So we had the discussion about my overloaded charging system and I did some research on replacing the stator as an upgrade.

In the meantime I shut the passing lights off and we rode 2-up to the Death Valley area from Las Vegas, dodging rain cells in the process yesterday (drenched once for a few minutes topping a mountain pass).

Well on the way home long after everything dried out and the bike had ran great for 150 miles, we were climbing a pass once again and I was cruising in 5th gear at about 75-80 mph.

It was an uphill stretch and normally not a problem for 5th gear at that speed, but suddenly it was like the bike was fouling a plug or starving for fuel, crapping out, though it wasn't time to switch to reserve fuel yet.

I immediately thought of the charging system and was concerned that the battery was drained beyond function. But first I switched over to the reserve fuel setting just to be sure nothing was plugged or similar. No change after shifting over so I switched back.

I next downshifted to 4th to see if it would rev higher or crap out even more. Seemed to run fine without a lick at the higher revs so I kept it there all the way over the pass (5500 ft. elevation).

On the way down on the other side and toward home I ran normally in 5th gear once again and didn't have an issue. Got home with no problems but never shut it off just in case the battery was gone. Started up fine at home and is super strong cranking even now a day later so obviously the charging system wasn't an issue.

Does this ring any bells for anyone? Would this be symptomatic of one or more of the four plugs fouling under load but firing well at higher RPM? I haven't been back out to check anything else yet but don't want to take another ride until I have a feel for what's going on.

Maybe I'll take it out for a test run now that it's dry again to see if I can replicate what happened. We had some serious gully-washing rain yesterday and last night here in Vegas!

Shot any Seafoam in the tank lately?

Roadstars do not like to chug up hills, especially when riding 2-up.. you definitely need to keep the rpms up in the range of 2500-3000. At 75-80 uphill that probably needs to be in 4th gear especially if it is a significant uphill grade.

Dreaded dbl post.

The petcock tubes are in the front of the tank, any chance the main tube which is taller, may have been uncovered briefly? Normally if the bowl starves, the bike will die, but???.
Any chance you may have gotten some water in the tank, that finally found its way to the carb bowl? Some have reported it happening, when riding in the rain.
If your running the rollover valve still, have you vented the cap? Riding in wet conditions, has had a tendency to allow water and road grime to clog the bottom of the vent tube below the bike.

maybe the elevation? 5500 ft above sea level and air gets a bit thinner.....

Flashback wrote:
maybe the elevation? 5500 ft above sea level and air gets a bit thinner.....

I was wondering about that also. Riding two up, and a pretty decent grade, it may have felt like it was struggling a bit in the thinner air.

Hmmm,

Sorry but I forgot to subscribe to this thread and wasn't getting any updates, which seemed odd to me.

Regarding elevation, I rode over solo a few days ago without issue, so I doubt that in itself is a problem, particularly since it screamed just fine in 4th gear where it seems it would demand even more oxygen than in 5th.

Normally in 5th if it's too much of a load I'll just feel it down in power and working too hard but not crapping out or even hinting at it so I just downshift until things balance out again. In this case it totally started missing for whatever reason. Maybe it's just the nature of the beast and has finally come to fruition. The only changes I've made that may affect that would be the pilot screw but I doubt it.

Regarding the upper fuel petcock inlet that's not likely because when I switched to the reserve setting nothing changed. I kept it on the main outlet until I got home and the low fuel light didn't even fire up until somewhere near home, around 40 miles later.

Water in the tank? Hmmm, that's sort of what it would respond like but once again it seems that even under higher revs it'd run rough. Didn't happen as far as I could determine.

I don't know what the rollover valve is but I doubt if anything's plugged. We hit momentary rain for 5-10 minutes while passing under a cell on the way up the mountain early in the ride. The street itself was only wet for a mile or two. We then traveled another few hours in 90* weather before having the problem. Not sure how water could have gotten in the tank but if the fuel cap is leaking it may be possible. No fuel leaks out however so it's probably fine.

I haven't tried the Seafoam but did clean the carb a bit when I had it out two weeks ago. Didn't see any issues inside but doesn't mean there aren't any. I was planning on adding some kind of carb cleaner to the tank anyway. Never heard of Seafoam other than here on RSC so will have to check to see if it's carried locally.

Thanks for your thoughts. I was just wondering if this was another known issue before I started digging or replacing things. I'm just wondering how many of those plugs are firing as they should be, since there are two per cylinder. I pulled one out the other day and it was clean as a whistle so didn't pull the rest. Is there any way of knowing if both plugs are firing per cylinder, other than pulling the plugs?

That was another thought, whether the bike is possibly leaned out too much, but if so it seems I'd have even more problems under higher revs. When I bought the bike my pilot screw was cranked way out. I went back to 2.5 turns and have worked it out to 3.33 about now. I have the hypercharger and the bike runs great under virtually all conditions with the current setting. Maybe under this particular point of failure it needs another quarter turn out to satisfy the load needs but that seems like a stretch.

It was like it was dropping a plug or starving for fuel. I'll have to pull some plugs and then take it out again to see if I can replicate the behavior.

I have the same issue- idles and revs out fine- has a dead spot right off idle and is running lean. I've since pulled plugs (confirmed lean) they are white. I've tried new plugs (stock recommended). I've checked the intake boot for cracks, and replaced the orings, and cleaned out the carb complete (soak and blowing everything out with compressed air, inspecting jets (stock)- nothing mechanical has changed and the bike suddenly runs lean. I've checked acel pump settings etc as well.

last year I replaced CDI, pickup, wiring harness, coils, voltage reg, battery, fuel filter, TPS, and fuel pump (turns out the wiring harness had a short) replaced everything to be safe while I was there. I am ordering a new jet kit and trying bigger jets. It still doesn't sit well with me that is the root problem because it ran fine before.

I bought the bike with cobra pipes, kn air intake, and not sure whatever other mods are done. As far as I know its not cammed etc. It ran fine before and no changes but doesn't now. If it was electrical, I would expect it to fail under load at higher RPMs and show signs of hard starting etc.

I carry a laser temp gun with me and it was running 230F - should be 190 correct? I ran it with the choke half way on and it ran better with no issues but still ran hot.

Please let me know what you find, I'm extremely frustrated and don't know where to go to next. Even the bike shops won't touch it at this point after I tell them the history of it until after the season is done.

Timmay4 wrote:
I have the same issue- idles and revs out fine- has a dead spot right off idle and is running lean. I've since pulled plugs (confirmed lean) they are white. I've tried new plugs (stock recommended). I've checked the intake boot for cracks, and replaced the orings, and cleaned out the carb complete (soak and blowing everything out with compressed air, inspecting jets (stock)- nothing mechanical has changed and the bike suddenly runs lean. I've checked acel pump settings etc as well.

last year I replaced CDI, pickup, wiring harness, coils, voltage reg, battery, fuel filter, TPS, and fuel pump (turns out the wiring harness had a short) replaced everything to be safe while I was there. I am ordering a new jet kit and trying bigger jets. It still doesn't sit well with me that is the root problem because it ran fine before.

I bought the bike with cobra pipes, kn air intake, and not sure whatever other mods are done. As far as I know its not cammed etc. It ran fine before and no changes but doesn't now. If it was electrical, I would expect it to fail under load at higher RPMs and show signs of hard starting etc.

I carry a laser temp gun with me and it was running 230F - should be 190 correct? I ran it with the choke half way on and it ran better with no issues but still ran hot.

Please let me know what you find, I'm extremely frustrated and don't know where to go to next. Even the bike shops won't touch it at this point after I tell them the history of it until after the season is done.

Don't be shy about starting your own thread. What jetting is in the bike now?