Falco running on one cylinder

[Martin]

Hi all

My 05 Falco which I've only had for 3 or 4 weeks started running on one cylinder out of the blue - no rain, nothing, just started doing it.

I used to have a Suzuki TL1000S which was prone to doing this and the only thing that sorted it out seemed to be hoiking the plugs out and cleaning them.

Before I resort to such drastic treatment (I say drastic because I've downloaded the workshop manual and apart from the fact I can't actually find the right section yet it still looks more involved than the old Tiller was) does anyone have any advice? The Tiller also used to have a diagnostic facility that could be accessed by shorting two wires and turning the ignition on - does the Falco have something similar?

Thanks all, Martin



(And if anyone can tell me how the heck I either get a pic pasted into the message body or even a basic straightforward link that works I'd be delighted!!!)

[Kwackerz]

right click the pic and copy the properties ending in jpg

ive edited the above for you..

[Martin]

We are in business!!

Oh yeah, and the misfiring?????????

Thanks BTW

[Kwackerz]

Front or rear cylinder?
Any codes on the dash?

[Martin]

No codes that stay on. The EFI flashes initially but I thought it did that anyway as a precheck.

I could go out and check.

As for front or back cylinder how do I check? I put my hand on the pipes this morning but both were equal pressure and I put that down to it maybe having a joint manifold - again I haven't done a visual on that but assumed that that was the case. If not then I reckon I could have more of a problem than simply a fouled plug.

Excuse my gross ignorance and feel free to slap me around the room!!!

What / how should I check?

[Kwackerz]

http://www.apriliaforum.com/techtips/10 ... tcodes.htm

this will identify coil faults, etc

my bad forgot to mention it in other post!

if thats fine, check the leads well, security and cleanliness.

run the bike for a short time and feel the heat from the headers to identify front or rear cylinder.

[Kwackerz]

..and youve got 2 plugs per cylinder, so if its properly down to one cylinder, thats two plugs out of the running.

[D-Rider]

I get this too sometimes .... and it's a bit scary as you set off on one pot waiting for the other to chime in - particularly when it's a bit slippery.

I'm pretty certain it's a fuelling issue and one of the pots gets flooded - I'm hoping when I get my PCIII mapped properly it will all be better.

Anyway I've found a couple of things that help.
1) If I've come home and left it on the drive and then later come to put it away, if I start it and ride it in to the garage, then when I come to start it in the morning there's a good chance it will start on one pot. If I push it in to the garage there's a very low chance it will happen.

2) When I come to start it from cold, if I don't full fast-idle or knock it back too far too quickly ie straight after it has fired, then it will often drop on to one pot. So let it spin well.

Hope this helps a bit.

[herbacious]

oh man the falco does this???

my old SV used to do this (though only usually in heavy rain) and it was terrible..

the fact that it was always pissing it down when it used to do it made things worse.. the power used to kick back in halfway round a corner scaring the s*** out of me as it lurched forwards or span up the back wheel..

anyone else having this issue - is it common?

[HowardQ]

Mine's never done this in 6 years, but then again it has always been garaged.
I may be lucky, but it's the best starting bike I have ever had.
As long as the battery is OK, it is first time every time, (always on both pots), even after standing for some weeks in winter. It always amazes me when it does this, just a quirky Aprilia foible I know, but it always makes me .
None of my recent Hondas or the current ZX9R fire up without turning over a couple of times first.
Strangely compared with Andy's, I always back mine off to about 2K almost instantly as I do not like a bike to run all that quick until the oil is fully flowing round, and it always stays on two and is left to warm up this way.
Sadly this means I can't help much, but if the diagnostic check reveals nothing I am sure Andy and Co. will come up with something.

[back_marker]

Different problem on the SV - that is down to the plug on the front cylinder getting wet and shorting out. This doesn't happen on the Falco due to the fact that the front cylinder does not point at the front wheel a la most 90 degree v-twins and as already mentioned there are 2 plugs per head so if one plug isn't working the cylinder will still fire (as I swiftly remembered last time I couldn't get mine to start and removed one plug from each barrel to check for a spark and had a foot long flame shoot out of each head when I turned her over).

[HowardQ]

Something I forgot to mention, it is obviously a Bronze Falco problem, as yours and And's are both bronze.
Get the spray can out, paint it in Black Crow and it will start better as well as going faster!

[Samray]

Sorry back_marker, but I did .

[Martin]

Dang it! I knew it had to be the colour

Actually, didn't you know? The bronze ones were originally sold as matt black but went so fast the paint slipped off to reveal the bronze primer???

OK... that was weak...

Seriously, the bike is always garaged but has been wheeled back and started and run back in a few times recently without getting a proper run - sounds kind of similar to D-Rider's scenario. I HAVE tried to run and blip it whilst on the sidestand to see if it'll "free up" but it stubbornly refuses to do so and the smell of unburnt fuel is pretty strong so I don't fancy revving the nuts off it for any length of time.

Looking at the Error Code link given to me earlier, it mentions a right hand side fairing with two allen bolts or summat and a "lower...tank" but unless I've got the wrong bike I can't seem to pinthis down. I have had the rear frame fairing off since I'm midway in ditching OEM plate and light hanger but don't recall seeing two spare cables.

[Kwackerz]

http://home.comcast.net/~sl_mille/idle.html

http://home.comcast.net/~sl_mille/ That'll be Kens Site, another goldmine of information