Author Topic: DOH! (Read 7698 times)

jseemuth · « **on:** April 03, 2005, 09:30:11 PM »

Just took the Bandit ('00 B12) out for the first time today and it ran horrible, stumbling all over itself. Long story short, it appears I left the petcock on PRI for the entire winter. No, I have no idea why. I'm assuming I now have excess gas in the motor. Any advice on what I have to do to completely correct it without bringing it to the shop, if possible, would be appreciated.

Red01 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 03, 2005, 10:26:38 PM »

If the needle & seat assemblies on your carbs are working as they should, leaving it in "PRI" wouldn't let gas into the engine. If one or more of them is stuck open, or if a float has sunk (has fuel inside it), fuel could slowly dribble its way into the crankcase. If your oil level has gone up, or it smells like gas when you remove the oil filler cap, you've got gas in the crankcase. If that's the case, change the oil and filter and life will be good - once you fix the float needle & seat or float problem.

More likely problem:

If you let the bike sit for more than a month with fuel in the carbs (and with it left in "PRI" fuel would be in them), you're problem is at a minimum stale gas. The next stage is the gas turning into a varnish like substance that clogs/restricts jets.

snofrog · « **Reply #2 on:** April 03, 2005, 11:06:11 PM »

dont feel bad i had to change my plugs just to get it to fire after hibernation . all is good now just an oilchange and a coat of wax and she is ready

jseemuth · « **Reply #3 on:** April 03, 2005, 11:51:03 PM »

I added Sta-Bil in the recommended amount to the fuel prior to storage, so hopefully the gas is ok. I'll definitely check out the crankcase for any gas smell, thanks for the tip. A couple things I did notice I failed to mention ealier, though; after I got back to my garage and leaned it over on its sidestand (running) for a brief period, it seemed to clean out and rev just fine. Once I got back on it and rode only 20-30 yards, it started hesitating again. Restarts were also accompanied by a cloud of white (not blue) smoke.

Red01 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 04, 2005, 12:09:31 AM »

White is usually water. Since the B6/12 aren't water cooled, the only water source would be condensation in the exhaust. That should be gone after a few miles of riding, once the pipe gets warm enough to boil it all out.

OTOH, white can be excessive richness, which is what I'd suspect if it doesn't go away as described above. This richness would certainlly be something you could smell if you nose around the tailpipe. Said float problems could cause this.

Slider · « **Reply #5 on:** April 04, 2005, 01:11:44 AM »

Gasoline is sort of a crude cocktail of short and long chain hydrocarbons available to the refiners each day, that burn and satisfy octane requirements. This includes short chain volatiles as short as propane & butane, (in the winter), the mid length decanes etc. and longer chain oils and stuff that are small enough in percentage to not normally matter. Plus a few additives -anyone out there in the fuel biz please correct.
Normally there is evaporation of the fuel in the carb float bowls during the winter, especially if you don't use the carb drain screws. This causes some crabbies in the spring with the low to non volatiles left in the bottom. The trouble with PRI left on is that more gas comes in and more crud is left. This can plug the tiny low speed jets to varying extents and cause bitchy low end performance.
I had this happen on other engines.
You could try a cheap cure by getting carb cleaner at your local auto shop. You dump this stuff in the gas tank and run it for awhile. I tried this once, quadruple strength and it did work, but not on a Bandit. Otherwise, you may need to yank the carbs and clean the jets and bowls.
Fuel in the crank will affect engine life but will not make the motor run as crabily as you mentioned.

jseemuth · « **Reply #6 on:** April 04, 2005, 11:54:06 AM »

Unfortunately, it looks like rain and 40's here for the next few days, so I won't be riding much. I'll change the oil as I do in the spring every year anyways, and probably try the mega-dose of carb cleaner in some new gas. Guess I'll be on the Ascot until then. Thanks for the input.

land_shark · « **Reply #7 on:** April 04, 2005, 11:56:40 AM »

I know that running an engine with sta-bil can be a little rough (sputtering, robbed power, etc) Considering how lean these bandits run, too much of an additive (such as sta-bil) can muck things up a bit. Although it's probably not the only issue, it may be compounding things. I'd try running with a fresh tank.

jseemuth · « **Reply #8 on:** April 04, 2005, 08:18:46 PM »

Bike ran fine last spring with same amount of StaBil in it. However, last summer I had a DynoJet stage 1 kit installed, but I assume they are richer (first winter with it installed, though). I'll probably take your advice and just drain and refuel it; I can always use the other stuff in the lawnmower. I suppose a little Sea Foam couldn't hurt either.

B12Teuton · « **Reply #9 on:** April 05, 2005, 09:26:55 AM »

Quote from: "jseemuth"

last summer I had a DynoJet stage 1 kit installed.

ding ding
Although Dynojet has been around for a long time and make great kits for many bikes, the Bandit is not a prime example. Pretty much everyone I've ever heard from has had a bad experiance trying to use a Dynojet kit on a Bandit. They just don't seem to run well.

jseemuth · « **Reply #10 on:** April 05, 2005, 01:12:35 PM »

I'm not going to blame Dynojet yet, as the bike ran beautifully for all of last summer with the stage 1 kit. It got rid of the cold-blooded nature of the beast and the off-throttle hesitation. I'm thinking it's more my fault for being a dope and leaving the petcock in the wrong postion all winter.

jseemuth · « **Reply #11 on:** April 18, 2005, 05:43:23 PM »

Well, I've done all I feel capable of, basically all of the suggestions given, with no luck. Off to the dealer, who of course can't look at it until early May. I'll post their findings when I get it back.

99er · « **Reply #12 on:** April 19, 2005, 06:29:55 PM »

Crap! This is terrible. Someone running to the stealer? Isn't there a Bandit pro somewhere near Superior WI who can help out this lad?

I'd make sure before I went to the dealer that I had fresh plugs in, fully drained the tank and refilled it, and ran it through the carbs for a while with their drains open to flush the bowls. If that didn't work, I'd pull the carbs, remove all jets, and clean the passages with brake cleaner and compressed air. The Bandit's such a simple cycle. You can do it all yourself. Don't throw cash away on a stealer that has probably worked on one less of them than you have.

Too bad you're not in Atlanta...
Marc/Atl
'99 B12

snofrog · « **Reply #13 on:** April 19, 2005, 07:58:02 PM »

Quote from: "99er"

Crap! This is terrible. Someone running to the stealer? Isn't there a Bandit pro somewhere near Superior WI who can help out this lad?

thats one of the first things i looked at to see if he/you were near me. i`ve had more than one carb on the bench
hehe my 9 yr old twins can field strip a mikuni vm and diagnose it , wife is not impressed her daughter is working on sleds and bikes with me

i`m proud of them though

M

notagix · « **Reply #14 on:** April 20, 2005, 12:45:04 PM »

I just put a dynojet kit in last winter and took it out for a ride for the first time ...IT RIPS!! I have a Hindle slip on, and stock air box, only thing is milage sucked dropped from 47 mpg (imp gal) to 35 mpg, so I pulled out the DJ needles and shimmed the stockers left DJ mains in, now I think I've got the milage back and it still rips @ WOT.