Online: John.R

To overheat or Not overheat

  • red_101au
    red_101au
    7 years ago

    Ok my fellow enthusiasts

    I have yet another puzzler....

    I decided to go for a bit of a ride yesterday,

    so I jumped on the bike and headed the 230kms to Adelaide

    the bike ran like a dream and used all of about $5 fuel.... sweet as

    However coming home tonight, I was cruising along sweet as and was about 3kms from home (already travelled about 225ks) when she decided to just die

    the engine seemed to still be ticking over but lacked any and all power to the throttle and as soon as I pulled off onto the shoulder the engine died.

    I sat there for a minute scratching my head, checking fuel levels and sparkplug leads etc....

    then decided to start her and try again.

    I managed to ride for about 200 mtrs and she would burble to a stall again

    again checking everything, nothing obvious.... I switched her to reserve just to be sure and started her and rode for another 200 mtrs and she died again.

    no obvious causes for her to die..... swtched the ignition from lights to the on position thinking maybe a short in the igniton was causing an electrical break then started her and decided to just sit with her idling to see what happend,

    she seemed to idel fine and didnt stall so I dropped her into gear again and again got about 200 mtrs when she died again....

    the only thing that seemed a little out of the ordinary was.... she seemed to be putting off a fair bit of heat.... round the clutch area of the primary cover

    So I am wondering if this may have been an overheating issue???

    and if so.... why would she be overheating?

    is it possibly the gearbox got too hot... is there like a safety cut out or something?

    hope to hear from others who may have experienced this or know what it is

     

    Red

  • red_101au
    red_101au
    7 years ago

    good suggestions.... it had been sitting for awhile and who knows what crap you will find in the petrol these days

     

    thx Hilly...   will look into those

     

    Red

  • Kevin1959
    Kevin1959
    7 years ago
    Blocked fuel tank breather? After running for 200 klm, fuel is drawn down and vacuum is created in the tank that stops fuel flow. After stopping (did you open the tank cap) vacuum goes and fuel flows again.......for about 200 klm. Just a thought.
  • speedzter
    speedzter
    7 years ago
    One thing stands out, $5 of fuel to do 230kms ?

    Is it a manual fuel tap ? ( no vacuum )
    Pull the hose and check for fuel flow
  • speedzter
    speedzter
    7 years ago
    What i was getting at is with that fuel economy, it may be running really lean, and as you thought running hot.
    $8/230kms at about $1.15/litre = 3L/100km
    Most big twins would be around double that ?
  • DocGreen
    DocGreen
    7 years ago
    Hey red 101au, when the bike restarted for you, did the engine rev at all? May have a broken throttle cable? or some crap in your carby.
    A similar thing happened to my mates 93 Softail recently, the bike would cut out as soon as he got on it and progressively became worse. We were about 1500km's from home at the time so started checking the obvious like yourself (not the cable :) ) we eventually traced it to a broken wire on one of the lugs on the bottom of the ignition switch - thing that pissed us off the most was that we couldn't see this until we physically unscrewed the switch from the dash and lifted it up as the wire was still sitting inside the lug on the terminal, just broken. His bike always had a random miss that could we never find, after this he was waiting for us on most stretches of the ride - never missed a beat.
    Are you sure your overheating isn't just from possibly slipping the clutch trying to get the bike going I it's losing power?

    good luck

    DocGreen
  • brucefxdl
    brucefxdl
    7 years ago
    hey red,this is a long shot,are you sure the tank has pressure that your relieving and not vacumm.if its vacumm and you have a venting cap it may be restricted and causing the fuel flow to reduce and dieing in the short run you are getting. if i'm off the mark sorry but just trying to help.cheers
  • brucefxdl
    brucefxdl
    7 years ago
    your with it red,yes vucumm noise rather than pressure escaping. can you borrow another cap and ride for a bit and see what happens,just a thought .
  • red_101au
    red_101au
    7 years ago

    you really got me thinking here Bruce

    So I went out and grabbed the cap to check it out

    I am thinking it is in fact an inlet valve not exit... ie: sucks air in not lets pressure out.

    so I have been surfing around and discovered there is supposed to be a pressure release / overflow / vent hose on the tank

    so went out and looked at the tank again and find there is a second little pipe coming out under the right tank just near the crossover hose outlet.

    this one has been cut off and plugged up

    so I am thinking it maybe the pressure release (breather hose) and as such it is creating a pressure build up in the tank that cannot escape through the cap.

    inside where the cap screws in I see there is an overflow/breather pipe... I will have to find a bit of hose and connect it to that and blow through it to see if the other pipe below the tank is in fact the breather..

    I am guessing it is.... but I am not sure where that particular pipe is supposed to goto from the tank...

    does it recycle into the carbie or somewhere or does it simply dangle under the bike onto the road??

    Red

  • red_101au
    red_101au
    7 years ago
    G'day perthhog
    thanks for the input....
    I went ahead and unblocked the vent pipe and ran a wire through it just to determine if it was infact the pipe inside the right fuel filler.... and it is..
    so I established this is then a vent pipe and yes my research does suggest this is supposed to connect to the canister on the emission control versions...
    which mine is not fitted...
    but after taking the bike for a ride today in our searing 40 degree temperature... I found there was no hissing from the filler cap at all...
    and also no stalling or starving of fuel.....so I am assuming this has at least helped...
    I did however notice while riding a strong smell of fuel, I assume escaping from that pipe....
    But I think if I run a hose from it and dangle it between the engine and gearbox... that should remove the odours...
    I also noticed it now seems to be running a little richer.... so I will probably have to tweak the carbie again and get it just right.... again lol

    from what I have noticed from todays ride.... she seems to be running exceptionally well and no stalls or spluttering at all... and no hissing after the ride.

    will keep everyone informed of any other developments if they arise

    Red

  • brucefxdl
    brucefxdl
    7 years ago
    gday red,our 07 fxdl has a little pipe that runs down some where and if you overfill the tank a bit of fuel runs out on the ground from underneath after you screw the cap back on,not much just a bit and you can smell the fuel fumes but it doesnt last long.wonder if this the same pipe you have?good to hear yours is running better/ longer at this stage.cheers.
  • red_101au
    red_101au
    7 years ago
    Update:

    I have now cleared the vent pipe located under the right tank
    I have attached a vacuum hose to it and ran it down the frame and under the bike...
    no fuel has leaked out and should never leak out unless the tank has been overfilled or if pressure builds up and forces it,
    which it shouldnt be able to do as it is now venting well
    the idea of the hose is to direct any fumes away from me and disperse them under the bike...
    and also just in case there ever is an overfill situation, then it will be directed away from the hot headers below the pipe.

    Red
  • red_101au
    red_101au
    7 years ago


    The top pic shows the pipe inside the filler

    the next pic shows where it exits under the tank next to the main fuel line crossover

    this is the vent pipe that was blocked off and causing it to not vent properly

    since opening this pipe it means the fumes and excess pressure can freely escape while the valve in the cap allows air to enter the tank and replace the empty space left from the fuel being used

    as you can see... it is located above the header and below the tank...

    so I have run a vacuum hose from it to direct it off to the side and down under the bike

    hope this clarifies things a little

     

    Red

     

    ok... for some reason to bottom pic has been posted on it's side..... sorry

  • perthhog
    perthhog
    7 years ago
    Yer mate bit of confusion going on lol the vent pipe I was referring to is a different spot on the later tanks 96 up I think is in the right inner behind the top cross over pipe
    when I seen the first pic I thought that's a early tank than seen the bottom pic and haven't seen that there before even when I was running earlier tanks but thay where 90s
    So maybe your s being 88/ 89 might be slightly different again
  • brucefxdl
    brucefxdl
    7 years ago
    with you perthog,was fairly sure the tanks were different but with a similar breather principle not nessarcarily the same in construction.