Triumphrat

09-08-2006

OK, after lurking around this forum for a two + years, I'm finally seeking some advice from the experts.

I've been tracking my mileage now for the past year and am hoping to improve the numbers. 01' 1200 is stock except for K&N. Mileage is a dismall 25 mpg overall with mostly around town commute. Improves a bit on the highway (single light load/rider), but still not above 30 mpg. Searched in the old posts and it would appear mileage differs greatly.
I've had issues with pinched/cracked vacuum lines, and will revisit this, but am looking for an additional short list of items (two items mentioned in previous posts were petcock diaphram, and ignition coils) to check and what to look for as far as symptoms. Recently, I've had periodic rough running. If I run petcock in prime for a short time, it sometimes clears rough running behavior.

Other than the mileage issue, I've been very happy with this ride. Just hoping for more bang for the buck!

Trophynorway · 09-08-2006

When I had a Coil problem, the bike ran rough in periods, I just did the same thing as you, put the petcock valve on prime for a while, as I thought it might be some water or dirt in the carbs. But you should check your coils, check that the choke is not sticking and clean the carbs to start. I believe you should have more mpg than this.

Mr_Chips · 09-09-2006

I had the bowls and jets in my carbs cleaned out. A fuel filter was put in. Apparently I had very fine silt in the carbs. This added +/- 50 kms per tank. Conservative driving (100 -120 kms/hr) gets me approx. 380 - 420 per tank. Increase the speed, decrease the milage.

Trophynorway · 09-10-2006

My 98 900 goes about 44 km on 21 liter of fuel. so I think our range is about the same mr_chips. We have lower speed limits in Norway

sailfish · 09-10-2006

Quote:

On 2006-09-09 19:48, Mr_Chips wrote:
I had the bowls and jets in my carbs cleaned out. A fuel filter was put in. Apparently I had very fine silt in the carbs.

I had my fuel system completely apart and noticed the same thing in the float bowls and in the fuel petcock bowl. It was like an ultra fine sand sediment. It was the first time the system was apart since new at 44,700 miles.

Regarding fuel economy, you have the whole state of tune to look at too: Valves adjusted correctly, fresh plugs, clean air filter, functioning plug wires, balanced carbs, lubed cables and linkages, etc. I check all of that everytime I have the tank off for valve adjustments.

[ This message was edited by: sailfish on 2006-09-11 10:52 ]

narrowminded · 09-10-2006

Where was the fuel filter installed?

Trophy1298 · 09-14-2006

Wow... only 25 MPGs? Sounds like something is not right. I normally get over 40mpg for interstate travel (within the legal limits) and 50mpg plus on back road cruising. I have also had the coil problem and that caused the bike to run rough and I am sure effected the mpgs, but had it fixed b4 I really knew how much.

Not telling you anything new here, but look at the plugs, air filter, free roll, idle rpms (should be about 800 I believe), and for leaks. Look at your pipes. Stick your finger in there and give it a swipe. Is it thick and black? Mine was running rich once and the mpgs suffered and the pipes were getting covered with a nice black soot at the ends.

Good luck.
Brian

09-14-2006

All,

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Hopefully, soon, I can dig into this and make some headway.
I did have a chance to do a "mist water on the exhaust" test (just after staring a cold engine) and found one cylinder that does not appear to be firing correctly. It was also mentioned that when the revs are higher, the alternator is supplying more power and thus providing a better spark. This is consistent with the behavior I'm seeing as well. I still want to check for spark manually (as suggested, using a spare plug grounded to frame), but am all but convinced I have coil/spark issues. Most likely will order the Nology and use the diode fix if necessary to correct potential tach problem.
Anyway, thanks again for the help....will report back once more progress is made.

Bob

sailfish · 09-14-2006

Be aware when doing the plug on the frame test that although the plug fires out of the cylinder it might not fire in the cylinder under compression. Compression creates resistance that weak ingintion may not be able to fire through. The tool trucks sell test "plugs" that are built with high resistance to simulate cylinder conditions. They also have an alligator clip welded to the side so you can clip them on to a ground. Good luck, it sounds like you are on the right track.

09-22-2006

Hello Bob.
I bought the nology's, there re-stickered Gills at half the price of Triumph. You mentioned a diode fix to correct any potenial tach problems, my tach has a hi-cup when cruizing, any ideas?
What part of Dallas are you from? I live in Rowlett.
Buy the way, my gas mileage is not too good either.

Mike.