Help! Hornet running rough

davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

Please help! I have part ex'ed my hornet and now its buggered. Having sold the bike I set about removing the HID light I had fitted. All the wiring is self contained and fits into the existing harness. Having successfully removed the wires I refitted the tank and started the bike, no problems. I then set about going for a ride and as i got ready on idle the bike wouldn't rev and eventually cut out. It was then I remembered the small vac pipe at the back of the tap. Off again with the tank and fitted the offending pipe. Now it runs like shit and really smokey. Almost like on two cylinders. Checked the coils are connected, yep still runs rubbish, checked the Vac hose isnt kinked, yep no issues there. run out of options. I did remove one cable from the right hand coil pack and it seemed the same so did the same with the left and it cut out. Is it really possible that coincidentally the right hand coil pack has just died on me. How can i be sure???

Slacker24seve... · World Chat Champion Joined: 10 May 2010 Karma :

Silly question but have you actually checked the sparks? Take them out one by one and turn it over, earthing it against the frame.
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davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

Thanks for the reply, and no other than no 1 which is easy to remove i have ensured all sparks are firmly home and HT's connected to coil packs. The bike was running fine yesterday so I have ruled out failure and lumped everything onto what I could have done to it taking the HID harness out. Bro-in-law suggested a bad earth through the coil attachment bolts cos I did disturb them getting the balast out. tank off again tightened the bolts, was hopeful but no. I can get the bike to start and idle but running it down the road its still lumpy and bellowing blue smoke.

Slacker24seve... · World Chat Champion Joined: 10 May 2010 Karma :

Its not hard, you can get to the others with the tank off and the right length extension. Worth checking and would eliminate the fuel vs electrical nature of the fault. Are you sure the smoke was blue? That can suggest its burning oil, which is far more worrying. Confused

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Triumph Daytona 675 track bike + girlfriend's Honda Hornet 600
Selling a hack/winter bike for less than a grand? PM me.
Banger rallies are ace

davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

all HT leads checked, so coils must be ok (engine tuned over with spare plug in each lead in turn) bike starts and idles but lumpy and lacks power when driven. choke not working as normal ie from cold wont rev hi to get warm, smoke is grey more than blue... but very smokey. the only thing i did do with the choke is to disconnect cable and oil sliding choke plate. cable back on. from cold the choke now kills the engine instead of increasing the revs which it did before.???

davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

Just to summaries, up til yesterday my bike has run just dandy.
I have part Ex'ed it for a new one and decided to remove the HID light I had fitted. Removing it was easy as the HID comes with a completely separate wiring harness except for a battery connection and joining to the original bulb connection in the head light.

The ballast was hidden between the coils under the frame so I Removed one mounting bolt and the elect connection to facilitate the ballast removal. I removed the battery connections, refitted the original H4 bulb and tested them. no problems. I started the bike, no problems.

However when I came to ride it, It was then it died of fuel starvation because I had forgot about the vac hose to the tank tap. Fitted now but the bike runs rough with grey/white smoke out the back. lacks power running down the road. The choke isnt acting as normal, which means from cold it wont rev to warm it up but cuts the engine. it almost as if for some reason the bikes being flooded with excess fuel for some reason.

Don't know where to go from here as everything appears normal. I'm thinking i've dome something to the choke buy all i did was put a bit of oil on the moving parts. Is it possible to get oil into the wrong part to force the choke for just some cylinders to be stuck open???

Please please help as the bike is going in for Part Ex Saturday.......

U_W v2.0 · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 May 2012 Karma :

dude, go back and edit your last 2 posts with the RETURN key.

break up the block of text a little so its easier for people to read
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anthony_r6 · World Chat Champion Joined: 31 Mar 2011 Karma :

U_W v2.0 · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 May 2012 Karma :

hmm just fishing here but the fact it lacks power and high revs could the piston seals be damaged and not getting enough compression?
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davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

Previous post edited..

Any ideas what i may have done to a perfectly working hornet with very little effort. As I have stated I have only removed that which should not of been there. I oiled the choke moving parts and accidentally run it dry by leaving the vac hose off.

Could leaving the hose off change any mixtures, Has oil got into the wrong areas????

davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

I'm leaning towards the choke because its not acting as it normally did, and the fact that I seem to be getting too much fuel which is making it rough and smokey.

Its also the only thing I disconnected and "Maintained"

Why did I bother....

U_W v2.0 · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 May 2012 Karma :

hmm....then perhaps you knocked your mixture screws out of whack?

best thing to do would be to strip down the carb and make sure everthing is as it is in there. most are relatively simple to do if you can find a manual
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davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

Concerned the choke may be sticking on for some cylinders I did venture to remove the top cover to the carbs 1and 4, the easiest. Everything appears normal ie diaphragm is intact. Not sure what I was expecting to see.

Working on the premis the bike has been running fine I'm discounting mechanical failure and concentrating on what interference I have done removing the tank and HID harness. Stripping the carbs is. It something I want to do.

Tonight I am going to clean up all the coil earths as it has been suggested that whilst I am getting a spark at each cyl under load it maybe different.

I shall also check rising temp of each cyl at idle to see if one cyl isn't firing!!

mitch1 · Derestricted Danger Joined: 31 Oct 2011 Karma :

It is easy to bend the choke when removing a hornets tank the fuel hose catches it and bends it upwards?

davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

Took coils off tonight and cleaned mating faces of attachment bolts with sand paper, reassembled. Started bike and still lumpy and smokey. Noticed as getting warm, No.3 down pipe a lot cooler than others.

Removed plug and checked for spark, ok. Checked HT leads fitted correctly and swapped 2 for 3, still 3 not as hot.

Rode bike around block for about 3 miles, all pipes seemed hot at end but bike smoking badly.

davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

Might just have some success.

Having decided no3 wasn't getting hot (other than heat transfer) yet it was sparking ok I played around with the HT leads to isolate the coil or HT lead I managed to stop the no.2 getting hot.

Reading on a forum about carb problems relating to cylinders not getting hot I took another look at the carbs and discovered a drain tap at the bottom of each one. Checking for dirt in the carb I drained no.4 and no.2 carb. Starting the bike not only got all cylinders hot but the choke charsctistics were back!

Quickly through the tank and seat back on and went for a ride. It was a lot smoother until I ran out of fuel. Knocking it to reserve brought it back to life so I returned home. Exhaust still smokey so I set about draining all carbs again, started the bike and hey presto every thing seems fine.

It's late so I shall do a full test in the morning and may take it to work for full test run. Look out tomorrow for full report.

If it works, how did I manage to break it in the first place and what did draining the carbs do?????

trisers · Scooby Slapper Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Karma :

Sounds like removing the tank disturbed some sediment in the bottom of it...that could get in the carbs?

davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

Mmm, that would give me fuel starvation in one carb but not smokey exhaust! And the choke would act normal. The reason I drained the carbs was to look for crap but each one was absolutely clear.

Thanks for the interest though

bodger · Nova Slayer Joined: 18 Apr 2012 Karma :

The therory that removing the tank might have disturbed some sediment and found its way to the carbs might be the answer. If the needle cutoff in the carb was stuck open that could have caused a rich mixture resulting in the smoke from the exhaust and rough running.
Hope you have it sorted now.

davenellie · Derestricted Danger Joined: 05 Jun 2012 Karma :

Well It doesn't look like I'm gonna get to the bottom this. The bike seems to be running normal now except for the excessive smoking, I take the bike in on Sat for part ex.

It does not feel right but I'm just out of time. Its a real same because the bike has given me 6yrs flawless service.

Thanks all for your support.