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NEED HELP bike won't run correctly

1591 Views 12 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  mastatikle
I can't seem to figure out why my bike is running so crappy. It has a Racefit slip on and a power commander V. I had it dyno tuned and it only made 150. The tuner got a lot of the hesitation out of it and the tune was decent. I changed the sprockets and all of the sudden the bike started running like absolute garbage (idk if there's any effect or just a coincidence) I put a cookie cutter map on it and it was running good for a couple rides then it started popping and stuttering again. It has a lot of hesitation now. I put the zero map and it was still running like crap. I heard stories of PCV being bad so I just completely disconnected it and took it off the bike now its running worse than ever. It sounds like it's running on two cylinders again and wont even really get the revs up at all. Feels like it's struggling to get to 6k. I'm at my breaking point pretty much. I have no idea what could be wrong. Please any help is great.
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Check for kinked fuel line.
Ok I have the tank unbolted that should be easy enough: I don't think it's that though. Seems like it might be running rich. A lot of popping. And flames
Do you have the latest firmware installed in the power commander? Older firmware have been known to drop a cylinder. Excess fuel in the exhaust sounds like your symptoms are one or more cylinders are not firing.
Check for spark at each plug. Determine which cylinders are not firing and begin the process of elimination. Start at each plug and work your way back. Any fault codes? Good battery? Good charging voltage? Are the correct leads on the right cylinders?

If you have fuel, sounds like either somethings not connected properly, is faulty, or you have insufficient voltage to drive electrical components.
Do you have the latest firmware installed in the power commander? Older firmware have been known to drop a cylinder. Excess fuel in the exhaust sounds like your symptoms are one or more cylinders are not firing.
Took the power commander out of it completely. Bike now runs wore than it did with it in. I fixed that issue of it dropping a cylinder while riding randomly with the correct firmware version before though.
Check for spark at each plug. Determine which cylinders are not firing and begin the process of elimination. Start at each plug and work your way back. Any fault codes? Good battery? Good charging voltage? Are the correct leads on the right cylinders?

If you have fuel, sounds like either somethings not connected properly, is faulty, or you have insufficient voltage to drive electrical components.
I put a towel and my hand on each header pipe and they are all warm at idle. I don't see any codes on the screen. I'll buy a infrared thermometer later and see if it's different when throttle is added.

My issue is that it ran ok with a custom dyno tune 4-14krpm (little hesitation in low rpm pulling off from stop) with the power commander also with really good throttle response. I assumed if I took the PCV out id get the stock drive-ability of the lower rpm and that it would run smoother. Once PCV removed I have to give it damn there 100% throttle to reach 7krpm. It's popping like crazy and has 0 throttle response. Sounds like it's running on a couple cylinders consistently. I'll check spark plugs later. If not that could you give me a list of everything I should check. I'm sorry for all the questions. Just want my bike back to normal:frown:
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my advice would be to begin with the big things and work backwards. Load test your battery (a bad battery can throw up unwanted electrical gremlins), verify the health of your charging system, verify spark at each cylinder, look for any loose connections, are the HT leads connected to the right cylinders, any hoses loose, kinked or damaged.

These are just suggestions based on your observation of excess fuel making it passed the cylinder(s) and into the exhaust. That would indicate lack of fuel ignition in the piston chamber or too much fuel entering.

Carefully retrace your steps of all changes made back to when your bike was running good. It may be that something that you might have overlooked vs. something that is now causing an issue.

I'm not sure how the bike will run with a straight thru exhaust on a stock map, I never had my bike setup this way, but I wouldn't expext it to run as poorly as you describe. It will be running lean so there probably will be popping, but not so lean to cause such a rough idle? Plus a lean condition shouldn't be dumping excess fuel into the exhaust and shooting flames?

Someone else may be able to chime in and give their own personal experience with a setup that duplicates yours.
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my advice would be to begin with the big things and work backwards. Load test your battery (a bad battery can throw up unwanted electrical gremlins), verify the health of your charging system, verify spark at each cylinder, look for any loose connections, are the HT leads connected to the right cylinders, any hoses loose, kinked or damaged.

These are just suggestions based on your observation of excess fuel making it passed the cylinder(s) and into the exhaust. That would indicate lack of fuel ignition in the piston chamber or too much fuel entering.

Carefully retrace your steps of all changes made back to when your bike was running good. It may be that something that you might have overlooked vs. something that is now causing an issue.

I'm not sure how the bike will run with a straight thru exhaust on a stock map, I never had my bike setup this way, but I wouldn't expext it to run as poorly as you describe. It will be running lean so there probably will be popping, but not so lean to cause such a rough idle? Plus a lean condition shouldn't be dumping excess fuel into the exhaust and shooting flames?

Someone else may be able to chime in and give their own personal experience with a setup that duplicates yours.
Ok, just got home and started the bike up, now there's a yellow light that says code 25. Any idea what that is?
code 25. How can this happen.
That was exactly my thought.. Nothing made sense with this bike. Turns out it was a small kink in the fuel line coming out of the tank. Had to make a new line and now runs like a dream. I haven't even put it in full power again yet lol. Better than when the power commander was in on a "zero" map. I'm going to put it on the dyno today and see what it makes. My tuner is pretty cool with dynotech so hopefully they can fix this PCV or replace it. Thanks all for the help! Finally got to do some turn therapy last night and it felt great!
code 25. How can this happen.
Oh forgot to address this, once I hooked up a new line and got it running smoothly, also put a new battery in and plugs, the code disappeared and everything went back to normal. Kawasaki dealer told me the electronic system in these were extremely sensitive so idk what threw it off. When the light first came on I was hoping it could tell me why the bike was running like crap; pulled the code and saw "gear indicator" like WTF is going on lmao
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