Dinero
06-23-2011, 08:10 AM
It started running like the carb was flooded. It doesn't have one but that's the best way to describe it. Popping and backfiring and wouldn't run much at all under 3,000 rpm's.
I changed the spark plugs thinking they might be fouled (they weren't) and cleaned the throttle plate. The filter was fine.
Ricky finally got there and picked me up. Sunday morning we went through a series of checks and thought processes thinking bad gas so we drained the tank into some big pans and let it sit to see if it would separate out. Fuel looked fine. Finally we used a home-made fuel pressure guage and the pressure only registered 20 pounds. We then put the guage on his bike to validate the guage, and while I can't testify to it's accuracy, it went to 55 pounds.
Thinking clogged filter, we pulled the assy out of the tank and went to the HD shop and bought a filter kit, new console gasket and the tank screws. The fuel pressure regulator was in question right from square one because the cap seemed to have pulled loose and the o-ring had pooched out a little at one side. We took it "apart", cleaned it, put it back together and put the new filter on. After assembly, the bike started and ran fine and when we checked the pressure it read upwards of 60 pounds.
I left the next morning and made about 125 miles and it started all over again. Having eliminated the filter and the fuel as the problem, I questioned whether the fuel pump was breaking down in the heat. I got it back to Ricky's and the fuel pressure was once again down to 20 psi.
When I got the bike to my indie's I told the tech what all we had done and he was immediately familiar with the problem. He asked about the two plastic clips that hold the fuel pressure regulator in place. The wire clip holds it horizontally and the clips hold it vertically. He indicated that he had seen several where the plastic softens and allows a little movement of the pressure regulator and the pressure can force the o-ring out a little and thus you lose fuel pressure.
I guess if we had thought it through, we could have put a wire tie around the regulator and it would have been fine but it never entered my mind that that was what was going on.
I know that Ricky is beating himself up over that last thought, but I never expected that the cradle for the regulator was the problem and we both thought that we had it fixed.
Such is life on the road and every day is a new lesson learned.
I changed the spark plugs thinking they might be fouled (they weren't) and cleaned the throttle plate. The filter was fine.
Ricky finally got there and picked me up. Sunday morning we went through a series of checks and thought processes thinking bad gas so we drained the tank into some big pans and let it sit to see if it would separate out. Fuel looked fine. Finally we used a home-made fuel pressure guage and the pressure only registered 20 pounds. We then put the guage on his bike to validate the guage, and while I can't testify to it's accuracy, it went to 55 pounds.
Thinking clogged filter, we pulled the assy out of the tank and went to the HD shop and bought a filter kit, new console gasket and the tank screws. The fuel pressure regulator was in question right from square one because the cap seemed to have pulled loose and the o-ring had pooched out a little at one side. We took it "apart", cleaned it, put it back together and put the new filter on. After assembly, the bike started and ran fine and when we checked the pressure it read upwards of 60 pounds.
I left the next morning and made about 125 miles and it started all over again. Having eliminated the filter and the fuel as the problem, I questioned whether the fuel pump was breaking down in the heat. I got it back to Ricky's and the fuel pressure was once again down to 20 psi.
When I got the bike to my indie's I told the tech what all we had done and he was immediately familiar with the problem. He asked about the two plastic clips that hold the fuel pressure regulator in place. The wire clip holds it horizontally and the clips hold it vertically. He indicated that he had seen several where the plastic softens and allows a little movement of the pressure regulator and the pressure can force the o-ring out a little and thus you lose fuel pressure.
I guess if we had thought it through, we could have put a wire tie around the regulator and it would have been fine but it never entered my mind that that was what was going on.
I know that Ricky is beating himself up over that last thought, but I never expected that the cradle for the regulator was the problem and we both thought that we had it fixed.
Such is life on the road and every day is a new lesson learned.