Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club

I have a 2000 IS.  I bought it on 3/1/08 from a guy who bought it new.  The bike had 13,000 miles when purchased, so it did a lot of resting.  I now have over 19,000 miles on it.

I have 2 problems.  First, when the bike gets hot it will not return to a normal idle.  Rather, it idles at or above 2,000 rpm.  2-3 cans of Seafoam and a fair amount of riding did not help.  The only thing that "fixes" this is letting it cool off.

Second, I have noticed some blueing of my exhaust pipes on the left side (as you are sitting on the bike).  This is probably caused by excessive heat.  However, the pipes on the right side are not discolored.

Some guys have said I have a vac leak.  Others, including the service mgr. at Al Lamb, said my carbs need cleaning/adjusting.  He wanted $600 for the job.  I passed.

I am inclined to start by replacing the vac hoses.  This seems like an inexpensive and relatively easy task (although my mechanical skills are easily tested).  However, I would like to hear from anyone who cares to chime in.  I am especially interested if you think my 2 problems are related.

Thanks.

Jeff Atkins

Jeff,

Wish I could help you out but I am new to the Valkyrie.  I am sure someone has knowledge that can help you out.  I looked at the following link but did not find anything except what was mention on Saturday of De-Smog the Valk.  Not sure if this is any good for the Valk but I used Seafoam for my Shadow to try and clean up the carbs.  You can buy it at Walmart for about $6.

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/

On the tech board, I put in a search for fast idle when hot and that pulled up posts about people who have rejetted their bikes and this cleared up the problem.  Something about #38 slow jets, etc.   Try that search on the Tech Forum. 

Mark

Hey Jeff- Welcome to the group. I wish I could have met you on last weekend's ride.

The cut out on hot idle sounds like a coil issue. Very , very rare, but that is the first place I would look.

The pipes blueing on one side might well support the above cyrstal ball diagnoises, or it could be another issue? You must have aftermarket pipes for them to be discoloring?

Where are you in the metromess? -the other Jeff

Jeff has stock pipes and that was weird to see only one side change colors.

    Blue pipes on only one side sounds to me like split choke adjustments. There is a cable that connects one side to the other on the carb bank. Would make bike run really weird. Either way if your turning stock pipes blue, it is running very hot on that side. where are you located. I don't think "sea-foam" is going to fix this. I have six carb sync.set w/aux fuel tank that you can use, or I can help you with it some week-end. The choke adjustment is very easy also. I also have the pilot screw tool you might need.
                                                Mark

Both the RPM and blueing likely show lean mixture.
First, I would  adjust the pilot screws to at least 2.1/2 turn out, even though the manual
says 2.1/4

I have like many others changed to # 38 slow jets, and that`s my recommendation.  

Jeff, I'm betting on the vacuum hoses having some splits at the ends.  A vacuum leak will cause all of the symptoms you describe.  Somewhere, I've seen an excellent write-up on how to change the hoses but can't put my curser on it right now.  Basically, you tie a string on the hose when you pull it out so you can pull the replacement hose into the same place with a minimum of trouble.  Even if that doesn't cure the problem, it's cheap and you'll have the peace of mind in knowing you don't have to mess with the vacuum hoses for a number of years down the road.

Curtis

Jeff,
Here is a write-up on changing the vacuum lines.
I just went through this, hope it helps.
My symptoms were different than yours, I had popping and crackling when I let off the throttle and a rough idle. Anyhow changing the lines really helped the overall performance of the bike

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/AirBox%20VentHose/venthose.htm (http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/AirBox%20VentHose/venthose.htm)

This came from here:

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/ (http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/)


Good luck  8)