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V7 Special starts but won't run.

ErictheBastard

Just got it firing!
Joined
Apr 19, 2015
Messages
11
Location
Southern California
2013 V7 Special, 15.5k miles

Last weekend, routine maintenance. New plugs, valve adjustment, engine gearbox and diff oil change. I've done this twice before with zero drama (and once before with significant drama).
Now it just won't run. It starts, runs rough, but only if I goose the throttle and keep it above 2500 rpm. Then it spits fuel out the charcoal canister. Removed new plugs, brand new left cylinder plug is completely fouled.
Checked everything over again this morning, cleaned and re-gapped plugs, checked valve clearances, everything in spec. Same symptoms.
I'm feeling equal pulses come out of both exhaust (maybe a false impression due to the balance pipe between them?) Exhaust smells rich.
What are the usual methods of verifying spark?
Anything else I should be looking at?

Thanks,
E~
 
Eric, modern Guzzi's aren't analog. Software integration needed. Plug in to the computer and it will likely tell you what the problem is. My guess is an 02-sensor. Well covered here... try a search.
 
I'm more going on the assumption that I buggered something up. The bike ran perfectly the night before when I pulled it in the garage.
The plugs that I pulled were normal light brown.
(My syntax above might be confusing - It stopped running normally immediately after the service, not this week. I just got around this week to re-examining my work).
 
how much adjustment did the valves take? if a lot you weren't on the compression stroke. most likely one of the spark plug caps is un screwed. cut a 1/4" off the end of the wire and screw it all the way in. without going out to look any chance the wires dropped down enough for you to get the left wire onto the right spark plug.
 
Could try different plugs. I had a bad plug that looked fine. What happened the time you had significant drama when you serviced?
 
how much adjustment did the valves take? if a lot you weren't on the compression stroke. most likely one of the spark plug caps is un screwed. cut a 1/4" off the end of the wire and screw it all the way in. without going out to look any chance the wires dropped down enough for you to get the left wire onto the right spark plug.

I think I got that right (TDC after the intake valve closes?). Minimal adjustment required (~.0015"). I'll definitely have to revisit the spark plug wire. Is it possible that it got slightly dislodged from the coil end? (It's up under the tank, almost impossible to tell without taking it apart). Definitely haven't crossed the wires. I think that usually results in unmitigated combustion chaos. But then again, my brain is old and increasingly untrustworthy.

How hard is it to re-terminate the end of these plug wires?
 
Could try different plugs. I had a bad plug that looked fine. What happened the time you had significant drama when you serviced?
Yeah, I even re-installed the older plug (less than 5k miles on it) and no luck.
The significant drama incident was a comedy of errors that was definitely a contaminated plug, but I chose to look anywhere and everywhere else first, which turned out being very expensive (new O2 sensor, and even a 'take off' original exhaust).
 
I agree it sounds like something you touched.

If one of the plugs is shorting out due to a loose or damaged cap you would haven't problems with rpm and smell raw fuel.

That's where I'd start.
 
Yes I did. Turns out when I I did the valve adjustment and buttoned everything up, I didn't have the pushrod properly seated under the the exhaust rocker arm, so the exhaust valve wasn't opening. D'oh! I need to stop doing these things in dimly lit spaces.
 
In retrospect, I have no idea. I was doing a full service (oil, plugs, valve adjustment, etc..). It seems quite odd that there would be enough free play in the pushrod and/or rocker arm to allow such an error to occur.
More than likely a special kind of ID:10T error.
 
what bike, what all did you do nobody just puts in new plugs for the fun of it. I hope!

2010 v7 cafe classic. The bike had a near fall and only damaged the right side spark plug and resistor cap. The tip of the plug was bent at a 45 degree angle and the cap was split... Still ran fine. Figured id swap em out... But now I have a bike that doesn't run. Awesome. Checked all connections with a volt meter and cleaned and greased them. No luck. Extremely frustrated.
 
Does it even try to start?
On either cylinder?
Backfire?

Pull both plugs out if they are black & sooty or wet & smell like fuel you are getting fuel & no spark.
Hook the plugs back onto the plug wires & lay the plug against metal.
Crank her over.
Do you have spark on both plugs?
If you have decent spark then it is a fuel problem.

No spark means it is electrical.

It may not have anything to do with the fact that you changed a plug or the tip over.
My friend Leah was riding her 2004 Triumph Bonneville.
Stopped at a motel for the night & the next morning bike would not run.
Turned out to be a crank position sensor.
 
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