It's been a while since I've been here - this is my last stop before selling my bike if I cannot get it back in shape. Here are the details - please help!

My 1987 Hurricane 1000 has not run right in about a year. It was running perfect as always but I had to put it in storage for 6 weeks. When she came out, she didn't run very good. So I brought it to a mechanic a friend recommended who had it for about 7 months. He said humidity caused the rings to get sticky and so there was low compression in 3 cylinders. He put some special oil to loosen it up through the plug holes and also cleaned the carbs. When I got it back it ran terrible. I didn't want to deal with the same guy so I brought it to my old mechanic who got it running better, but not great. Well now the bike doesn't have as much power as before (especially at high rpms) and after about 20 minutes riding the engine dies. With about 10 minutes sitting, it will restart and run another 10 minutes before dying again. It's not over-heating. The mechanic says he thinks it is an electrical problem - his guess is the computer.

Any thoughts would be great. If not, the bike is for sale. By the way the bike has about 22.5k miles on it.

Mike

 

My experience is the opposite. My bike runs fine with a bad battery- it just doesn't start fine. The dying after 10 minutes and then starting again later seems to me to be a fuel delivery problem. I'd check for a pinched vacuum tube. Also, when it dies on you, try opening your gas cap and see if it'll start back up right away.

 

Could be a fuel delivery issue as Paco suggests.
For my money, your regulator rectifier is dodgy, and the battery's failing.
Check the current between + and - on the battery above 3000RPM - should be above 13.5 volts. (Std reg/rectifiers don't charge below that)
Put a compression tester on your cylinders - should all read about the same.............
Run some Seafoam through the carbs via the petrol - will help to clean out any impurities.
It's something simple - don't sell the baby..............

 

Thanks for the thoughts so far. Here is some additional info:

- the battery is new
- the plugs are new
- compression is good in all four
- carbs were recently cleaned

My thought was that it has a fuel problem. It is very difficult to get started - I usually have to lay on the starter for a while and charge the battery once before it gets going. It used to just fire right up on the first crank, even sitting for months.

I don't know if this is related, but a couple years ago the fuel pump died and I just bypassed it. The bike ran fine with out it. I don't think this is an issue, but thought I'd throw it out there.

 

What colour are the plugs? They shoud be beige. If they are black it's running rich and if they are white it's lean. Do you know if any of the mechanics touched the carbs?

 

Does the bike die all of a sudden, or does it feel like it's running out of gas and take 15 or 20 seconds to die. If it's the latter, I'd still say you've got a gas tank venting problem. Again, if it's the latter, and I wouldn't normally recommend this, but I'd open the gas cap slightly and drive around and see if it still dies. This would prevent a vacuum from building up in the tank which could inhibit fuel flow. It's like pouring gas out of gas cans, which normally have vents in them. Close the vent in a gas can, and the fuel won't flow freely- like glup glup glup. Open the vent and voila, free flowing gas.

 

Could it be, after sitting that something found its way into the fuel lines, or chewed a hole somewhere ? I wonder if the first mechanic didn't mess with the cam timing ? If it's out by one tooth..............
There are so many things that it could be, from dodgy earth wires to wrongly fitted carb boots (wrong way round ) it's really hard to tell from a distance. Sorry I can't be more helpful...................

 

Any one know if the carbs off an 88 will fit my 87? I found some on ebay...

 

Mike:

I swapped 88 carbs to my 87 last year. Just be careful you are not buying someone else's problem. May be gummed up also.

Once I put them on, still had to spend $$$ to get them balanced.

If you are sure it is the carbs, I would spend the time and rebuild the new set before you go to the hassle.

Also, check the rubber intake boots around the carbs. Mine went bad and I was sucking air bad.

Last but not least. I had reversed the plug wire order after changing the plugs. Was ready to throw bike away. Until someone on the forum set me straight.

Hope this helps...don't give up!

Tom