Hello! I bought a VT500 with 14k miles on it and put on 260 miles since. Has run wonderfully. Went on a 30mile ride today and parked the bike a few hours. I came back out few hours later for a ride.
I got a mile out and the bike suddenly lost power, forcing me to downshift to maintain speed. I pulled off and let it sit a moment before cutting power. I suspected a fuel shortage and switched to the RESERVE tank. The bike fired up fine and got me home, but not without bogging down again midway there.
Once home, I put it in neutral and throttled the bike. It got to 2000rpm all right, but struggled there and once at 3000rpm it cut out and the bike shut off. I had to run to make my appointment, so haven't been able to investigate further, but hope someone could offer some ideas as to where to start.
I really appreciate any help! Thanks so much,
First thing to do is to check fuel level. you mentioned about 290 miles since you owned it but no fillups. did you get gas from same store? not unusual to pickup trash or water in fuel from conv. stores. with that out of the way, look at your plugs and see what they look like. black and sooty would be fuel fouled and very white or very light tan would be lean. if plugs and fuel are eliminated, it could be the result of a stator coil starting to go south. these will require special tools to diagnose.
Testimonial: "Very quick to respond and helpful!"
if swapping over to reserve didn't help then its like not a fuel issue unless now running it so low has caused it to pull trash or water from the tank. and if this is the case you may still need to clean. drain the carb bowls at each carb and see what comes out. this will be the determining factor.
once you have chance to refill and run some, comment back to let me know the result and we will go from there.
quite possible! since the reserve tube is the lower (shorter) one of the bunch, it would pickup trash much easier than its taller brother. therefore I would maybe pull the petcock and give it a look. check for trash in the tube. Blow it out and replace. check reserve usage again before any trip requiring it! good luck with it.
×
It's me again....forgot to mention that all fuses are good, stator increases volts to above 13.2, new spark plugs, fuel lines are good, pedcock is good and fuel filter inside, carb was cleaned (and verified as correct by the pro mechanic), ((( air filter looks clean but I can't really tell, besides, pro mechanic says the front cylinder only drops out))) I have to check the radiator fluid again, fan etc, but I don't think it is overheating because I don't see the idiot light come on or smell antifreeze etc.))) I think it's an electrical issue. I have not tested my coils and wires in and out of them. Any ideas???? Driving me nuts. Left me on the road at least a dozen times now.
I have an 85 VT500 started doing the same thing a couple months ago. progressively got worse till it won't start. Seems like a fuel issue but I don't think it is as it now doesn't fire on the front cylinder and the coil is good. I believe the CDI spark unit has failed but it is a $400 item and I don't want to pay that on a guess.
Hey, exact same issue on my 85 VT500c. Runs fantastic for approx first ten minutes, then bogs down no matter what gear or what I do with the throttle. Major starting problems too. Prof. mechanic diagnosed two problems: Front cylinder shuts down after short ride and needed to rebuild starter motor....(He guesses a new CDI was in order to solve the shutdown problem)....I happened to have another (used) CDI (believe it or not) which I put in.....and another used Rectifier/Regulator which I put in......and I rebuilt the starter motor with a $26 kit {Definitley needed that....really bad inside).....Bike fired up on FIRST turn of key!!!!!! Let it idle for 5 to 10 min on my stand....Then took it for a ride.....Fantastic acceleration first ten minutes...Then a bog here and there at starting out speeds....then it just died. [Note: I had also bought and installed a brand new battery prior to ride. and new spark plugs......Same **** problem. HELP!!!!
×
2,030 views
Usually answered in minutes!
Following up on the Shadow VT500 problem I asked about: The symptoms seemed like a fuel shortage, as you said. The only thing that struck me oddly was that putting on the reserve didn't seem to make much of a difference. Does that seem strange, or is it possible that I somehow went through the whole tank without ever switching to RES.? I can hear a bit of gas slosh when I rock the bike hard, but that's about it. I've yet to have a chance to fill it or do anything further as it's night and raining now. Thanks!
Thanks again. So I put in some fresh gas today. The bike didn't want to start still, not turning over. I tried starter 3 times and was going to give up. I let it sit a bit, thinking I'd flooded it while goosing the throttle on the last attempt. I waited, then pulled open the choke completely and tried again. Fired right up.
I let it warm up, disengaged choke and revved it up to 4000rpm no problem. Did this a few times, ran through gears, and let it run some more before cutting it. Seemed normal. I didn't go for an actual ride, as the weather is still terrible here. So if it was really just out of gas, the only thing I could figure was that the RESERVE stand up tube is blocked/not working, thus the switch to RES not working. Thoughts?
Had a similar problem with my 86 vt500c. The factory gas valve switch is vacuum activated. I replaced it with a manual one and the problem went away.
×