What did you do to your V11 today?

[PhillipLarsen]

2004 Ballabio around 18k miles on it, recently replaced the Gianelli exhaust with the original exhaust still new so could take the wife for a ride ( she insisted as wanted a video to show friends, both her and her cousin). 
The bike has always been serviced regularly with all 3 oil changes, filters (air and oil), drive shaft off for greasing, calipers and master cylinders rebuilt, brake pads, etc. Getting new Michelin Road 6’s this week (has pilot 2 ct2+ that are finished). 
Found there was a slight hesitation or misfire sometimes when rolling on the throttle between 1800 and 2200 rpm. Seemed more frequent when hotter out, and becoming more frequent over a few hundred miles. Decided I should prepare to do the “Decent Tuneup” and while I assemble the needed items I would proceed with step 1.

Spark plugs and tappet clearances. A real surprise. Plug gap was about .040/ .041 with the plugs looking in good shape  ( likely about 6 k miles since last look)

Tappets .011/.013 Int / Ex ( likely 10 k miles since last checked)

Installed new plugs .028 (have a box of them).

Set the tappers to .006/.008.  
Went for a 150 mile ride. No more misfire or cough at low engine rpm throttle roll on. So nice. 
 

 

[activpop]

13 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

I personally wouldn't leave the bike overnight without oil in it. I drain the oil, replace the filter ( pre charged) fill the oil and start it as soon as practicable. 

Phil

12 hours with oiled non-moving metals? What would be the problem? 

[Lucky Phil]

2 hours ago, activpop said:

12 hours with oiled non-moving metals? What would be the problem? 

The Guzzi BB engine has a history of losing the prime to the oil pump. It's not a really common thing but it's happened enough times for me to not leave them draining overnight and to prime the filter. It's never a good idea to leave any engine without oil for extended periods of time with the pickup uncovered. Holden 253 V8's were another example of an engine that could lose it's prime during oil changes and the only way to rectify it was to remove the pump disassemble it and fill it with grease. same methodology I used when assembling my Daytona engine which is basically a BB bottom end.

Phil

[activpop]

It was filled and started earlier today. The red oil light would have stayed on if there was no pressure I assume.  Warmed it up and upped the rpm a bit, shut it down and turned ignition immediately back on. Oil pressure holds for 3 to 4 seconds, then light pops on again. Seems all is well. Won't do it that way again though. I thought I had the oil but I was wrong. Thanks for the tip.

[gstallons]

One of my best friends had a 320i that set a couple of years . he went to start it and the oil light would NOT go out . He would let it start/run a minute at a time and the light would never go out. I went to his house , removed the oil press. switch , had him start the car . In a few seconds , oil was going everywhere . Reinstalled the switch and closed the hood.

 These oil pressure switches are not hard to remove on these bikes . It is easier to remove than the engine. If your light will not go out in about 3 seconds , stop the bike and start troubleshooting. 

[Lucky Phil]

2 hours ago, gstallons said:

One of my best friends had a 320i that set a couple of years . he went to start it and the oil light would NOT go out . He would let it start/run a minute at a time and the light would never go out. I went to his house , removed the oil press. switch , had him start the car . In a few seconds , oil was going everywhere . Reinstalled the switch and closed the hood.

 These oil pressure switches are not hard to remove on these bikes . It is easier to remove than the engine. If your light will not go out in about 3 seconds , stop the bike and start troubleshooting. 

The pressure switch is on the delivery side of the pump. If the pump is not picking up oil removing the pressure switch won't do anything except give you access to that side of the pump and use a syringe of oil to try and prime the pump from the delivery side. That or clamp the breather hose and pressurise the crankcase with 5 psi of shop air. Or pull the pump and pack it with grease. Either way better to avoid the issue in the first place by making the oil and filter change as short in duration as possible.

Phil 

 

[gstallons]

Are you saying the switch is on the suction or pressure side of the oil circuit ?

[gstallons]

My struggles with the black frame continues . the gasoline in this bike was worse than anything I've seen in 55 yrs. I am gonna remove the throttle bodies , send the fuel injectors to have them inspected . Remove the pressure regulator  and test it.. Whew.  

The moral of the story . Watch where you buy gasoline . You know what I mean !

[Lucky Phil]

On 7/14/2024 at 9:45 PM, gstallons said:

Are you saying the switch is on the suction or pressure side of the oil circuit ?

No but removing  a pressure switch on the delivery side of the oiling circuit and therefore creating an open delivery circuit won't help the fact the pump has an air lock on the suction side of the circuit. Using a syringe to pump oil from the delivery side into the pump, primes the pump and also the suction side if you are lucky so it will no longer be devoid of oil and the pump will be primed and be able to suck oil. Your experience with your friends car was almost certainly a bit of good fortune and the pump just needed more running to prime.  

 

Phil

[audiomick]

Nothing on the V11 today. I rode it a few days ago. No change: it still works and it still has the dreaded constant-rev splutter. I had hoped that might have magically healed itself, but no luck there.

 

Today I took the Breva 750 out for a couple of hours. I'm happy to be able to report that the rev-limiter works reliably and accurately every time.

[gstallons]

audiomick , please check the spark plug wires to ground using a DVOM . You are testing the secondary side of the coil , the plug wire and the cap. also , there is a resistor in the spark plug . You can test the terminal at the top of the plug to the center electrode to verify a good resistor in the plug. If you get infinite reading , you will find (probably) an open in the circuit. Mine was an open in the spark plug cap. They unscrew and you can pick up a new one at any good bike shop.

[PhillipLarsen]

Replaced the standard size Michelin Pilot Power 2CT’s (Front had 12k Kms. (7200 miles) Rear 10k Kms (6200 miles) with Road 6’s 120/70ZR17 and 180/55ZR17. 
Have had it for a couple rides from Vancouver to Whistler return on Sea to Sky Hwy (sea level to 2200 ft) 150 miles round trip of nice twisty road. 
The 2CTs were finished, but I had really liked how sticky they were. 
The Road 6’s seem very nice handling, but comparing new to old is not really a fair evaluation. The Road 6’s are pricey compared to other option but wanted to try them to see how they do. 

[audiomick]

On 7/21/2024 at 7:00 PM, gstallons said:

audiomick , please check the spark plug wires to ground using a DVOM . ...

Thanks, I'll look at that. I'm planning on looking at everything I can think of, but am having trouble finding the time to do it.

Plugs, by the way, are new, so I don't think there is a problem with them specifically.

[Tomchri]

On 7/21/2024 at 4:31 PM, audiomick said:

Nothing on the V11 today. I rode it a few days ago. No change: it still works and it still has the dreaded constant-rev splutter. I had hoped that might have magically healed itself, but no luck there.

 

Today I took the Breva 750 out for a couple of hours. I'm happy to be able to report that the rev-limiter works reliably and accurately every time.

Timing - TPS issues. Can't remember, did you change the mapping ?  Seems you are capable of handling COMPUTERS, I'm not. A good friend and some toying with the ECU. AMAZING what can be done.   Good luck with getting rid of that kangaroo ride.

Cheers Tom.

[audiomick]

7 minutes ago, Tomchri said:

...did you change the mapping ? ...

No. All I've done up to now is new plugs, vavle clearance, set the TPS, look at connectors to see if they look ok, that sort of stuff.

One of the next things will be to look at the various sensors, and go back to the beginning and do the "decent tune up" again.

 

PS: Computers, yes, I can get along with them well enough mostly. Not that I'm a genius or anything, but doing the work I do, dealing with slightly "out of the envelope" computer applications is a matter of course.

Edited July 22 by audiomick