Problems with the wee Spada

[Brayden]

First time ever happened, on the motor way heading to my defensive driving practical, and the bike feels like it's going to run out of petrol at around 8k revs. Put onto reserve tank, however the same struggling feeling like its out of petrol remains.

Make it to the petrol station, top up the tank. Leave the station and the same thing happens at 7/8k revs, the bike revs fine till then but as soon as i hit 7/8k it struggles and feels like its going to run out of petrol. Note it will go past 8k to about 9 or sometimes 10, but struggles to do so (Need full throttle for 10 seconds) When I'm in neutral the bike seems to rev past 8/9 with no problems..

This happened out of nowhere, was running fine yesterday, then this morning it just started to happen when I got onto the motorway.

Anyone got ideas to what this could be..? Haven't tried much so far, draining the carbs didn't work. Topped up the tank etc, no change. Andrew who I did my defensive driving with thought it might be the spark plug leads or a fuel tank blockage? Trouble is I'm mechanically retarded so don't know how to check either of these.

Anyone had a similar issue with a Spada or offer advice ? Cheers

p.s. On a positive note I got my defensive driving certificate, 600cc in April :rockon:

[FJRider]

Try on the motorway with a tail wind ... or downhill ...

[onearmedbandit]

Had pretty much the same problem with my spada back in the day, as have many owners. Most if not all seem to involved fuel starvation, mine was rectified by disassembling the petcock, cleaning it out, and refitting. Took about an hour in total. I had previously checked all the fuel lines and vent, numerous times but to no avail.

[Brayden]

Had pretty much the same problem with my spada back in the day, as have many owners. Most if not all seem to involved fuel starvation, mine was rectified by disassembling the petcock, cleaning it out, and refitting. Took about an hour in total. I had previously checked all the fuel lines and vent, numerous times but to no avail.

Wow fast reply cheers man! Petrol cock huh, are they easy to change / reassemble? I'll have to have another hunt around for my VT250 Manual..

[oneofsix]

I too thought electrics. Ok, it was a cage but had a similar thing in a car I once owned, turned out to be a loose lead except I think it was one of the little low tension leads not one of the thick high tension ones. Spade terminal had come a bit loose. Bitch to fault find cause you had to be under load, driving, to trigger it so can't be hanging over the bonnet at 100k. Took the mechanic a day to find (ouch).
Go around and check all the leads you can find. Try running it in a dark place, you might spot some sparking or tracking.
I do hope someone with more mechanical knowledge can help. Good luck.

[onearmedbandit]

BTW, it's not a hard job. Remove tank, drain fuel, turn tank upside down on a soft surface (no need to scratch that paint), remove petcock (the bit that you use to go from the main to reserve tank), disassemble (noting the position of everything), clean the mesh gently, check for any blockages, reassemble, put it back on the tank, tank back on bike, connect fuel line, refill tank and ride.

If you haven't done so check that the fuel line isn't crimped anywhere.

[Brayden]

Ok cool will try cleaning the petrol cock when I have some free time on Saturday. Kind of strange how it happened overnight though?

Cheers for the replies mate and what was the missus like when she saw your motorbike in your bed LOL

[MSTRS]

Kind of strange how it happened overnight though?



That's quite normal for just about anything...
I dunno about the cause, but I agree with the diagnosis of fuel starvation. You see, it freely revs when it's not under load.
Mind you, a coil on the fritz can cause the same symptom...

[vifferman]

Does the Spada have a fueltank breather pipe? Reason I ask is the FahrtSturm (its big brother?) has a similar problem if the breather is pinched or kinked, or even if the end of the breather pipe gets road spooge in it.

[ducatilover]

Clean petcock.
Clean yank breather.
Tighten intake rubbers.
Check the airbox is sealed and air filter sitting correctly.
Check to see if the carb slides move evenly and drop at an even speed.
Check plugs.
Check the connections to the coils.
Check for exhaust leaks.


I had problems like that when my airbox decided to leak and the petcock is known to give issues. Don't buy one from Honda, it has to come from Jap land. Buy a VTR250, CBR250RR or VFR400R item and fit it up there. Otherwise you're in the territory of $380

[Brayden]

Oh shit the crank case breather.. Gunna unplug this baby probably a lot of built up shit in there, will post back with results

edit: the fuck do i just yank the plug out?

[Sable]

Clean the carb while you're at it :sunny:

[Brayden]

Cleared the crank case pipe, goddamn there was some seriously messed up orange shit that came out along with some water/whatever the hell goes in there.

No luck though will try the petrol cock on Saturday, hopefully will yield some results as planning on riding to Taranaki on boxing day..

By the way ducatilover what and where is bunnythorpe haha

[curly]

By the way ducatilover what and where is bunnythorpe haha
:facepalm: not again

[ducatilover]

By the way ducatilover what and where is bunnythorpe haha It's a thriving metropolis like none other.


:facepalm: not again :pinch:



Bring the Spada up here, I'll sort it out for you.

[Brayden]

Like none other huh, maybe we can open tourist resort there!

Little update on the bike Today it has been bogging down lower down the rev range since it first started at 9, was at 5-6 today. On the way to my night shift holding down the throttle all the way in 2nd travelling 60/70ish k's it suddenly revd all the way up to 13k with no issues, ran fine all the way to work. Didn't hear any loud bang from the exhaust or anything, maybe some built up shit in a pipe somewhere finally came loose?

On a related note, I forgot to mention that about a week ago my speedo rev counter only was half working, only lighting up half the revs. I also noticed after my revs started to work that the speedo was now fully lit? Maybe this could have something to do with electrical or something..? Will be cleaning the petrol cock on Friday regardless.

Cheers for the replies!

[MSTRS]

Stranger things have happened at sea, but...
A lighting issue is VERY unlikely to have anything to do with a failure to rev freely. The 2 functions (lights/spark) are on unrelated circuits.
Holding the throttle wide open, and the engine suddenly responding as it should, suggests that the vacuum effect of an open throttle has finally sucked a hose blockage clear. Or dragged a drop of water through one of the main jets. Perhaps you will never know...

[Paul in NZ]

Stranger things have happened at sea, but...
A lighting issue is VERY unlikely to have anything to do with a failure to rev freely. The 2 functions (lights/spark) are on unrelated circuits.
Holding the throttle wide open, and the engine suddenly responding as it should, suggests that the vacuum effect of an open throttle has finally sucked a hose blockage clear. Or dragged a drop of water through one of the main jets. Perhaps you will never know...


Yes and no - a dodgy earth return path can affect the ignition module which is where the tach will pick up its signal from. Lighting to the instruments is wierd though.

If you are about over xmas yo are welcome to stutter up to Kapiti and we can take a squizz.....

[MSTRS]

Yes and no - a dodgy earth return path can affect the ignition module which is where the tach will pick up its signal from. Lighting to the instruments is wierd though.



He wasn't clear, but I understood him to mean the dials didn't light up properly. If the tach needle was reading less than actual revs, I'd agree with you. Speedo is hub/cable driven on Spadas.

[Paul in NZ]

He wasn't clear, but I understood him to mean the dials didn't light up properly. If the tach needle was reading less than actual revs, I'd agree with you. Speedo is hub/cable driven on Spadas.

Ah - I wonder if there is a loose connector some place?

[Brayden]

Yes and no - a dodgy earth return path can affect the ignition module which is where the tach will pick up its signal from. Lighting to the instruments is wierd though.

If you are about over xmas yo are welcome to stutter up to Kapiti and we can take a squizz.....

Cheers mate, everything working as it should now, but if it happens again I'd definitely take you up on that offer!

Yeah lighting on the bike is kind of strange I think somethin is a built faulty. My Speedo light has not been working for the past few months as well, makes it hard to keep to the speed limit sometimes as I have to guess me speed :sweatdrop

[ducatilover]

Clean the petcock, clean the filter (it's on the petcock, in the arse of the tank)
Clean the carbs and clean/replace the vac line to your petcock (lots of cock being mentioned here...)

Hopefully it was a petcock isuue and is resolved, they're troublesome piles of shit those petcocks.


Cock.

[MSTRS]

Spadas are typical of those bikes with a shell-backed headlight. There is a spaghetti of wiring and connectors in there, and shorts/bad connections are common.
The other thing they have is a bright little bulb at the bottom of the speedo face which lights up when the road speed exceeds 90kph.

[ducatilover]

thing they have is a bright little bulb at the bottom of the speedo face which lights up when the road speed exceeds 90kph. Not after I've been near one....

[HenryDorsetCase]

BTW, it's not a hard job. Remove tank, drain fuel, turn tank upside down on a soft surface (no need to scratch that paint), remove petcock (the bit that you use to go from the main to reserve tank), disassemble (noting the position of everything), clean the mesh gently, check for any blockages, reassemble, put it back on the tank, tank back on bike, connect fuel line, refill tank and ride.

If you haven't done so check that the fuel line isn't crimped anywhere.

I'd add to that check if it has an inline fuel filter anywhere, and replace it.

my though was fuel tank vent or fuel issue too.