I have a trophy 1200 2003. I bought it in partly dismantled (just fairings and coolant system)
but running and seemed to be running fine. I know the previous owner and it had been running well, trust him as its a mate..
Now its assembled it seems to be spitting back out at the carbs and really hesitant when trying to drive it up through the revs...
I had a bad issue of it not starting due to plugs completely wet... so I dried them and eventually got it running.... drove it 30 or 40 miles but still quite a bit of spitting out the carbs and the one exhaust. Will get a new set of plugs over the next few days...
Any ideas on what else could be wrong..?
Also...! I notice the head is leaking when it is cold but seals once warmed up. I know there is the age old debate about the head gasket on these. My query here does any of the coolant additives work.. i.e. real steel. Have used this on a car before and worked, not sure bout a bike tho...
Again any advice/experience you can offer would be great.
If the bike had been sitting quite a while between when your mate stopped riding and you put it back together the spitting and generally bad running could well be gummed up carbs do to old gas that has slowly been evaporating in them leaving behind all sorts of jet blocking grunge. After checking the integrity of all the various vacuum hoses, I'd have a look at them.
As for the cold head gasket weeping, that's a judgment call. My bike sits in an unheated garage 5 months out of the year and the head gasket will start to weep around the end of Dec or Jan. when the temp in that garage dips to 0° F (-17° C) or so. As the weather warms, like right now here in New England the temps have been in the 5° C range and the weeping has stopped. Total loss this winter has probably been 1-2 tablespoons. I don't worry about this as it never drips otherwise. If it was a matter of leaking overnight after each cool-down I'd be concerned though. I personally would not recommend a cooling system 'stop-leak'. The bikes system is so small I'd be afraid of circulating any sort of 'clotting' agent, afraid it may clot where it shouldn't. Also, they work by moving into the leak and basically clogging the coolant escape path. Since the system is only leaking when cold the stuff would not circulate anywhere and once it did start to mix and circulate with the coolant, the engine would be getting warm also. Now the head gasket would stop weeping anyway and the 'stop-leak' stuff would never find where it's supposed to be.
I agree with Rubber Biscuit, stay away from the coolant stop leaks. The pilot jet has a very small length wise hole and it does get clogged up sometimes, and when it gets clogged it mostly affects only the idle and small throttle settings. Your description about seems more than that.
I wonder if it could be one of the cams are off on the timing. My 900 was off by one tooth on the cam timing, it ran ok, but wouldn't rev beyond 7K. My recent 1200 engine had a bad ratchet on the cam chain tensioner and it jumped a tooth on the exhaust cam. No damaged was done thankfully in both cases.
Hi lads,
yep ye confirmed what I was thinking about the coolant additive... I know the rad fins are lot smaller..!
Regards to running bad, in total the bike has been only sitting for 4 or 5 mths total...
i actually drained the fuel out of the tank a month back... used that in the chainsaw..! n then put fresh fuel in it last week..!
Idling the bike is perfect, idles at 800rpm perfectly, now and again gives a little skip of a beat, but thats nothing.. But when you just give it a heavy rev it seems to react very very lazy and spits out about 4 or 5k rpm.
Nothing was touched around the carb area, cant see any issue with vac tubes cracked etc, but will have another look again. Will be putting a set of plugs in it next week at some stage so can check out the tubes..
Other than that ye reckon off with the carbs and clean out the jets one by one...? Didnt really want to go that route..! buy what can ya do..!
Since it idles good it's probably not the pilot jets, so keep the carbs on. Take the carb vacuum caps off and check on the diaphragms that lift the slides, maybe one of the diaphragms is bad. If the diaphragms are all good then go after the valve timing.
I should think four or five months would not be long enough turn the gas. Plugs are a good place to start. When you say "wet" were they wet with gas or oil? 800 RPM is a bit low for idle. I believe the book says 950 - 1050 RPM. That in itself would not cause the bad running but consistently too low an idle could foul plugs, especially with long idle times. It's even possible that one plug could be fouled, not firing, and being a four with a cross-over connector pipe (that could mask a dead cylinder) between the headers and silencers could still seem to idle fairly well, but low - 800 RPM. Hopefully just a fresh set of plugs will perk it right up.
diaphragms is definitely one to check when I have the tank off. I have another full set of carbs spare and I also have a whole other running triple 900...
4 or 5 months would definitely not be enough to turn the fuel. I always have 2 or 3 bikes and they all have no issue with fueling not to mention stimmers lawnmowers etc..!
while yes 800 I admit can be a bit low, while it is ticking over sweet as can be once she warms up...
If this was fouling up the plugs then it would clear itself couple miles out the road at a steady rpm, worst case... I done 40 or so miles the other day and it just couldnt clear itself...
while if I back off and give to 50% throttle then I can move up the speeds to achieve 80 even 90mph... but if I give her full throttle I will stay where I am and she will just not increase speed...
One thing I want to pick you on is you mentioned, "being a four with a crossover connector pipe" what did you mean here.? Didnt quite get you...
As I seem to notice the left silencer seems to not put out as much condensation from that one pipe and its the one that spits back through it. I am hoping its a completely goosed plug..
The plugs were completely fouled up from been flooded.. not oil more just feul saturation... Very black sooty...
I will admit the bike was always very easy to flood on startup. All it ever took was one twist of throttle, then choke on only a small bit and she starte straight away... anything above that and it would be flooded... so given that I have hard times lately trying to get it running and i think this may of fouled the plugs..
Nice build on the Triple for sure. I followed those posts about it but have to admit I did not associate this thread with you. You obviously know your way around a machine. Regarding the 'cross-over' pipe, I merely meant the pipe that connects the two exhaust pipes underneath the bike just ahead of the centerstand. This pipe would allow all cylinder pulses to split somewhat (not totally) so each beat would exit both silencers. I was thinking at the time this could mask a missing cylinder but after reviewing your Triple build I think it's doubtful this would fool you. But still, the engine itself is pretty smooth over all and a steady miss could be subtle particularly with the stock, quiet silencers. Hoping it's the plugs!
Faster at half throttle not full throttle, the air fuel ratio is definitely off. Easily floods at start up. Sooty spark plugs. All useful information. Your fuel mileage must be terrible.
So what is making it run so rich? Normal things to look at would be float level and float needle, but those items on my bikes have never been a problem, so I'd say that's not the problem. Other things to look at. The two o-rings that hold the float assembly into the carb body. They shrink with age and let in too much fuel. But here is my best guess that is a bit strange. The brass jet at the bottom of the float assembly has fallen out and is rolling around the bottom of the float bowl. That jet meters the fuel going thru the choke and low speed circuit and is throwing the air/fuel ratio off. I still wonder about the cam timing.
some excellent tips there guys.
Fuel economy i havent a clue as I have only driven it a few miles..!
Its very possible the carbs could do with the overhaul kit... For me I would rather rip the carbs and do the whole kit in 1 go..! done it on my triple...
At least then you know you have the whole lot done...
I have sat the bike aside for the next couple of weeks, have another bike in for some other jobs, have plugs ordered and might look into the complete carb kit for it..
got it sorted.
When I ripped the tank off, connection from the coil to the 3rd cylinder was poor.. cleaned up and tightened the connection into the coil. Problem solved and running perfect.
thx for help.
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