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Scary first Ride! Need help

C

Captain Wacky

New Member
Howdy, finally road my bike on the street for the first time ever. A buddy of mine road his cbr600 behind me, just as support. I got fairly comfortable so we decided to go further, about 20 miles from home (rural Nebraska two lane highway). Bike ran fine, we stopped at a gas station to turn around and head home, as soon as we left it started popping and backfiring violently under an load. It was coming from the rear cylinder, as flames were shooting from that exhaust pipe. I tried messing with the choke, but knob all the way in, out, and middle still ran terrible. Just to clarify when starting the bike the knob should be pulled out, and pushed in when its warm right?

We had to stop several times, but didn't want to leave the bike so I babied it. All of a sudden it just opened up and ran awesome, no back fire more missing under any throttle position, with the choke knob pushed in. Ran perfect like a champ the last 15 miles home. So my question is what the heck was going on? The bike is a 95 dyna, and hasn't been started in 3 years, could this possibly be the cause? Ignition problem, gummy carb? Advice or suggestions please!

Thanks
Neil
 
Try some Sea Foam in fuel. From sitting so long it could be anything. Probably just some varnished fuel.
 
dbmg said:
Try some Sea Foam in fuel. From sitting so long it could be anything. Probably just some varnished fuel.
Click to expand...

plus one on this, dbmg has you covered...my 98 acts the same when it has sat for a while....always best to ride as much as possible....sea foam works wonders, i would put in a whole time per fill up atleast for a couple tanks
 
If that's 3 year old gas then that could be your problem. Sea Foam should take care of it. Pulling the enricher out when it's running bad will only make it run worse. probably only need the enricher out on the first start of the day.
 
I drained the old gas from the tank, and filled it with fresh the day before I took it out, but I suppose it possible it still has some in there. Regardless I will run some Sea Foam through it anyway. If it was a fuel problem, wouldnt it do it on both cylinders though? Weird that it was just the rear.
 
A new set of spark plugs and wires would be a good start as would draining the tank and remove the petcock and clean the filter
A rebuild kit for the carb and strip clean and rebuild the carb as modern fuels are not kind to the rubber and plastic parts in the carb and as it has sat for a while there may be some deterioration
As the backfiring was only on the rear cylinder it would tend to indicate that the problem area is at the rear
Spark plug, plug wire or an intake leak at the rear cylinder manifold gasket is where i would be looking first

Brian
 
After setting for 3 years I would guess that you replaced the battery. Weather you did or or didn't you might check the connections.
 
I would do everything mentioned already, but if you could afford to only do one thing, I would try carburetor cleaner. Your problem sounded like a fuel flow issue to me. It all depends on how it was stored. If it has been outdoors in the elements, it's best to rebuild & replace as much as you can. If your Super Glide was cleaned & polished, then covered in a heated garage for 3 years, try the carb cleaner first. You could just run the motor while parked for a while to test the performance.

Some insurance plans include free towing. Be very careful on your next ride.

Good Luck!

:44:
 
Check that you have no exhaust leaks. I would start with torquing the nuts holding the flange at the cylinder head. A loose pipe can cause a horrific mount of backfiring.
 
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