[blurat1]

Hi, bought a 05 1300c. Was a few counties away so the price was right and I bought it. No known mods or history . 22k miles. First, I rode over to the gas station as the fuel was on reserve. Pops and idling poorly. Had to rev to cross the street.
Filled tank, spent most of today chasing wires to get the rear turn sigs working. It had some kind of Humpty Dumpty electronic who knows what wired in to the rear lights but disconnected from its power source. Removed it and lights are working.
Put everything back together and started up. 6 second crank, choke needed, as soon as I pushed the choke in it idled nice, not so nice, not at all.
I have to rev to keep it going even after 4 or 5 minutes. Holding the throttle at just enough twist to keep it running, maybe 12, 1300 rpm I can hear popping out the back. Irratic and a bit out the carb.

SO......Gas ? maybe got so low something got sucked up? Adjustments? how do they get out of adjustment in the first place. Ca smog causing problems? could be.
I put a Subaru engine in a VW and the only problems I had were Ca smog items.

Any thoughts on where to start here? Preferably easiest most likely first. If I need to remove and disassemble, what gaskets or items are required to replace.

Thanks for any info,
C

 

[Lou_VTX]

First thing that comes to mind immediately is dried syrup in the carb.
If she sat for a while, the corn syrup (Ethanol) in the fuel does not dry gracefully, it creates a sticky hard substance that coats everything. Especially carb jets.
Open up the carb, clean it out, especially the jets, reassemble and she should idle without choke when warm.

 

[07Blackcherry]

How To: Honda VTX 1300 Carburetor Cleaning Part 1 - YouTube

How To: Honda VTX 1300 Carburetor Cleaning Part 2 - YouTube

Carb Cleaning 101 | Honda VTX Forum (vtxoa.com)

 

[bdm]

Put Sea Foam in the gas and run it should clean up

 

[captvelcro]

Gummy is not even the word. When I disassembled the carb on an 04 1300R/S that had sat for 18 months there was a coating of what looked like white mold everywhere. The needle & float were literally sticky, but the diaphragms checked out o.k. under a light & magnifying glass.l Soaked it overnight and replaced all the hoses and now she runs like a champ.

WIth that much bunk build up I'm no sure SF would have done what needed to be done. FWIW

 

[blurat1]

Thanks for the replies. Very appreciated. Watched carb cleaning on youtube, thats my first step. Pulled 2 plugs and they are definitely running fat. Since I have a new project my part time job wants me to work all week so I will tacklee this next Saturday.
Thanks again,

C

 

[House O' Pain]

I bought a used V Star 1100 that had carbs so gummed up they had to be rebuilt. It had the same symptoms of stumbling and backfiring. I directly poured a mix of Sea Foam and good gas into the carbs from a jar and it cleaned it some and cut down the sputters, but if old gas has varnished enough on the jets you may have to do a carb clean or rebuild.

Good luck!

 

[captvelcro]

I bought a used V Star 1100 that had carbs so gummed up they had to be rebuilt. It had the same symptoms of stumbling and backfiring. I directly poured a mix of Sea Foam and good gas into the carbs from a jar and it cleaned it some and cut down the sputters, but if old gas has varnished enough on the jets you may have to do a carb clean or rebuild.

Good luck!

Yep, forgot to mention that I had to clean the jets. Same way: overnight soak and they came out squeaky clean.

 

[UruVtx1300C]

First thing that comes to mind immediately is dried syrup in the carb.
If she sat for a while, the corn syrup (Ethanol) in the fuel does not dry gracefully, it creates a sticky hard substance that coats everything. Especially carb jets.
Open up the carb, clean it out, especially the jets, reassemble and she should idle without choke when warm.
[/QUOTE
Hi there, i had same problem and had my carb rebuild, after that, she idle without any issue after she was at the running temp. When its cold, choke is the only way..

 

[blurat1]

Took the carb apart today. Thanks Enduro for the link, no bs tear down and clean. Pretty straight forward. The tank vent line was not plugged in. The fuel was clean. blew out the jets and reassembled. Never really saw anything wrong but 3 seconds of choke and it starts and idles fine. Went for a short ride and noticed at a steady spead, 40mph 3rd gear an occasional pop at the exhaust. It doesnt really seem smooth, power but a bit choppy like Im running on 1.75 cylinders. Its been a while since I rode but seems to struggle at lower rpm. Maybe its me just needing to get used to it. If the weather is nice tomorrow Im going for a longer ride to let the engine get nice and hot. Maybe Ill check the valves first. I did hear a hiss when I cranked without the filter on.

 

[blurat1]

I rode a few blocks around town yesterday and today. The engine starts right up, push the choke in and it idles just fine. A little twist and revs like it should.
It takes off in first gear seemingly like it should. Second gear and third both seem like a cylinder is not firing properly. I am getting pops out the exhaust, irratic but a vibration that would tell me the cylinders are not ballanced. Seems to come from one cylinder as it is constant and not erratic. I took the plugs out on the port side when I adjusted the valves and they were black. They appeared to be cleaning up from my after carb cleaning ride as the tips were turning tan. I had vehicles with bad wires that would not fire under load but these seem ok. The plugs looked rather new but I could only clean with a wire brush so much.
Am I missing something?

 

[Rangerrick70]

I rode a few blocks around town yesterday and today. The engine starts right up, push the choke in and it idles just fine. A little twist and revs like it should.
It takes off in first gear seemingly like it should. Second gear and third both seem like a cylinder is not firing properly. I am getting pops out the exhaust, irratic but a vibration that would tell me the cylinders are not ballanced. Seems to come from one cylinder as it is constant and not erratic. I took the plugs out on the port side when I adjusted the valves and they were black. They appeared to be cleaning up from my after carb cleaning ride as the tips were turning tan. I had vehicles with bad wires that would not fire under load but these seem ok. The plugs looked rather new but I could only clean with a wire brush so much.
Am I missing something?

I have had a brand new plug be bad, so I would replace the plugs. Start with the least expensive items first. Speaking from a person that wasted a lot of money years ago assuming that my issue was cause by the most expensive item on my VW Beetle

 

[Hans&Feet]

Check the ignition coils, sometimes a loose terminal or broken wire.
Check the resistance from one sparkplug cap to the other one.
32-36k ohms. Spark plugs are in a series circuit.
Examine the Ignition Control Module(ICM) carefully.
The wires on the ICM are short, therefore many times a wire has broken.
The two most forward wires on the ICM. Either the Black wire or the Green wire or Both.
The link to the Step by Step 1300 section for the electrical. Pix and drawings.

1300 diagrams for Charging, Starting, Ignition

Cooling system to be added also. Read, learn, share, have fun and enjoy. Download a SM. A specific diagram to make it easier to understand. The parts fiche is a great way to get more info. Charging system has a permanent magnet spinning around a stator to produce electricity from magnetic...

www.vtxoa.com

 

[blurat1]

I have had a brand new plug be bad, so I would replace the plugs. Start with the least expensive items first. Speaking from a person that wasted a lot of money years ago assuming that my issue was cause by the most expensive item on my VW Beetle

Good advice. Rebuilt my first VW when I was 12. Wish I had the years of money replacing things I didnt need to. Or just because I wanted to.

 

[blurat1]

Put in a set of plugs just now. Checked the coil resistance through wires. 22k ohm. Both coils read the same. Unscrewed the plug caps and tightened them up using DE grease.
Checked the icm under the seat. Noticed several splices. Not sure what went wrong in this area, maybe the added gizmo that I removed that was plugged into the rear light harness. The black wire at the ICM was bastardized, Had electric tape wrapped around it. Under the tape was a soldered splice but poor quality solder job. Maybe if they offer a ICM pigtail I can repair it. It makes connection but now I know its there.
Test ride this afternoon.
c

 

[Hans&Feet]

ICM has splices--a sure sign of a problem. No pigtails that I am aware of.
That popped up a year or two.
Two docs on ICM/ECM.

ICM-ECM Connector Pin Extraction

I had another Doc in 1300 regarding ICM wiring. Found another early wire breakage on a 1300. Mark4of5 was pulling pins out to add a Tach wire to 1800. Mark provided text and pix. This fits both 1300+1800.

www.vtxoa.com

Gruntdog---vtxcafe 2015
I used a small cotter pin bent open ,, slide it in between the plastic housing and connector depressing a tab while
applying some force to the face of the connector moving it out of the housing

previous experiences with similar harness pins helps make this a pretty simple task ,,,
there is always a way to release connectors from housings

there was a 1/4 inch of wire still well crimped , bared some of the mating green wire and soldered it up well
pre-tinning each side before mating together

 

[blurat1]

I just ordered a harness from ebay. I dont like the several splices and taping. Bothers me. I hope to get everything done by the time it gets warm.


c

 

[blurat1]

Went for a short ride just now. Im baffled yet some more. Nothing changed. New plugs made no difference. I did something different when I got back in the garage. When I twist the throttle the motor sounds great and revs. Loud, even sound. If I hold the throttle mid way the engine surges, goes flat like hitting a governor and pops a bit out the exhaust. I guess I will start at the fuel shutoff and make sure I am getting good flow?
O well.....press on.

c

 

[RScottie]

When I purchased my '04 VTX1300c, it had been sitting in a climaate controlled garage for about 9 years. The owner had flushed out the gas which he had treated and changed periodically replacing it with fresh the day I was to pick up the bike.

It rode rough on the way home.

I immediately put Seafome in the tank and did so for the next 4 tanks of gas.

It ran better with each tank.

I now use Seafome during the weeks or months that I cannot ride. It will keep gas "fresh" for 2 years according to the can.