I give up! Terry, Bill, Bert, John.....HELP!!!

[Tropic traveler]

Finally got around to putting the '97 back together after the carb cleaning & reseal job. No drips or leaks anywhere but it still pops under part throttle and absolutely refuses to idle at all.
Runs way better than it did before the cleaning at higher RPM.
What have I done wrong? I may have to have an intervention. 

[Thunderbolt]

Can you tell which side is popping Eddie?  Both sides? This is the one with glass packs right? Just trying to help narrow it down to a cylinder or side.  All the intake bands tight?  Did you change the small vacuum hoses on the side of each carb?  They are about 1 1/2 inches long and don't usually look too bad until you take them off and squeeze the end and then you see small cracks.  Give us a run down on what you did change.

[Bert AKA,Valkaholic]

Just For Giggles, Check The Spark Plugs, There May Be Trash Or Gunk On One Of Them Not Letting It Fire Properly. And Make Sure The Boots Are All On, Sometimes They Can Be A Bear. Hope This Is Helpful.

[Kylenav]

Just For Giggles, Check The Spark Plugs, There May Be Trash Or Gunk On One Of Them Not Letting It Fire Properly. And Make Sure The Boots Are All On, Sometimes They Can Be A Bear. Hope This Is Helpful.

Mine just did nearly the exact same thing.  Had a plug that the porcelain which covers the electrode somehow came loose and was preventing the plug to fire at low RPM which caused rough idle and backfire. Just a thought.

[IamGCW]

A good battery voltage is needed, you might want to verify that.  I suggest check it from engine ground to main fuse, if a connection at the battery or engine ground is bad it will show here.

Maybe check to see if one carb is dry, drain each into a cup and compare volume for each one.  Drain them just after running the bike.

Is one exhaust colder than the others.

Are you using a DanMarc shutoff.  Some issues occur when this is connected to the coil.

Ohm the coils thru the spark plug caps.  Might be a bad wire. 

Is the ignition module stock, aftermarket ones can create issues.


Gil

[Tropic traveler]

Terry, it seems like the left bank is not firing at low RPM. Kept it idling by modulating the throttle & pulled a plug wire one at a time. All three cylinders on the RH bank made the bike miss harder as I detached them but felt almost no extra miss when I pulled any of the LH bank wires. New intake boots, all tight, new intake o-rings, no vacuum leaks that I can see but I will double check that. Plugs all look good & I reinstalled them back in different holes, no difference. Yes it's the glasspack equipped bike, & the stock exhaust is going back on while I replace the packs, they are getting kind of raspy. 

The bike has no ignition mods, using the stock petcock which seems to be working well. Took quite a bit of cranking to get the fuel flowing well as the system was completely dry. Starts right up now but requires constant throttle adjustments to keep it running. I have adjusted the thumbwheel manual idle adjuster all the in & all the way out with no change whatsoever.

Not idling, missing & popping is the original reason I pulled the carbs to begin with. I had let it sit waaaay too long while I dealt with rust in the tank, to the point that the gas in the carbs had that smell. I just assumed the carbs had gunked up again with rust sediment & alky gas as the culprit. After tearing down the carbs I noted that they didn't look all that bad, nowhere near as bad as they did at 78,000 {115,500 now} when I had them off last. Went ahead & did a thorough cleaning & replaced the slows with new 38's. It runs much better in the 3,000+ RPM range than it did before & at least I can modulate the throttle to keep it from stalling. As soon as it gets below 2,000 RPM it will dead stall.
It seems apparent that my dirty carb diagnosis was incorrect & I have some other problem causing the popping & no idle routine. I thought about throttle cable mis-adjustment but that would not explain the original problem.
I've run out of ideas.  

[John Schmidt]

Do as suggested....check the bowl volume of each carb on the left side. If low, I'm wondering if you might have an obstruction in the fuel line going to that side. It can't be the coils/ignition because the right side is firing ok. When you reassembled them did you get all the enrichers correctly hooked to the choke slider?

I'd sure check bowl volume before doing anything else.

[Thunderbolt]

The first thing that rang a bell in your last post was that the thumbwheel adjustment made no difference.  It should make a LOT of difference.   I would take a close look at how you re-assembled that section although normally you wouldn't change that.  Compare with one of your other bikes.  You should be able to get it to hold the engine speed that you want to set it for.  Question did you change the synch screw settings?  Pilot jet O-rings?  If you changed to the larger low speed jets I think the recommendation is for 1 3/4 turns out on those.

[Bert AKA,Valkaholic]

I Agree With John On Checking The Coils, Connections , Grounds And Power Wires. I Had This Same Problem When I Re-Installed My Carbs And Found That The Power Wire On One Of The Coils Was Not Connected Properly, Leading Me To Believe That The Carbs Were The Continuous Problem. After Checking The Coils And Tightening The Connection I Had No More Toubles . This Is After Removing The Carbs For The Third Time. I Learned A Lesson , Check Everything That That You Touch Or May Have Touched. Hope You Find The Culprit, I' m Sure It Will Show Up And Be  What You Least Expect.

[Tropic traveler]

The first thing that rang a bell in your last post was that the thumbwheel adjustment made no difference.  It should make a LOT of difference.   I would take a close look at how you re-assembled that section although normally you wouldn't change that.  Compare with one of your other bikes.  You should be able to get it to hold the engine speed that you want to set it for.  Question did you change the synch screw settings?  Pilot jet O-rings?  If you changed to the larger low speed jets I think the recommendation is for 1 3/4 turns out on those.

Well, there is gas in the LH bowls, I did not change the synch settings, the pilot o-rings are all new & turned out 1-3/4, the thumbwheel setting is just about the same as our other two bikes. I did find that the new carb boots were loose but I tightened them all good & tight.
Same thing, will NOT idle, just shuts off under 2000 RPM. Did the plug wire pull & the only cylinder that makes absolutely no change is #4.
Still stumped. 

[Tropic traveler]

I Agree With John On Checking The Coils, Connections , Grounds And Power Wires. I Had This Same Problem When I Re-Installed My Carbs And Found That The Power Wire On One Of The Coils Was Not Connected Properly, Leading Me To Believe That The Carbs Were The Continuous Problem. After Checking The Coils And Tightening The Connection I Had No More Toubles . This Is After Removing The Carbs For The Third Time. I Learned A Lesson , Check Everything That That You Touch Or May Have Touched. Hope You Find The Culprit, I' m Sure It Will Show Up And Be  What You Least Expect.

I'll pull the tank & check all the coil connections next I guess.
The only one I did check while I had it apart was the 1-2 coil on the left upper frame rail.
I'll pay special attention to the 3-4 coil since #4 seems to be a dead cylinder. I've never seen one or two dead cylinders cause a no idle situation as bad as this.

[John Schmidt]

Keep in mind if #3 is firing OK then it's not the coil or the wiring to it. I believe you know that coil also fires #4 on the left side. I'd probably substitute a new/different #4 plug wire for a quick check. You could have damaged the resistor inside the plug cap. Or simply pulled the plug wire loose from the coil while pulling the carbs. Just something to take a look at.

[Bert AKA,Valkaholic]

I Have A  Extra Set Of Original Plug Wires. If You Need Them  Just Let Me Know.

[Thunderbolt]

You mentioned that the tank had rust in it and if #4 is firing as John said then #3 should also.  The jet for #4 could have more residual trash in it that came out of the fuel line when you put it all back together and first filled the bowls.  Had that happen before on one that had the OEM jets and yours aren't but .003 larger.  I think I would switch plugs on #4 with one that you know is good and it no improvement and changing the wire doesn't help.  You might have to bite the bullet and take the carbs off one more time.

[Tundra]

Wish I could help you Eddie, I'm just watching trying to learn something here
You are fortunate to have another Valkyrie to ride. I just cry and brake things.

[FloridaValkRyder]

Wish I could help you Eddie, I'm just watching trying to learn something here
You are fortunate to have another Valkyrie to ride. I just cry and brake things.

Ditto 

[Tropic traveler]

You mentioned that the tank had rust in it and if #4 is firing as John said then #3 should also.  The jet for #4 could have more residual trash in it that came out of the fuel line when you put it all back together and first filled the bowls.  Had that happen before on one that had the OEM jets and yours aren't but .003 larger.  I think I would switch plugs on #4 with one that you know is good and it no improvement and changing the wire doesn't help.  You might have to bite the bullet and take the carbs off one more time.

I'm pretty confident that the fuel system is very clean. I replaced the in line fuel filter & the feed line, gave the remaining lines a thorough cleaning with compressed air blow out.
I will grab a new set of plugs just to be sure.
It will be Sunday before I have another chance to work on the Valk, I will pick everybody's mind in Leesburg tomorrow! 

You coming to Leesburg Terry?

[Thunderbolt]

I guess it's kind of late to answer the question, but no.  One of my other hobbies is Amateur (Ham) Radio.  Went to what we call a hamfest in Waldo today.  It's like a flea market for Ham radio pieces and parts.  Buy,trade,sell, stuff and tell some tall tales and see some folks you haven't seen in a while.

[FloridaValkRyder]

I guess it's kind of late to answer the question, but no.  One of my other hobbies is Amateur (Ham) Radio.  Went to what we call a hamfest in Waldo today.  It's like a flea market for Ham radio pieces and parts.  Buy,trade,sell, stuff and tell some tall tales and see some folks you haven't seen in a while.

OK..I'll say it..."Where's Waldo". Missed you and Iris today Terry.