After 17 yrs. finally having problems with the Valk.

[John Schmidt]

First was ignition after rebuilding the carbs, got that squared away finally. Did some fine tuning on the fuel delivery and runs good now after using a Digisync. So today I figured I'd take a run down the nearby interstate to see if the cruise control is working....which it was. Problem now, the throttle is sticking wide open. Was finally able to limp back to the garage, running lousy....barely, shut down while I dug out my door opener. When I started it back up to pull in the garage...it's normal. What the hey?????

Was planning on a short run down state this Sunday to meet up with some other Wisconsin riders, now I don't know if it's safe. This is really beginning to get under my skin!    Wondering if the CC is binding on the throttle arm it's connected to, you can twist the throttle and it kicks back normal but the CC isn't engaged when sitting still. I need this thing running right cuz I've got a trip to NC coming up.

Just happened to recall there's been a few times just cruising down the street, the CC not engaged, just rolling at street speed of 25-35mph. Once in a while when I shifted I noticed the engine not dropping rpm like it should when the clutch was pulled in for the shift. I could blip the throttle and it would settle down. Has me stumped.

[gordonv]

Not playing with these things in that area very much, I had my throttle sticking because when I put the carbs back on, they where adjusted wrong and would stick open.

[John Schmidt]

So did you figure out what caused them to stick open? What was it that was adjusted wrong causing them to stick open. Mine doesn't do it all the time, but when it does....holy cow.

[Jack B]

I can't help you with your throttle problems, sorry but a I'll give you a call today about Sunday's ride.

[Jims99]

Could it be the cruise control cable or chain hanging up on something or maybe vacuum is slowly pulling on cable even though it’s not on? Just a thought.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Once when reinstalling my air box I put the throttle cables in a bind. You'll probably only need to remove the tank to check for this.

[JimC]

John
Sounds to me that your problem is in the cruise control. I would eliminate the connections to it and see what you have. I know you want to have cruise for your trip, but a good running bike that does not endanger your life is better that what you have now.
In a worse case, you may not have cruise, but you could hook up a throttle lock for the trip, they are better than nothing.

JIm

[John Schmidt]

I'm kinda tired of messing with these carbs. I never had a problem with the old ones except a little seepage starting around one of the fuel rails. So today I'm going to see how easily I can split the old carbs, and if that works I'll split them just enough to pull the fuel & air tubes and then remove the rebuilt carbs from the bike(they're California carbs anyway so you know they'll never work like the rest of the state's carbs ) and swap all the new jets and float valves. I'll not completely disassemble them, just split enough to r&r the fuel and air rails. Put it all back together and reinstall my original set.

This is all predicated on whether I find an obvious cause for the throttle trouble I'm now having which seems to be centered around the carb set. How....I don't know. If nothing is found, then out they come.

Jim(Dave ) "private joke"....I'll take a closer look but before I ever tested the CC to work at highway speed I noticed once in a while the throttle would stick open during shifts. Later when I took a high speed run down I-41 the motor wouldn't throttle down as I approached the exit. The only way I could drop enough speed was to kill the motor and do some braking, then in a lower gear turn it back on so the motor would restart. Thankfully there wasn't any traffic at the roundabout so I was able to keep rolling even though the engine was still reving pretty high and running real bad, could barely maintain 30mph. I would like to not have to do the swap as described above but don't know what else to do at this point. Re. Sunday, I'd really like to ride down but will use the car if I can't get it running right. My big concern is the trip to IZ and beyond, I need my "old reliable" back up and performing as before. 

[gordonv]

I believe it was just an issue with attaching, tightening and adjusting them in the wrong sequence. Like mentioned, it was like they were binding, I could manually close the throttle (push me-pull you cables), but they wouldn't close on their own.

I also would start by disconnecting the CC connection. See if it works fine or not. If it does, reconnect and remove the power to the CC. See if it's operation might not be completely right.

It's always difficult when something comes out wrong after spending so much time on it, when usually everything comes out right the 1st time.

I would say back off, but then you have a deadline you're trying to meet.

Keep us informed of what you find.

[John Schmidt]

Gordon, what's strange is the throttle snaps back like it should, it's only a problem when underway. That's what has me stumped. Just went to Autozone for a couple new check valves for the CC, problem is....they blow in either direction so they're getting returned. 

[MarkT]

If your cruise cable isn't sticking (is free movement) then I don't think the cruise is the problem, if this shows up while the cruise isn't activated.  Because the purpose of the bead chain is to separate the cruise linkage from the manual linkage, and allow normal control of the throttle when the cruise isn't active.  The isolator function is a simple mechanism so I don't visualize how it could fail. The throttle cables however are more complex than most bikes and can provide lots of friction especially on a high-mile bike.  I'd look for sticking / lubing or replacement in that area.

[John Schmidt]

After pulling the cruise control vacuum tubes off the ports in back of the intake runners and capping them off, I next double checked the available spark for each cylinder with good results, one even bit me. The hose pliers I used had a split in the insulation...yep, good spark there. I also had relaxed the throttle cables a bit by backing off on the adjustments at the handle bars. While at it I pulled the switch box apart and lubed the cables. All seemed to sound good and look good so today I finally took a short 15 mile ride. Since it was in the 50's I put on a jacket and was glad I did. I headed for the nearest interstate access a couple miles away and once there hit it hard. I'll just say I'm glad nobody was watching other than the folks I passed. A few miles up the road I got off and hung a left back under the I/S and picked up the frontage road and headed back in the direction of the casa. Came up on a little country road headed due east so figured what the heck and took it, thereby adding a few more miles to the test run. It deadended at the Fox river so turned north a few miles til I found another country road headed back west toward the main street that runs past my place. Pulled into the garage and just sat there and let the Phat Lady growl for a couple minutes. Dang that felt...and sounded, good. I'll give it another test ride tomorrow before the planned ride Sunday to meet up with some of Wisconsin's finest.

One thing I might do is reattach the vacuum hoses for the CC as a test. If it works correctly I'll know it was the throttle issues and not the cruise causing it, something I tend to believe since at times the throttle didn't drop rpm during shifts and happened at street speeds when the CC wasn't on. In any case, I'm cautiously optimistic at this point. This has been a major PITA til now.

[Jack B]

So hopefully it's fixed if not then you have to be the lead bike and we'll have to keep up to a WIDE-OPEN Valkyrie

[John Schmidt]

So hopefully it's fixed if not then you have to be the lead bike and we'll have to keep up to a WIDE-OPEN Valkyrie

Jack, the guys in Fla. used to kid me if I was leading...."are we going to get out of 3rd gear this time?"