Mechanical question from a new quzzi owner

[Greedyfly]

Hello,

 

I just made it back from a 50 mile ride on my new to me guzzi. IIt is my first motorcycle and I am not the most mechanically inclined person so forgive my descriptions.

 

I usually do all my car repairs with a chiltons manual in hand. Have done tune ups, routine maintenance, changed half shafts, and some clutch work. That is about the extent of my technical knowledge. I have a decent set of hand tools and hope to learn how to work on my motorcycle.

 

The Problem:

 

For the last few weeks I have noticed a hesitation around 3000-3500 rpms. It was an intermittent type thing, but today became almost constant. It also started to backfare, not loudly but noticable. When starting from a dead stop I killed the engine 3 times, which is something else I haven't done since the first day I got the bike. In order to keep the engine running when starting from a dead stop I was having to use a lot of throttle. That was when I decided to come home. About 6-10 miles from the house, after coming to a stop, the engine oil light came on briefly then went off as I was shifting into 2nd gear. So I pulled the bike off the road and started wondering around it. When looking at the bike from the right side, I noticed a trail of smoke croming from the fuel side of the cylinger around where the rubber piece clamps between the throttle linkage and the cylinder. AFter the engine cooled for a bit I used a key to push on the rubber clamp and was able to sliide the key inbetween the rubber coupling and the pipe opening. I drove the bike straight home and the engine oil light never came on again, nor did the engine smell hot when I arrived. So my quesstion is ....is the fix as simple as re clamping the rubber coupling and checking the oil or is there something else I could have damaged?

 

 

Shawn

[Ballacraine]

From the information given you have a large air leak on the inlet. This will cause the symptoms you are describing.

 

Check the condition of the inlet rubber and re-connect securely. Check both sides to be on the safe side.

 

Then try it.

 

Hopefully you should be 'Good to go!'

 

Do not overfill with oil BTW. If these newer beasts are anything like the old Tonti Guzzis they will pump it out and can blow seals.

 

I am not about to take the chance on that with mine anyway.

 

Regards,

 

Nige.

[stormsedge]

Shawn, agree that retightening the clamps should do the trick...you can spray a little carb cleaner in the area with the motor running to see if you got them secure. If you find that you actually have a cracked rubber btwn TPS and intake horns, the changeout is pretty simple. (It takes about 20-30 minutes). Another cause may be that your valves are set too close. Most here seem to use .004 in Intake / .006 in Exhaust although some cams / engine shops use up to .008 in / .010 in. The bikes are typically delivered (U.S.) with very tight clearances. I'd be careful of that oil light...a couple of strings here about that. Did it show when the bike tried to stall? k

[Greedyfly]

Shawn, agree that retightening the clamps should do the trick...you can spray a little carb cleaner in the area with the motor running to see if you got them secure.  If you find that you actually have a cracked rubber btwn TPS and intake horns, the changeout is pretty simple. (It takes about 20-30 minutes).  Another cause may be that your valves are set too close.  Most here seem to use .004 in Intake / .006 in Exhaust although some cams / engine shops use up to .008 in / .010 in.  The bikes are typically delivered (U.S.) with very tight clearances. I'd be careful of that oil light...a couple of strings here about that.  Did it show when the bike tried to stall? k

53651[/snapback]

 

 

Yes, the oil light only came on when it the bike was about to stall and went out immediately after giving it some gas. There is oil above the min line on the dipstick, but it is not at maximum. After reading through the forums though, it seems that many folks aren't keeping the oil at the max level anyway. I read a lot about the oil "finding its own level"

 

Am going out not to re clamp the rubber coupling and take it for a test spin.

 

Shawn

[Greedyfly]

Tightened the clamp and she is running like new...

 

Did notice the oil light come on once during rapid acceleration from a stop. It also went out after a second or two. Rode the bike to the dealer and he said the oil level is fine. I have read somewhere on here that the oil light might come on when you really goose it and I wonder if that is what is happening.

 

Shawn

[jrt]

It can happen if either the oil pickup runs out of oil (a quick stop is a good candidate for this) or if the rpms drop too low. If the rpms drop down to ~700, the oil pressure will drop below the pressure indicator level.

 

 

Edit: I was looking for a graph of pressure vs. rpm but I just can't find it. Therefore, take the 700rpm number with a grain of salt. And it's a problem if the light stays off more than a second or so. If that's the case- seriously look into why. There are rare, but documented cases of oil-pump failure.

[Martin Barrett]

my oil sender failed - was good news - see shock horror thread , and was replaced. I can't shed any light on what went wrong with it. so not much use here. Other than to say the switches can be suspect