Fuel issue?

[panamaniac]

Hi folks,

Took the Mrs. out for a 60-mile back road trip, refilled at a chevron. Turned around and decided to take highway home. About 15 miles in, going 80ish, all of a sudden there’s a drop in power, I add a bit of throttle and realize my top speed is now 70. I throttle down a bit. 2 miles later we start going uphill and it REALLY starts chugging. The feel of the bike itself at that moment was similar to when you need to switch to reserve, but the difference here was a spluttering/chugging sound. We’re 50 miles from home and pull off to the side of the highway. Wait 5 minutes. I check around, don’t smell anything weird, everything seems normal. The oil actually looked a bit TOO full but we were uphill, so hard to know. Get on, start it up, go 100 yards but it feels bad so we stop again. Wait 5 minutes. Get on and am able to nurse it home over some big hills going about 50-60 or so. At the last stretch of highway I try to reproduce the problem and was easily able to (it’s basically hiccuping, jerking forward with inconsistent power). Got off highway and was ALSO able to reproduce at lower speeds, as long as I accelerated quickly. Switched to reserve but made no difference.

Thank God we got home safe and sound.

As to the issue, the noise at first made me think major mechanical, but now I’m just thinking fuel delivery—either bad fuel from my last fill up (actually only had to add a gallon at that chevron) or else a clogged jet or fuel line.

I have never checked the fuel petcock so that is one place I’ll check. Next time I pull it apart will be to rebuild the carbs and do valve clearance—those are def both behind in terms of service schedules so I suppose they’re on the suspect list by default as well.

How likely is it to be a clogged fuel line? Do y’all replace them prophylatically or only when trouble arises? Ditto question re: spark plugs, if they’re nice and cocoa and properly gapped do you still replace em at the suggested interval?

Thanks all. Overall we still really enjoyed the ride! Went past several of Utah’s little reservoirs.

[YoDude]

The routing of the fuel line under the tank is critical. If it has moved for whatever reason, it may cause this problem.
Check the manual. Crap in the needle valve. There is a small filter just above the valve, but it can get clogged. Check battery voltage to be sure it's up to spec. These bikes HAVE to have good voltage.

Yo-

[panamaniac]

Ya mebbe needle valve...didn’t know about the filter right above it so will check that out! Doubtful the fuel line changed position mid ride but still worth checking

[navigator]

Like Yo said, check your battery connections...both ends of each cable.
Electrical problems can seem like fuel delivery.