wdangilliland

My '04 Volusia(only 15K actual mi.) runs perfectly until the weather gets below about 50 degrees. After that it begins to misfire occasionally. Below 40 degrees it gets worse, and around 30ish it gets very bad, often bad enough to be outright dangerous on the road. I have re-jetted the carbs to accomodate Vance & Hines pipes; replaced a faulty petcock; have replaced plugs; installed a K&N hi-performance air filter; and use Startron in every tank. I always use the highest available octane fuel with each fill-up. Can anyone help me correct this problem or is this beloved bike just a poor cold-weather machine? So far it has stumped the local mechanics here in Birmingham, AL.

Fizgurd

Your bike is telling you to move to Florida.... Other than that, I've got nuth'n. Sorry

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2008 Burgman 400 '08-current

2003 Volusia Annie '12-current
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03volusiarider

Either A. Get rid of the K&N or B. Run with the choke out about halfway until the bike warms up. Preferrably a & b

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dfinitlydisturbd

Time to start adding fuel stabilizer/drier. cover the rad. with something removeable but that will stay put until you open/remove it, learn to ride with the choke on the first notch until you are absolutely certain she's warmed up. I've been adding Gas Treatment by STP® | The Original STP® Fuel Additive with every fill up with extremely good results. So far haven't had to play with the choke. Bike fires right up with no fuss, just a couple twists of the throttle, hold about a quarter open, hit the starter, VArooom! Most important is on the road I haven't had issues with the engine cutting out and misfiring.

Anywho the behavior you described is just the nature of these cold blooded beasts. Do all the above and you'll be fine. I've ridden my '04 as cold as -20 deg. F yeah it was a royal b**** to ger her goin and she needed a good 5 minutes warm up at about 2000RPM but she always plays nice once warmed up...very recommended that you sort out some sort of rad. cover and leave it on until the fan cycles then only open half way unless the fan cycles again. These engines have a hard time getting and staying warm once it starts getting cold out.

AND QUIT wasting your money on the high test!!! You are actually compounding the problem by feeding the engine a slower burning more difficult to ignite fuel! Manual recommends 87 and believe me she'll run quite happily on it provided you add the stuff I linked to above or something similar...ethanol and water settling out of the fuel when it get's cold is the biggest cause for your problems right after the cold blooded nature of the VL800's engine.

dfinitlydisturbd

Never heard of Startron...try a full bottle of the STP I linked to above with each fill up and again feed her 87 our engines lack the compression needed to make use of the higher octane stuff so using it makes about as much sense as trying to feed them Cam 2. It's a waste of money and actually makes cold weather problems worse because the higher octane fuel is harder to ignite. (Which is why high performance, high compression engines come with the recommendation of using higher octane fuels, feed them the low octane and sooner rather than later pre-ignition will destroy them.) Wouldn't hurt to throw in a hotter set of plugs as well.

t-man403

Try the choke as suggested.............sounds like it needs more fuel and if it doesn't get it, you will burn the valves. Don't ask me how I know.
Cold weather made mine do exactly as yours is doing. Colder it got...the worse it ran, even stalling after mis-firing.

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"Men are like steel, when they lose their temper, they lose their worth." C. Norris



98' VALKYRIE __________________________ 02' VOLUSIA

tc79

Your jetting may be slightly off, you may need to go up a size or you can also try to turn your air/mix screw another 1/2 turn out. what jet size did you use? I had to play with my jetting for about a year to find a combo that worked well for the 8-9 month riding range up here in whacky weather we have up here

t-man403

Agreed!

__________________
"Men are like steel, when they lose their temper, they lose their worth." C. Norris



98' VALKYRIE __________________________ 02' VOLUSIA