I've held off on sharing this story for the past month as I've been powerless to do anything about it. I wanted one last shot at making sure I hadn't missed anything obvious before taking it to the forums and making myself look stupid. So here it goes...
The bike: 2012 XC, PCV, D&D's, Lloydz Filter, Lloydz Touring Cams, Lloydz Adjustable Timing Wheel (+4). 10,000 miles on the odometer. PCV, filter, and pipes installed back when it was new, cams and timing wheel installed by me about 2500 miles ago, fuel map borrowed from Rylan.
Here's where I'm at now… Bike starts up but occasionally needs a little throttle to keep from stalling. It then stumbles at idle between about 950-1000 RPM. Feels like it is running on one cylinder as it lopes and the bike shakes. Front cylinder is running noticeably hotter than the rear. Infrared thermometer says the front header at the first bend is 300+ while the rear is only about 175. Front pipe is also nicely blued at the first bend while the rear appears to have a rusty looking patch. When riding, it hesitates as you begin to twist the throttle, but runs relatively smooth above 2000 RPM or so. Power is noticeably lacking both at take-off and cruise and it “thump-thumps” like it’s running on one cylinder.
Where I’ve been… Bike had been running beautifully, even more so after the cam install. I decided to take on the IBA “Hell to Heaven Gold” ride about a month ago. Rode ~500 miles from home to Death Valley and parked it for the night. The next morning it fired right back up without a hiccup. Over the next 750 miles and 15 hours, I encountered a blinding sand storm followed by five torrential thunderstorms. I actually had what looked like a small beach sloshing back and forth on my dash. Made four stops along the way, the longest of which was an hour for dinner. I took advantage of a wide open I-70 in the middle of the night and blasted out another 300 miles averaging about 80mph before stopping in Grand Junction, CO for a few hours rest. Bike was running like a champ. Topped her off, parked her, and then slept for a few hours.
In the morning, I went to start my bike and it sputtered and died. I found I was able to keep it running if I gave it a little throttle. It sounded like it was running on one cylinder and feeling the jugs with my hand indicated that in fact one cylinder was warming up while the other stayed cool. Wasn’t sure what else to do so… I jumped on it, rode it across the street to the freeway onramp, and gave it some gas. It started struggling up the onramp and then suddenly the second cylinder sprang back to life, launching me up to freeway speed and back along my merry way. About 100 miles later, I had to navigate some city streets in Glenwood Springs, CO while changing highways. I pulled in the clutch as I approached a stop light and found my bike was idling very high, somewhere in the neighborhood of about 1750 RPM if I recall correctly. This continued all the way through town, probably about 10 stoplights in total. Got back up to freeway speed and rode on through to Aspen, CO where I hit bumper to bumper traffic. Pulled in the clutch and was pleased to find that my idle was back to normal. I had some starting difficulty after fueling up in Aspen, but that would be the end of my mechanical difficulties for the day as I reached the summit of Pike’s Peak and completed my H2H ride. Mother Nature apparently wasn’t so impressed however as the sky opened up about a mile into my descent and I got blasted by a brutal hail storm. The hail began melting as I continued the 18 mile descent and I soon found myself riding in, across, and through many streams of deep runoff and debris. I rode another 100 miles and got to my friend’s house just in time to get drenched by yet another downpour. Parked the bike in his garage, and called it a day.
I had originally scheduled an appointment at a dealership in Colorado Springs for the afternoon immediately after summiting Pike’s Peak. I was going to get an oil change and have them give the bike a once over during which time I was going to see if they could check for engine codes related to either the single cylinder operation or the high idle issue. Unfortunately, the hail storm I encountered while descending Pike’s Peak resulted in US-24 being closed for an undetermined period of time. I had to take back roads to my friend’s house and missed my appointment. The next day, we took a ride to a dealership in the Denver area so I could pick up an oil change kit. We stopped a few times along the way during what ended up being about a 30 mile ride, stopping and starting the engine without issue. We then grabbed lunch at a spot that required us to park on an incline. A burrito and two margaritas later we went out to the bikes and that’s when the real trouble started. Bike turned on, fuel pump primed, starter cranked and cranked, but it didn’t even try to fire up. I got the bike turned around and coasted it down the hill in an attempt to bump start it, but again, not even a hint of it trying to start.
I parked it at the gas station at the bottom of the hill and tried starting it up a few more times. It was obvious I was doing nothing other than draining my battery at that point so I started some basic troubleshooting as the evening started creeping in. After a while, I did what any irrational (OMG I’m stranded in Colorado and am supposed to be back at work in California in two days!) adult would have done and placed a Hail Mary phone call to Rylan Vos before it got any later. He graciously took my call (despite being at an event in New York, thank you soooo much Rylan) and explained to me the first steps he would take to troubleshoot my bike. I thanked him and got to work with the limited time and tools I had available. Over the course of the next 24 hours, I checked:
1. Battery voltage was good (over 12V)
2. Battery terminals were tight (Didn’t have the equipment to clean them, but had done so in the past year)
3. Fuel level was at roughly 1.25 gallons of 91 octane
4. Main circuit breaker was tested and appeared to be operating normally
5. Rear spark plug wire pulled apart at the crimp! (both wires were replaced with new ones)
6. All fuses and relays in fuse box tested good
7. Ignition coil bench tested at the dealership and determined to be good
8. Spark plugs evaluated by dealership (said they appeared to be from a well-tuned engine)
9. PCV completely unhooked from factory wiring harness (no change)
Still, no love from the Victory gods. And with that, I was out of time. Bought a plane ticket home and made arrangements to have my bike shipped back. Fast forward one month and my bike is finally here. Yesterday I:
1. Siphoned the gas tank and refilled with 2.5 gallons of 91 octane (added some Liquid Heet for good measure)
2. Cleared the gas tank water drain line with compressed air
3. Cleared the gas tank vent line (about 6oz of water blew out of the lines and CA emissions canister)
4. Discovered the CA emissions canister breather tube was oriented down instead of up as it should have been
5. Re-installed the PCV using di-electric grease on all the connectors
The bike now started up but was running poorly as described at the start of my post, so I:
6. Confirmed CPS sensor was undamaged and adjustable timing wheel had not slipped
7. Discovered my rear O2 sensor (on disabled AutoTune) was shot (Raw fuel contamination?)
8. Found TPS shows 0-100% range when hooked up to the PCV software
9. Determined bike runs the same with PCV disconnected as with Zero Map loaded (worse with cam map loaded)
So (for anyone who actually stuck around long enough to read this novel) where do I go from here? Every thread I’ve read with similar symptoms all seem to relate back to the battery terminals so I thoroughly cleaned and re-installed them late last night, but I was unable to fire up the bike before leaving for work due to a sleeping baby. Any ideas beyond that? Please help, I’m stumped and am about ready to drag it down to the dealership for some diagnostic work. Not sure how that will go with all the performance goodies on there…
The bike: 2012 XC, PCV, D&D's, Lloydz Filter, Lloydz Touring Cams, Lloydz Adjustable Timing Wheel (+4). 10,000 miles on the odometer. PCV, filter, and pipes installed back when it was new, cams and timing wheel installed by me about 2500 miles ago, fuel map borrowed from Rylan.
Here's where I'm at now… Bike starts up but occasionally needs a little throttle to keep from stalling. It then stumbles at idle between about 950-1000 RPM. Feels like it is running on one cylinder as it lopes and the bike shakes. Front cylinder is running noticeably hotter than the rear. Infrared thermometer says the front header at the first bend is 300+ while the rear is only about 175. Front pipe is also nicely blued at the first bend while the rear appears to have a rusty looking patch. When riding, it hesitates as you begin to twist the throttle, but runs relatively smooth above 2000 RPM or so. Power is noticeably lacking both at take-off and cruise and it “thump-thumps” like it’s running on one cylinder.
Where I’ve been… Bike had been running beautifully, even more so after the cam install. I decided to take on the IBA “Hell to Heaven Gold” ride about a month ago. Rode ~500 miles from home to Death Valley and parked it for the night. The next morning it fired right back up without a hiccup. Over the next 750 miles and 15 hours, I encountered a blinding sand storm followed by five torrential thunderstorms. I actually had what looked like a small beach sloshing back and forth on my dash. Made four stops along the way, the longest of which was an hour for dinner. I took advantage of a wide open I-70 in the middle of the night and blasted out another 300 miles averaging about 80mph before stopping in Grand Junction, CO for a few hours rest. Bike was running like a champ. Topped her off, parked her, and then slept for a few hours.
In the morning, I went to start my bike and it sputtered and died. I found I was able to keep it running if I gave it a little throttle. It sounded like it was running on one cylinder and feeling the jugs with my hand indicated that in fact one cylinder was warming up while the other stayed cool. Wasn’t sure what else to do so… I jumped on it, rode it across the street to the freeway onramp, and gave it some gas. It started struggling up the onramp and then suddenly the second cylinder sprang back to life, launching me up to freeway speed and back along my merry way. About 100 miles later, I had to navigate some city streets in Glenwood Springs, CO while changing highways. I pulled in the clutch as I approached a stop light and found my bike was idling very high, somewhere in the neighborhood of about 1750 RPM if I recall correctly. This continued all the way through town, probably about 10 stoplights in total. Got back up to freeway speed and rode on through to Aspen, CO where I hit bumper to bumper traffic. Pulled in the clutch and was pleased to find that my idle was back to normal. I had some starting difficulty after fueling up in Aspen, but that would be the end of my mechanical difficulties for the day as I reached the summit of Pike’s Peak and completed my H2H ride. Mother Nature apparently wasn’t so impressed however as the sky opened up about a mile into my descent and I got blasted by a brutal hail storm. The hail began melting as I continued the 18 mile descent and I soon found myself riding in, across, and through many streams of deep runoff and debris. I rode another 100 miles and got to my friend’s house just in time to get drenched by yet another downpour. Parked the bike in his garage, and called it a day.
I had originally scheduled an appointment at a dealership in Colorado Springs for the afternoon immediately after summiting Pike’s Peak. I was going to get an oil change and have them give the bike a once over during which time I was going to see if they could check for engine codes related to either the single cylinder operation or the high idle issue. Unfortunately, the hail storm I encountered while descending Pike’s Peak resulted in US-24 being closed for an undetermined period of time. I had to take back roads to my friend’s house and missed my appointment. The next day, we took a ride to a dealership in the Denver area so I could pick up an oil change kit. We stopped a few times along the way during what ended up being about a 30 mile ride, stopping and starting the engine without issue. We then grabbed lunch at a spot that required us to park on an incline. A burrito and two margaritas later we went out to the bikes and that’s when the real trouble started. Bike turned on, fuel pump primed, starter cranked and cranked, but it didn’t even try to fire up. I got the bike turned around and coasted it down the hill in an attempt to bump start it, but again, not even a hint of it trying to start.
I parked it at the gas station at the bottom of the hill and tried starting it up a few more times. It was obvious I was doing nothing other than draining my battery at that point so I started some basic troubleshooting as the evening started creeping in. After a while, I did what any irrational (OMG I’m stranded in Colorado and am supposed to be back at work in California in two days!) adult would have done and placed a Hail Mary phone call to Rylan Vos before it got any later. He graciously took my call (despite being at an event in New York, thank you soooo much Rylan) and explained to me the first steps he would take to troubleshoot my bike. I thanked him and got to work with the limited time and tools I had available. Over the course of the next 24 hours, I checked:
1. Battery voltage was good (over 12V)
2. Battery terminals were tight (Didn’t have the equipment to clean them, but had done so in the past year)
3. Fuel level was at roughly 1.25 gallons of 91 octane
4. Main circuit breaker was tested and appeared to be operating normally
5. Rear spark plug wire pulled apart at the crimp! (both wires were replaced with new ones)
6. All fuses and relays in fuse box tested good
7. Ignition coil bench tested at the dealership and determined to be good
8. Spark plugs evaluated by dealership (said they appeared to be from a well-tuned engine)
9. PCV completely unhooked from factory wiring harness (no change)
Still, no love from the Victory gods. And with that, I was out of time. Bought a plane ticket home and made arrangements to have my bike shipped back. Fast forward one month and my bike is finally here. Yesterday I:
1. Siphoned the gas tank and refilled with 2.5 gallons of 91 octane (added some Liquid Heet for good measure)
2. Cleared the gas tank water drain line with compressed air
3. Cleared the gas tank vent line (about 6oz of water blew out of the lines and CA emissions canister)
4. Discovered the CA emissions canister breather tube was oriented down instead of up as it should have been
5. Re-installed the PCV using di-electric grease on all the connectors
The bike now started up but was running poorly as described at the start of my post, so I:
6. Confirmed CPS sensor was undamaged and adjustable timing wheel had not slipped
7. Discovered my rear O2 sensor (on disabled AutoTune) was shot (Raw fuel contamination?)
8. Found TPS shows 0-100% range when hooked up to the PCV software
9. Determined bike runs the same with PCV disconnected as with Zero Map loaded (worse with cam map loaded)
So (for anyone who actually stuck around long enough to read this novel) where do I go from here? Every thread I’ve read with similar symptoms all seem to relate back to the battery terminals so I thoroughly cleaned and re-installed them late last night, but I was unable to fire up the bike before leaving for work due to a sleeping baby. Any ideas beyond that? Please help, I’m stumped and am about ready to drag it down to the dealership for some diagnostic work. Not sure how that will go with all the performance goodies on there…