Hello,
Got an 800 vulcan with 5500 miles on it...just the other day my bike started running like sh&t.
Idels fine...but when i give it gas and go thru the gears there appears to be a definite loss of power...kind of like something is holding it back...I checked the air filter and nothing seems to be blocking air flow...at 5500 miles could I possibly need new spark plugs? How do you tell if you have bad gas?
Any suggestions would be welcomed
Thanks
lyle

 

Welcome to the forums if I haven't all ready....

Easiest thing to try, get some water remover, or some berryman b12 in the can.... Pour it in and see if it improves. That should tell ya if you have a bad batch of fuel....

Gl man....

 

Thanks for the welcome...I will give the Berryman a shot...seems like all the trouble began after I filled her up.
Lyle

 

you might try some heat its a water remover.

is it just no power or does it miss?

My father in law has a polaris scrambler and it had the same problem. on his bike there is no fuel filter so garbage can get in the carb. the carb had some dirt in it so we cleaned it out. the problem was still there. on the front of his bike there is a little black junction box where the fuel line goes in and a few mor come out. not sure excactly what it is. it seemed like a fuel pump of some kind maybe ran off vacuum of the fuel (dont have a clue, just a gess). anyway we pulled it apart being carful not to rip the gasket and there were big chunks of dirt/mud in there. there is a diaphragm in there and the dirt/mud would not let it function properly. slapped it back together and ran great.

so chase your fuel lines if you have this junction box (thingie) you might check it out.

hope it works.

if you dont have a fuel filter you might put one in line right after the tank for the future.

and welcome to KF

 

Doesnt miss at all just a noticable lack of power??? I tried running the berrymans for about 10 miles and that didnt work...I will check the fuel filter...and look for the things you suggest...will let you know
Thanks

 

Hi all...Noob here...I have a 2001 Vulcan 800 3,600...much like this fellow my bike lost power, but is not sputtering. Here are the details:

1. Bike had a little sputter sometimes, so I wanted to change the plugs and oil. It was my first time as I just bought the bike a month or so ago.
2.I changed the oil with 10w/40 synthetic blend, changed the oil filter (bought from kawasaki dealer), and changed the spark plugs with specified plugs gapped to 30.
3. I let the enigine idle for about five minutes with the choke on.
4. When I started to ride, it wanted to stall and I had to feather the throttle quite high to get moving. I never had to do this before.
5.While riding, I was going up a slight grade on a straightaway, but could get it to go above sixty and it was really working hard in fourth gear to maintain that speed. The engine also sounded louder the usual. A bit of a pang, just didn't sound normal.
6. When I came to a turn and downshifted, second gear didn't really slow the bike like it normally does.

I don't believe it could bad fuel becuase I rode the bike earlier that day and was meticulous in making sure all hose/fill holes were covered while I worked on the bike. Could this be a plug issue? Again, no misfire, just no power. The only other thing was thinking it could be was that I zip-tied the breather hose from the tank to another hose or wire that runs in the same direction under the seat to toward the ground. I didn't think it was too tight.

I appreciate any advice anyone might offer. Is this something worth taking the bike to the dealership over?

Luke

 

Welcome to the forums lroy76
But 5 minutes is a long time when using the choke in my opinion. Better check your plugs again.

 

Thanks Draggone,

When you say check the plugs, do you mean check the wire connection or the plugs themselves?

Lroy76

 

The electrodes themselves.

 

The problem is fixed...I forgot to reconnect the coil when I replaced the front plug. Bike runs great. Thanks