coughing engine
 

a while back there was a post about engines coughing or stuttering, mostly in the cold, and i am not sure an answer was arrived at. i can not find the original post so unfortunately i can not familiarise myself with the background to this matter, but i have been lucky enough to find another possible cause of this problem with a fairly simple solution.

i took the carb off my bike on the weekend, and i noticed that the rubber joins between the carb and the top end of the engine were totally perished, only held in place by the force of being pushed forward by the air box joins from the rear.

these 2 joins are something like exhaust manifolds, they are short pieces of rubber piping that ensure an air tight attachment of the carb to the engine. as such, perished units like i had were letting through too much air with the fuel-air mixture, which i suspect was the reason for my engine occasionally stuttering/wheezing, even when warm.

with the new joins in place, my bike is purring again. this could also have something to do with having cleaned the carb, but i think the manifolds were a large part of the problem. if i had not removed my carb, i would not have noticed that these parts needed replacing.

hope this is of use to anyone having this problem.

later
cabron



[This message has been edited by cabron (edited 09 April 2003).]

thanks for the interest Cabron,that was my problem, solved now fortunately. it ammounted to bad connectors in the CDI/ignition switch wire, which got damp and corroded and then didnt grip very well. with a bit of vibration they kept shorting out and this earthed(or un-earthed?) the CDI and made the engine stutter, and eventually give up completely.
the symptoms were just like a bad coil or CDI and i checked the wire continuity over and over again, it was driving me crazy! i just didnt think to check the actual connections. one to watch out for!

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dave