[hyperbuzzin]

Well, this seems to be an engine problem.
A couple of times now, when my '99 750 is just getting goin' (warmed up till unchoked), it seems to stall to a stop. When I get it fired back up, it seems to be only running on one cylinder.
After a minute or two of runnin' like that, it seems to run fine for the rest of the ride.

I'm gonna check the electrics to see if there's a short somewhere this week.
But for some reason, I don't think that's the problem.

Any ideas ?

Thanx for any help.

Tim

 

[Red Baron]

Could be a number of things.

Last time my engine was running rough, I had a fouled plug. I changed the plugs, also ran the tank down to 1/4 tank, put in a can of Seafoam and ran it till it hit reserver.. Gased her up, and she ran great from that point on.

Also check for a low battery charge, and any reason for that (e.g. low water, bad connections, bad grounds, etc) The battery may be draining when sitting for a number of reasons, and when you start and run the bike a bit it may be charging up enough to resolve the problem, till the next time.

RB

Well, this seems to be an engine problem.
A couple of times now, when my '99 750 is just getting goin' (warmed up till unchoked), it seems to stall to a stop. When I get it fired back up, it seems to be only running on one cylinder.
After a minute or two of runnin' like that, it seems to run fine for the rest of the ride.

I'm gonna check the electrics to see if there's a short somewhere this week.
But for some reason, I don't think that's the problem.

Any ideas ?

Thanx for any help.

Tim

 

[hyperbuzzin]

Also check for a low battery charge,

RB

That could've been the problem.
With the slightly chilly weather here (western PA) this time of year, it did take a bit of turnin' over to start.
I'd changed the plugs about 7 or so months ago when it was runnin' a little rough.
Clean the gas tank .... Didn't really think of doin' that. I have my KLX down for upgrades. Maybe I should do some to the Vulcan too.

Thanx Red.

 

[jnovember]

Do you have an MF battery? I had the same symptoms and it was fixed by a new MF battery.

 

[SlaterVN750]

My 86 was doing the exact same thing, but mine would backfire out the exhaust till it warmed up. It turns out that I had a broken gas line and vaccum hose on the front cylinder carb. I fixed those sunday and now both cylinders are working fine. Just another idea.

 

[Vulcano750]

I had that problem a few months ago on my '86. Eventually the rear cylinder stopped firing completely. It turns out one of the two channels on my CDI had gone out. $450+ for that part...

Here's hoping your issue is much less troublesome and costly.

The Clymer's manual for our bikes has a pretty helpful troubleshooting section for this problem. Good luck to ya.

 

[86_Dave]

I am having a similar problem as well, any advice would be appreciated.

I recently swapped out the stock exhaust for vance & hines pipes on my '87 vulcan. I never noticed it before because the stock exhaust is so quiet, but it seems when the bike is idling in neutral, the front cylinder is firing more than the rear cylinder. If I rev the engine higher than 4,000 rpms or take the bike out of neutral and start moving, both cylinders begin to fire at around the same rate.

Any ideas on what may be causing this? Is this normal behavior? I am going to pick up some Sea Foam and see if my carbs are possibly clogged or something, I was just wondering if anyone else had any ideas.

 

[Wall]

On a group ride from New Orleans back in February, one of the VN 750 bikes in the group started to run with only one cylinder firing. It turned out that a spark plug cable was shorting out on the side of the engine. After wrapping the bad cable with electrical tape the problem was solved - at least for the rest of the ride. You might try checking the condition of all your spark plug cables.

 

[86_Dave]

Thanks for the response Wally, I will check the plugs/carbs and post an update sometime this weekend

 

[dionon24]

new member here having or i should say had same prob. replaced ignitor,kawi dealer said was bad, replaced coils cause i could, still same prob. ultimately found that the front pick-up coil was bad. removed outer alt cover and yes i cheated but work great, did not remove inner alt cover. reason for not removing inner cover, did not want to remove engine. installed new pick ups
and cut original harness inside case spliced in new pickup harness of course using solder, put some sealer on wire jacket near splice and covered sealer and all with heat shrink. i know some out there would scoff at my repair but works great and didnt have to remove engine. I JUST WANNA RIDE!!!!

 

[hyperbuzzin]

The way I see it, as long as you got the problem fixed, and you are happy with the results, who cares how ya did it!!!

Just to update my single cylinder issue from 4 years ago, seem like once I went to a maintenance free battery, the trouble went away!! :smiley_th

 

[fergy]

Hey Tim, mine did that a couple months ago and it would rev fine but idle only on one cyl and die. I pulled out and ran it at higher rpms about a mile and then pulled over and pulled my seafoam out of the saddlebag and added some to the gas, ran the bike a couple more miles and it hasn't done it since. I'm thinking that the cold weather had gotten some condensation in the carb and maybe my idle circuit had gotten a little varnished and the seafoam washed it out. It's been running fine every since.
We had several days of 20's and 30's wet cold where I didn't ride for about 2 weeks and the bike sat. I think that's all it was...

 

[99vulcan750]

i was having the same 1 cylinder trouble last November when I put the bike away. just bought a mf battery.. will give it a try and see how she runs this season.

 

[OlHossCanada]

new member here having or i should say had same prob. replaced ignitor,kawi dealer said was bad, replaced coils cause i could, still same prob. ultimately found that the front pick-up coil was bad. removed outer alt cover and yes i cheated but work great, did not remove inner alt cover. reason for not removing inner cover, did not want to remove engine. installed new pick ups
and cut original harness inside case spliced in new pickup harness of course using solder, put some sealer on wire jacket near splice and covered sealer and all with heat shrink. i know some out there would scoff at my repair but works great and didnt have to remove engine. I JUST WANNA RIDE!!!!

I hope you kept the old parts, that you replaced on the bike. Could be that they are still good. :smiley_th Maybe try putting them back on bike to test them now, when you know everything else is working right. It would be nice to have a spare igniter and coils on the shelf.

By the way dionon, I see this is your first post, buried way down at the bottom of a four year old thread!! Welcome to the Vulcan madness. Go up to the Newbie checkin and introduce your self to the forum members, tell us a bit about yourself and your ride. Enjoy the forum and the bike.

 

[fergy]

I didn't pay attention to the date! Good grief!