99 Standard not Running well

[Mike5281]

To all the fine mechanics of the Honda Valkyrie I have a question to ask pertaining to my 99 Standard and I hope I can get some help because I'm a little frustrated right now.

After six months in the garage for winter, I started up the bike this weekend and took it out for a ride of 150 miles. When I originally started the bike it was about 50 degrees here in New York and the bike felt like it was missing a cylinder. After warming it up for 20 minutes I took off and the entire ride felt like it was still missing as slow speeds. No back fires, but a feeling like the bike is not hitting on all six. 

You can feel the bike actually missing when you drive at a constant 35 to 40 MPH. Makes riding around town very unpleasant. I pulled the plugs and they look ok and so now I am looking for advise as to where to go from here.

A little background, I have a glass pack conversion but no re-jetting.
I have done nothing to the engine except oil changes every year and plugs ever two. So no de-smog or any vacuum hose or wire replacements.

I'm thinking it could be carb problems because it sat so long, or electrical and not getting spark to one cylinder, like maybe a plug is really bad. going to replace them this week as I usually do anyhow.  But I'm just not sure. Any suggestions on what to look for?

Oh ya ,I have 22,000 miles on this bike. Kept inside and everything looks new.

[Bad On 3]

Hi when you stored your bike for 6 months did you use sta-bil in gas --i would run carb cleaner in a tank or two and see if it helps --

[Mike5281]

Re-jetting the carbs has me sweaty in the shorts. I must admit I'm not real excited about doing that job as I have read the procedure and well it looks complicated to me. I have heard of the difficulties in getting the air box back in and having never done this type of job before I guess I would say I'm not in a rush to take it all apart only to find myself without a ride for the summer. Let's just say I'm more of a rider then a mechanic.

I did not stabilize the gas as I didn't think 6 months would be long enough to cause it to break down, but I could put some chemicals in the tank to see if I can get the jets cleaned up first before I take the whole thing apart. If this has happened to anyone else then maybe a suggested cleaner would be helpful to me.

If that doesn't do the job,  then I'll pull out the carbs and do the jets. I can't believe I just said that!

[Quicksilver]

My riding season starts when there is no more ice on the roads. Temperature a couple of degrees above freezing. I do not use stable but run premium gas and start the bike a couple of times during winter and let it warm up. It ran rough this spring similar to what you are describing. With a full tank of gas, I dumped a full can of seafoam in it and rode until I had about 1/2 a tank left, then filled it again and rode some more. Since then I've had about 6 full tanks through her and she's running smooth again. I much prefer to do the simple things first. I have 63000 miles on mine and the carbs have not been worked on, thats not saying she couldn't use a bit of work there, it's just if it ain't broke leave it alone.

[Gryphon Rider]

Mike5281, I agree with you that the first thing to do is put some fuel system cleaner in your gas, like Seafoam or Techron.  If you put your location in your profile, you might just have a local person offer to help with what might otherwise be an overwhelming project (such as reinstalling your air box).

[Ricky-D]

Well, there are two camps here in this post, I see!

I am with the leave it alone camp.

I suggest trying everything under the sun before attempting to remove the carburetor bank.

This means don't stop with just one brand of additive. I've heard good reports about many different additives, Seafoam being just one. Techron also is favored on this forum and also Lucas "regane", so you see there are many options before the final option of removing the carburetors.

And it is possible to replace the jets without removing the carburetor bank. Just thought I'd throw that in!

***

[Hoser]

One jet plugged?  This worked for me:
One techron and One Seafoam in half a tank of gas.  Drive around with the rpm below 3000.  Every mile or so give it a mile at as much choke as possible, just  enough to it running.  Run it up to  4 thousand rpm, then repeat.  Betcha in an hours time it will run great.  When it does, fill the tank with gas and happy motoring. It's worth a try.    Hoser  

[YoungPUP]

Vaguley remember an article maybe in shop talk about rejetting without pulling the carb rack But from the pics it looked a bit too tight to do with large paws.  Pulling the carbs isnt the bad part, the airbox is. Just remember to get new orings for the intake runners, (redeye tech has Viton ones that are reasonable, and seem to be somewhat more durable than the stock bits)  Just went through the same problem myself a few wks back.  Welcome to the family, you're gonna have to do it eventually.... 

[Mildew]

Why would we eventually have to rejet? Just asking.

[John U.]

If you have rust in your tank the slow jets can be very tough to clean. However, I haven't read any post that reccomended rejetting as a first option. I suggest a can of Techron in a third to a half tank as a standard proceedure for clogged slows. Give the Techron time to work, run it and let it sit for a while then run it some more, repeat.
For the future, 6 months is more than long enough to cause ethanol problems. Get some Marine Stabil and use a light dose in each tank. Clogged slow jets are a fact of life now that we are almost all required to run ethanol "enriched" gas.

[Hook#3287]

I like Hoser's plan  

If that dosen't do it, most lkely you'll have to pull the carbs and swap out the slow jets from 35's to 38's.

Where in NY are you?  Someone close bye might be able to help you.

[rodeo1]

had this problem with a 99. prior owner had cancer and let it sit for a couple years with no stabil in it, cannot figure why one wouldn't do that crap the stuff is cheap and prevents the problem.

anyway i tried everything and still wound up re jetting. the air box aint that bad, just tie the intakes together in a bunch and drop it back in, cut the string and your in.

please dont monkey with changing jet sizes. OEM were set up by some pretty smart guys at the factory. valks run good left alone, they aren't harleys, they don't need monkeying around with. stay stock and the bike will run forever. and please guys invest a few bucks in a can of stabil for crying out loud !

[Mike5281]

I want to thank everyone for their advise. I was sure that I was not alone with this problem and now that I have some opinions and suggestions I will do the following.

I purchased some Seafoam last night and pulled the tank. Needed to do that to clean and re-oil the KN filter. It was really pretty clean anyhow. I have six new spark plugs to install as well.

I checked each and every hose I could set my eyes on and they all look and feel like new. Again this bike gets no abuse. Garage keep all winter, covered when not in use, no rain, I don't even hose it down when cleaning. 

So, I will put it altogether again with clean air and oil filters, new oil, new plugs and a can of Seafoam and run it for awhile to see if it clean itself up. If not, then I will add another can of Techron and run it some more then if it still does not run smoothly I will tear it down and replace the jets. Again the bike has only 20K and I think a cleaning would be a better first choice, and it will save me from an anxiety attack.

I'll post back again in a few days to let you all know how I made out but again thanks for all the advise and for sharing your thoughts with me. That is why I joined this club some 10 years ago.

Oh ya, Gryphon Rider asked where I lived. Upstate N.Y. in the town of Staatsburg. Let's say 100 miles north of NYC on the beautiful Hudson River. 

[Chiefy]

I want to thank everyone for their advise. I was sure that I was not alone with this problem and now that I have some opinions and suggestions I will do the following.

I purchased some Seafoam last night and pulled the tank. Needed to do that to clean and re-oil the KN filter. It was really pretty clean anyhow. I have six new spark plugs to install as well.

I checked each and every hose I could set my eyes on and they all look and feel like new. Again this bike gets no abuse. Garage keep all winter, covered when not in use, no rain, I don't even hose it down when cleaning. 

So, I will put it altogether again with clean air and oil filters, new oil, new plugs and a can of Seafoam and run it for awhile to see if it clean itself up. If not, then I will add another can of Techron and run it some more then if it still does not run smoothly I will tear it down and replace the jets. Again the bike has only 20K and I think a cleaning would be a better first choice, and it will save me from an anxiety attack.

I'll post back again in a few days to let you all know how I made out but again thanks for all the advise and for sharing your thoughts with me. That is why I joined this club some 10 years ago.

Oh ya, Gryphon Rider asked where I lived. Upstate N.Y. in the town of Staatsburg. Let's say 100 miles north of NYC on the beautiful Hudson River. 

Since the tank is already off, I would drain the old gas then refill with fresh when you reinstall it.  If you drain it by removing the petcock, (or out the fill cap I presume) you can get a lot of particulates out that may be sitting in the bottom.

[valkyriemc]

"Since the tank is already off, I would drain the old gas then refill with fresh when you reinstall it.  If you drain it by removing the petcock, (or out the fill cap I presume) you can get a lot of particulates out that may be sitting in the bottom."

Very true, worth the effort, good catch.

[jwebber45]

Mike, I had the same problem last Sunday. I did not put stabil in the gas nor did I fill the take up prior to storage for the winter. I actually had to pull over on the road because she stopped running and had no pep. Called my brother, put fresh fuel in and he jumped it (Cause I wore the battery down). Fired right up. I went directly to shell and put 93 octane in her and she ran great the rest of the day. My brother suggested that between the lack of the full tank of gas, condensation and no stabil - this was bound to happen.

[Thunderbolt]

if that doesn't work, it takes about 1/2 to 3/4 of a day to get the carbs out.  I have cleaned up carbs in four Valks now and all of them had one or more slow jets clogged.  The jet opening is only .032 inch in diameter.  That is like one strand of wire from your usual wire brush, in fact that is what I use to clean them out.  I have not replaced any jets in any of them and they all ran great when cleaned up.  I desmogged all of them while at it, and set the pilots to 2 1/4 turns out, and did a carb sync on them.  A couple of them needed new screens in the tank and a petcock repair kit.
Hope yours cleans up with the fuel stabilizer