sooooo familiar. When leaving a light, it acts like a loaded up 2-stroke (ba, ba, ba, ba VROOOOOOM) until 3,000 rpm and then runs as smooth as a baby's back side and pulls hard to red line. Random sudden stalling at low rpm. Stumbling and falling on its face in the middle of an intersection then slipping of the clutch at 3,500 rpm to get out of traffic 's way. If you did re-fuel, you got bad gas. The ethanol separated or the ethanol percentage is more than 10%. The problem gets worst as it gets hotter out.

The solution,
1- Ride until all the bad fuel is gone and find a different pump.
2- Drain the bad fuel out and find a different pump.

You can't fix it with fuel additives because, you just can't, trust me.

My final fix was to up the jets 2 notches and doing the stick coil mod to get a hotter spark to light off the ethanol.

To me it sounds like bad gas. Its sounds so, so, sooooooo familiar.

Welcome to the forum.

 

I had that stumble for the longest time on my '87. 'Bear's coil-mod has completely eliminated the problem

Follow all previous suggestions prior to doing this mod.

good luck to ya'