Highspeed Shutdown

Last Thursday night I was coming back from Bournemouth on the motorway,
the Guzzi had been running a constant 100-110mph for a good 40 minutes.
It was only on about half throttle as it doesn't need it WFO to maintain
that speed once it's there.

Suddenly the bike lost power then shutdown, clutch in, and I coasted to
the hard shoulder with that sinking seized feeling and all lights bright
(oil and charge).

Once on the hard shoulder [1] I pressed the starter, expecting to hear
the click of the solenoid engaging against a solid motor, it spun up and
fired without any unpleasant noises or smoke.

It hasn't done it again and I didn't hang about but I didn't run it at a
constant high speed for the same amount of time.

WTF?

 

Bugger, meant this to go to UKRM as well.

 

The footnote thief is stealing your sparks as well!

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Last Thursday night I was coming back from Bournemouth on the motorway,

The only time it happened to me on an old Guzzi was when one of the carbs
fell off at well over the ton overtaking a lorry on the autoroute. Quite
interesting that was. The carb was soon mangled back on and held in place
with a substantial piece of fencing wire and didn't budge once on the round
trip to Rimini and back.

 

Know sweet FA about Guzzis but... if it runs fine then it's either fuel
or spark.

I can't think it's the spark (unless it got weaker first before
stopping); does the Guzzi have a single coil?

For it to lose power first before cutting out I'd suspect fuel
starvation; was the cap vent clear?

However, I'm sure you've thought of the above... I'm thinking about
grandmothers and eggs. Hmm, that's reminded me of Pink Flamingos.

 

Twin coil, Lucas Rita ignition. If one pot drops out it runs roughly
rather than just stopping.

It lost power quickly - it felt more like it had seized TBH.

The vent is quite large in the Monza type cap. I didn't open the cap
when I stopped, just thumbed the starter.

I'm at a bit of a loss.

 

[1] The hard shoulder was strewn with St George's cross flags for nearly
as far as the eye could see.

I used one to wipe the dipstick - is that a crime?

 

Depends on _who_ the dipstick is, exactly.

I'm a bit miffed ATM, ordered a 5'x3' Aussie flag two weeks ago and
it still hasn't turned up. I wanted to get up the noses of the people who
are hanging St George Cross flags out of just about every bedroom window
in my street...

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

I caught one of those across me visor, the other night....

Fucking dangerous and should be banned immediately, with an instant 12
points for anyone caught with one on their vehicle.
--

Cheers!
Fr Jack

B12S POTENTIAL LICENCE SHREDDER - AT GRIN FACTOR 10!

FRJACKUKRM AT GMAIL DOT COM

 

Fr Jack wrote

I am ashamed to say that so far I have missed every one I have made a
grab for, I must be losing me touch. Is it a sign of getting old if you
can't manage simple mindless vandalism any more?

Oh I dunno, it relieves some of the boredom of motorway filtering.

 

Dodgy connection - killswitch, common feed to coils, ign sw, etc, etc.

 

then again, they do provide a useful visual clue to spot clueless dickhead
drivers.

 

Well, seeing it was a dick that had discarded it, it was quite
appropriate.

 

C*nts the lot of them. I think they do it to validate themselves for driving
foreign - or just crap - cars personally while still indicating their
support for England given the world cup patriotism stirred up (counting the
number on all manor of sh*te 4x4 cars and other marques besides).
Isn't there such a thing as supporting a cause silently any more, supressing
the need to tell the world about it ?
Can't they just get wee little flags and wave them about while they are
doing their shopping, walking down the street, or in the pub, to show
themselves up as the true loons that they are?

 

1979 T3. There are two relays: the solenoid on the starter and the one
for the headlight flasher; neither of which fall into the category of
"micro".

....but unusual on mine, although I suspect a twenty five year old piece
of wiring will be at the root of it.

 

More possible sucked eggs:

tired ignition switch / vibration-damaged fuse / pitted relay contacts
/ corroded connector.

On my Guzzi, most problems come down to small electrical items.

 

My K100 (1983) went through a phase where the lights went out and the
ignition cut randomly. This was the ignition switch causing the
problems. It didn't however lose power, it was binary on or off.

 

I had a similar experience at Cadwell on Friday. Just lost power going
up the start of Charlies. Started again (without opening tank) as soon
as I was safely away from the track. Carried on and it did the same
towards the end of Park straight.

Couldn't find anything amiss back in the paddock. After opening the tank
and a slosh round it was fine all afternoon. The VCF FOAK suggest two
possibilities:

1) Blocked tank vent
2) Blockage of filtered tank outlet by small piece of detritus. Little
pieces of plastic moulding flash allegedly. The fuel injection is
hypersensitive to any significant reduction in flow apparently.

2) unlikely to apply in your case.

It was v. hot on Friday so I wondered if a build up of vapour in the
tank while parked in the sun could some how produce enough pressure to
prevent the ingress of air.

--

+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Moto Guzzi Mille GT/Squire RS3 Gilera Nordwest |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

wrote

Yebbut, this'll mean one carb going dry first, just like when you need
to go to reserve and we all know what that feels like on a bike we ride
regularly.

I am with the dodgy electrix crowd on this one, if only because my Bloo
GS had a hissy fit about starting on Friday which was eventually sorted
by beating the shit out of the kill switch and threatening the entire
bike with disassembly if it didn't co-operate.

 

I'd agree with the dodgy electrics crowd if it hadn't lost power first.

Losing power sounds (to me) like it's running out of fuel.