WheelieDog
Race Dog
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2009
- Messages
- 2,106
- Reaction score
- 77
- Location
- Murrayfield, Pretoria
- Bike
- Suzuki DL 650 V-Strom
My strom has undergone invasive surgery...
I've been experiencing poor running issues of late, erratic idling, jerky throttle response and stalling, kind of like she only runs on one cylinder at times.
I thought that her service at 96 000km with new plugs would sort her issues but my problems only got worse after the service. I suspected it was time for a throttle body sync. It is counter productive doing the sync if valve clearances are out, you end up with a compromise and masking a fault. It was with trepidation that I removed all the body panels, crash bars, tank and radiator to get to the heads.
This is the first time I have worked on shim under bucket valves so it was quite a learning curve. my intake clearances were within spec but the exhaust clearances were all out roughly by 0.05 mm. I got some replacement shims from the dealer in Centurion and put the cams and heads back on. The motor already sounded smoother to me after the valve adjustment!
Then I got stuck into the throttle bodies. I synchronized the secondary throttle plates, they were definitely out. Then it was time for a throttle body sync. When I removed the vacuum port plugs they were pretty shot and could easily have been leaking air. I had already made a simple vacuum differential gauge for my Goldwing project from some clear tubing and ATF fluid I had in the garage. I installed some extension tubes that will stay on the bike and hooked up my gauge. The difference was small and a 1/8 turn on the adjuster screw was enough to have them pretty spot on.
Eventually I could put back all the panels etc and go for a test run. Boy, she ran sweet. That is until I rode to work and she started her shyte again as I took the offramp. I had to keep the throttle open to keep her from stalling, revving her like a robot racer :lol8:
I've been experiencing poor running issues of late, erratic idling, jerky throttle response and stalling, kind of like she only runs on one cylinder at times.
I thought that her service at 96 000km with new plugs would sort her issues but my problems only got worse after the service. I suspected it was time for a throttle body sync. It is counter productive doing the sync if valve clearances are out, you end up with a compromise and masking a fault. It was with trepidation that I removed all the body panels, crash bars, tank and radiator to get to the heads.
This is the first time I have worked on shim under bucket valves so it was quite a learning curve. my intake clearances were within spec but the exhaust clearances were all out roughly by 0.05 mm. I got some replacement shims from the dealer in Centurion and put the cams and heads back on. The motor already sounded smoother to me after the valve adjustment!
Then I got stuck into the throttle bodies. I synchronized the secondary throttle plates, they were definitely out. Then it was time for a throttle body sync. When I removed the vacuum port plugs they were pretty shot and could easily have been leaking air. I had already made a simple vacuum differential gauge for my Goldwing project from some clear tubing and ATF fluid I had in the garage. I installed some extension tubes that will stay on the bike and hooked up my gauge. The difference was small and a 1/8 turn on the adjuster screw was enough to have them pretty spot on.
Eventually I could put back all the panels etc and go for a test run. Boy, she ran sweet. That is until I rode to work and she started her shyte again as I took the offramp. I had to keep the throttle open to keep her from stalling, revving her like a robot racer :lol8:
