Sputtering out ...

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paerez

Active member
Joined
Sep 17, 2008
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Hey guys,

I am not a mechanical person, I am more of a computer geek, so I'm going to do my best to describe what is going on.

In the past two weeks it has become much colder in Maryland, from 70s-80s to 50s. When I start my bike (2002 blast) I wait 1-2 minutes until it idles down at a normal speed.

What's been happening to me is that it has started to sputter out as I'm riding. Especially when I give it gas when starting at a stop light. It will get going like usual then the power cuts for a half second, then kicks back in, then cuts out. It does that a few times then it sputters and dies. I pulled it over, switched to reserve because I thought I was out of gas, and started it up. Then as I got going the same thing happened. I swapped it back to the usual fuel, and it keeps doing it. It only has 80 miles on the current tank, so I don't think it's fuel.

I rode it home but I'm not taking it out again until I figure out what's going on. I made sure the stand was all the way up because I read about how if the stand sensor is messing up you can lose power, but this is more of a sputtering than an immediate kill to the power.

Any hints?
 
Check your battery connections, and the spark plug wire to make sure everything is tight and seated well.
 
Hey Chad,

I'm in Baltimore around 33rd and N. Charles (Hopkins). My buddy also has an 02 blast. We're looking for some good places to go and we're open to suggestions. The problem is we have to get out of the city first.
 
Hey Paerez,

I own a 2001 Blast and I had the same thing happen to me. I would be riding down the highway, and the bike would start bogging down, so I would give it more gas, and it would start to ease off, but then would eventually die. So, there I woud be coasting down the highway until finally it would kick back on.
It seemed to do worse in cold weather for me too.

Even after the bike had a tune up, it was still doing it at nigh when I was coming home from work and it was around 32 degrees outside.

It could be the carborator, you might want to check the jets on that, or something fuel related. I changed the muffler padding on my bike, and it hasnt done it since. For me it might have been that the muffler wasnt getting enought back pressure and the cold air was loading it up. I dunno...all I do know is that after I put in the muffler padding, it stopped.
 
OK here's a status update:

I replaced the boot, and it still sputtered out at idle, but I noticed it was "coughing" out the boot. So I tightened it up a bit and now it doesn't sputter out! (at idle).

However! When I apply throttle and rev it up a bit, it is misfiring (or something). It revs up, then coughs and goes back down, then back up again (all with a constant amount of throttle).

If I throttle it up really slowly, it is fine.

If I give it a lot of throttle quickly, it has a lot of trouble.

Now, the coughing is coming out of the exhaust and not the boot, though, so that's good.

What next? I am not sure where the spark plug wires are and how to check if they're seated correctly, could that be it?

Thanks again.
 
Check exhaust for leaks, has air screw been messed with - too far in or out? check tank vent as well.
EZ
 
Thanks Ez,

I have not adjusted the air screw but I cannot speak for the previous owner.

I'll check out the other stuff too, thanks.
 
Update

It does the same thing when I run it with the gas cap open.

I don't know where to find the air box screw or how to check the exhaust for leaks ...

I have the service manual I just can't find any mention of the air box screw and it just says "check exhaust for leaks" but not how to do it.

I really hope I don't have to bring it to a dealer since I'd have to have it towed.

Thanks for your help so far.
 
Another Update

I went back and tightened the boot more and it ran much better ... before it died.

I think the first time I didn't tighten the boot enough. Check out this picture (this is not my bike):
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/6659/img04121tg1.jpg

On my bike, on the right side of the boot (away from the air box) there is a 1/2 inch black strip, like the boot is supposed to be over that area. But when I put the boot on that's not where it settled. Should I move the boot to the right (away from the airbox) over the black strip?

Thanks.
 
You can hear exhaust leaks, it sounds like small puffs of air, it takes some practice to hear them. The throttle up with coughs and lowers the throttle and whatnot sounds like a poorly tuned carb with possible intake leaks. Check for intake leaks with some carb cleaner, carefully spray around the intake and listen for a change in engine noise. By carefully I mean don't spray it in the carb because then it will give you false results. The best way is with propane, but that takes a bottle, some hose, a vavle, and some macguyering.
 
Thanks Bordsnbikes. I'm going to make sure the boot is on right, but any more repairs than that I can't do on my own, so I'll probably have to take it to a mechanic :-(
 
No problem dude. Let us know how it turns out. Diag over the phone or computer is really hard to do, so hopefully I really did help.
 
So good-news / bad-news time.

Good news:
The boot was not on correctly, so I fixed it and now it is on correctly.

Bad news:
That wasn't the problem.


The bike starts up fine and then idles high as usual for a minute until it's warm. Then the idle starts dropping (as usual) down to a normal level, except it keeps going and then dies. Like it just idled too low.

If I try to start it again, it doesn't start.

If I come back in a few hours, it starts up and idles down and out.

So what do you think?

At this point, I'm probably going to grab a buddy with a pickup and take it up to a dealer and have them fix it.


Thanks for helping me out through this, I know diagnostics over the internet is particularly difficult.

I guess the up side is I am a lot more familiar with my bike now!
 
So I wonder, have you adjusted/tuned your carb yet? If not, find a buddy with an older truck (something with a carb) who likes to do their own tune-ups and ask them to teach you how.

If that doesn't work, then at least the truck is already there.
 
Ding ding ding ding, ezblast wins!

I sent it to Harley yesterday and they did just that. They also replaced the gas and adjusted the idle speed.

Thanks all!
 

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