[HELP!] SV lost all power on the way in...

drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
Looking for some help here. I have 56 miles to ride with NO power, so some peace of mind knowing that I can fix this would be super.

On the way in, after about 30 minutes of riding up 280, the bike loses all power all of a sudden. It felt a lot like when I bike is running out of gas. While getting off of the freeway, it felt like the power came back. I pulled off, popped the tank (plenty of gas), fired it up and got back on the freeway.

While merging, I noticed that, although it had more power than when it lost all power, it had NO acceleration. It feels a lot like riding around on an xr50: it has some pull going from idle to putting the gas on, but once the gas is on, it's totally gutless.

I managed to make it the rest of the way into work (another 20 minutes up 280N), but it was pretty sketchy. Cars could easily out-accelerate me and I had to keep it down in second and third most of the way.

Any input on what could have gone wrong? Skippy just finished working on it and it ran GREAT all weekend and for half of my commute. The bitch of it is that, being Monday, I can't even take it into a shop, so I'm stuck on the death-commute home tonight...

Any leads would be appreciated so I can get this thing healthy ASAP.

Thanks,
Dave

NOTE: Power = Horsepower, not electricity
 
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afm199

afm199

Well-known member
could be loose battery wire. could be loose coil wire. could be gunk on gas filter in tank.
 
drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
Thanks Ernie! I'll be sure to check those. Loose coil wire would be suspect #1 I suppose. Gunk in the tank could be #2, since I just had it cleaned.
 
afm199

afm199

Well-known member
You have to pull the spigot on the bottom of the tank to get to the filter... PITA..
 
Dove

Dove

productively obsessed
If it has power when you start it up later and then goes weak on you again, you'll know it's the battery/charging system. :2cents
 
drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
afm199 said:
You have to pull the spigot on the bottom of the tank to get to the filter... PITA..
Click to expand...

Yeah... I was just in there when I put it all back together :/ I suppose the radiator shop that cleaned it could have missed something that clogged it.
 
drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
Hooli said:
Any water in the forward cylinder sparkplug well?
Click to expand...

Possible, but seems unlikely.

I was messing with the Veypor on Sunday, so I may have tugged something loose. The fuel filter seems like a good suspect as well.

The real question is, do I try to do moto-surgery on the side of the road before I ride home...
 
drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
Exhaust also smells a little funny... can't place it, but it's a bit familiar...
 
Dove

Dove

productively obsessed
drizz said:
Sorry, by losing 'power', I mean horsepower, not electricity...
Click to expand...


We're talking about the same thing. Loss of power could equal a slow charging or non-charging battery. You'll know soon enough.

If the bike starts right up and runs fine for a few minutes...followed by your earlier symptoms - start at the battery.
 
drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
Thanks Dove. I'll keep that in mind when I do another test a little later. So far, charger [seems] strong, in that it can power lights and gauges, and fire up easily.

I hate mystery problems... especially when so far from home :cry
 
drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
stan23 said:
Hey Dave,

Did you by any chance wash the bike recently?
Click to expand...

Nope :( Then at least I could assume there's some water somewhere! I wish the stupid fuel filter wasn't in the damn tank so it was easier to check (sigh)
 
drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
Thanks all. I took the bike for another test-ride to see how it was doing and decided that the ride home might not be possible [without injury]. I took it to Werkstatt, so we'll see what the problem is in a couple days.

Thanks for all the input!
 
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