1993 Kawasaki Vulcan running oddly

[Jeffsg605]

Hello,

I have a 1993 Kawasaki Vulcan 750 that I picked up about a month ago. It had 25k miles and was running absolutely perfect. Then the stator went out. For those of you who don't know, replacing the stator requires removing the engine. I replaced the stator and put the bike back together. It starts fine, charges fine, but now it doesn't like to rev past 5000 RPM. Sometimes it will but not all the time. Also when riding it, it feels as though it's missing on one cylinder randomly. I'll hit the gas, kind of sit there for a few seconds, then it will take off. Or I'll hit the gas, it will accelerate for a few seconds, then it will hesitate for a few seconds. After first starting the bike, it seems to idle fine but any throttle will kill it.

There are no vacuum leaks, no fuel leaks, no oil leaks. I rebuilt the carbs, I have spark on all four plugs, the plugs look as though the fuel mixture is fine. I think it has to be an ignition problem. Based on the fact that it was running well before the stator went out, it had to be something I did to cause this problem. I'm completely lost as to what it may be though. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Johnj]

Hello Jeff and welcome to the forum. Clean out the fuel tank, change out the fuel filter(s), and clean the carbs. Classic dirty jet problem. How about posting a picture of your Vulcan?

[Jeffsg605]

Hey johnj, thanks for the tip. I did completely clean the carbs and the problem was the exact same. I cleaned the fuel filter as well. Fuel flows freely down to the float bowls. I verified that. I'm wondering if anything I could have screwed anything up under the stator cover. Here's the bike though, thanks for asking!

[Johnj]

Jeff, what I was getting at is the symptoms you describe indicate a plugged jet. Problems in the rotor/stator area would have different symptoms like not charging the battery or the lights getting dim.

[Jeffsg605]

Yeah, I agree with you but I cleaned both carbs thoroughly and was very careful about putting them back together cleanly as well. I will definitely keep that option open but id like to explore other areas first. I'm wondering if maybe a poor electrical connection somewhere could cause this because the problem is intermittent.

[Johnj]

Your coils could cause the intermittent cylinder firing.

[BRUMBEAR]

You could try to make sure temp sensors are working right and machine isn't going into safe mode.

[Jeffsg605]

This bike has no ECU. What do you mean by safe mode?

[Jeffsg605]

I just tested the ignition coils. Both the primary and secondary resistances are slightly too high. Could this cause problems at high rpm maybe?

[Johnj]

What do you mean by

slightly too high

? Are you talking just a couple of ohms?