fuel system or air/fuel ratio (fixed)

[sleepyJ]

i recently acquired a 2000 m900 ie last year, 9400 miles or so, bmc air filter, arrow slipon exhaust, oil breather...  

i remember the first and 2nd day i rode the bike it was great. put 100 miles or so on it, took it a little bit past 100mph.. for the most part i had read to use premium gas, so thats what i have been refueling with. i live in an area where there is 10% ethanol i believe. there was also a small accident where a buddy of mine dropped it onto his bike and the fuel tank hit his peg, leaving a small dent and maybe nudging the tank a bit out of place.

anyways... now im coming across some issues. it started happening around the same time as that accident. some of the first things i noticed were loss of power trying to go past 60 mph and/or 4500-5000 rpm, when the bike stops receiving power it pops and bogs down. sounds like a lean symptom, right?

eventually i found out the bike used to have a power commander (previous owner left the velcro straps in but took the piece) so i purchased a new one, it still ran kind of funky with the stock m900 maps. so i uploaded a map for a bike with similar airbox/filter setup and exhaust. but it also had 11;1 compression. after applying the map and using my butt and ears to dyno. somehow i came to the conclusion of taking off the airbox lid and richening the pc3.

after getting frustrated, scared of hurting my bike and reading a little bit more into my problem, i took off the fuel cap to look for any pinched hoses, there was one pinched hose that i fixed by twisting my fuel cap about 180 degrees or so. didnt have to disconnect any hoses  
im not sure that this could of been a potential suspect, but im glad i fixed it and got some experience under my belt.

SO here are the things i have been thinking about...

1 im thinking i should put my airbox lid back on, reset the pc3 and put the stock fuel map back on it and hope its a matter of professional tuning. or jus          leave the air lid off :p       edit: im not sure if it has closed loop ecu, but i can definitely feel a difference in with the pc3 installed. i thought i read somewhere that my bike doesnt have a closed loop

2 i should have been putting 87 octane in my bike and the premium gas ive been using has clogged up my fuel system so the bikes running too lean?

3 since the problem progessively got worse, does it make sense that the fuel system is the problem? do ecu's start to send codes that could make the bike run differently since the bike didnt have a power commander when it was in my possession?

4 does that small accident have anything to do with it? is it just a coincidence?

[Howie]

Before spending a lot of money and confusing the issue check the fuel lines again.  Look good?  Change fuel filter and inspect, if original, change the fuel lines in the tank.  Be sure to use SAE 30R10 fuel hose.  Your bike is not closed loop.  Also make sure it is running on both cylinders, actually do that first. 

[BastrdHK]

You have to describe the power loss in more detail.  Does it bog down and stay that way for how long, or does it just hiccup through the airbox and catch itself and rev/power up normally past 5k rpm?  What do you do to remedy it?  Back of the throttle, pull over and cut the bike off?

Rotating your gas cap has nothing to do with fuel lines.  The two hose attached to ti are vent and overflow hoses.  They have no affect on fueling.  Your bike is likely out of tune, and it sounds like your are close to the 12k service anyway.

If it bogs down, loses power and it doesn't fix itself immediately you have an electrical issue with spark plug, pickup sensor, or ignition coil.  Could have been jarred loose in the tip over.

If it hiccups and powers up normally afterward its fueling. 

I have an '01 m900, which is the same bike in this case,  I had a hiccup at the same rpm point that was annoying.  I added a PCIII for other mods and that only masked the problem.  The solution was a full tune, valve adjustment, throttle body synch and throttle position sensor (TPS) reset. 

Do you know the last time it was serviced fully?  If you don't have records/receipts of exactly what was done in the last service.  You should start with a blank slate, assume nothing, get a full service/tune done and you will at least save some guess work while preventing/eliminating future problems.

[DarkMonster620]

Take it to a shop that has at least a CO analyzer and a good diagnostic tool, you mention you have a '00 M900ie, that one has the IAW15M ECU, so you must go to a shop with a diagnostic tool to have your Trim properly set and/or this should be done in the "clean slate service" recommended by BstrdHK . . . TPS has to be done manually, using the diagnostic tool as a guide to set, they are not set by the tools.

[sleepyJ]

my problem isnt a hiccup, it stops receiving power and does NOT fix itself, at all. if i dont let off soon enough it will sometimes shut off. unfortunately, I dont know when the bike was last serviced.

i dont have the money to have a shop service the bike. i guess ill start off by getting new plugs

[DarkMonster620]

OK, but, also take the pc3 off the bike . . .

You want the "real issue" to come out, not a "masked issue" . . . If you can't get to a shop, try getting a diagnostic tool like the Centurion S for your bike . . .It will help a lot

[sleepyJ]

as soon as i read the pc3 is just masking problems, i ran out to my garage to take it off haha.

i would like to say thanks for the help so far, everybody! i'll keep posting up as i'm sure ill run into some more questions 

[DarkMonster620]

as soon as i read the pc3 is just masking problems, i ran out to my garage to take it off haha.

i would like to say thanks for the help so far, everybody! i'll keep posting up as i'm sure ill run into some more questions 

Any difference?

[sleepyJ]

I havent tried riding it since taking off the pc3. I went out earlier to advance auto and bought new spark plugs and a set of feeler gauges.

the old plugs were nice and black inside the hole and on the threads. the gaps in the new plugs were a little bit too large so i closed it a bit to .24-25 or .024-.025, i dont remember the decimal placement.

i expect there to still to be a problem, as i put the pc3 on the bike to try to remedy the problem. unless unpinching the airhose in the tank and new plugs fixed my problem. ill let you know how it feels when i take it for a ride

all the connections to the coils seem okay, what should i look for to determine this?
im not sure about the connections for the pick up sensor, where is this located?

[DarkMonster620]

I havent tried riding it since taking off the pc3. I went out earlier to advance auto and bought new spark plugs and a set of feeler gauges.

the old plugs were nice and black inside the hole and on the threads. the gaps in the new plugs were a little bit too large so i closed it a bit to .24-25 or .024-.025, i dont remember the decimal placement.

i expect there to still to be a problem, as i put the pc3 on the bike to try to remedy the problem. unless unpinching the airhose in the tank and new plugs fixed my problem. ill let you know how it feels when i take it for a ride

all the connections to the coils seem okay, what should i look for to determine this?
im not sure about the connections for the pick up sensor, where is this located?

did you get DC8 or DC9 ngk plugs or RC4H Champions? the gap should be about 0.9mm  . ..  sorry I work on mm . .. shoot me a pm to give some equivalencies of aftermarket parts I have gathered thru the years

[sleepyJ]

ok so after learning from dark that i should have .9 mm gap, i go to take off the terminal connected to the spark plug and they came out alright. the whole boot disconnected from the wire!

i guess it got knocked loose like bastrdHK mentioned and i looked right over it.

anyway, i secured it.


any other major problems i could be facing besides fuel in the oil? / precautionary efforts

thanks everyone

[Slide Panda]

Fuel in the oil? Unless you were managing to flood the non running cylinder you probably don't even have that. But an oil change never hurt anyone. Autozone again for you. Call ahead and order a K&N-153 filter. They wont stock them on the shelves but can get it in a couple days. They do (usually) stock Mobil1 10-40 for motos. You'll need a crush washer for the drain plug, and another for the filter screen. Not uncommon sizes (I just don't recall them) that could be had at any moto dealer with a parts dept.

[sleepyJ]

i made a little shopping basket on monsterparts, got a bunch of inexpensive goodies. i'll be doing some work soon finally instead of asking loads of questions.. haha

[motoxmann]

ok so after learning from dark that i should have .9 mm gap, i go to take off the terminal connected to the spark plug and they came out alright. the whole boot disconnected from the wire!

that is probably the entire problem right there. hopefully when you reconnected it you trimmed 1/4" off each wire before screwing the caps back on the wires. if you didn't, go do it.

[sleepyJ]

I figured i would post, for anybody in the future who may have this same problem, I changed my fuel filter and the problem is solved! my girl runs real nice and my powercommander isn't going to waste like i had feared.

i cleaned out my tank a little while i was in there, hopefully that will extend my new filters life

i also found one of those little grub screws at the bottom of the tank, the previous owner must of dropped one