Advice for a beginner

OldestMagician

OldestMagician

New Member
Hi everyone,

I'm just after some advice on where to start/what I should be looking for first with a bit of engine trouble I'm having.

I was riding my bike (1990 Suzuki VX800) to work the other day when I felt like I'd lost a bit of power. I pulled over straight away and put it into neutral. The engine seemed to idle exactly the same as it had done before, so I put it into first and slowly crept forward. When I did this it sounded rough, nothing extreme but I definitely noticed a difference. I put it back into neutral and opened the throttle a little bit, it was rough again but still idling okay.

At this point I turned it off and ended up getting it put on a tilt tray and dropped off where I work, and only yesterday did I manage to get it back home.

Any advice at all would be much appreciated. I've never pulled an engine apart before so if there is anything I should be keeping and eye out for, or if it sounds like an issue with something else it'd be a great help.

Cheers
 
Hard to diagnose with just the issues listed, but I'd check ignition timing and compression before anything else.

If those two things check out, it's most likely related to the carbs. Could be that they just need a good cleaning.
 
Service history?
How many miles?
Do you 'baby' it? (they don't like that)
The VX engine is just about identical to the Intruder or Marauder (except for the chain drive on Marauder)
Valve adjusters have been known to loosen off but you get a load of racket if that happens.
Carbs are simple to set properly when you know how to do it and a total nightmare if you don't. If any of the locknuts are not properly tightened they will back off. It's also a multi stage balancing act to sync them properly (I have the full instructions somewhere)
Rectifier / Regulator is pretty reliable as Suzuki electrics go but could have a wire broken off causing AC to trigger ignition
It's digital ignitor on it (all Suzuki's since 1987) but I would have to check if I have any information
 
Just an update. When I was transporting it home one of the spark plug leads broke so I've replaced both.
It stills idles fine but still sounds a bit rough when I rev it so I'll take Sonreirs advice and pull the carbs off to clean them.

We have equipment washers at work that spray boiling water mixed with detergents that are used for pumps etc, would these be too harsh on the carb bodies?
 
crazypj said:
Service history? I've only had it for about 8k km, so only oil, coolant, spark plugs etc
How many miles? The odo says 30000km, but there was no speedo cable when I got it so I expect there's a lot more
Do you 'baby' it? (they don't like that) I don't baby it or thrash it around really, just ride it to work and sometimes I'm a bit rough with it
The VX engine is just about identical to the Intruder or Marauder (except for the chain drive on Marauder)
Valve adjusters have been known to loosen off but you get a load of racket if that happens.
Carbs are simple to set properly when you know how to do it and a total nightmare if you don't. If any of the locknuts are not properly tightened they will back off. It's also a multi stage balancing act to sync them properly (I have the full instructions somewhere) I'll bear that in mind, thanks for the heads up
Rectifier / Regulator is pretty reliable as Suzuki electrics go but could have a wire broken off causing AC to trigger ignition
It's digital ignitor on it (all Suzuki's since 1987) but I would have to check if I have any information
Click to expand...
 
Before even removing carbs, remove tops and check diaphragms for holes or tears. (don't lose any screws and be careful as there may be an 'O' ring under there)
VonYinzer, have you ever worked on the VS/VX carbs?
They are the most difficult in the world, including inline sixes ;)
I don't 'hate' them but if you can fix things without removing them it does make life simpler ;D
 
I managed to take a video, it sounds worse today than I can remember, but the video was taken in my garage with the door shut:

Engine noise


I thought it might help narrow things down. If I rev it much more than that it sounds absolutely terrible
 
Your right, that sounds terrible.
First thing get some new exhaust gaskets, something is blowing, sounds like pipe to head joint?
Then, get carb sync done, it's pretty much running on one cylinder.
It's simple enough to remove carb tops to check diaphragms, you've already had tank off.
Post some pics of carbs/throttle cables, I want to see how similar they are to VS
 
Yeah, sorry I forgot to say the join between the pipes isn't clamped as I had to cut it off the remove the pipes and both pipes aren't pulled in tight because I need to retap the holes. I was more trying to show the knocking noise. I'll check the carbs this weekend and see if I can make some improvements
 
Need to fix exhaust leaks first.
The motor is very reliable, I've seen one where bolt was dropped down intake and bent valve.
It still ran on one cylinder, even with piston hitting valve
 
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