Trike is missing

[fishunt]

Got on her to go to work this morning and it missed all the way to work. at idle it barely runs, and 55 mph you can not tell. It is a 1992, 1500, new spark plugs, new air filter new fuel filter, any ideal,

[BlueTrinity]

Check for loose plug wire.

[Gorilla]

Or bad plug wires.

[katfish16]

Not trying to be a smarta$$,,, did U leave ur choke on??????

[Wayne D]

Trike is missing. I got worried, I thought someone took it.

[kwputt]

Fishunt
My 06 GW did the same thing a few weeks back. I took the spark plug covers off and fired it up at night. I found a plug wire with a hole burnt through the boot.
Good Luck
KWPUTT

[Calman]

Loose wire??? Check to make sure the plug wires are firmly seated on the plugs.

[Oldmsocko]

Trike is missing. I got worried, I thought someone took it.

I thought the same thing.

[Bikerbozo]

Plug wires sound plausible as everyone else has said. Have you checked the plug gaps and that they are tight. Also, if plugs are black that would mean the choke as someone said....And on another note. After reading the heading, I was ready to put a pic of your trike on a milk carton!

[Greydog]

It could also possibly be the battery. I had a 1983 Goldwing that did the same thing. I spent a whole day checking plugs, wiring......everything but the battery...turned out to be a weak battery. She started up fine but ran like crap!!!

[Ol' Grey]

It could be fuel related or ignition related. On bikes older than your's, if performance problems were isolated to one specific area from idle to WOT, it could be a fuel problem. If performance problems were occurring throughout the entire range, it could be mechanically (electrical) related and there could be some cross-over between newer or older bikes.

Have you tried increasing the idle speed adjustment ? If it runs O.K. at 55 mph (no longer on the idle circuit) it could be that the idle adjustment is off.

Also in agreement with checking the spark plugs, spark plug gaps and spark plug wires.

If the idle speed and spark plug areas check out, you might be experiencing problems with the electronic ignition module, such as a CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition)...........this can be a dicey area with a wide variety of symptoms or only a singular symptom and a CDI approaching 20 yrs. old can be prone to start failing and acting up in odd ways. For example, it might fire up but have no timing advance function. Or the timing advance function might be fine, but it could be struggling during the fire-up/idle phase. I'm not aware of any bench test for electronic ignition other than swapping out the unit for a known good one.

I'd start with the easier and less expensive items first.........idle speed, spark plugs/wires. If either of these don't remedy the problem, you might keep the possibility of a faulty CDI on the back burner.

[fishunt]

I drove the bike all day yesterday. It missed when i started it up (using choke) it missed while at idle,and on take off. Stopped 15 min later to get gas, did not use choke when starting after getting gas. It ran fine the rest of the day. I seem to only run bad when starting from a cold start using the choke.

[Ol' Grey]

I drove the bike all day yesterday. It missed when i started it up (using choke) it missed while at idle,and on take off. Stopped 15 min later to get gas, did not use choke when starting after getting gas. It ran fine the rest of the day. I seem to only run bad when starting from a cold start using the choke.

With this info, you might concentrate on possible carb-related probs. Most chokes these days are actually "enricheners", allowing more fuel into the mix for cold starts. If the air/fuel ratio is a tad on the rich side to begin with, the additional fuel from the choke might be more than the bike can manage efficiently at a cold idle.

You've installed new spark plugs and unless the bike was w-a-y out of tune (which I doubt that it is) new plugs can require up to a 100 miles or more before showing any decent plug reads. If you can remember what the old plugs looked like, it might give you at least some idea of what the air/fuel mixture has been..........Light tan plug read being ideal......Light grey with NO whitish deposits being acceptable.......Darker, of course indicating more rich......Whitish deposits being too lean and not good.

Couple thoughts here........

If you've got a tach, have you checked the idle rpm settings as compared to the stock specs ? Some idle adjustments involve one idle adjuster knob that controls all of the carbs at once. If your idle speed is low, an idle speed adjuster knob may raise the slides/carb pistons inside the carbs to allow more air in which might compensate for the additional fuel provided by the choke. (Also, please keep in mind that carb dial-ins are done on a fully warmed up machine. One can make slight adjustments on a colder engine, but the fine tuning would be done once fully warmed up at operating temperature).

Have you tried starting the bike when "cold" without using the choke to see if it fires and, if so, if it misfires or not ?

[Jimsjinx]

My money is on a bad battery/alternator. Once you get her up in RPMs, the alternator is running the show. Under 2,000 RPMs, the stock Hitachi alts. are junk, and don't put out enough to keep a weak battery charged, ie., the bike wants to die. I had a brand new AGM battery get toasted by a bad alternator. All kinds of wierd idle probs, and missing. If I could keep the revs up, I could make power enough to get home. It ended up being a bad alternator. The "crimps" in the windings were not tight, and it took out the regulator diodes. I had anywhere from 4 volts, to 18.5 volts! Got Ken Hemmings to do his rebuild magic to my stock alternator, and the problem went bye-bye! Just a thought. If you've been riding the 1500, and using decent gas, those carbs are known to last decades. Good huntin'! jimsjinx

[Ol' Grey]

Interesting post, Jimsjinx, and I'm seeing this as a definite possibility. Both you and Greydog have mentioned bad battery and/or alternator and that's indeed possible. In both cases, your's and Greydog's bikes seemed to run poorly while fishunt's seems to run fine once warmed up and off choke.

If it's a standard battery and 3 yrs. old or a Maintenance Free battery (AGM) and 5 yrs. old, the battery might be needing replacement. It could be that the battery still has the ability to receive charge, but may not be HOLDING charge, in which case, that could explain the misfire at idle and on a cold start, then the good running once the battery has replenished it's charge. If it won't hold charge, the battery voltage can deplete overnight and then it's the same dance next day........

Easy way to check out this possibility would be to check the battery (cold with bike off) with a multimeter and see if it reads at least 12.5V. Then fire up the bike and see if the readings go up to around 13.7V and remains constant within a point or two........13.7V to 13.8V back to 13.7V then 13.8V, etc...........If it reads at least 12.5V cold and not running and the readings jump up to a normal, consistent range while idling, then it's probably all good in that area. If not, then it may be time for a new battery and then remembering to check the new battery readings at idle to insure that the voltage regulator is working properly.

If it's not an electrical problem, I'd be back to carbueration........I do know that some bikes require NO choke on a cold fire-up during the hotter summer months, but I'm not sure if Goldwings are one of those bikes.........