quote:
ok, so by elimination we figured out (between a few friends and i) that it's running rich. the main reason is that it never works with full choke and only half to a third choke is the only way it'll start. plus, when i was up in york on tuesday the starter relay took a shit on me and i had to have my friend push me down the hill to get it started.
CB650, FauxCatiFT500
Those 650s are known for having pulse generators go bad. The bike will lose power or be hard to start because the spark timing is no firing properly. Also everything on those bikes passes through the starter relay so if that has started to go bad (by not engaging the starter) then it can play all sorts of havoc with your honda igntion system.
IIRC the 650 should have CV carbs which if set properly are hard to go out of adjustment without a good jarring (their design also compensates for engine needs). If you think it is running rich and you haven't dropped the bike or messed with the carbs lately I would guess your pulse controller is going all screwy and your electrics are about to take a huge shit.
I had a pulse controller go bad on the 79 DOHC cb750f (which uses the same design ignition system as the 650) and basically went from doing 110mph on the L.I.E. no problem to 65 mph pinned Wide Fucking Open . I managed to limp home but the bike was incredibly hard to start without messing with the choke, because the pulse controller was throwing a weak and out of time spark. Fixed it and the relay (they seem to go bad together) and the bike runs like a raped ape.
Edit: BTW stick to traditional methods of diagnosing rich and lean conditions (the best is the exhaust - you'll smell it) instead of guessing because a choke is acting funny. It is enteirly possible it is running rich because of the carbs (jets tend to fall out on these bikes and rattle around in the float bowl too so you may want to check that) or it can be running rich because of something else. With hondas from the late 70's early 80's most of the problems are electrical (unless you have been wanking on it and managed to get the timing chain to eat the motor which has happened) so I always default to checking that first. BTW, you can replace the relay with one from a CBRrr (look for my post on starter solenoids on the cb1100f.net board) with a little mod, and also put a cbr right bar control and it makes the relays last a lot longer, those early 80's relays are a bad design and a lot of guys have probelms with them blowing.
Edited by - geeto67 on Mar 22 2007 1:22:19 PM
