Carb issues
 

Okay Carb Guru's, I'll try to make this short but also provide as much information as possible... 2001 superhawk 100% stock with 8 holes drilled in exhaust baffles. Bike has always idled fine/okay, plenty of power... but if you BLIP the throttle it seems a little "boggy"(not immediate throttle response, I plan on doing the TPS adjust) after revving up over 2k-3k you release the throttle and the RPM's hang around 2k for a few seconds before returning to idle. The other day i start my bike up in the driveway, pulled choke, let her warm up, turn choke off, bike idled as normal... drive 5 minutes to the gas station and fuel up... bike starts to run like CRAP, i thought "ohh no ive just got bad gas with water in my tank"... continued to ride with the bike popping,backfiring,hitching,lurching... almost like im running on 1 cylinder then 2, then 1, then 2 etc... stopped along my way and added some "dry-gas" hoping the water would work itself out, no such luck so i headed home to try and diagnose this problem further... i pulled the gas tank off and looked into my airbox, i see a dirty filter and one of the 2 sponge filters is MISSING completely... GREAT... start further disassembly knowing i likely have to clean the carbs... as i remove the airbox i see that on the rear carb the plastic choke fitting that holds the choke cable/needle to the carb body is broken and the spring/needle are now almost fully out of their proper position... SO ! I've ordered some new BRASS choke fittings from Jack-Flash to remedy that problem, but my main question is... Will a broken choke fitting cause these symptoms ? do i NEED to open the carbs to clean them ? Or where should i go from here ? I'd love some input from any and all carb guru's PLEASE !!

It sure won't hurt to tear 'em down and clean. Maybe not necessary but with being that deep I think you'd be crazy not to. Especially considering your "boggy" description.

Water does cause the popping and such. We get it frequently @ work. Usually draw the old stuff out, refill with fresh treated with an ethanol stabilizer. Also drain the carbs with this screw:
Attachment 21211

So do you think it's water ? I'll drain the carbs and fill the gas tank with fuel from my municipal airport nearby (those guys get pretty serious about good clean gas)... Would a broken choke fitting NOT cause any symptoms like this ? Also, a small side-note, i feel like my exhaust pipes get REALLY hot, like a faint glowing red at night... Would that indicate a lean running condition ? And I assume im going to have to sync the carbs after all of this right ? If so is there a specific type of sync tool that i should buy/what would you recommend?... Also, why can't i ever see any pictures anyone posts ? It always says please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting

Yes (lean)! Don't run it like that (header getting red). Get that choke fixed...

Use the Go Advance button to attach pics.

I think he means he cant see pictures that others have posted. I have noticed this lately myself with pictures from several long term members including you and Eric.

Oh!! Yeah, photobucket is being an arsehole!

Sounds like the choke cable and or air leak on the boots. If the choke is messed up then yeah fix it. If you even suspect water, you gotta drain the tank to dry and start fresh. Water is heavier so if you leave any liquid in the tank it will be the water.

IMHO you don't need to do a crazy thing like dig into the carbs til you eliminate the other issues (choke then gas tank)

The worlds best, longest most PIA and expensive carb clean is worthless since all the crud and water from the tank will reclog everything in the first minute of running.

If you feel like tinkering, install some fuel filters. This will eliminate a lot of the dirty tank issues. Plus a $5 10 minute filter beats a $400 3hr carb clean on any planet.

Fuel filters ! Thats a great idea, is there any reason i SHOULDN'T put on some in-line fuel filters ? It wont restrict the flow of gas to these thirsty carbs will it ? I put in-line filters on all of my dirtbikes since many of them don't come from the factory with filters and they spend their whole lives in... DIRT... the thought of putting them on the superhawk hadn't crossed my mind yet honestly...

Been using them for years on my hawks and racebikes. Saves you untold zillions (approx.) of hours of fixing problems you never needed to experience. I have won races against garagemates who didn't heed the suggestion and clogged a jet mid race.

Okay, awesome... i really appreciate your input !

Ok, I've got more to add to this thread... I pulled the carbs, opened them up and cleaned them (they were nearly spotless inside) Received my new brass choke fittings from JackFlash and installed them (thanks jack!). Adjusted TPS to 505 OHMS, removed pilot screws and slotted them with a dremel. no change in factory jet sizes but i did set the front pilot 2.25 turns out and rear 2.5 turns out... also installed boost joint on front cyl for vac hookup and a "T" for the the fuel petcock. reassembled the bike, set idle to 1,000 rpms+- and did the carb sync... bike idled and purrrrrred like a kitten, revs and throttle response from idle was pretty nice too. So i said to myself hey ill throw the seat on and take it for a test ride ! as soon as i pulled out of my driveway and put the engine under full load the bike had almost the same symptoms as before, sort of firing on 1 cylinder, then 2, 1,2,1 etc... decided i should turn back to my house, progressively started running worse, full throttle resulted in no speed gain and the bike just felt like CRAP, finally died completely with one last POW !(backfire) tried to start the bike again and the battery was dead ! dim lights and no crank... My questions are... Does anyone think this could be related to the R/R ? A voltage test said battery was 11.2V and crank the motor it dropped to like 3-4V... I've had the battery on a charger for a day now to see if i can start the bike and measure running/charging voltage. But in the meantime does anyone believe this could still be fuel related ? i mean it ran pretty darn good in the garage ?? I feel very lucky to have this site (and all of you "pros") to help me along, and I've read just about every thread you could imagine but i'm just a little lost right now, the R/R failing would just be a very weird coincidence alongside the choke fitting going bad, but stranger things have happened i guess... any input is always appreciated

http://cl.ly/252A0z0K0V1u/vtr-R-R-smallish.png

http://cl.ly/3N1Y2m2o0335/download/f...ng-diagram.pdf

Thanks Wicky ! that's very helpful... i'll be on my way to buy a new battery tomorrow, because after a full day of charging (and my charger indicating it was full) the bike failed to start... got a solid 30 seconds of turning the engine over until the battery voltage dropped to 10-ish Volts then nothing but clicking from the starter... i suspect a bad battery AND bad R/R... anyone else wanna throw ideas at me ?? I'm all ears...

Do the battery and check volts but yeah RR is likely.

I keep a spare R1 RR on the shelf just in case one dies. And they all do......

here's the new R/R i have... waiting to install after a new battery... can anyone confirm that this is the one i want to put in ??

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Vo...53.m2749.l2649

That looks fine. Good to replace those plugs too. Solder connections where needed..

That should work fine. Haven't seen any at that price before. Wonder if it's a Chinese knock off (hell maybe the "real" ones are made in China too).
If the ebay photo is accurate, you will be short 2 each of the grommets/seals on the battery/ground side connector. Also the terminals are open barrel type and unless you have the proper crimping tool you will have to crimp with pliers? very carefully.
Not sure what the coils of light gauge wire are for. Don't remember using any on my install. The fuse holder IIRC is in line, straight to the battery. Doesn't look like near enough wire.
What I would do, this is OCD talking, is either: buy the kit, bin everything but the R/R and order a R/R wire kit from Terminals-Connectors-Accessories
or R/R Connectors or find the same R/R from an R1 on ebay and order the wire kits from one of the two vendors of your choice.

Thanks guys, my previous bike was a CBR600 so this is NOT my first encounter with Honda's terrible R/R units haha ! It looks to me like i've got everything i need in this kit to do the job... i was just going to cut stock harness off, crimp/solder connections for new harnesses and find a way to mount this monstrosity of a R/R... I'm not planning on using the inline fuse or any of the "extra" stuff, just hook everything up somewhat close to the way Honda sent it from the factory... Again, I really appreciate all of you "pros" helping me along !

Hey MaineHawk do you live in Maine? I have a lot of race buddies that live there since my home track is Loudon NH.

Looks like the 2 small wires are for the low level connections but I would change to all better wire. Things like wire are at a premium in China so they tend to skimp.

If you install the fuse NEVER ride without spares, but you should always carry main fuses and spares too.

Yes, you guessed it, I hail from the great state of Maine... never stepped foot on a real race track, but alot of the empty back roads here make great "make shift" tracks lol... When you say "low level connections" what exactly do you mean ? I have plenty of 14Ga wire on hand, are you saying i should completely re-do the wiring from the stator harness(under the seat) to the new R/R ? And spare fuses... YES ! probably a great idea for me to tuck a few under the seat...

Meaning it looks like your kit maker thinks 2 of the wires should be thinner or are lower amp levels but I would make it all new wires. Crimped properly or soldered.

I have rescued many a stranded biker by having fuses on my bike at all times as well as rescuing myself a lot. Cant overstate this. Put them in a small pouch under the seat or whatever.

I cut out my whole underseat plastic and built a trunk that holds tools, tire plugs, CO2 cartridges, and a lithium jump starter. Oh and a ton of fuses.

Damn joe, you're quite the engineer ! I'll be packing some extra fuses for sure... and as for the wiring i'll be running new 14Ga wires from the stator harness to the R/R and then new +/- wires to the battery... i did this on my cbr and it COMPLETELY got rid of the electrical gremlins that had apparently plagued that bike for many owners before me (it came with maintenance records that indicated multiple R/R and battery changes) I put in a new stator, cut out and soldered the wires at the stator/rr harness (harnesses were all charred and melted and figured if i got a new harness i'd probably be in the same boat years down the road) and jumpep up to 14 Ga wire on all of it... My wife has been running that CBR for years now with no electrical problems(knocks on wood)...

Ok so i just installed my new battery, took the bike 20 seconds or so of cranking to start up, it needed/wanted no choke at all from cold engine to start ?!? this has never been my experience with this bike at all, it usually needs full choke until about 140-150F engine temp to be happy idling... but then again i've made some changes, TPS set, carb sync, pilot screw adj. etc... Anyways with the bike started my voltage readings are 14.3V STEADY ?!? I'm in the process of putting on the new R/R i got just for "S&G'S" but this does not seem to be my problem at this point... FWIW i changed my spark plugs today too, i don't have pictures of the actual plugs yet (and they are at least 4yrs old) but they looked very black, like carbon fouled or oil fouled and smelled of gas a little bit... so now i'm wondering, am i running rich even though i've got stock 45 pilots set at 2.25 T/O front, and 2.5 T/O rear ? nothing makes sense to me any more !

Nightmare OVER ! Turns out replacing the battery and the R/R has cured my problems after all ! Took it for a test ride and smoooooooth power all the way up through the rev range, it's back to the superhawk i've always known, with the exception of the idle being smoother and also a little smoother power delivery from idle like taking off in 1st gear etc... I will pull the brand new spark plugs tomorrow to see if they tell me anything as far as being lean/rich but i doubt i'll be able to tune this beast any better in my garage/without a dyno... Once again thanks to everyone who contributes knowledge on this site, IT'S AWESOME !

Sounds like me last week getting a new battery.

Well, my work here is done. Now to repack that muffler......

Really no mystery on the blackened plugs. You stated that it was running on one cylinder intermittently. Probably trading of on which cylinder didn't fire. Simple, no low voltage, no high voltage.
Happy to hear you've solved the problem. The SH1T (do you suppose that Shindengen knew what they were making when they gave it that part number?) R/R has caused many a headache.