Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods lagging at idle ? Help!!!!!

Ok so I take off the front turn signals then i notice the lower cable in the throttle body assembly looks loose.
I tighten it and then adjust the other a little to give similar tension. now if i adjust either cable I either
sputter or backfire I have not touched anything on the
carbs except idle adjustment screw. I now have it set
just so it has a decent idle but bike still sputters at
idle i roll on the throttle it sputters then backfires half the time if I set the cable adjustment screws the throttle either sticks or goes to a screaming idle. What am I doing Wrong. 02 tba 600 miles nothing special done.What did I screw up And how Do I Fix it. P.S. putting signals back on first thing in the morning Could it Be A.I.? When I do get past First gear it runs fine just at idle or sputtering starting out in first .filled the tank with 91 today.

First of all, the removal of the turn signals have nothing to do with it. Next it sounds like you are getting too much fuel. adjust your cables according to the manual and check the position of your jets and needle to make sure eveything is correct. Also you don't need to use 91 fuel...Our bikes will run fine on 87, and it will save you money.

I didn't think it was the lights but I wanted to list all steps i took. I don't have a manual. I will go back to adjusting the cables when the sun comes up. It sounds like to much fuel to me but when i adjust them it dies ,sputters , or backfires there is no happy idle.

Check your vaccum plugs. One could be missing or cracked.

I'll check those too the bike is an 02 that is a possibility

If someone has the time and the manual if you could e-mail me the scanned pages in the manual about throttle adjustment
at the throttle body I would greatly appreciate it. I know I am asking alot here but it really would help.
N8gould@netzero.net thanx in advance

There should be a little slack in the "speed up" throttle cable. Not much, just enough that there is no tension between the 2 cables. Not sure if this could cause a problem on these bikes but, on some, it could pull the carbs up enough to cause air leaks if the manifld rubbers are dried out at all or the hose clamps are not tight.
Another thing to check, make sure the skinny wire from the right side engine cover didn't get pinched slightly. This is the one that carries the crank position signal to the ignitor.
That gets us to another possible problem. Run a search for ignition problems here. Some '02 bikes had a faulty ignition module that will be replaced as an unofficial recall. It is possible that yours happened to start going sour by coincidence. The affected VIN's are listed in a few posts, so you shouldn't have a problem searching them up.

You can test easily enough whether the AI has gone bad. Take the vacuum hose off the fitting on the left manifold and block the fitting with your finger. If the engine starts running right, the AI control valve has sprung a leak.

ok went through all basic steps replaced one small hose that had cracks i am guesing it was emissions of some type
checked pepcock filters little dirty DID FIND LOOSE HOSE CLAMP ON LEFT SIDE CARB RUBBER backfiring stopped. checked one plug seemed ok I beleive most my problem was just bad gasoline throttle is set good THERE IS ONE MORE PROBLEM
taking off in 1st ok 2nd ok 3rd bike tops out at 55-65 mph
going to 4th or 5th I have no power bike scared me before
it halled but now it is like riding a moped why wouldn't I have any top end speed?

just to let people know I traced my problem back to the left side spark coil so one is on order and when I put it on I should have fixedd my problem.

problem solved ignitor on left side was bad MY BIKE IS UP AND RUNNING NORMAL thank you for the suggestion and comments