Thanks for the help everybody.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Squid
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2
From: /\/¯¯¯¯\/\/ Strand
Thanks for the help everybody.
I have been a member of this forum for quite some time, and can be considered more of a lurker than a participator. I own a 1998 Honda VTR1000F Firestorm (SuperHawk) to the USA guys.
I had the bike for 5 years. Last year the bike was not driven for about a year with limited finances to have it services. Eventually, I got the money together, bought the oil filter spark plugs, and did the service myself. When I got everything going again, there was a problem, with the back carb just leaking out fuel.
I searched this forum, and eventually came to the conclusion that I would have to open the Carbs and clean them. I did that to the back Carb, and the leaking stopped.
I then had the bike going, but it was backfiring like crazy. Not the normal little backfires that we get, but the whole bang thing. It was also difficult to determine what I was doing (accelerating or decelerating) when the backfiring occurred as it was inconsistent. 
Eventually after a lot of reading I opened the Carbs again, in particular the back Carburetor, and found the problem. The small Jet was blocked, by a little black piece of gunk a little bigger than the point of a needle. I removed it and my backfiring was gone. Yet there was another problem. At about 5500 revs I would hit a dead spot with very little power, I could push trough it though. At around 7000 rpm it was running quite smooth, but at 9000 rpm, there was a dead spot again.
I drove the bike like this for about 6000 KM’s, and reached a point where I just had enough. Whenever I needed urgent power in traffic, I would have to go through this shaking period first. I then again searched this forum and found all kind of solutions to similar problems. During the carburetor ordeal I did determine that I have a 45 front Jet with a 190 back one, with a K&N Air filter. What I found from the info on the forum was that either there was too much air, or too much fuel. (But which one).
Then I saw a suggestion either drill holes in the air box (Which I did not want to do, since I was not sure what my problem was),
or to remove the snorkel from the air box. I went for the removal of the snorkel, since I knew I could always put it back if it is not the problem. The flat spot then just worsened, but to such an extent that I could feel what the problem was. When I hit these flat spots, the bike was only running on one cylinder. Ok cool, progress again, and I determined this time it was the front cylinder that caused the issue.
So this past weekend, I decided to remove the Carbs again, to have a look at the front one, and if this does not solve it, the next step would be to look at the spark plugs. I took off the Carbs, and again found some black gunk in the main jet holes on the side. I removed and clean everything on both Carbs. And there was my perfect bike back again. I am ecstatically overjoyed.
It was a long and painful process, but this forum has contributed a lot. I did not open a new thread while experiencing the problem, since this issue was discussed to death already, but the discussions helped a lot.
So all in all I just want to thank the people of this forum, since you helped me without even knowing it. There was a point where I thought I would have to save up some money and take the bike to a professional, or just sell the bike. Now all those thoughts are gone, and I am a happy rider again. I love my VTR.
So the moral of the story, If you open the Carbs, take it apart properly, and clean everything properly all in one go. It would have saved me months of frustration.
A happy lurker.
Hope this can help someone else.
I had the bike for 5 years. Last year the bike was not driven for about a year with limited finances to have it services. Eventually, I got the money together, bought the oil filter spark plugs, and did the service myself. When I got everything going again, there was a problem, with the back carb just leaking out fuel.
I searched this forum, and eventually came to the conclusion that I would have to open the Carbs and clean them. I did that to the back Carb, and the leaking stopped.
I then had the bike going, but it was backfiring like crazy. Not the normal little backfires that we get, but the whole bang thing. It was also difficult to determine what I was doing (accelerating or decelerating) when the backfiring occurred as it was inconsistent. Eventually after a lot of reading I opened the Carbs again, in particular the back Carburetor, and found the problem. The small Jet was blocked, by a little black piece of gunk a little bigger than the point of a needle. I removed it and my backfiring was gone. Yet there was another problem. At about 5500 revs I would hit a dead spot with very little power, I could push trough it though. At around 7000 rpm it was running quite smooth, but at 9000 rpm, there was a dead spot again. I drove the bike like this for about 6000 KM’s, and reached a point where I just had enough. Whenever I needed urgent power in traffic, I would have to go through this shaking period first. I then again searched this forum and found all kind of solutions to similar problems. During the carburetor ordeal I did determine that I have a 45 front Jet with a 190 back one,
with a K&N Air filter. What I found from the info on the forum was that either there was too much air, or too much fuel. (But which one).Then I saw a suggestion either drill holes in the air box (Which I did not want to do, since I was not sure what my problem was),
or to remove the snorkel from the air box. I went for the removal of the snorkel, since I knew I could always put it back if it is not the problem. The flat spot then just worsened, but to such an extent that I could feel what the problem was. When I hit these flat spots, the bike was only running on one cylinder. Ok cool, progress again, and I determined this time it was the front cylinder that caused the issue.So this past weekend, I decided to remove the Carbs again, to have a look at the front one, and if this does not solve it, the next step would be to look at the spark plugs. I took off the Carbs, and again found some black gunk in the main jet holes on the side. I removed and clean everything on both Carbs. And there was my perfect bike back again. I am ecstatically overjoyed.
It was a long and painful process, but this forum has contributed a lot. I did not open a new thread while experiencing the problem, since this issue was discussed to death already, but the discussions helped a lot. So all in all I just want to thank the people of this forum, since you helped me without even knowing it. There was a point where I thought I would have to save up some money and take the bike to a professional, or just sell the bike. Now all those thoughts are gone, and I am a happy rider again. I love my VTR.
So the moral of the story, If you open the Carbs, take it apart properly, and clean everything properly all in one go. It would have saved me months of frustration.
A happy lurker.
Hope this can help someone else.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Squid
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2
From: /\/¯¯¯¯\/\/ Strand
Thanks Dan Cronin and comedo. I can do a lot of handy stuff, but I am not that good with motor mechanics. I was quite pleased with myself for sorting out this problem, and the fact that if it happens again, I will be able to fix it. Like you said, the bike just feels as if it rides much better now that I sorted the problem.
By the way, the fuel consumption has also improved. I have not measured yet, but I use it on my daily commute and at the kilometers where the fuel light would normally come on it is not on yet.
Like you said, the bike just feels as if it rides much better now that I sorted the problem.By the way, the fuel consumption has also improved. I have not measured yet, but I use it on my daily commute and at the kilometers where the fuel light would normally come on it is not on yet.
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Apr 13, 2010 07:08 PM
