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Big bump... then running like crap... what to check?

2K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Ironman 
#1 ·
Had decent weather and the kid was at grandmas so my wife and I took a ride tonight.

Crossed some tracks that apparently were rougher than I'd thought and got a pretty nasty jolt. Almost immediately the bike started running like **** and topped out at 55. One thing that strikes me as a potential clue is that the tach stopped working too (It has momentarily quit working before... so it MIGHT be in the gauge). I think the bike's only running on one cylinder, but I really couldn't tell - it's definitely not running how it should be.

Limped the bike home (that was a long 15 miles) and will take a closer look tomorrow in the daylight and figured I better post here and see if I could get some hints on what to look for.

Curtis
 
#2 ·
Sounds to me like you jarred an electrical connection loose. I suggest taking off the side covers and making sure all the connectors are seated. Maybe with the bike idling, jiggle all the wires. Hopefully it will be obvious or easy to find. Also possibly a ground connection or corroded wire near the battery. Good luck!
 
#3 ·
Check in the headlight housing too. If the front hit hard, the wiring/ connections mounted to the forks might have taken a harder hit than the frame. Riding at night on I-5, I hit a road hazard so hard that it jolted my left hand off the grip. Woke me up.

DT
 
#4 ·
If I remember correctly, the tach works off one of the coils. Possibly could've knocked a wire off the coil which could account for no working tach and running on one cylinder.
Just a guess.
 
#5 ·
Not a loose battery post.

Both wires on both coils are tight.

Ignitor, stator, battery, r/r wires all appear to be tight.

Had to quit for a while or I'll start breaking things ;-)
 
#6 ·
Do you still think it's hitting on one cylinder, or just running like crud? I'd second Scoop on checking all your ground connections; also check your spark plugs and wires; and look for a vacuum leak (a jolt like that could've loosened an airbox, boot, etc.).
Good luck!
 
#7 ·
Got er running finally (both cylinders... though not smoothly).

Loosened both an electrical connection (one I thought I'd allready checked but checked again) and a carb boot (will fix that tomorrow).

Might have busted an oil line, but I wont know till I get a chance to take a better look in the daylight tomorrow.
 
#9 ·
Forgot to update the thread...

She's running how she should be now - the bump had both loosened a wire and knocked the air boot for the rear carb a bit loose (that was FUN to get back on "kinda right").

Kinda thinking about an ear shave since I broke a piece of plastic inside one of the ears (pulled the right hand side one off to re-route something while I was in there.. broke one of the nubs that holds the bolt that holds the foam piece on...) and I've been wanting to pull the carbs to clean em anyways... after farking with getting the air boot back on... I don't wanna even try doing both at once...
 
#10 ·
I had to mess with that boot once too. When they replaced my stator, they didn't route the throttle cables correctly and one was rubbing on the spark plug boot. Rerouting involved pulling the boot off and moving the cables to the other side. I dinked around a long time trying to get that bugger back on. Finally found a way that made it go on easy. Of course, I have no idea now, how I did it. :doh:
 
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