Puttering!

[Dlandbob]

Hi All,

Long time now talk, life hasn't been busy I am just lazy and do nothing. Found out my Diabetes is so out of control it is causing lack of Energy. Now that I am taking Insulin again I am out and about trying to have a life again. So there is that and now maybe someone can give me insight on what could be wrong with my Chopper. I had someone work on it last year and he said while he had my air cleaners off he could see my jet was spraying wrong and told me I needed to run a needle of something through it to fix it. He had it apart and after all I have paid him overtime he couldn't think for one second to do it but oh well. I went ahead and added some Fuel cleaner in it, junkout for carbs and fuel injections. This is the only thing I have done to it and now at times while I am riding it seems to be running on one cylinder and putters, pops and then goes away after I rev it up a little. I am not sure if it is causing this because I added and have gone through the fuel that was in the tank and figure it should be gone. It makes since that it could cause this issue but if not I am wondering what else could I look for. I had it just die on me while on the freeway, it has died just at idle and then starts back up. I was having issues with my battery as well. I had to jump start it and then ride about 40 miles to my sisters, when I was headed home the battery was dead even after riding 40 miles. I have been charging my battery at 1amp and it seems to be OK now but for a couple of weeks I had to jump it every time I wanted to ride. I am wondering if a low battery would also cause a issue even though I metered everything and my charging system works like it should.

Thanks
Bob

 

[Brew]

Welcome back Dlandbob, I would say you have a bad battery that's too weak to hold a charge if your charging system is delivering the correct voltage (You should see upwards to 14 Volts DC while it's running). By sticking a pin down your jet, I would think your maehanic ended up clogging the jet rather than clearing it out...Just saying, you might want to change that jet out... :2thumbs:

 

[Dlandbob]

Yeah I was thinking the same about the jet but it was a new one, I am not sure if it is the same thing I replaced. I don't know why he didn't just clean it. I had a 80 main jet and went down to 76 I believe because I was only getting 10 mpg and running out of gas all the time. So if my battery is bad, would it cause it too run like it is on one cylinder? It goes away and starts running normal after I rev it up a bit. I just checked the voltage just sitting there and it was 12.78v. I have checked while running and I think it hits 14v but I will check again. The batter is 2 years old and has gone dead many times in 2 years because I have never put a battery tender on it. Funny, It may sit there for 2 days and wont start and then I ride it and it could sit for 3 weeks and start right up. I have been charging at 1 amp every day for the last two weeks for 120 minutes and it starts right up now. Once I figure this out, I have to deal with my front forks and replace the bushing I think, it's loose and I can't ride over 60mph without it bouncing too much.

 

[woodbutcher]

10 mpg???? just checked mine saturday and was right on 48 mpg.

on the other side of things, does sound kinda like the battery is petering out on you.

 

[mobsta]

What are you jumping your scooter with/Hopefully not a running car.

 

[Dlandbob]

D'oh!!! Well I have had a running car once or twice do it but normally I never have the car running. It didn't putter once today, I went about 10 miles but that can change. I would think the battery but I added Gumout so that's why I am not convinced that it is the battery yet. Today I ran around and stop and started it at least 6 times from store to store and it ran fine. I started it after I charged it and didn't want it to die while my son and I were out, I let it sit at idle while he ran into the store and it just shut off. It wouldn't crank over but after a few guys helped me push it fast enough it jump started and I could see the lights get brighter as I rev'ed it and that was the first time I noticed the puttering like I have felt every single time my old spark plug wire would pop off. I kept going because I had no other choice and about a mile down the road it just started to ride normal again. I keep thinking it's spitting gunk out of it but than again I am not sure. I guess I could set the meter up and read it while I am riding.

 

[Bowhunter]

You need to load test that battery, and check your charging system. You may still be rich on the jets, pull your plugs and have a look at them and check to see how they look. I am getting over 40 mpg also with a 585 cam.

 

[Dlandbob]

My MPG is ok now, I was just saying it used to be bad. I have a 3.5 gallon tank and I got 254 miles on a tank coming back from the Big Bear trip last year. The 80 main jet didn't do much other than waste gas because I almost never get on my bike. I think the most I have opened it up was when my dad, five five and I went by the beach, I kicked my dads built Harley all over the road. What he spent on his engine alone he could of had a Big Dog Chopper. How do I do a load test on my battery? Just take it to pepboys?

 

[Bobby Schulz]

Battery needs to be good for everything to work like it should. Check that first and go from there.

 

[RRRUFF]

The battery could be an issure for sure, but check the voltage at the battery while the engine is running. Don't know what model chopper you have but the 05, 06, and some of the 07s had and issue with the voltage regulator. If you haven't change you plugs out I would do so and I would go with the E3s. Hotter spark and less likely to foul. If you are having problems with plug wires coming off then replace them also. Now don't ever, ever, ever jump start your bike with a running car and not at all if possible. Assuming you still have the BDM ehc you could do some damage to it. Also get yourself a "battery maintainer" not a charger. You can damage your AGM battery if you over charge it. If you bike is running fine except when it shuts and its running sluggish then you may have a fuel issue. Check inline filter if you have one and check the strainer inside the tank. Anyway just some things to check, hope this helps.

PS. Also what do the plugs look like?

 

[Nomad2day]

My MPG is ok now, I was just saying it used to be bad. I have a 3.5 gallon tank and I got 254 miles on a tank coming back from the Big Bear trip last year. The 80 main jet didn't do much other than waste gas because I almost never get on my bike. I think the most I have opened it up was when my dad, five five and I went by the beach, I kicked my dads built Harley all over the road. What he spent on his engine alone he could of had a Big Dog Chopper. How do I do a load test on my battery? Just take it to pepboys?

You can take it to any of the auto part stores to load test it and so on.
I went to a Batteries Plus store and had them do it on mine a while back.
Neil

 

[Five Five]

you have my number Bobby .... call me I can walk you through this

 

[Dlandbob]

Thanks for all the good info all. RRRUFF it is a 2003 Chopper. Bill, I will call you this weekend when I have a minute and see if you have time as well. The putter comes and goes and now I am worried about how many times I have used a car to jump it and the worst part is I have used my truck to jump it, I have 4 high end batteries car audio batteries and 1 yellow top in my truck that I have jumped my Bike with. My truck is 12 volt or actual over 14 volts because I have close to 16,000 Watts in my stereo system and I have used my Truck at least 10 times to jump it but never running. I can jump 3 Big Rigs with my truck without it running and my Alternator puts out some mad amount of amps and voltage to charge everything. So if I have damaged anything from jumping, would I notice it already? Other than the battery being dead because I haven't been on it much this winter the only thing I have done is Gumout and I figured as it cleaned it could pop and choke as things blow out but I finished that tank of gas already and it still caused this after the gumout should already be done.

 

[Dlandbob]

Bill, what is that Bike at the end of your post, is it yours?

 

[Five Five]

Bill, what is that Bike at the end of your post, is it yours?

Rat bike .... nope not mine....but i want to start a new project and build one

 

[stlmikie]

Not to hijack but I found a 70's something gl1000 I'm thinking about doing that should be nice.

Rat bike .... nope not mine....but i want to start a new project and build one

 

[Five Five]

Not to hijack but I found a 70's something gl1000 I'm thinking about doing that should be nice.

you thread hijacker .... cant wait to see your build.

 

[jimizee028]

Your bike gets 72.5 MPG??????????

 

[Dlandbob]

Nice, me too now... That is a sweet looking ride. Well I checked my charging system and at Idle it was charging at 12.45 volts at it's lowest point and at 2000 rpm it went up to 14.30 volts. It is starting up every time now since I charged it a couple of weeks ago. I have some more fuel additive I can ad to it that is supposed to be made for this type of motorcycle. I went to some motorcycle event and was asking around about my issues and some guy who owned the the company who makes it said it should work perfect for my bike and clean it out. I also just noticed that my Chopper doesn't have a fuel filter at least since I have owned it.