advice on hesertaion bike playing

[Nicky S]

my curvy seems to be hesertating a lot if i open the throttle it dosent know if i want to go or not then after a few seconds it will kick in and go. also whilst ridding along at a steedy speed of 30 - 40 the bike feels as if it is choaking or running out of petrol even when it has a full tank this is the only way i can explain it.

i changed the plugs less then 100 miles ago carbs look nice and clean. but another problem i have is the bike seems to be drinking oil or burning it which im not sure of. what can i do to fix my problem? the only idea i have is to do an oil change and play around with my throttle cables. also there seems to be a taping sound coming from the engine after spending hours look around the org i think it is my cam chain not to sure thow as they aprently start taping at around 23k and my bike is 23400 ish any ideas how i can fix this

cheers orgers

[Alpinestarhero]

How much oil is your bike consuming?

Can you describe the ticking noise in more detail? Does it start from tickover and get louder / more frequent as the revs rise?

[punyXpress]

Hesitating :
a ) Choke not fully opening - either plungers & cables need greasing OR Operator Error
b ) Carb icing - even relatively mild mornings can have this if moisture levels are right for it.
c ) One cylinder misfiring intermittently - could be water on front plug - may be cured by fitting Fender Extender & plenty of waterproofing grease in plug cap. Is the little drain from front plug hole clear?
Must stop - brain all remedied out.

[Nicky S]

How much oil is your bike consuming?

Can you describe the ticking noise in more detail? Does it start from tickover and get louder / more frequent as the revs rise?

i did an oil change around 2 months ago, then about a month ago my oil light come on so i toped up then yestrday i looked at my oil after a small ride and it is under the low mark

tapping noise starts when i start the bike and some times stays or gose when im ridding but aprently my mates said it was very loud when i turned up to meet them after ridding about 7 miles

[Nicky S]

Hesitating :
a ) Choke not fully opening - either plungers & cables need greasing OR Operator Error
b ) Carb icing - even relatively mild mornings can have this if moisture levels are right for it.
c ) One cylinder misfiring intermittently - could be water on front plug - may be cured by fitting Fender Extender & plenty of waterproofing grease in plug cap. Is the little drain from front plug hole clear?
Must stop - brain all remedied out.

plugs were changed a little while ago and the front plug hole did have some crap in it. but i never really ride my bike in the rain i did think it might have something to do with the choke but im not sure

[Alpinestarhero]

Going on the oil consumption thing, I advise you not to be using the bike until you can find out why so much oil is being consumed and fix it. The oil light coming on means there was low oil pressure, not low oil level (although if you have very low oil you will have very low oil pressure I suppose). You risk causing major damage to bearing surfaces :( and from there seizure and a broekn engine...worst case, a broken yourself aswell :(

[Nicky S]

Going on the oil consumption thing, I advise you not to be using the bike until you can find out why so much oil is being consumed and fix it. The oil light coming on means there was low oil pressure, not low oil level (although if you have very low oil you will have very low oil pressure I suppose). You risk causing major damage to bearing surfaces :( and from there seizure and a broekn engine...worst case, a broken yourself aswell :(


ummmmmmmmm i havent been ridding the bike untill i can get some oil, how often do you have to top up your oil? i now im not leaking oil as i park in the same place at home and at work and there is no oil patch on the ground also i dont think im burning it as it dose not really smell (the bike dose smell funny thow) and i dont have white smoke

[Neeja]

Is there a loss of power along with the ticking?
Does the ticking sound like a ticking or more of a rattling? Does it come from the cylinders or the heads?

If it's down on power and it's rattling, it's probably your main bearings failing. Easy way to tell is to drop the oil. If it looks like metalflake paint, it's new engine time.

[Nicky S]

Is there a loss of power along with the ticking?
Does the ticking sound like a ticking or more of a rattling? Does it come from the cylinders or the heads?

If it's down on power and it's rattling, it's probably your main bearings failing. Easy way to tell is to drop the oil. If it looks like metalflake paint, it's new engine time.

:( New Engine not good lol but the bike dose seem down on power im not sure if its me but it dose seem slower. nose im not to sure about i think it is coming from the top of the engine

[Neeja]

Engine swap isn't that hard to do (as I'm discovering) - just make sure you've got something to jack the new engine into place with. The biggest ball-ache is the cost of the new engine, but I'm planning on partially offsetting this by breaking my old one.

Make sure the engine oil's topped up well. Turn the bike on and get a screwdriver. Press it to the engine casing at the bottom of the cylinders and put your ear on the end of it. Repeat at the top of the engine. Should help you find out where the rattling/ticking is coming from.

Edit: At this point, starting the bike does no harm. If it's got enough oil in it and it's just CCTs, it'll be fine. If it's main bearings, you're stuffed anyway - might as well listen to the rattly goodness.

[sunshine]

the loss of power i had the weekend it was only a wet plug, pull over front cyclinder covered in WD40 job done, now it smells a bit when running

neeja is right about listening, but i use wood less rattly sound.

[vardypeeps]

I'm thinking a wet plug or Carb Icing as stated earlier. Test the cheap fixes first before thinking the worst

[Alpinestarhero]

ummmmmmmmm i havent been ridding the bike untill i can get some oil, how often do you have to top up your oil? i now im not leaking oil as i park in the same place at home and at work and there is no oil patch on the ground also i dont think im burning it as it dose not really smell (the bike dose smell funny thow) and i dont have white smoke

Well the oil is going somewhere...I know pete and lissa used to have to top up their oil quite frequently (PM pete or lissa and ask how much because I cant remember). I have to top up less than 100 ml's for every 1000 miles ridden. I'm wondering if you have a loose breather hose or something, and oil is being lost out that? You wouldnt have white smoke with oil consumption. Perhaps a test by holding a white tissue to the exhaust and seeing if it collects anything could determine if there is oil vapour being ejected? If your bike is consuming oil, but its not leaking, then it must be being burnt.

What is the smell you mention anyway? can you describe it?

[yorkie_chris]

Edit: At this point, starting the bike does no harm. If it's got enough oil in it and it's just CCTs, it'll be fine. If it's main bearings, you're stuffed anyway - might as well listen to the rattly goodness.

er what!

CCTs can allow the camchain to slip in extreme circumstances, lunching the heads, valves, pistons etc. This can happen at tickover or at redline.

[Neeja]

er what!

CCTs can allow the camchain to slip in extreme circumstances, lunching the heads, valves, pistons etc. This can happen at tickover or at redline.

I meant if it was normal CCT tapping - I wasn't allowing for a catastrophic failure. Should have made this clearer.

[Lissa]

Well the oil is going somewhere...I know pete and lissa used to have to top up their oil quite frequently (PM pete or lissa and ask how much because I cant remember).



A spirited 200 mile day would have us needing to top up 200ml. Our curvy just used oil. Didn't leak, didn't smell.

James at JHS said that some curvy's just did that. :smt102

[punyXpress]

Didn't see that in your For Sale ad though, Lissa :rolleyes:

[Lissa]

Didn't see that in your For Sale ad though, Lissa :rolleyes:

Everyone knew our bike burned oil, we posted about it often enough. Our engine was bought by someone who knew it, and who, TBH, was NEVER gonna nail it everywhere like we did! :D

[yorkie_chris]

It depends on the running-in process.


But with response to the OP, if you've let it get low enough to see a drop in pressure then you'll be damned lucky to have avoided serious engine damage (scored main bearings, rapidly leading to failure). I'd tear it down now before the crank gets scored and thus scrapped.

What's a £60 set of gaskets compared to £300 odd quid on a replacement lump?

[Nicky S]

It depends on the running-in process.


But with response to the OP, if you've let it get low enough to see a drop in pressure then you'll be damned lucky to have avoided serious engine damage (scored main bearings, rapidly leading to failure). I'd tear it down now before the crank gets scored and thus scrapped.

What's a £60 set of gaskets compared to £300 odd quid on a replacement lump?

the light come on and went off within 2 seconds and never come on again but i am no longer ridding the bike untill i have seen what the oil looks like. will be taking the oil out near the week end so lets hope it hasent got metail in it :P

[punyXpress]

For once - don't warm the oil before draining it!
That just might be the straw that breaks the camel's back & screws your crank.