dlaing

One thing I have noticed greasing it every 4000-5000 miles is that you have to squeeze a fair amount of grease in before any comes out, so it does seem to lose grease. Also the grease coming out is dirty. I consider that evidence that the more you grease the expensive shaft, the longer it will last. Just wish I could find the right fitting. MoscowPhil's 55 degree fitting might work for me, but I am pretty sure it would not work on my bike without a ground down fitting. I have been using a flexible hose with a ground down fitting, and it is a major pain to get to work right. I hope his 55 degree pipe bend may help. Or maybe one of Leafman's hinged fittings 43,000 miles (about 8 or 9 shaft lubes) and still struggling with banged up knuckles.

No, I do not agree to disagree. At least not yet. First I have to change your mind. First of all, it is not my bike, it is the bike of whoever is reading this thread in hope of a solution, maybe even Junkyard's bike, 17 months later! Second of all, we probably agree that regulating voltage to less than 13.8V is easier on the many of the components in the electrical system. But thirdly, we appear to disagree that the manual is correct that for the early V11s with the Marelli/Ducati regulator, the voltage should be regulated to 14.0 to 14.6V. So how can I sway you to accept that that is a normal and healthy charging voltage? Well, the manual says so. But we know the manual can be wrong. But in this case, I doubt it. When the factory replaced the Marelli-Ducati regulator with another, the charging voltage probably did drop. I know that for my Electrex regulator, the charging dropped to below 14V, so I am happily sparing my electrical system from too many volts. The Ducati/Marelli regulator was designed to put out 14.0-14.6 Volts. Are you saying that all that put out 14+V are broken? Or are you saying the manual was wrong? Or what? The only reasons I can think of to have the voltage regulated to a voltage higher than 13.8V is to keep the battery better charged, and the increased voltage to the coils will provide the spark plugs with a better spark, but that is not so important as the battery maintaining proper charge. The Hawker Odyssey documentation says, "If the voltage output from the charger is less than 14.2V or more than 15V for a 12V battery do not use the charger." What does this mean if our alternator is putting out less than 13.8V? I believe it means that the battery will have a tough time maintaining anything close to 100% charged. The lower the battery's state of charge, the greater the tendency for sulfation. For this reason, I give my battery a weekly to monthly charge to ensure that it gets more than 14.2V. My Electrex regulator puts out less than 14 volts, but it has the advantage of charging better below 2000RPM, so the battery does OK, but without the occasional 14.2++ volt charges, I believe the battery life will be shortened as sulfation occurs. If I still had the Marelli Ducati regulator, I don't think it would be as necessary, because it charged at about 14.5V. Which regulator is better is a matter of opinion. For me, the Electrex with frequent charges to the battery works better and my mind is at ease that the ECU and other components are getting a more friendly voltage. A V11 with Ducati Marelli regulator putting out 14.0 to 14.6 volts is normal and healthy and anything less than 13.8V at high RPM most likely has problems whether with wiring or grounds or the regulator itself. I you don't agree now, than I guess you are right that we agree to disagree.

Actually Murray may not be correct. As Paul recently mentioned in that thread, the reference for voltage regulation is the line that goes to the warning light. Note that on the early V11s this line goes through the warning light, then through the lighting relay, through the starter relay, and through a fuse, so there are lots of places for things to go wrong. If you are losing lighting because of a bad relay or fuse connection, you apparently will also be getting a bad reference for the voltage regulator. This may explain the 17V.

No, because OldButNotDead linked here from a current case http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=145311 There seemed to be an indication that I solved my problem by replacing the regulator, but now I think it was wiring issues. I just have to make sure the world knows how stupid I am for replacing a regulator that MAY be fine. Thanks for helping reinforce that point... There is much that can go wrong along that line. One the early V11 the current must pass through a fuse and a couple relays.

Gary Cheek made mine. If I were to do it again I would get the Eastern Beaver H4 Heavy Duty Single Headlight Relay Kits with Ceramic H4 Socket with 8inch leads so that relays are in bucket. Bikes with smaller headlights may want to put relays outside the bucket and get the 16inch leads for that. The ceramic is only necessary if you want to run a bulb more powerful than the 60W-55W bulbs, but with 60W-55W bulbs will probably last 50 years while the standard kit might last 20 years, likely replacing relays along the way...

Did you find anything good to wrap the fuel feed with?

You don't want to overtighten them either as they will deform and leak more easily.

I added some comments to that thread just now. Murray is correct. Check the connections, especially regulator and battery grounds, before you spend money on a regulator. Of course it still could be the regulator...but cheaper to find out you only needed to clean the regulator ground.

Good points. In retrospect my regulator and battery failing were probably caused by bad wiring, and it is possible my old regulator still works, if I rewire it. I recall I had low voltage and likely had a bad connection between regulator and 30A fuse. Hi voltage is more likely on the ground side. Rev the engine up and get a long wire and run it from regulator body to negative ground of battery and see if the voltage drops below 14.6V.

It should allow no more than about 14.6V not 13.8 V. The manual says 14.0 to 14.6V is good. But my Electrex puts out a little less than 14V...

http://easternbeaver.com/Main/Products/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html Of course you can make your own, too, but they are well made. Not sure which is the best kit. All are far better than stock, and on the early V11 they take a big load off of Normally Open side of the starter relay. Forum member Gary Cheek made a kit for me, and here is the before and after

The relay could certainly be bad. It should not go bad that easily, but once in a great while even GEIs and Omrons can go bad without an external cause. The fact that you recently replaced your battery could indicate a charging problem,(look for excess of 14.7V when revving up the engine) or a need for better maintenance of wiring connections. You might also consider the Eastern Beaver headlight wiring kit to take a load off of the relay, and give you a brighter headlight!!!

He means he went from the brass sensor housing to the plastic sensor housing, which SHOULD make the engine run richer, and thus seem to be an immediate improvement. More evidence of the overly lean condition. Docc, Since valves and fuel filter are probably fine, maybe the TPS slipped. A quick try with the Micha Method could get you running again. If idle TPS is between 500 and 550mV with key on, engine off, you might not want to mess with it just yet, but if outside that range, it may have slipped. When you tried to slip off the intake boots, the throttle balance may have slipped, as well as the idle TPS reading, and air leaks may have increased. Make sure boots are properly fitted...I know you probably did, but how else would it get worse?. Could fuel lines be pinched and the movement further pinched the fuel lines?

No Power Commander? Bike with Mistrals and no PCIII will likely run a little lean, and something else going slightly off could make it run TOO LEAN. Other symptoms you have had are overheated charging fuse and faulty (GEI) injector relay. Two days away from ride and all I can offer is a bunch of possibilities. If Fuel pump is working too hard, maybe trying to push fuel past clogged filter, it may put more load on charging system and on injector relay, and it MAY run leaner, especially at higher RPMs and loads, but also at idle when voltage drops. So, consider replacing fuel filter if more than two years old, although dirty bad fuel knows no mileage. All very theoretical, I know...feel free to ignore. I don't think there has been one documented case of problems from a dirty filter. But you may have the most miles on your bike of anyone on this forum ( but a real iron butt would make it to the national rally!!! ) Certainly probable are the air leak as Greg said, or even too tight of valves, even if only 3000 miles since last adjustment.

In order to maintain the same idle, that is correct, if you adjust the TPS at the left idle set screw. But if you adjust the TPS reading at the TPS there is no relationship.

Carl Alison was one of them, and I think he never resolved it other than to use a 10A fuse. I don't recall anybody else coming up with a better solution than the taboo 10A fuse

At least we have enough Tenni for a "Best Tenni" award. So, Counting and Assuming those of the 12 that have posted that they will presumably show, we have Todd, Jon, Don, and mason on Tontis, Van and Al on Tenniis, Joe, Mike, Gonzo, and myself on other spines, that makes at least 6 of the 10 of the 12 on Spines!!! I better polish my V11 up for best of show, since it may be only one of six, I might have a chance to win! Don't forget to register soon!

Those symptoms most likely indicate valves tightening up. But the black plugs most likely indicate the TPS being too high.

It changes how the PCIII map overlays the ECU map. I am not sure how critical it is. I suspect 97 at WOT is not bad, but it depends on the map. For example if the PCIII at 5000 RPM has oh, say a -5 at 80% throttle and a +25 at 90%, I am not sure how it averages out but presumably if the PCIII sees 85% it will average the adjustment to 15. Is that 15% more injector time, or 15 more milliseconds, I don't know. The important thing is that if you are properly "zeroed" (if that is the correct term) than the 15 will be correct, but if you off by minus 3% at both WOT and idle (-3 and +97%) then the map will shift 3%, so that 15 intended for 85% throttle will appear when the PCIII sees 85% which in actuality is 88% and it will theoretically be too lean at that throttle opening. Like wise if 5 at 80% throttle and a +25 at 90% were reversed to +25 at 80% throttle and a -5 at 90% then the mixture would be theoretically too rich at about 85% throttle. At WOT I don't think you will have a problem as it will probably treat 97% as if it were 100%, but I am not sure about that.... And as I said, being off by 3% is probably not a big deal...be the closer you tune to perfection, the longer it will stay tuned. If WOT was 87% on the PCIII, then you would have a problem because the map would jump an entire fuel cell, so where you needed leaning you are now getting enrichment, and vice versa, but again it depends on the map. Maps that have great differences between fuel cells will be more greatly impacted.

A zero map is a map with nothing but zeroes in the map cells. Positive numbers enrich, negative numbers lean and zeroes do nothing. Disconnecting the PCIII effectively does the same thing. With your mufflers, no PCIII should result in many lean spots. You will pretty surely need a tuneup, and it could be that you need to set the TPS a little low to work with the downloaded map.

I would stick with a slightly lower air pressure. I know you said you did not notice a difference, but the air pressure that you are running it at may be making it loosey goosey and less compliant with the road surface. Even new, a poorly made tire can cause stability problems. As others have said, getting proper springs and setting the pre-load correctly is the most important part in making a bike ride well. Other things are important too, like making sure the bolts aren't falling out and that steering and swing arm bearings are correctly adjusted. Many have had success removing the steering damper. Ride height is very important. Many have solved stability problems by lowering the front end. It is easy to do, just don't lower it so much that clearance between fender and oil cooler disappears. Lowering too much can make it handle too quickly and also you may find the sidestand scrapes too easily. But in general, it make the bike more stable. Of course it is also important to get the sag right, but start out by lowering the triple clamps down the forks. Once you do that, set the rear sag, and then come back and set the front sag, if needed. Lowering the rear end helps stability too, but again, don't over do it. Setting the rear laden sag to about 35mm should put the rear end at about the right height for a stable bike (laden sag is the difference in sag of the bike lifted in the air and the bike with rider in riding position). Setting the rear laden sag is pretty easy, but having an assistant helps, and you must take into account the stiction. Setting the rear sag to 35mm may allow the rear to bottom too easily. If that is the case you need a stiffer spring, but until you get one, you may need to increase the preload and the reduce the sag, just enough to nearly eliminate bottoming. The ideal rear sag is somewhere about 30-35mm laden, 10-15mm unladen sag, but opinions are all over the place on that... Getting back to the front, you of course followed my advice and your front is now lowered maybe 10mm from how the bike was delivered and the rear laden sag is set to 35-30mm. Measure the front laden sag. It also should be about 30-35mm. For a more stable bike, targeting 35mm laden sag would probably be ideal. If the difference between laden sag and unladen sag is more than 20mm, you might consider a stiffer spring, and the greater the difference, the greater the necessity to change the spring. Guzzitech sells som rising rate springs that seem to be a popular solution. But, assuming the spring is fine, but the sag is off, you will need to change the laden sag, by changing the preload. Change the preload by cutting a piece of PVC pipe to the right length. This is also a good opportunity to check the fluid level. Top off or drain off as necessary. Fork oil is supposed to be changed every 12,000 miles. Which brings us to fork oil selection. Select and oil or fluid with wide temperature stability that is the ideal viscosity. The Peter Verdone site that Ratchethack recommended gives a chart that can help you select. Note the one makers 10W is about as thick as anothers 15W. The ideal viscosity is one that allows the correct compression and rebound settings close to, but not at each setting minimum setting. Light viscosity moves better, and protects better. Remember, the fluid does not face the temperatures of an engine or transmission. If you need more damping adjust, don't simply put a thicker oil in. But also you don't want to go so thin that you lose the adjustability. If you look at the big chart here http://www.peterverdonedesigns.com/lowspeed.htm something around 20 centiStrokes at 40°C might be fine, but I am just guessing based on where the Marzocchi fluid is on that chart.... I am sure somebody can recommend something that they are happy with. But as always, your mileage may vary, and I am not an expert at this, I have mostly just read a lot of what the experts suggest. But I have been through three rear springs in search of the optimal. You might consider HyperPro springs as they are nearly a one size fits all spring. All you have to do is install and set the sag and the damping. Sorry about the long post. I wish there was one definitive site with perfect instructions, but I haven't found it yet, and if I made it, some will surely disagree as to its perfection, as I am sure they will disagree with this post.

That certainly makes sense to try that map as it matches your modifications better than the one not for the the Mistral X-over. I'd suspect the map is fine and that you need a good tuneup. But you could revert to the other map and see if it runs better again. When you load a map, or after tuning the bike, you should adjust the PCIII so that closed throttle reads 0 and wide open throttle reads 100.

This could be worth poll...

What full exhaust system are you using? Map selection should based on crossover, mufflers, and intake. You have the stock airbox and some unknown mufflers and crossovers? All the listings at guzzitech for "high flow" are for Daytonas, Centauros, etc., and not for V11s.

It sure does look cracked. They should have rated it "bad" not "best"!!!!!!!