OK, long story short, my bike sat for a year and a half or so in the garage. I put in a new battery last week take it out for a spin with the old gas still in the tank and it ran fine. Stopped at the gas station, filled up. added a little stp fuel treatment, thanked my lucky stars the bike still ran well, took it home and parked it.
Tonight, 1 mile into my ride, the bike starts to idle low at about a 1000, and starts to bog out at around 2000 rpms. Thinking that its the fuel, I siphon most of it out, refill with 92 and go out again. It runs the same, and as I start to head home it starts to run rougher and rougher and finally, as I get into my garage, it sounds like a speed triple or a single, with a strong unburnt gas exhaust smell. Needless to say I am bummed [X(]

My questions to you gurus is this: What should I check out first? I don't have a bunch of money throw at the problem, so I would like to do this as methodically as possible. I plan on keeping this bike for as long as I can, so I plan on doing everything on my own...the dealer service center is going to be my last resort.

I am planning on unplugging my PCIII first, checking plugs second, timing third, fourth....I don't know. I am thinking it is ignition in nature since I am smelling the unburnt gas.

Finally, Hawaii recently switched to a 10% ethanol blend. Could that be something? I hope to god the plugs are just big timed fouled, but I am bracing myself for the worst.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Kent


Oooops forgot to mention its an 02 F4i

 

I'm not an expert, but I would dump all the gas, replace the plus and dump the fuel from the bowls.
Also check that the fuel pump is work correctly
Change the oil and filter
Check that the battery is charging properly and the voltage readings are good

 

Thanks for the advice Mark. Is it ok to assume that since I smell gas the pump is OK? Or will a bad pump still cause that symptom?

In doing searches on this subject, my hope that it is the plugs seem to be possible.


Kent

 

i would start on your ignition system if your not burning gas your most likely not getting spark to a cylinder. after that i would turn to the fuel pump i deffinetly would rule it out i had a car that did the same thing minus the gas smell with a bad fuel pump. when you hit the throttle does it bog down and then when you release it does it run a better?

 

Also Check the air filter

 

yo...i would switch out the fuel filter...it's inside the tank so you'll need to remove it....and get new washers for the fuel lines too.

 

Thanks Guys,

I an gonna check the plugs and change oil tomorrow. If that doesn't help, Ill check out the fuel delivery, and if that doesn't turn anything up, Ill assume the problem is ignition/timing. Ill post what I find tomorrow.

Thanks for all the info, and have a safe 4th guys.

 

You should have emptied the tank and sprayed the inside with aerosol oil to protect from rust at the time you decided to store it for this long. What could have happened is that you had rust in the tank and it went to the engine. [&:]

 

I had some fears about the rusty tank, but the inside is as shiny as it was when I first got it upon inspection today- so for now I will rule out a clogged filter.

I did pull the plugs today. I must say that while it didn't take too long, changing over my AOD to a T-5 in my 92 Mustang was a hell of a lot easier. #1 and #4 seemed not too bad, with the ceramic a light brown. #2 and #3 were black as heck, with #3 still wearing a coat of gas from last Friday's bogfest and fouled pretty badly. Hopefully it was fouled just because of bad gas/slow driving/stop and go traffic and not an indicator of a bigger problem. I would hate to drop in new plugs and foul them up all again. They look carbon fouled to me. Also, there was a little oil coating the threads of the plugs as well as a thin ring around coil end closest to the plugs...I wonder if the plugs were too loose from the dealer? Or is that normal for a bike.




I need to purchase some plugs online since I will get bent over backwards out here in Hawaii for the things. Anyone know of a reasonable online vendor? I am dreading reinstalling the new plugs. With the lack of clearance around and above, I have no idea how I am going to seat the threads in properly before screwing them in- not to mention torquing them down to specs...hopefully just tight enough will be ok. Any advice anyone?

Kento

 

Did your FI light ever come on? I bought my 01 f4i in early May and the afternoon I went to pick it up the guy called me and said it was running rough and FI light was on and it was dumping fuel in the exhaust. He then told me how he used some gas that had been sitting up all winter. So he took it to Honda to have old gas flushed out and oil changed.
After the flush Honda decided it needed injectors and plugs. Still the same after that. So they also replaced the fuel filter and throttle body assembly because the thought the TP sensor was bad. Finally it runs great. While I'm not sure exactly what the problem was because Honda just kept throwing parts at it until everything was new (and took 6 weeks to do it) you may want to check some of these things. Good luck.