Hello all. Guess I should start with a little background and go from there.
I've been riding one thing after another since I was 15, now 67, have always done my own work on everything I have owned, so I'm pretty familiar with lots of stuff and have been pretty successful keeping my two wheels rolling year after year. This current ride I have had since 2009, barn find and tore it all down and put her all back together. I haven't had any issues until now, which started about 3 weeks ago.
1978 GL1000.. 22668 original miles ( it had 17,332 when I purchased. Hadn't been ridden or on the road since 1982 ) Has 4 yr old Gates belts, Dyna ignition I put in last year; (spot on ) carbs have been gone through and balanced, all electrical works as it should, checked and no signs of wear, animals or shorts. New plugs, caps and though coils are original the plug wires are good. I have been riding since I put it on the road in 2011 with no issues and last year I never put her up over winter as we really didn't have one. I think all told there may have been two weeks when I didn't take her out for a spin. All this time she's been running like the wind..
Now my issue(s) ..
Three weeks ago I'm headed up town and suddenly the bike starts cutting out like I dropped a cylinder or two, so I pull over and she stalls out and is hard to restart but I finally get it going and limp the 3 miles back home. I check for spark and have a good hot fat one on each plug. I loosen float bowl drain screws and gas comes out of each clear as bell. I pull the outlet hose from the fuel pump and crank and fuel flows good through the pump and again gas is clean. To double check I drain some through the petcock, then switch over to reserve.. fuel flows with no restrictions .. stumped.
So I take her out and she runs like a top for about 30 miles then I notice my neutral light is dimly glowing while I am in 5th gear ( wth?).
I pull over and notice when I downshift into 3rd it goes out, so I shift into 4th and keep going and after a few seconds it come on again and the bike starts to run like it did before, like it's running on 2 cylinders.
Now there is no backfiring or smoking or anything to show there is an internal issue going on. I pull into a parking lot, let her sit awhile and fire her up. Idles and sounds good so I hop on and head for the barn and it runs great all the way home, no sign of trouble ?????
I check all wiring for a short .. none to be found. Hadn't gotten any gas, tank is clean, full pump is clean. Checked air cleaner and it's in good shape, Checked gas cap and it's functioning as it should and even changed it out with another I had. Can't for the life of me find the problem.
So out I go again. Keeping an eye on temp gauge and charging gauge as I ride. Temp gauge gets a little above middle range and the problem rears it's ugly head again, though there is no dim neutral light like before .. another issue? Check thermostat, works as it should, fan comes on and runs as it should, No wire issues, connections clean.
This continues to happen on and off every time I ride now. Some days I can ride for a long time and all is well before it starts , other times like just before I posted, 12 miles and it acted up.. I am completely baffled.
Can anyone think of what I missed, what I should check that I haven't?
Appreciate any and all help.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to get you all on the same page and explain in as much detail as possible
:frown2:
I've been riding one thing after another since I was 15, now 67, have always done my own work on everything I have owned, so I'm pretty familiar with lots of stuff and have been pretty successful keeping my two wheels rolling year after year. This current ride I have had since 2009, barn find and tore it all down and put her all back together. I haven't had any issues until now, which started about 3 weeks ago.
1978 GL1000.. 22668 original miles ( it had 17,332 when I purchased. Hadn't been ridden or on the road since 1982 ) Has 4 yr old Gates belts, Dyna ignition I put in last year; (spot on ) carbs have been gone through and balanced, all electrical works as it should, checked and no signs of wear, animals or shorts. New plugs, caps and though coils are original the plug wires are good. I have been riding since I put it on the road in 2011 with no issues and last year I never put her up over winter as we really didn't have one. I think all told there may have been two weeks when I didn't take her out for a spin. All this time she's been running like the wind..
Now my issue(s) ..
Three weeks ago I'm headed up town and suddenly the bike starts cutting out like I dropped a cylinder or two, so I pull over and she stalls out and is hard to restart but I finally get it going and limp the 3 miles back home. I check for spark and have a good hot fat one on each plug. I loosen float bowl drain screws and gas comes out of each clear as bell. I pull the outlet hose from the fuel pump and crank and fuel flows good through the pump and again gas is clean. To double check I drain some through the petcock, then switch over to reserve.. fuel flows with no restrictions .. stumped.
So I take her out and she runs like a top for about 30 miles then I notice my neutral light is dimly glowing while I am in 5th gear ( wth?).
I pull over and notice when I downshift into 3rd it goes out, so I shift into 4th and keep going and after a few seconds it come on again and the bike starts to run like it did before, like it's running on 2 cylinders.
Now there is no backfiring or smoking or anything to show there is an internal issue going on. I pull into a parking lot, let her sit awhile and fire her up. Idles and sounds good so I hop on and head for the barn and it runs great all the way home, no sign of trouble ?????
I check all wiring for a short .. none to be found. Hadn't gotten any gas, tank is clean, full pump is clean. Checked air cleaner and it's in good shape, Checked gas cap and it's functioning as it should and even changed it out with another I had. Can't for the life of me find the problem.
So out I go again. Keeping an eye on temp gauge and charging gauge as I ride. Temp gauge gets a little above middle range and the problem rears it's ugly head again, though there is no dim neutral light like before .. another issue? Check thermostat, works as it should, fan comes on and runs as it should, No wire issues, connections clean.
This continues to happen on and off every time I ride now. Some days I can ride for a long time and all is well before it starts , other times like just before I posted, 12 miles and it acted up.. I am completely baffled.
Can anyone think of what I missed, what I should check that I haven't?
Appreciate any and all help.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to get you all on the same page and explain in as much detail as possible
:frown2: