Rough 1600 after Throttle barrel cleaning

[Altos]

Hey Guys,

i have a problem with my bike.
It has run about 35.000 miles and i wanted to give it a clean.
I followed the following procedure (like the sticky on this forum)

Remove your RH air filter so you can get to the throttle body.

Spray carb cleaner into the throttle body while your motor is running, youll have to twist the throttle a bit to keep it running as it will try to stall. If it does, restarting may be a little more sluggish but it will start.

Spray about ten seconds worth into each throttle barrell.

Then shut the bike off and scrub as far inside the throttle body as you can reach while holding the throttle wide open with your toothbrush. Pay particular attention around the butterflies.

Thats it, your done, install your air cleaner and ride.

It is all clean now but now the bike runs terrible, not smooth at all anymore...
I checked the sprarkplugs and they are fine but the bike runs rough, does have power but nothing like it was before in terms of smoothness.
It feels like it is pounding more also (hard to explain)
Maybe a sensor at fault or something?
Is there anything i can test or do?

What could i have done wrong?
Can anybody steer me in the right direction where to look for a problem?
I'm mad at myself for messing up my bike.

[cnc]

Hum, never had that issue and have cleaned mine many times. But I do it slightly different, I never spray carb cleaner in the throttle body with the bike running and I never hold the butterfly plates open with the tooth brush. Stopped I hold the butterflies open with the twist grip and spray several times then scrub. Just throwing ideas out, maybe you sucked in enough cleaner to soften and dislodge carbon on the pistons and some is stuck under a valve seat or injector unlikely, but possible. Carb cleaner tends to melt the plastic tooth brush a bit, again unlikely to be the issue. Check to see if by chance if both butterflies open and close exactly the same if you were prying or holding them open with the tooth brush, a little more likely. Finally if the bike is stock, check to see if you dislodged or forgot to reconnect any vacuum hoses and or electrical connectors on the air solenoids, more likely.

[Altos]

The bike is bonestock, sorry i forgot to mention that.

The cleaned parts are gently cleaned so the valve's are shutting simultaneously.
I did not touch any vacuum hoses or anything, just screwed the bowl off and did the cleaning.
Could it be a faulty sensor (air mixture or something) or something i can measure or check?
I do not dare to ride it anymore now because i'm afraid i will do some kind of damage.

From when i got it it has a vibrating point in the revs very low but after a few hundred revs more is smoothed out nicely, i don't understand what caused this more pronounced thump that causes it to not be smooth anymore.

When i sprayed the throttle cleaner while the bike was running and gave it some gas there was some black smoke and some backfire but i recon that is the cleaner that is processed...

Thank you for giving me your time and perspective, i really appreciate it.

[plumber63]

I clean mine just like you did, and never caused a issue. Spray down into throttle body with carb cleaner while its running and hot. Steam cleaning down inside.

If it were mine I would go run it hard up to the rev limiter in 1st and 2nd to blow any residue out of it.
I know mine does run different and sound different after I clean it.

[Altos]

Thank you for your insights.

You say: mine does run different and sound different after I clean it.
Can you explain different? Does it feel raw and thumpy at first? Does it smooth out after a while?
I did ride about 80 miles with it but now i'm a bit scared off by the not so nice riding experience.

This is such a difficult problem to explain, i would even say some would not even feel it because "a V-twin always vibrates" but i know this is NOT how this bike rode before...

[redjay]

Are you sure you used carburetor cleaner ?

[Altos]

I found this thread earlier and it kind of sounds like my problem too:
http://www.vulcanbagger.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=42552
But also not...sorry to be rumbling...don't mean to.

Mine stalls out sometimes too when pulling in the clutch at low speeds, but it did that before also.

[Altos]

Originally Posted by redjay

Are you sure you used carburetor cleaner ?

Yes i do, it is carburetor cleaner for motorcycles from a motorcycle shop.

[cnc]

Originally Posted by Altos

I found this thread earlier and it kind of sounds like my problem too:
http://www.vulcanbagger.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=42552
But also not...sorry to be rumbling...don't mean to.

Mine stalls out sometimes too when pulling in the clutch at low speeds, but it did that before also.

On my bike the random stall backing off the throttle at low speed usually signals it’s time to clean the throttle body. I find the idle is slower with a dirty throttle body and I can notice a slight increase in idle speed when clean. You can also manually increase the idle speed with the little black knob beside the right dog bowl, sometimes they are stiff if it has never been moved. Hard to tell if You really have an issue over the net, maybe post an audio file so we can listen?? If it is running that bad, very slight chance you jumped a tooth with a timing chain when it backfired, but with the low mileage I very much doubt it and it would really run crap or worse a valve would be hitting a piston and you would know it. That in my mind would be the only reason to not drive it. If you drove it 80 miles since and say it might have smooth out a bit, then it then as Troy says drive it hard and see, maybe put some sea foam in the gas before hand.

[Altos]

Thank you CNC and the rest.

The stalling is not constant but once in a while, 2 times after the cleaning.
I adjusted the idle with the black knob after the cleaning because it was way to high.
I know these kind of things are hard to do over the net and also in different countries, but i wanted to give it a try.
When i see the knowledge on this forum i'm hoping there will be some kind of tip or something that i can try that could fix it.

It does run ok (power wise and pulling power) but there is an extra vibration and loudness to the thump if you know what i mean (sorry, really hard to explain)
Normal it sounds and feels like a V-twin, rumbling in the background (all stock) and when your rolling on its smooths out and cruising at 75Mph in 5th is lovely like a flying carpet.
Now the idle is more thumpy, more pronounced and when i ride there is no more smoothness, even at higher rpm's...just this constant engine vibe.

[Ridefree]

As cnc stated , I would check all vacuum lines and make sure they are connected . Shine a light in behind the air cleaner backing plate and make sure nothing was blown off when the bike backfired . You had mentioned it stalled before the cleaning . I would also check the small hose that goes from the throttle body to the air sensor . This hose then T's off to the fuel pressure regulator . If the T is cracked or broken your bike will run poorly ( if not at all ) The T on my Nomad was broken and I had a hard time keeping it idling . I'm not sure about the 1600's but mine had a rubber cap blocking one of the brass fittings just on top of the TB , it may have blown off as well .

Believe it or not I use the parts diagram to get more familiar with parts on my bike . It can be your friend on some situations .

https://www.kawasakipartshouse.com/

[MAS Tequila]

I hate to ask the obvious, but, are you sure you got everything clean?

Put the carb cleaner down and find some SeaFoam.

Do what you just did, but with the SeaFoam.

And not just once, but 4 or 5 times.

And run a can through the tank, or some type of injector cleaner.

[Ridefree]

Now that you mention you had to turn the idle down after cleaning there would be no chance the small hose to the air pressure temp would be cracked or broken . Your idle would be constantly low and be stalling the bike until you gave it throttle . But still worth checking for piece of mind .

[Altos]

@Ridefree: thank you for your input, i will pull off the tank coming weekend and see if everything is still in place and in proper working order.
I will study the linked page, this will come in handy!

@MAS Tequila: It looks clean when i shine a good light in there, but i can't see behind the bend. It ran great before the clean but i was thinking, a clean once in a while can't hurt. Now it runs worse then before the clean.
I wish i could get Seafoam here in Holland but this is not available here so i have tot try to find a similar good working product.

Also thank you for your input.

[DragonLady58]

Cleaning the throttlebody won't make the bike run bad unless you lost bristles off the brush, did not let the cleaner evaporate before starting.....(can't compress a liquid if you shot alot into the intake, and killed the engine).
Only 3 things can happen when you clean your throttle body.

1. A vaccuum line comes off.
2. TPS goes out or is unplugged, also air temp. sensor. Move the wiring by hand....

3. Start with fluid in cylinder....hydrostatic lock....can bend rods, shatter/crack pistons, rings


OR you get it good and clean, and it runs its ass off!