New to site , and have a question

[Islandboy]

Hi everyone I'm in Calgary and have a 2001 x1 lightning. 16k kms on it. Vance and Hines pipe , race only programer under seat, and k/n filter . ?#1 bike seems to run lumpy when it's cold and warming up, but seems to drop a cylinder when at temp ( back) I pulled plug when cooled down and grounded it out . Seems to be spark there. Did the same on the front have spark there as well. Engine light came on when the bike was running like a bag of #%!? . Any suggestions ? ?#2 I want to carbon fiber bike out and update it's looks a bit . Any body have an opinion as to what brand or who to buy from ? Thanks so much guys ! Looks to be an awesome site!

 

[Negative]

While I have no helpful input for you at the moment ... I just had to stop in and say ....

I'm super duper ultra mega crazy jealous .... Lolol

I have an XB and I love it to pieces (quite literally sometimes with all of it's shakes and rattles here and there) but I really wish I could get my mitts on an older model tuber... They are just beautiful for lack of better wording ..... I've got both eyes peeled for an S1, M2, or X1 for sale ANYWHERE nearby in my price range ... Like literally, .. So. Much. Want .... Hahaha!!

 

[Islandboy]

Thanks for your enthusiasm , I never planned on buying a buell . Buddy was in a bad way $ wise, I ended up with it cheap. Now that we bought a 2013 sportster for my wife , I figure I better sort out the buell right away. Not sure if it needs plugs and wires or if there is a more serious issue . And I hate just throwing parts at things randomly without knowing whats up. I might as well take it to the HD dealership then. Any educated ( or otherwise) help will be greatly appreciated .

 

[chief_of_smoke]

before you take to harley, make sure some there knows how to work on it. most of the buell tech i know have left the company. aslo sreach the site. the answer you need is here some where. have you checked your plug wires and coil? look at the connections. if there is any rust or cut/ break in the jacket of the plug wire, it could cause the plugs to ground out in to the bike causing misfires.

 

[Theycallmecrash]

Clean the plugs, reinstalled get it warmed up then ride it hard for about 15 minutes. If it doesnt clear up then, i blame Negative. Hes bad luck, and itll make you feel better if you do to.
Oh and welcome to the forum! Some smart guys around here if ya stick around we can be a lot of help and im sure youll see some cool bikes.

can you give us any history on the bike? Last it ran, was it running well, did the guy beat it up? Also, about you? Do you have a fair amount of metric tools and standard tools? Are you willing and capable of doing your own repairs? The questions are a eay of saying this is what youre gonna need and be doing...or just pay someone to do it, but thats boring and kinda girlie. Chick like mechanical kinda dude. Grease turns um on

 

[Negative]

If it's been a while since the bike was ran, I'd suggest a nice dose of Seafoam and fresh gas in the tank also... If that doesn't help (along with the above suggestions) it could possibly be a tuning issue... BUT I would at least continue through troubleshooting the simple mechanical/electrical aspects of the bike until I reached the end of my comfort zone with fiddling on the bike first before I started looking at a retune ... Seems like you've started with the simple stuff first which is great but if you could get your hands on a copy of ECMspy to read the trouble codes that are causing the check engine light that could eliminate a lot of guesswork on the matter...


On a totally unrelated note...

Crash I'm shipping you another humongous bag of dicks so you can just chow down to your heart's content... You vicious pickle chugger......... Such a trollop...

 

[Islandboy]

Thanks for the heads up, as far as the bike, condition of the bike was about a 7 considering it had been stored in a workin semi truck shop for two years. He had tore up the front belt pulley and couldn't source one. I found one and drained gas and did oil change before anything else. I'm a 10 year snap-on dealer, that sold my franchise to another guy. I'm pretty well set for tools I'd say. Haha! I'm 45 and was actually looking at buying a new street glide with the wife's new bike ( skirtster ). I'm more than comfortable doing the work myself , just unfamiliar with the lil nuances of my buell. Thanks again guys . Rage on .

 

[Negative]

Excellent !! ... It Still Sounds Like It Might Have Some Bad Gas Or Varnish In The Injectors Possibly...I Would Still Try Some Seafoam Just In case... Couldn't Hurt Even If It Didn't Necessarily Need It...

 

[Theycallmecrash]

Other things to consider with the old gas, fuel pump, pressure regulator, fuel lines and injectors could all have varnish gumming them up. Thats why i say ROMP it, help flow some new fuell through it. With bad gas, ive seen it foul plug out over and over again. One of my favorites test is the use of propane to artificially enrich the engine. If it improves then you know fuel problems. If not, eletrical or mechanical.

 

[Islandboy]

With the propane , your just introducing it into the air box intake and seeing if it smothes out on the idle? Not so lumpy? More " potato potato potato" instead of sounding like a huge cam and lots of advance? So to speak.

 

[Theycallmecrash]

Exactly. Should also improve response with throttle. Id open up whats needed and introduce the propane as close to the throttle body. Only a small amount is needed

 

[Islandboy]

Ok , I've taken the bike to a local bike mechanic. We changed the coil to a new one , as well as new set of wires . I had h remove the throttle body and intake and injectors clean and reinstall everything . We removed the bread box and installed a hi flo filter system . I then seafoamed the bike and loaded a new tank of hi test into it . No change. Any suggestions ? The mech. Thinks it's the ( for race only ) ecu . Thoughts ?

 

[Theycallmecrash]

Buy a new bike. Not to be rude, but if you just want suggestions on what parts to throw at it, ill just say throw a new bike at it. I already gave you a method for trouble shooting your issue, its sounds crude but is in fact very informative. Without you accurately trouble shooting it in a way that delivers results, we cant help you from way over here.

If your problem truely does lie in the ECM then the air fiter system you installed would more than likely make your issue worse. Your mechanic obviously not familiar enough with Buells, nor is he skilled enough to trouble shoot your problem without guessing and checking. In my field we simply call these guys "Parts Changer"
Good luck!

 

[BuellyBagger]

u said it threw a CEL, what was the code?? since ur problems change and/or get worse with engine temp. could be quite a few sensors or the wires to said sensors that may be causing the issues. pull codes and report plz

 

[thrstrmech]

codes[up]

 

[Islandboy]

Hey crash ..... Wow , ! Didn't get enough hugs as a kid? I joined this site as an avenue to possibly remedy my drivability issue on my own, or with some help from some people with a collective knowledge that far exceeds mine. I'm quite certain that my chosen mech. is fully competent in working on HD's and is factory trained. As I'm trying to do the work primarily myself I'll take your advise as an opinion and not Buell gospel. Your advise was to" ROMP " it, but swing as it's only firing on the front jug, I feel that could be detrimental . The dealership offered to scan it , but I've yet to take it to them. (work) . How can I check the code('s) that it may have thrown . Thanks again to all that have posted in , and crash , hope I haven't offended you ! I value all opinions , just not criticism that's directed from a keyboard with a screen name . Hope to hear your advise mostly. Chris .

 

[flatheadbill]

Hi. Best thing to do is get a copy of EcmSpy. If you own an X1 , it is a must have. You can scan your own bike for trouble codes, tune forever etc. Dont drop a dime for the HD dealer to do it. I did mine in carbon fiber. There is a pic . in another X1 post . 2001 race ecm. I believe. on page 2.

 

[robporter9]

i have a S 3 2001, had the same type of problems when i bought mine. turned out to be 2 of 3 things i found. first pulled off the 1st gen. power comander. and replaced the race o2 sensor. big change. ran great not running rich after warmup any more. nice clean plugs. but later noticed it cut out if held at high speeds 80 + for a while. turned out it got worse and worse. and put a new fuel pump in and now i have a good running bike. the bad o2 sensor really kicked in when it warmed up. it had a loose wire cnnction. the power comander didnt really make any difference. and i havnt put it back on to check it . it now only has race ecm and pipe. soon to have a better air cleaner.