Can I fix it?

**Mom** · 31st August 2009, 19:33

Well I bought some bits and bobs today. I have decided on the soft cock option for the now. The carbs stay attached to the bike undisturbed for now, I can anticipate some major hassle and some expense (replacing a few inlet manifolds for starters) if I really start getting into it. If I need to though, I will strip them. However, I have a sneaking suspicion I have sorted the majority of my issues.

The refitting of assorted hoses went without a hitch, I can even measure with my eyecrometer for length accurately

I put my blue lovely all back together tonight complete with a new fuel line and filter and a brand spanking new pretty pink vacuum hose. I had nothing left over! Wheeled her outside for the acid test, will she start? Well blow me over with a feather, fuel tap on prime, choke on, hit the starter and away she went!

Not just started I might add, she actually idled away happy as a happy thing. No need for me to nurse the throttle and keep her running. No waiting for her to warm up so she would actually keep running, she just sat there happily warming up. I can not remember the last time that happened. It is usually a bit of a process to get her started, many, many turns of the engine before starting, and then not keeping going so the process starts again. It was coming on dark when I got her running, I cant wait to go and test my theory on the road.

Suffice it to say, I managed to do all this without losing any skin in those annoying little hunks that bleed heaps and hurt like a bastard, and best of all...

All my nails are still intact

Pic one: Got to love a bloke that sells pink hose to a girl

Pic two: New vacuum hose, fuel filter and hose fitted

Pic three: All hooked back up again, hope the blue lovely forgives the girly pink vacuum hose.

Pic four: All back together - and no bits left over

**XRVrider** · 31st August 2009, 19:59

Nice one. Bet it feels good to get her going as she should. Was just reading this thread for the first time, thinking, go for the fuel filter first and the vacuum hose etc... I've had plenty of issues through my mechanic years with fuel filters giving all sorts of funny symptoms, and fuel starvation. Maybe is wasnt that, but never hurts to start with the replaceable bits first. Hope the problem(s) doesnt rear its ugly head again and you get loads of pleasure riding from now on. Good stuff Mom

**Kickaha** · 31st August 2009, 20:07

Originally Posted by Mom

Well blow me over with a feather, fuel tap on prime, choke on, hit the starter and away she went!

Why turn the fuel tap to prime? had you emptied the carbs?

**Mom** · 31st August 2009, 20:51

Originally Posted by vifferman

Once you've borrowed my vacuum gauges, you'll only need limited tools to balance the carbs. Give me a yodel when you're ready.

Hmmmm, what is your phone number again?

You will keep, and thank you for the offer that I will more than likely take you up on should I need to do the deed, fingers crossed it wont come to that. My bike is a mature one, and I am not a balls to the wall rider, but I fail to see why I should accept her running like shit the way I want to ride her.

Old lovely or not, she should run well

I live somewhere that involves a degree of SH1 riding. To come to the city, or better still ride right through it I have to travel many k's on the never exceed 100kph or die highway, of course I always do that

I dont see why I should have to put up with doing that with my blue wheels of fun coughing and farting along the way. Old she may be, but run right she will

Originally Posted by XRVrider

Nice one. Bet it feels good to get her going as she should. Was just reading this thread for the first time, thinking, go for the fuel filter first and the vacuum hose etc... I've had plenty of issues through my mechanic years with fuel filters giving all sorts of funny symptoms, and fuel starvation. Maybe is wasnt that, but never hurts to start with the replaceable bits first. Hope the problem(s) doesnt rear its ugly head again and you get loads of pleasure riding from now on. Good stuff Mom

Thank you. I have to admit to feeling quite good tonight, though I wont crow too much, as pride cometh before a large fall in my experience

I dont want or need a huge high performance result, all I want is to ride my ride and enjoy it without having to endure the frustration of having to either ride through the rough, or ride under the rough, or back off and then reagin a place where the rough kicks back in again, I just want to ride.

Originally Posted by Kickaha

Why turn the fuel tap to prime? had you emptied the carbs?

Well you see, I am a girl. I did not run it out of gas, I removed the gas supply and emptied all the supply lines to the carbs. Of course the float bowls still had gas in them, I assume that is why she started in the first place? In my friggen ignorance I thought it would be a good idea to provide a totally unimpeded fuel supply to the carbs (you never know, my replacement vacuum line may have been a complete fail) to see if she would start. You know something? She did. I turned the fuel tap right back to on once she did, and I saw fuel running into the new filter. Man, I tried to do it right!

By the way, I can offer you a new foot peg assembly, some side cover replacements, a complete cush drive and assorted covers etc for a Radian. No head or carb bits to be seen.

**Henk** · 31st August 2009, 22:33

Doh, in hindsight, if it was the vacuum line you could have just flicked the tap onto prime and gone for a test ride to see if the problem went away. At that stage you wouldn't have been starving for fuel. Not sure if the cracked line would have led to a lean condition or not as I can't recall if the line hooks up before or after the carb. After I think.

**Mom** · 1st September 2009, 07:00

Originally Posted by Henk

Doh, in hindsight, if it was the vacuum line you could have just flicked the tap onto prime and gone for a test ride to see if the problem went away. At that stage you wouldn't have been starving for fuel. Not sure if the cracked line would have led to a lean condition or not as I can't recall if the line hooks up before or after the carb. After I think.

It hooks up after the carbs. I have had ocassion where I have had to ride with the tap on prime, though that was only once, and what ever caused the bike to simply die through lack of fuel cleared itself once I refilled the tank, and yes there was still fuel in it, but it would not run on reserve.

I deliberately ran her till she hit reserve last weekend to see what would happen. Sitting on 100kph she started to stave for fuel, I reached down, turned on reserve and away we went again, no problems at all. Tell you, very frustrating it has been. I need to get out for a decent ride on the weekend to see if in fact I have resolved the problem, as I can have 90kms of trouble free riding and then the problems kick in.

I will keep you posted.

**MSTRS:Me** · 1st September 2009, 09:48

Originally Posted by Mom

I will keep you posted.

Yes please. Once the simple and obvious things are known to be ok, then it becomes easy to isolate where the problem really lies. If your work hasn't fixed it. (So bite me, but there's a part of me that says you haven't)

**Mom** · 1st September 2009, 17:54

Originally Posted by MSTRS

Yes please. Once the simple and obvious things are known to be ok, then it becomes easy to isolate where the problem really lies. If your work hasn't fixed it. (So bite me, but there's a part of me that says you haven't)

I wont know till I get out and give her a decent run, but what I saw yesterday gives me hope at least. Oh, and just so you know, I am taking the clutch apart next. That has always been part of my plan. The guy at the local Yamaha shop is very helpful and supportive. The blue lovely is becoming a bit of fan of his too. He thinks it is great I am doing what I am. He is full of handy tips, and fully happy to let me pick his brain.

I cant wait! Probably tackle it on the weekend so I have a bit of time, and some daylight to work in. She may be an old lady, but she is lovely. My budget does not run to paying someone to fix her, so I am going to have a crack myself. Hopefully I know enough about what not to do, so I dont totally stuff it up. It has been many years since I got my hands dirty, but the thought processes are still working and best of all I have the Radian book for dummies to use as a guide

Best of all I gain a HUGE boost of "girls can do anything" and hopefully show my fellow biker angels they can do the same. Tis a win/win for me.

**The Pastor** · 2nd September 2009, 08:55

Originally Posted by vifferman

Once you've borrowed my vacuum gauges, you'll only need limited tools to balance the carbs. Give me a yodel when you're ready.

Vifferman, im not having a go at you, but your gauges are shit mate. I balanced them all perfectly, they said my valves were out, I checked the valves (or at least watched george do it :P) and they were spot on. Then I got George to balance them with his yamaha gauge and they were miles out. I told George what I had done and he said those gauges are useless, he used to to have one and he threw it out because it was so bad (as opposed to selling it).

I really appreciate your kindness in leading them out, you've helped a lot of people over the years, just thought you'd be keen to know what the mechanic said.

**vifferman** · 2nd September 2009, 09:37

Originally Posted by renegade master

Vifferman, im not having a go at you, but your gauges are shit mate. I balanced them all perfectly, they said my valves were out, I checked the valves (or at least watched george do it :P) and they were spot on.

There's your problem - you were supposed to be borrowing them to balance your carbs, not diagnose engine ailments.

Did you cross check the gauges against one another? They may be cheap and shitty, but they are consistent if double-checked.
As for the stupid little messages that say "Your valve clearances need doing", "Your head gasket is fukt", "Check your zips - your fly might be undone!" - who reads those? I thought it was implicit that they were complete and utter bollocks.

I bought them for the FahrtSturm, because the carbs needed balancing (supposedly) every six months. They were fine for that, and others who have borrowed them (MacD, SilverSuzi, for example) have got good results from them. Others - who had significant mechanical issues - had no luck, and even a set of gold-plated $250,000 gauges wouldn't have been able to balance their carbs.

Originally Posted by renegade master

I really appreciate your kindness in leading them out, you've helped a lot of people over the years, just thought you'd be keen to know what the mechanic said.

Thanks for that - it's not actually anything I didn't know. If you thought they were an accurate diagnostic tool, I could've told you they're not (and those markings may well be intended for cars, or maybe only to give the impression that they are serious mechanic's tools, LOL).

The point is, for many KBers, paying for a mechanic is a bit of a stretch, for many others, they'd like to do their own work, and balancing the carbs isn't hard if you have even a set of crappy gauges like mine, or some home-made manometers. In both cases, buying gauges is a stretch, and buying really accurate ones with high resolution is impossible. Decent ones (like what I'd need to buy to synchronise the SV's on the VFR) would cost over $1k, and I wouldn't be lending those out to all and sundry. Even $700 ones don't have the fine resolution I need.

Did you want a refund?

**Mom** · 2nd September 2009, 09:51

Originally Posted by vifferman

maybe only to give the impression that they are serious mechanic's tools, LOL).

They sound perfect for my serious mechanical ability them

**The Pastor** · 2nd September 2009, 10:52

Mate i didnt use them to diaognose the engine, i checked the engine after reading the gauges.

But first i 'balanced' them so that each cylinder had the same reading, according to your gauges.

Then I got some real gauges and they were miles out.

Edit: I borrowed them to balance the carbs, that was all I intended.

**Mom** · 5th September 2009, 18:48

Well I have just got home from my proper test ride.

200 odd k's on the open road of exceed 100kph and dieway and I can happily report that the blue lovely runs like a dream. I experienced a slight hesitation when buttoning off a couple of times early in the ride, but apart from that she has not skipped a beat.

We did not get off to a fantastic start though to be fair, fired her up and the fuel line popped off the fuel filter and petrol was streaming out all over the show

Seems the clip I had used was not up to the task after all. Replaced that and off we went.

So, she starts easily and runs cleanly on the choke while warming up, where as before she was a bit of a pig to get going and required a lot of throttle nursing until she was warmed up. She runs cleanly at constant throttle in the ranges of 5-7 rpm kilometre after kilometre instead of missing and chugging along and generally being very unpleasant to ride.

I am going to say I have solved 95% of my problems, the cleaning of carbs and tuning thing can come later.

I also refuelled her with 98 octance gas on the way home for a try. Only got 30 kms into the tank, but she seems to enjoy it very much

Tomorrow I will test that out a bit more.