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Vapor Locking??

3K views 23 replies 8 participants last post by  roscoepc 
#1 ·
Due to conditions beyond my control, (Rheumatoid Arthritis!!), My Darlin' has been setting for almost 2 years due to how bad my wrist's and ankle's were hurting!! Last Saturday though was the Day I said "ENOUGH"!!! took the cover off and fired her up!! The Ol' Girl actually fired up on the first few turns but wouldn't idle unless I gave her some throttle to keep her at about 2000rpm or so.. So I shut her down, got a screwdriver and brought the idle up to about 1800, ran her till she warmed up to about halfway on the guage and moved her near my shed so I could air the tires before taking her on the road.

On a side note the battery is VERY weak and I has to use a small Battery pack to jump her with every time I cranked her so I left the idle high to avoid stalling when I stopped. More on that in another post!!

When I left she was at about two bars from max temp and I rode her for about 5 miles or so.. While running she was wanting to stall so I was constantly working the throttle to heep her running. I rolled the throttle wide open a few times and she was definitely bogging out starving for fuel!! The temp remained 2-3 bars from max....

I have cranked her up both Sunday and today and both times she ran and idled fairly smooth at 1800rpm until the temp hit about 3/4 to max on the guage.. Then she wanted to start stalling out....

I'm gonna drain the rest of the gas and refill with new gas with Seafoam because I think that 2 year old gas is the main part of the problem here but my question here is will 1-2 year old gas cause the engine to Vapor lock??

I've experience vapor locking on this bike only once before when I was driving in some VERY hot conditions and this seems very similar!!

Any thoughts on this???

I'll post what happens with the fresh gas....
 
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#7 ·
Yes it is Dave. What happens is the fuel will boil off in the fuel pump as it enters the pump and it can't build enough pressure. Again.. This has only happened once and it was EXTREMELY hot that day!!!!!!!!
 
#8 ·
Due to conditions beyond my control, (Rheumatoid Arthritis!!), My Darlin' has been setting for almost 2 years due to how bad my wrist's and ankle's were hurting!! Last Saturday though was the Day I said "ENOUGH"!!! took the cover off and fired her up!! The Ol' Girl actually fired up on the first few turns but wouldn't idle unless I gave her some throttle to keep her at about 2000rpm or so.. So I shut her down, got a screwdriver and brought the idle up to about 1800, ran her till she warmed up to about halfway on the guage and moved her near my shed so I could air the tires before taking her on the road.

On a side note the battery is VERY weak and I has to use a small Battery pack to jump her with every time I cranked her so I left the idle high to avoid stalling when I stopped. More on that in another post!!

When I left she was at about two bars from max temp and I rode her for about 5 miles or so.. While running she was wanting to stall so I was constantly working the throttle to heep her running. I rolled the throttle wide open a few times and she was definitely bogging out starving for fuel!! The temp remained 2-3 bars from max....

I have cranked her up both Sunday and today and both times she ran and idled fairly smooth at 1800rpm until the temp hit about 3/4 to max on the guage.. Then she wanted to start stalling out....

I'm gonna drain the rest of the gas and refill with new gas with Seafoam because I think that 2 year old gas is the main part of the problem here but my question here is will 1-2 year old gas cause the engine to Vapor lock??

I've experience vapor locking on this bike only once before when I was driving in some VERY hot conditions and this seems very similar!!

Any thoughts on this???

I'll post what happens with the fresh gas....
With 2 year old gas I'm surprised it had enough aromatic content in the old gas to run at all. I think you are right one track. It needs 3 things probably. Fresh gas and something that will clean varnish from the injectors. The third thing is some nice long rides. :)
 
#12 · (Edited)
I would wait to see how it runs with fresh fuel and a good battery before drawing any conclusions. :)
 
#19 ·
Here I go assuming again. The fuel pump is electric, not mechanical like the Gold Wings that came before. Something that could build up the pressure fuel injection systems require. I have not read anything here yet about changing a fuel filter. Is there one here?
Vapor lock, or maybe partially blocked fuel injectors. Bike should be able to idle 850-900 r.p.m.
gumbyred
 
#20 ·
Gumby the fuel pump is a high pressure pump with a banjo fitting on the output end to accommodate the higher pressure it produces. The OEM fuel filter is a small "canister" type about 2"x2" with banjo fittings on both ends.. The good news is the last time I checked it was not dirty and had good flow through it. The bad news is that filter is unique to the '85/'86 Fuelie's and Mother Honda discontinued the item a long while back!! No decent fitting replacement has been found yet but, I'm gonna try the NAPA guy here in town and see what he can come up with....

As far as a line restriction Dave, I'll try blowing back through the line to check. The tank had little to no rust when I parked her and I had just filled the tank beforehand..

The Idle setpoint is 1000 + 50rpms on all GL1200's..
 
#21 ·
Don, I have this in my notes about the aftermarket filters for the LTD/SEi. I don't know if this is accurate or not, but I found it a few years ago and made a note of it.

Fuel Filter GL1200LTD or SEi
Beck Arnley 043-0897
NAPA # 3556 or a Wix # 33556
Filter is larger so have to modify mounting bracket on bike.
 
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#24 ·
Ok People, here's my Final Report on the Bike:

First off, I'd like to Thank EVERYONE who responded with advise and encouragement!! You're Priceless!!

Well the gist of the problem was old gas!! I finally drained it, had good flow BTW Dave, put about a gallon in her and added about twice the recommended dose of Seafoam finished filling her, and fired her up. She was a bit hesitant to fire but I rolled the throttle wide open and got her cranked! I kept her revved up to about 2000rpm for a minute or so and let her drop to the 1800 or so I had her set at.. After she warmed up to about 3/4 on the temp gauge there was a few times she started to slow and die but she caught and brought herself back up to speed.. I let her run about 1/2 hour at 1800 and then slowed the idle to 1080 and ran her for about another 20 minutes. She Purrrrr's This one Does!!!!!! :cool::cool:

So tomorrow, If I have the money, I'll get a new battery and put her on the road for a bit!! I mean after all... I Gotta be Sure, Right??!!!!!!! ;):sneaky::cool:

Thanks again and I'll be posting about that Mini "Hot Box" I'm using to jump her with!!! If anything good came from this it was discovering how good that thing actually works!!!!
 
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