Author Topic: troubles with a 97 bandit 600 (Read 7726 times)

bandits600ny · « **on:** May 30, 2007, 05:09:54 AM »

hey guys i'm new to the board

My friend bought a 97 bandit 600s with 11k miles and a few days later while he was riding it on the highway it started running really crappy, had no power and felt like it was running on 1 cylinder, wouldn't restart. The next day I had the bike at my place and charged the battery and was able to get it running, I rode it around for about 3 miles and it seemed to run fine but on the way back it wouldn't idle above 600rpms and would stall after 3 seconds. difficult to get it restarted. also from 600rpms to about 3,000 it would sputter and didn't want to rev.

Today I took the bike out and after a few miles it started to lose all power, wouldn't rev up and felt like it was running on 1 cylinder, stalled and wouldn't restart. After looking around on the bike for a possible problem I noticed the fuel petcock has 3 positions "on", "reserve" and "primary", well i noticed it was in the "on" position so I switched it over to "primary" and the bike started right up, no more low rpm sputter, runs great and pulls to redline.

Now... I've searched around on this board and correct me if i'm wrong but the "on" and "reserve" are actually vacuum operated but the "primary" position is not? What could have failed exactly if it will only run good on the primary position? is there any harm in leaving it like that for the time being? I'd like to be able to fix it eventually if I can because if it did run out of gas then the reserve wouldn't work.

anyway, sorry for the long post

ALSO: is it normal for the clutch on these bikes to disengage really far out? If I let the clutch lever out to get moving, it's almost completely out before the bike starts moving, it also feels like the clutch is slipping at higher rpms it will suddenly rev up but you can feel the bike lose speed and the front end drops down. I suppose it needs a new clutch?

chupacabra · « **Reply #1 on:** May 30, 2007, 05:58:20 AM »

Did you run it on reserve? Sounds like the fuel level maybe too low for ON. If you leave it on primary and your carb float needles are in poor shape, fuel can fill the float bowl and overflow and fill your crankcase. Turn petcock to ON when your not running the motor.
Yes thats normal for the clutch to disengage like that.

ZenMan · « **Reply #2 on:** May 30, 2007, 07:57:21 AM »

Actually, the "PRI" stands for "prime". In the PRI position, it is wide open for gas flow, whether the engine is running or not.

If it's running crappy in the other two positions, which depend on engine vaccum to open, then it could be a vaccum hose problem, or the petcock itself is bad.

Sounds like the bike is running out of fuel. I would check the vaccum lines, and the petcock. You can actually test the petcock by sucking on the vaccum hose, with the fuel line unplugged, to see if it opens the valve in the "ON" and "RES" positions. If fuel begins flowing when you apply vaccum, then the problem is there is no vaccum getting to it... either the hose is plugged, it leaks, or it's hooked up wrong.

Make sure there's plenty of gas in the tank!

stormi · « **Reply #3 on:** May 30, 2007, 01:32:22 PM »

Also, with the bike running, open up the gas cap. If you hear a whoosh of air, there's also a line blocked... or the seal is funky.

Either way, like Zen said, it really sounds like you're not getting gas to the carbs. I had a similar problem with the B4 in the mountains. I'd put the tankbag over the gas cap and she started bogging and stalling, and I couldn't make her idle or rev. Removed the bag, and all was fine. (Which is a really good thing when you're about 100miles from the nearest auto shop, and about 200mi from the nearest bike shop, and without more than the basic tools under the seat.)

Red01 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 30, 2007, 05:06:37 PM »

Check it in RES, if it runs fine in RES & PRI and there's plenty of gas in the tank, another possibility is the fuel filter, built into the petcock, sticking up inside the tank, is clogged at the levels ON picks up at. RES & PRI both pick up from the bottom, ON picks up a little higher.

bandits600ny · « **Reply #5 on:** May 30, 2007, 05:13:54 PM »

well I went out and the bike started right up, I did check the gas level with a flashlight and there are 2 tubes sticking up out of the petcock, there's a large one, and another one a little smaller than half the size of the other. The gas level is half way down the larger tube. (am I seeing the fuel filter you're talking about being the top half of this larger tube?)

if that's the case then it does look like it ran out of gas for the "on" position"

the gas tank seems to be venting fine, no sound when I opened it, you can smell gas fumes coming out if you smell near the cap

I also noticed there is a LOT of crap in the gas tank, it looks like peeled up paint chips covering the bottom of the tank just floating around.

Red01 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 30, 2007, 05:18:26 PM »

This is what the B6 petock looks like (also the 1G B12). The tall standpipe is of ON, the short one for RES & PRI.

And just for 2G B12 owners out there, their petcocks look like this:

Their pickups are behind the fuel filter screen.

bandits600ny · « **Reply #7 on:** May 30, 2007, 05:24:38 PM »

well that seems to explain it, it seems the gas level was just too low

from a full tank how many miles does it usually take for it to run out of gas to the point where you need the reserve?

thanks for the help everyone

chupacabra · « **Reply #8 on:** May 31, 2007, 05:54:12 AM »

It all depends on the state of tune your bike is in. I would guess somewhere between 160 to 200 miles on 4 gal. of fuel. I shoot for 200, sometimes I get more and sometimes I get less and then I still have a little over 1 gal. of fuel in the tanks reserve.