#42
Unread post
by mgdavis » Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:28 pm
I've put about 60 miles on the Honda so far. After that first day she was running decently, enough that I was confident enough to make a trip to work, one day, and a run to a motorcycle dealer yesterday.
The trip to the dealer was mostly 60mph highway riding, 10 miles round trip. The bike seemed to run well on the way out once it warmed up. When I took the exit I needed, she stalled out as I dropped into first gear and coasted to a stop at a red light. She fired up immediately when I hit the starter, then promptly died when I let go of the throttle. I cranked her up once more, this time tickling the throttle to keep rpm's up. I made it where I was headed, the engine died when I got off throttle in the parking lot.
I went inside and did my thing, which happened to be exchanging defective Fieldsheer "Booster" pants. When I got back out after 45 minutes or so the engine was still being balky, refusing to run without the throttle applied. I got back on the freeway and headed home. I was about to maintain 60-70 mph easily for about 7 miles, at which point I realized a 70 mph cruise was becoming a 60 mph struggle. My engine was loosing serious power. Even with a downshift to fourth there was not enough grunt at 5500 rpm to accelerate at 55-60 mph. Very disconcerting.
We made it another mile or so to my exit. Luckily it is not heavily used, as the engine stalled out at the top of the off-ramp. I waddled off to the left shoulder and waved the truck behind me to go around. I managed to get things lit back up in fairly short order. The engine was running very roughly at this point, it would bog heavily to about 3000 rpms, then start pulling more. I noticed very non-linear throttle response.
I got it home, it stalled out as I coasted into my spot. Later I was able to start it, the engine refused to idle. I have a "Schedule C" (goddam expensive) service set for Tuesday morning at the local Honda dealer. This includes a carb sync and balance which, hopefully, will cure my problems. I'm truly dreading the ride to the dealer. I've got my fingers crossed that the bike doesn't decide to give up halfway there, leaving me stranded on the shoulder of the highway.
'07 Suzuki V-Strom DL650
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