Bike has cut out after changing Powervalve

Liono · Spanner Monkey Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Karma :

After an interesting day trying to de-restrict my TDR 125 by turning the Powervalve around it has now decided not to work anymore. I managed to get the exhaust off with a lot of hassle (and a trip to Halfords to buy a new Allen key to replace the one I snapped on a tight bolt) and then removed the cover of the Powervalve to allow me to spin the thing around. When I had done this I checked in the space left by the exhaust the make sure that it was fully open. This seemed to be the correct procedure according to a few web sites I have read on the bike. The exhaust went back on OK and the bike started first time, however, after about 10 minutes the engine cut out completely and will not re-start now. The starter turns over fine, and bump starting it has no effect either. Does anyone have any ideas as to what might have happened and why? I am going to have a proper look tomorrow, but would appreciate any advice on what the possible problem might be.

Edit: I forgot to add that it seemed to be very sluggish at low revs and a bit more 'jerky' than before, but I was under the understanding that this would be likely to happen

stinkwheel · Bovine Proctologist Joined: 12 Jul 2004 Karma :

A trifle vague. From what you have told me, the most likley thing is you have run out of petrol Wink

Check the obvious like that then have a look at the plug to check the colour of it. Try starting it with a new plug in.
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Frost · World Chat Champion Joined: 26 May 2004 Karma :

If you have the vavle jammed open and have fiddled with the exaust you could have a big lack of back pressure at tickover. You may need to alter the jetting to get it running properly, or just turn up the tickover Wink

This could be the reason for it not wanting to start, but to me it sounds liek there may be other causes, such as being out of fuel.

Liono · Spanner Monkey Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Karma :

I have made myself look like a right dick before by 'breaking down' and then finding that I was only out of petrol, so that was the first thing I checked Very Happy

I'm going to have a look when it gets a bit lighter outside, will have a look at the plug and try with a new one and see if that makes any difference. If I have no joy with that I'll try putting the powervalve back in its original position and hope it will go again. This could be somewhat difficult though, as I can't quite remember exactly what position it was in before. Oh well, up until the point that the bike stopped working I was feeling quite impressed by what I had managed to do so far.

jamie192 · Spanner Monkey Joined: 18 Oct 2004 Karma :

maybe you have flooded the engine some how?
sparkplug?
maybe your mixture and idling screw needs adjusting to the new setup.
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Liono · Spanner Monkey Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Karma :

I now have a bike that runs Very Happy

I put a new spark plug in and the bike seemed to idle OK. The old one was quite oily looking and had accumulated some gunky debris around it, which I presume is what was stopping it running. However, to prevent a repeat of yesterday I have flipped the Powervalve back round to its original position and am about to go out for a short run to see if it's OK now.

So, can I presume that the dirty plug was caused by me changing the position of the Powervalve? So, as Jamie says, do I need to adjust the mixture or idling screw if I want to try and change the valve again in the future? Will have a search on Google for some guides on how to do this.