06Fe550e mid ride rough running

Replace the plug and check the valves. Drain the tank and fill with fresh fuel. I would think a 170 main would be plenty.

IXU24

your bike is so rich the plug gave out.

regards

Taffy

bigbob, don't know if this is of any help but I was doing some jetting and buttoned everything back up and noticed something shiny on the ground...looked like old style keihin pj...wrong...new style starter jet out of my bike had loosened up and fallen out of fuel bowl...check bottom of carb and see if everything is in place...doesn't exactly help honing jetting skills with jets lying about!

is the air cleaner ok ? do you clean the residue of oil that can run into the carb if you put too much oil on the air cleaner .

is your fuel tank free from dirt ? .. have you checked the flow rate at the petcock ? ..you need to clean the pilot jet and circuit . is the tank venting ok ..

but the most important thing is ..... are all pencils sharpened and ready for action !

On another note, your main jet settings won't affect how the bike starts. In fact, unless you are doing your "mild" trail riding at 3/4 to full throttle on your FE 550, what main jet you have in your bike really won't make a lot of difference.

If it is a carb problem, hard starting or rough running at low rpms are usually the result of a plugged pilot jet

i'm only trying to help bigbob. no matter how much you might not like the pill that is all this is. the plug doesn't mind one condition or the other. either black, wet, sooty etc or coffee, tan, white or whatever.

but it just breaks down when you mix the two.

regards

Taffy

Hey Bob,

So you're running the stock needle? What is that, a DVT? If that's true it's way too lean, especially @ pos #4. The 45 pilot you are running is trying to compensate for the lean tick over of the T needle, go to at least the DVR on pos #5, and try a 40 pj. It should be of concern to you that the bike runs at all with the FMS screw completely closed. The bike should not run with this closed, if it does, like Taffy says, it's really rich. The range on the FMS is really about 1 & 1/4 turns out, to 2 & 1/2 turns out. If you are under 1 & 1/4 turns out then your pilot jet is too big, go ONE size leaner. If it's more than 2 & 1/2 turns out then go ONE step richer on the pilot. For your altitude of 4000, a 40 pj shoud put you in range with an R needle.

To set the FMS this procedure will get you into the ball park: Start and ride the bike for 20 or 30 minutes or so with the FMS set around 1 & 1/2 just to get things going. Then pull over and start turning the FMS in (clockwise as viewed from the bottom) leaner until the motor just starts to slow down, then back it out one full turn. Like I said, this is a ball park setting and you may or may not have to make an adjustment of 1/4 turn either way. The most important thing here is to make sure the bike is fully up to temp. Just running it on the stand for 5 minutes is not enough, and you'll end up rich if you set it this way. Also, your idle RPM should be set around 1500 -1600 rpm's when making these adjustments, if necessary reset the idle speed as needed.

I would just offer this advice. If the bike was running okay and all of a sudden it's starts running rough all through the rpm range then something is definitely a miss. IMHO you should always have a brand new plug, or one that was running good when you took it out in your fanny pack. And remember to gap the plug too, don't just put one in out of the box, the gap is way too big. And Taff's advice to go to the nippondenso IXU24 is a good one. I personally use the NGK equivalent. That's the first thing I would have changed if my bike all of sudden started running rough.

Further, when you clean your carb, take out all the jets, including the FMS (be sure that the little O ring is on top of the washer that is on top of the spring, go a head and make sure you have this O ring anyway it's easy to loose), and take off the ap and the float needle and float, and the float seat. Also be sure and remove the slide. Carb cleaner can damage the synthetic rubber of these components, the float, and the O ring type gasket on the floating plate of the FCR slide, and the O ring on the float seat. Once you have sprayed the cleaner through everything, use some compressed air to blow out all the passages. Then re assemble.

bob

pleased that you have it running better but you are way too american for me. don't jump to all those conclusions sir!!!!

you can have a lean missfire or a pop and you can have a rich missfire and pop. so beware!

even when you're told it's your plug and i'm bang on the money, instead of a small thanks you kind of forget all else and how you got there and just seem to peer down at the plug and get annoyed with it for failing when in your opinion it has no right to.

in all my years on this site you, i think, should be the most grateful for the advice you've been given completely FOC. because without it you have been so certain about what was the wrong info that i truly believe you should be a skeleton in the gobi desert now with a last frail message on a slip of paper saying "i can't be wrong, i ordered a gobi dessert to go?".

i'll do your gravestone bud! it's a deal.

regards

Taffy

bigbob said:

so taffy, you saw my plug picture? if it was the plug, this plug is only about 300 miles old, installed new like 2 montsh ago. what about it would fail? is it an internal failure?, I mean the tip doesnt look that bad to me but I know nothing. what would be your conclusions about this plug

I mean yeah the way it ran bad all of a sudden it had to be the plug or a clogged jet

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Don't worry about it. It's fixed and it's the weekend. Go ride!

Hey Bob, sounds like you are having a bad day...your bike quits working proper, the british are coming ( again ) and the greens are on your back door!!! Dude, things have got to get better!!!! and they have, a new plug, and you'll find some place to ride, and no worries about Taff, his bark is way worse than his bite.

enjoy your ride