1500 Nomad FI Problem

[bikerbill]

I have a 2001 1500 Nomad that the dealer pulled the cylinders to repair an oil leak in 2003. They have never been able to get it running like it was before the repair. It has been back to the dealer many times however it is still running very rich, fuel mileage is way down and the pipes are full of soot.

I have given up on them, any suggestions on where to start looking for the problem?

I don't have a factory manual, any suggestions on the best manual to buy?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Biker Bill

[macmac]

What oil leak was this? Was it the weep hose, that is sharded with the water pump?

Since the cam chains were messed with, one guess is the valve timing is late, and if this is correct, it might be a tooth off. This action would create a incomlete burn, which would show as running rich.

This doesn't mean jump in with both feet and look to mess about with valve timing, but I am having a hard time seeing the ecu changing it's own fuel map.

That means the injection is misting right and not too long a duration, but the emngine isn't breathing correctly.

Was the injector spray pattern ever inspected?

To do this fire precautions must first take place, since you have pulled the injectors to see, and then run them as if they were installed. That means fuel is misted into thin air and there will be sparks present.

i/ We need lots more detailed info..

[bikerbill]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The oil leak was the gasket at the bottom of the front cylinder, cylinder to crank case.

One of the times it went back in the timing was checked and I was there to personally see that it was correct.

I don't know if the spray pattern has ever been checked but I can do that. It is interesting that I am getting the same amount of black smoke from both pipes. I do have Cobra pipes but they were dealer installed and been on it from new. My problems didn't start until after the oil leak was repaired.

Currently even in cool weather I can start the bike without using the fast idle knob, it starts immediately then with in a few seconds idle drops as if it was a choke dropping out on a car with a carb but this is fuel injected. After the idle drops back there is a very strong exhaust odor, if the throttle is opened I get black smoke.

I ordered a factory service manual today from the local dealer in Rogers Arkansas, it will be in next week.

I have been asking if a sensor is not connected or failed but so far the dealer has not found a problem.

Thanks again for the suggestions

Bill

[ringadingh]

Welcome to Kawanow from Canada, Im not sure if the problem is related to what they did at the dealer, it may just be coincidence that another problem arose after the original repair. However they should have searched and checked until they figured it out.
Do you have the correct heat range plugs installed? Like mac says its hard to diagnose with limited info. Do you have a Power Commander or other fuel module connected? It could even be a coolant sensor gone bad tricking the ecu into thinking its always cold and dumping more fuel into the engine. Its hard to say at this point what it could be.

[bikerbill]

We have the tank off and checked connections on all sensors, everything appears connected properly. Per another note we will get some of the electrical connector lub lightly coat each.

Is there a way to test the sensors with a standard multimeter without damaging the sensors?

If they can be tested with a multimeter what readings should I expect on them?

The coolant sensor per your comment and the comment of others is a prime suspect. We were told by one dealer that one Nomad was running like mine and the problem was that air was trapped at the coolant sensor and when it was vented the problem went away. We checked the air bleed and did get a slight amount of air out, removing the fill cap indicated the system was completely full however we made sure by adding water through the air bleed. We did find the coolant tank level low, I had had a coolant leak at a hose clamp the last time the dealer worked on the bike, looks like the coolant tank was not filled to the correct level. We added water to the tank.

Sorry for this being long-winded but I am getting good suggestions from you guys and appreciate the help and suggestions.

Bill

[macmac]

I am not sure what sensor spec should be, but would think one or more may have gone fluky, and could be the problem.

The cold start device is no more than a cable to hold open the throttle plates a little bit more at cold start.

If the intake is all stoke then you have ISC controll valves that will raise cold idle and drop it back to warm idle like a choke does on a carb.
(idel solenoid controlls)

There are 2 and they are located in the right side dog bowl (fake right side air filter with no air filter inside)

Once warmed up does the black smoke still appear clearly?

Is this mostly constant black smoke if a rider follows you?

In general how does the bike run?

It could be normal to see black smoke upon a cold start and show for a few miles, perhaps as many as 8 miles.

What if anything has been run in any fuel? Any dry gas, cleaners, stable, and or other?

[bikerbill]

We think it is a sensor also, I have a manual ordered, maybe it will help us check them.

Today we vented the coolant system with the vent by the fill cap and made sure the system was completely topped off with fluid. We also checked sensor connections by unplugging and replugging them a couple of times to clean the connections if they were dirty.

We installed new plugs and made two runs, one for 30 miles and another for 90 miles. A check of the spark plugs indicated that it was running much cleaner.

The bike always ran good even when it was blowing black smoke, the problem was the fumes and low gas mileage.

We have not followed it with another bike yet, good suggestion, we will try to do it this week.

The 90 mile run gave us 36.4 mpg at 75 mph.

I would be interested in what mileage others are getting at 75 mph, this seems a little low but it has been years that the bike has had a problem, I don't recall what mileage I was getting.

We don't have anything in the oil but I may run some Seafoam just to do a system cleaning.

It does not seem to be blowing black smoke now after warm-up.

Thanks for the help.

Bill