Tuesday, November 8, 2011

trouble with the duke

Rode 15 miles yesterday without a hitch, full tank of gas topped up, on my way to ride with Shon, who's in South San Francisco. Suddenly, while doin' 80 in the #1 lane, the duke coughs and dies like it ran out of gas. I pull over, not switching to reserve since I just topped up the tank. Couldn't get it started until switching to reserve which was really strange. Idled just fine, but wouldn't rev over 3000rpm on the dot, without instantly dying. I screwed around and killed it and started it so many times that the battery died. Didn't have any tools to do carb surgery on the side of 280N just outside of Cupertino so I gave up and got a tow home.

Pulled the carb, checked everything out, no obvious problems. carb looks like brand new inside since i recently rebuilt it. I went back to a 165 main jet from 162.5, and went to needle clip 3rd from top, changing from 4th from top. Put in a new spark plug and renewed a few fuel lines. started right up easier than ever tonight. revs above 3000rpm no prob. I have no idea what that was. Maybe heat soak and not enough oil? I just replaced the oil, but noticed I didn't quite add enough. I'll have to do 15 miles of circles around my house this time instead of getting so far out.

I'm thinking I'm going to pull the tank back off, pull the petcock and examine for any weirdness, before I get back on the road with it...

3 comments:

WooleyBugger said...

I've been having the same problem with mine. Around town and close to home testing it's fine but get farther out in the country and settle in and gas flow, it seems, stops. A few minutes later it'll run good for a few miles then begin sputtering and cutting off again.

Unknown said...

Hmm, petcock, and don't forget to be sure the tank vents properly...

Unknown said...

In addition to the petcock, I'd check the tank to make sure it vents properly. Could be vacuum slowing down the fuel flow.