It was nice out on saturday, so I rode to work. Took the long way so I could get some riding in. She started up fine sand ran perfectly the whole way. Stopped off at a few placesto take care of a few errands and then went to work. Went to run another errand 2 hours later, and again, started up fine, and ran flawlessly.

Left work about 6 hours later, started her up a usual with full choke, the let her warm up with about. 1/4 choke. Everything seemed fine. Once she wass warmed up I hopped on a headed home. Got a few feet and sh started to lose power, bogged down and finally died. I was able toget her to fire up with the choke on full, but eventually she would not fire up.

This has happened in the past, always in the evening, once the temp outside drops. This time we went from a daytime high 51 F to around 38 F by the time I left. I noticed a strong smell of gasoline when she finally died.

What is the problem? Is she running to rich? Should I try adjusting the pilot screws or just pull her apart and check the carbs?

 

check all 4 of your spark plugs next time this happens. one or all of them soaking wet? Would make sense with you smelling gasoline and might point toward stuck floats. Could also be, that your spark plugs are not firing right, causing a build up of gasoline in the cylinder, eventually fouling the plug.

I don't think 13 degrees is going to make a big difference, but colder air makes your bike run lean, which goes against you smelling gasoline.

 

It did rain a little before I left, I'll have to check that out next time.

I also forgot to mention that the next morning, she started up and ran fine.

 

If plugs get flooded, they can start up later when gasoline has evaporated. Try to refrain from letting the bike warm up too long with the choke on. And try to keep the RPMS while warming up no higher than 2k. It could be that you are just flooding your plugs with too much choke.

 

adding a little more.

If I had to make an educated guess, I would just say you are over choking. The other possible causes I mentioned before would have more consistent effects. Not just here and there, usually.

The fact too that you are mentioning the weather makes me think more about the choke as well. Usually you have to choke your bike more in the colder weather because of the extra lean air mixed with the colder slower flowing gasoline. This requires you to choke the bike, giving extra fuel. But often, people choke too much or to long. Always use as little choke as possible. Let me know if this helps.

 

Thanks for the help!!

I just fired her up, full choke to start and then no choke. Let her warm upand then went for a spin. No issues, ran perfect. I going to try to recreate the problem later with over choking it.

 

Another thing - your scenario described exactly how my bike ran one day when I forgot to turn my fuel petcock on. Started up, warmed up, ran a quarter mile up the road, losing power all the way until it died and I rolled to a stop.

Possible your petcock isn't working well in the colder temps? Time for a rebuild?

 

This may be the issue but if there was a strong smell of gasoline then its more likely flooded rather than starved.

Also, I don't recommend purposely over choking to recreate the problem unless you want to buy new spark plugs. They will eventually foul. I suppose if that does happen you could take some sand paper to them between the gap. *shrug*

 

Well, I have not had any problems the last two days. Starts up and runs great. We'll see what happens next time I ride to work.

If it ever stops raining....

 

Good, hope it stays that way. Us doing something wrong to our bikes is always the easiest and cheapest thing to fix haha.

Oh another thing, it sounds like you are just starting it up to test it, but not riding. If so, that is another no no. The bike needs to be ridden to recharge the battery properly. Just starting up and idling is hell on your battery. If you have a trickle charger, I suggest putting your battery on it for the time being till you have the chance to ride again.