Help! Engine miss ... on the road

[Nails]

I'm on a trip and my bike is screwing up. Maybe you have a suggestion.

Yesterday and today were pretty hard riding: about 12hrs at mostly 80+ going from Ohio to Sturgis. Today was hot, 85 or so. The bike was running fine but suddenly lost power going up a hill. I had trouble keeping it to 65. This was a mile from a rest area, where I let it cool off a little. Don't see anything wrong. Bike starts, idles, and chirps fine. The coils didn't feel hot -- when I could get my hand past the radiator.

After letting it cool a little, I took off like normal. It misses under load, going through the gears, at about 1/8th throttle under a modest load. I can feel the miss in the handlebars like a certain kind of road surface vibration. I could keep it at 55-65 if I tolerated some missing going up (modest) hills. Even with the miss, it can accelerate up the hills without much problem. It ran down the hills great, even up to 75. This missing didn't change character after letting it cool down (just 45 min on an 85 day) or after running it another hour to my motel.

I took out the battery and jiggled the sparkplug wires. These were new this summer. I found one very minor issue that might maybe explain it, but I doubt it. I can't get further into it (such as to pull the coils to test them or look closer at the end of the wires) in the parking lot; but I have tools to pull the sparkplugs (ran out of daylight). Note that I can't spit-test the manifolds because they would be hot before I ever got to the miss.

Because it still has fairly good power even when missing, I suspect a bad sparkplug or wire. But because it came on suddenly, I suspect a bad coil (like a dead and dying secondary) or ignition module. What does this sound like to you?

Tomorrow I'll see whether the problem is miraculously cured while riding it to Rapid City. I have a low-speed route there. where I'm sure to find bike shops. Maybe I'll go all the way home on county roads.

[cushman eagle]

Nails,it was great seeing you last week
Regarding your bike,is it only 1 cylinder missing,or mutiple ones?
If it is not only one,could you be losing fuel flow as in plugged filter?
If only one I would guess poor spark,from low voltage,or partial fouling of a plug

[Nails]

Thanks. And yes, good to put some faces with their aliases.

is it only 1 cylinder missing,or mutiple ones?

Can't tell. It might be a "partial" miss across the board. And I can make the engine vibrate more if I get into the throttle more. (I basically got to the motel using the bare minimum throttle I could in 5th gear.)

But it doesn't feel like a filter. It started very acutely. All day I had been doing minor throttle changes through the Vista Cruise. Going up one hill, it suddenly lost power. I could tell right away.

It doesn't miss when not under load, even when I open the throttle as much and during higher RPMs.

Initially, I thought about a vapor lock -- my Gold Wing used to do that all the time with the fuel pump right behind the head. But mine still missed even after cooling down (a little). Let me see how it does when all the way cooled down.

If only one I would guess poor spark,from low voltage,or partial fouling of a plug

I really need to pull the plugs. Maybe tomorrow morning.

[Conrad]

Pinched/leaky/plugged vacuum line to igniter afffecting ignition advance?? Fuel tank breather? Just spittballing, sometimes it's the simplest thing! Good luck!

[Nails]

Thx.

My sudden problem wasn't associated with a bump or jolt ... but I sure had some earlier in the afternoon. (I passed a small group of Harleys, and then the freeway had some modertely-large clay heaves in the pavement. Was a wake-up on the XII, but I noticed the Harleys fell way back.) I still think mine is a heat/electrical issue ... somewhere.

I didn't notice anything awry at the igniter when I pulled the battery to look at the spark wires. I'll be back in there tomorrow morning and will pay attention to that vacuum line.

[Micoproviso]

I'm on a trip and my bike is screwing up. Maybe you have a suggestion.

Yesterday and today were pretty hard riding: about 12hrs at mostly 80+ going from Ohio to Sturgis. Today was hot, 85 or so. The bike was running fine but suddenly lost power going up a hill. I had trouble keeping it to 65. This was a mile from a rest area, where I let it cool off a little. Don't see anything wrong. Bike starts, idles, and chirps fine. The coils didn't feel hot -- when I could get my hand past the radiator.

After letting it cool a little, I took off like normal. It misses under load, going through the gears, at about 1/8th throttle under a modest load. I can feel the miss in the handlebars like a certain kind of road surface vibration. I could keep it at 55-65 if I tolerated some missing going up (modest) hills. Even with the miss, it can accelerate up the hills without much problem. It ran down the hills great, even up to 75. This missing didn't change character after letting it cool down (just 45 min on an 85 day) or after running it another hour to my motel.

I took out the battery and jiggled the sparkplug wires. These were new this summer. I found one very minor issue that might maybe explain it, but I doubt it. I can't get further into it (such as to pull the coils to test them or look closer at the end of the wires) in the parking lot; but I have tools to pull the sparkplugs (ran out of daylight). Note that I can't spit-test the manifolds because they would be hot before I ever got to the miss.

Because it still has fairly good power even when missing, I suspect a bad sparkplug or wire. But because it came on suddenly, I suspect a bad coil (like a dead and dying secondary) or ignition module. What does this sound like to you?

Tomorrow I'll see whether the problem is miraculously cured while riding it to Rapid City. I have a low-speed route there. where I'm sure to find bike shops. Maybe I'll go all the way home on county roads.

You said the wires were replaced recently. Did you replace them, or someone else? I’d start by confirming that every wire is fully screwed into each coil connector, and fully seated into each resistor spark plug cap, especially if someone else replaced the wires. When I first got my new to me Voyager XII, two of the wires were barely seated, which caused an intermittent miss. While you’re at it make sure all of the plugs are fully screwed into the head. Better yet, pull the plugs and see if one doesn’t look like the others, that one would likely be your miss cylinder, which would allow further troubleshooting. Along with fuel filter, when is the last time you changed the air filter. A clogged up one would throw the mixture off, and possibly cause rough running. If it’s none of that, I’d go buy a cheap compression tester and hope you don’t find any cylinders that are significantly different from the others. If you do, you have bigger problems.

BTW, one tank of bad gas can clog up a brand new fuel filter. Like if you got gas from a station where there was a tanker actively filling up the underground tanks and stirring up the sediment at the bottom of the tank, which could get pumped into your bike.

[Nails]

Thanks. Remember that I'm working in a parking lot.

’d start by confirming that every wire is fully screwed into each coil connector, and fully seated into each resistor spark plug cap, especially if someone else replaced the wires.

Yeah, that's what I checked last night. Note that it ran fine for about 10K since replacing the wires. I obviously was careful when I installed them earlier this summer.

Better yet, pull the plugs and see if one doesn’t look like the others

Like I said, that's on my list for today. Remember that my issue did not appear gradually.

Along with fuel filter, when is the last time you changed the air filter. A clogged up one would throw the mixture off, and possibly cause rough running.

While these are possible, it's hard to account for them given the sudden onset. And I keep up with such maintenance anyway.

AIf you do, you have bigger problems.

I'm pretty sure something electrical is broken, and a dead/dying coil is on top of my list. If so, basically everything is a "bigger problem" given parts availability and my circumstances.

I'm looking into renting a truck.

[Me Again]

Had a similar problem with my 1300
Going down the highway at about 80 it suddenly lost power. I was down to about 60 before I hit an offramp to a gas station.
After topping it off with super It started to rum better and got me home.
Just plain icky gas in my case

[Micoproviso]

Thanks. Remember that I'm working in a parking lot.

’d start by confirming that every wire is fully screwed into each coil connector, and fully seated into each resistor spark plug cap, especially if someone else replaced the wires.

Yeah, that's what I checked last night. Note that it ran fine for about 10K since replacing the wires. I obviously was careful when I installed them earlier this summer.

Better yet, pull the plugs and see if one doesn’t look like the others

Like I said, that's on my list for today. Remember that my issue did not appear gradually.

Along with fuel filter, when is the last time you changed the air filter. A clogged up one would throw the mixture off, and possibly cause rough running.

While these are possible, it's hard to account for them given the sudden onset. And I keep up with such maintenance anyway.

AIf you do, you have bigger problems.

I'm pretty sure something electrical is broken, and a dead/dying coil is on top of my list. If so, basically everything is a "bigger problem" given parts availability and my circumstances.

I'm looking into renting a truck.

If you strongly think it’s electrical, two more suggestions.
1) wiggle the dastardly 10 pin connector just inside the left side of the fairing. You should be able to reach it enough to wiggle it without removing anything.
2) if the wire bundle coming out of that connector is still zip tied to the left frame rail just below the handlebar, cut the zip tie and wiggle that wire bundle for a possible fractured wire where the zip tie was. That was a recent issue for me. Once fixing the fractured wire, my electrical problems were over.

[Nails]

On Friday and Saturday I did a little more testing. The miss is much worse when I lug the motor; and it's best at 3500-4K RPM in 4th gear. That pretty much rules out starved for gas or a vacuum advance issue. I have nothing to rule out a bad secondary winding in a coil.

Going to the major PITA of pulling the coils (while on the road) just doesn't matter. If one really is shot, I can't hang out in a motel waiting for another to show up in General Delivery. Likewise, I can't futz around with a bunch of other fishing diagnostics.

Instead, I fixed the bike so it would make it home.

Trussed like a chicken.

[Bonnie and Clyde]

Bummer sorry you cant make it home on the bike. Keep us posted on the fix

[SgtSlag]

Wife and I trade sitting in the front of the bike. Only have one bike. We trailered our bike to Arkansas, a few years ago. Fuel pump died on us, 70 miles from our hotel; even if I carried a spare, I would not want to replace it on the side of the road where we stalled. Locals we talked with told us to steer clear of the only Kawasaki shop in the area: unreliable scheister, dishonest, likely would not help us anyway. Called his shop, as we had few choices: he did not want to work on such an old bike (1993), but he could fit it in, late the following week, after we would need to be back home, working, in Minnesota! Oh, and he would need to order the part, if it was available...

We found a tow truck company that would haul us, and the bike, back to our hotel. Did I mention that we were 70 miles from the hotel?...

We may be trailer trash, for towing our bike around the country on a trailer, but so be it. When we arrive at our destination spot, we take clover-leaf tours from there. We arrive much more refreshed, ready to ride. If our bike breaks down, we just need to get a relatively local tow back to our trailer.

Picked up our trailer a number of years ago, for a very low price: individual torsion suspension; wire grate deck; built-in ramp that stows beneath the deck, also wire mesh; tire channel for the bike, in the center of the deck; spare tire on the front. I converted its lights to LED's; re-wired it; replaced the jack stand in the front, with a wheel. All in, we paid less then $700 for it. Best money we've spent on our hobby of riding, in a lot of years -- since we bought our Voyager!

Our last big trip was to SW Colorado. When we got there, it was so beastly hot, and humid, that we drove our A/C'ed Jeep around, more than we did the bike, but we got a lot of miles in, on the bike, as well. We've ridden in all sorts of ill weather. We do not feel any need to prove ourselves to anyone, anywhere. We are tried and true, trailer trash, and damned comfortable with it. We enjoy it so much more than riding across the country, only to be tired of riding, by the time we get to our jumping off point. Whatever your pleasure, that is what is good and proper for you. For us, we trailer to our jumping off points, as it works so much better for us. It gives us more options, more confidence, and more security, knowing we can make it home without relying upon the 1993 bike.

Back in 2009, we rode our 1979 Honda 750, two up, around Lake Superior. No one traveled with us, we were on our own, riding a 30-year-old motorcycle. We rode four days in the rain, at 55 F each day, in Canada. Our gear was poor, we were soaked, and we suffered hypothermia all four days. The bike ran flawlessly, and we had the most incredible trip of our lives, bar none, since, or before. Not willing to take those kinds of chances anymore. Cheers!

[Nails]

I can see just taking day trips on a street bike. Personally, I find much of this country to be just plain boring, even on a bike. But a scooter would serve just as well. And a dual-sport is basically a scooter that tolerates going off-road well, so much the better. I'm hankering for a touring bike about 250lbs lighter than the XII anyway.

My XII has been cheap enough to consider it practically disposable. That's what it does best: high value for the money. I sure had to think about "disposing" it this time; and it'd be awfully hard to fork over another $1K to fetch it home.

No vehicle is 100% reliable. Mine wasn't very well cared for when I bought it at 25K miles or so. Now it's all caught up with maintenance (preventative and otherwise), save the replacement head I obtained this summer. Question from a couple months ago: should I risk that sparkplug thread for one more ride this season, or bag it right now and start wrenching? Tough call for me. Bottom line: I got the bike to ride. So ride I did ... until I came close to walking. Winter is for wrenching. (And it wasn't even the head that failed after all.)

Sometimes coils die. Happens in the best of families. I actually used to carry a spare until I realized it was Chinese and wouldn't actually fit.

But no, I won't trailer a street bike. Not proving anything, just don't want to mess with a trailer especially when I'm boondock camping. But I might put a d/s on the bumper.

Frankly, my big bike trips are numbered. Deanna is looking hard at retirement, when she can move back here. She isn't into touring on bikes, so we'll be taking car trips. Or actually 4X4 explorations (a Suburban "RV"), perhaps with dirt "cloverleafs". Not all that different from you.

It's all good.