Bike quit running? ?UPDATED

[Blutoy]

First off this is my first bike and I am still learning about it, thanks in advance for the help.

When I got the bike it had been sitting for about a year. I replaced the battery and cleaned the fuse contacts, it ran good from there. The first time I filled it I added Chevron Techron fuel system cleaner in the tank (I put in enough to treat 6 gallons). I ran the bike around 100-150 miles with no problems. The next time I took the bike out it started fine, but began to die and would not idle. I was at a stoplight and did not want the bike to die so I kept the RPMs up a little. When I put the bike in gear and started to move it, it died, I switched to reserve but it still would not start. I got it home and started checking everything; It is getting fuel and it has a spark but it will not fire. The spark is not as bright as I would have expected but it was blue. I have since then rebuilt the starter, replaced the fuse box, and I replaced the stator connector with posi-lock connectors. The last three items were just things to do, I did not think they would fix the problem.

Any suggestions for what else I should check? Thanks again.

[nvdranger]

Welcome to the board and like you i'm still learning this bike (7 months or so and counting). ?Sounds to me like you have a charging problem, you need something like 11+ volts through the tci for good spark (would have to double check the manual for the exact amount). ?Anyways I had the very same issue, having to rev the motor at a stop light so that it would not stall. ?Do you have a multimeter? ?You should be able to pick one up at a local parts store or motorcycle shop for about $20. ?At rest, with bike off you should have 12.5V +/- .3v, at idle should be 13.5V +/-.5v, and at 2500rpm+ 14.3V +/-.5v (now these are approximates). ?If you are not getting these readings go to http://www.electrexusa.com/electrex_fault_finding.html and run the fault finding diagram. ?It will probably come back as a fried stator, which was my problem as well as many others on the board, yamaha made a pretty cheap charging system. ?new electex stator is about $150 (go through dennis kirk.com they have free shipping ;)), or rebuilt one from rick's (don't know the website sorry), check ebay, or and check the swap shop. ?fyi - you may want to get another r/r at the same time from a honda cx500 or another bike (they have a bigger heat sink and cool a lil better) as well as moving it to the passeger foot peg or one of motor mount bolts (i did it on one the motor mounts and it makes it a more difficult to work sometimes).  i got mine off ebay for like $15 including shipping.

read up on all the threads you can on this board as well as the tech pages ("vision tech info" top right hand side of the screen) and you will be able to do anything with this bike (this comes from a guy that never touched a bike and did general things on vehicles). ?Mine sat for 8 years in a buddy's garage and runs like a champ. ?Lucky's was outside for 10 and look at his on //www.xz550.com (which is a great place for most of the fixes you'll need). ?Good luck and talk about long. :)

Ken

[Lucky]

You did say something that perked my ears up:
The bike would stall if you let it idle...
Visions were not equiped with a fuel filter unless you count the screen on the petcock, this will only catch the largest of particals.  Vision fuel tanks will rust in the lower corners because they are lower than the petcock, don't be surprised if you check yours, and a scratch of a fingernail reveals pinholes under the paint..

these carbs are very suceptible to rust & clogging.  the first circut in the carb is the pilot (idle) circut. you may need to clean out or rebuild the carbs, and you must install a filter if it doesn't have one now.

If you do find rust in the tank, use POR-15 to seal the tank & prevent more rust.  don't use Kreem or other vynal sealers, fuel additives wiill destroy them & hopelessly clog the carbs.

--Lucky

[h2olawyer]

Blutoy -

Another possibility is that when you put in the fuel system cleaner, it did its trick but sent some loosened gunk into a carb passage. ?Is your tank lined? ?It is possible the cleaner reacted with the liner (if its Kreem or similar product) and some of that got through to the carbs. ?Others will probably have additional things to check.

Noticed Lucky posted just before I got mine in.  Basically similar ideas.  Go for the filter & POR-15!!  

Welcome to the wonderful world of Vision ownership.

H2O

[Lucky]

Jinks! Jinks! H2O you owe me a coke!
--Lucky

[h2olawyer]

You deserve one  :D  Gladly buy you one if we ever get together.  But wouldn't you rather have a Fat Tire?

[Blutoy]

The previous owner told me he did put Kreem in the tank about 12 years ago. I did install a fuel filter after running about half of the first tank through the bike.

I know I should clean the carbs anyway, but due to time restrictions I won't be able to for awhile.

Thanks again for the information.

[Blutoy]

First off thanks for everyone help. My bike lives at a friends shop and he helped me with this:

I figured that the problem was in the carbs so I started to pull everything off to get to them. After I pulled the air-box we decided just to try and get it to fire on starting fluid; it wouldn't even pop. We pulled the plugs and they were fouled up (soaked in gas), we cleaned them and tried to fire it again without the starting fluid. The bike popped once and that was it, we pulled the plugs and they were fouled again. I got new spark plugs and got the bike to pop a few times, pulled the plugs and they were fouled. We drained the float bowls and then cranked the bike over without the plugs in. We reinstalled the plugs and got it to fire up on the starting fluid. We tried putting the tank back on and firing it up, but there was no gas going to the carbs. The fuel filter turned out to be plugged just enough to not let the gas gravity feed, installed a new filter and it's running great.

It was kind of weird because the bike was flooded but the fuel filter was plugged. Either way it is great to have a running bike again.  ;D

[h2olawyer]

Blutoy

Glad you got it running again.  Congratulations!

Just a couple things to think about if you have flooding problems again:

The fuel does not flow freely from the tank unless it is set to prime.  The vacuum line going from one of the carb intake manifolds to the petcock supplies the vacuum for it to allow fuel to pass only while the engine is running.  Keep the petcock in the "run" position unless its been a while since you started it.  Then set to "pri" for a few seconds, start the bike and return the petcock to "run".

Since your plugs were fouling - flooding the engine with fuel, there may be another problem.  Your needle & seat in one or both carbs may be shot, allowing raw fuel to get into the cylinders.

Hope you don't have any more problems but I just thought you might like to have an idea of where to look if you experience flooding problems in the future.

H2O