Throttle seized, problem at the carby.

[Voz]

Hi, just been cleaning my throttle tube and lubing cables and general cleanup as I was experiencing binding which turned out to be the rusty bars, cleaned and greased, all good.

I checked the open and close cables worked ok and sprayed in a bit of WD40 for good measure, they were opening and closing the throttle no probs.

I put the throttle cables back on and screwed together, I got about one turn of throttle then nothing. Checking the cables down to the carbs I find that the butterfly or whatever it is will not turn, the cables are loose. I have tapped it lightly with a large screwdriver but it won't budge.

I defo had the cables in the correct order and seated properly in the housing.

 

[Motogiro]

I wonder if something happened at where the throttle body shaft goes into the Throttle Body Sensor. Do not pry on the throttle plates. Take your time. Undo the cables and see if something is binding the shaft to the left or right. This will cause the throttle plates to bind in the throttle bores. Did or is something causing the shaft to get forced left or right?

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Welcome Voz to the forum! :welcome:

As Motogiro posted don't force anything.

Did you do ANY OTHER WORK on the bike besides the cables?

With the throttle assembled and cables inside, are you able to turn the throttle open and closed with the cables attached?

I understand, with the cables NOT attached to the left side rotating plate (throttle shaft), that is JAMBED UP and NOT moving, correct?

 

[Voz]

Yes it is completely jammed. I can see and touch the carby body wheel that the 2 cables are attached to, I try to turn it with my fingers but no go, completely jammed.

Ultimately, if I need to unjam this any idea on the process? I imagine tank off first, then airbox, never pulled one of these apart before.

As for what could have caused this, I suspect that it must be related to when I pulled the throttle down to lube the cables and throttle tube. Before I refitted the cables to the throttle tube I used my fingers to pull at the throttle cables to feel how smooth they were. I suspect that I have pulled too hard and jammed it?

I am also not quite sure if it is jammed open or closed as this is a new bike to me, not that familiar with it.


How to rectify this?

 

[Voz]

Can't believe that today is the first day of sunshine in about 3 weeks of rain and I still have only ridden this thing 3 klm in train from the dealers to my home, lol.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Yes it is completely jammed. I can see and touch the carby body wheel that the 2 cables are attached to, I try to turn it with my fingers but no go, completely jammed.

Ultimately, if I need to unjam this any idea on the process? I imagine tank off first, then airbox, never pulled one of these apart before.

As for what could have caused this, I suspect that it must be related to when I pulled the throttle down to lube the cables and throttle tube. Before I refitted the cables to the throttle tube I used my fingers to pull at the throttle cables to feel how smooth they were. I suspect that I have pulled too hard and jammed it?

I am also not quite sure if it is jammed open or closed as this is a new bike to me, not that familiar with it.


How to rectify this?

What you did should NOT have caused that. But yes the tank needs to come up and remove the air box to get to the throttle bodies and see the linkage. that locking up as you describe, is the first I've heard of.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Can't believe that today is the first day of sunshine in about 3 weeks of rain and I still have only ridden this thing 3 klm in train from the dealers to my home, lol.

Is the bike NEW to you???

Kinda important so we know we may be dealing with somones mechanical screw up...

 

[Voz]

Yes,me bike is new to me. My BMW dealer took it as a trade from a good customer. The bike looks in great condition but has 68,000 klm.

My 2013 BMW R1200GS blew an engine and I am waiting until. Nov for a new one, I bought this as a cheap commuter bike. I will call the dealer this morning and see if they can get up here and trailer it away. If they won't en I will need to pull it down at my place, not that mech minded but have all the tools and can follow instructions.

 

[Voz]

I called the dealer, they agreed to send a two truck and take it back and fix it. I decided to put the throttle tune and cables back on and whoa and behold the ****er now works 100%, haha. I did start the bike before this and confirmed to the dealer it was running at idle, maybe that freed it up???

Anyway, all is now good, I am going to jump on that bitch and ride it to work, woohoo!

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I called the dealer, they agreed to send a two truck and take it back and fix it. I decided to put the throttle tune and cables back on and whoa and behold the ****er now works 100%, haha. I did start the bike before this and confirmed to the dealer it was running at idle, maybe that freed it up???

Anyway, all is now good, I am going to jump on that bitch and ride it to work, woohoo!

Interesting!! Be careful and have fun! You'll be selling that BMW!!

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Yes,me bike is new to me. My BMW dealer took it as a trade from a good customer. The bike looks in great condition but has 68,000 klm.

My 2013 BMW R1200GS blew an engine and I am waiting until. Nov for a new one, I bought this as a cheap commuter bike. I will call the dealer this morning and see if they can get up here and trailer it away. If they won't en I will need to pull it down at my place, not that mech minded but have all the tools and can follow instructions.

Did your BMW come with one of these? That's a BMW lock assembly re-keyed to fit your ignition key..

 

[Voz]

5 klm ride to work was uneventful.

I can't seem to get the engine to go above 8000 rpm though. The sprox are supposed to be 15/43 according to the last service invoice which is supposed to be the same as 16/46, I can see the rear sprocket is a 43 but have not sighted the front yet, just looking at the service invoice.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

5 klm ride to work was uneventful.

I can't seem to get the engine to go above 8000 rpm though. The sprox are supposed to be 15/43 according to the last service invoice which is supposed to be the same as 16/46, I can see the rear sprocket is a 43 but have not sighted the front yet, just looking at the service invoice.

Some one re-geared that bike for highway use big time. (too much actually)

Most guys don't go more than one tooth up front. Your that and the rear sprocket too.

That bike would scream with the right sprockets on it. It'd be pretty doggy geared that high...

 

[Voz]

I had posted my 15/43 sport combo on here and the feedback was that it should be exactly the same as 16/46 and that it should be willing to scream its head off up to 14.000? Maybe I am doing something wrong, perhaps I should be in a lower gear? Remember I am used to the. BMW r1200 which is a torque monster in any gear.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I had posted my 15/43 sport combo on here and the feedback was that it should be exactly the same as 16/46 and that it should be willing to scream its head off up to 14.000? Maybe I am doing something wrong, perhaps I should be in a lower gear? Remember I am used to the. BMW r1200 which is a torque monster in any gear.

Yepper, the FZ doesn't start to take off until 7-8,000 RPM's. A whole different beast..

Mine will power wheelie in first gear everytime but it has to be wound up (I don't clutch wheelie). That's with stock gearing, NO mods but aftermarket open Scorpion mufflers.

With the open pipes, once you hit 7k RPM's and up, it sounds like a go fast, liter bike and will pretty much git it!. It'll easily do triple digits (MPH) in the first 3 gears if running correctly..

 

[Voz]

Oh well, there is definately something amiss here. I will drop int a Yamaha dealer and ask them to have a look.

On another note, do these bikes generally run rich? When I start her up it blows a bit of smoke and I can smell the rich fuel smell even after it has had a run.

 

[Motogiro]

Oh well, there is definately something amiss here. I will drop int a Yamaha dealer and ask them to have a look.

On another note, do these bikes generally run rich? When I start her up it blows a bit of smoke and I can smell the rich fuel smell even after it has had a run.

They normally run great. Sometimes rodents like to build a nest in the air box. They gnaw through the air filter. What I would do is prop up the tank and inspect the air box and filter. It could be the reason your having these problems. Go have a look see! :thumbup: If there is limited air going down the throttlle bodies it will go rich and blow dark smoke.

 

[Voz]

They normally run great. Sometimes rodents like to build a nest in the air box. They gnaw through the air filter. What I would do is prop up the tank and inspect the air box and filter. It could be the reason your have these problems. Go have a look see! :thumbup: If there is limited air going down the throttlle bodies it will go rich and blow dark smoke.

Ok will look tonite now I know how to get the tank up, pretty fiddly, I presume you just put a stick or something in there to prop it up?

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Ok will look tonite now I know how to get the tank up, pretty fiddly, I presume you just put a stick or something in there to prop it up?

Yepper, I use a paint mixing stick to hold up the tank.

I sent you an S2 (07-09) owners manual, getting to the air box is about the same.

On a cold start, high idle, if your sniffer works well, you may (I can) ,smell additonal fuel for the first minute maybe, after that NO, you shouldn't smell fuel.

Also, I believe on your bike (not available in the states) you (or your mechainic) can get into the ECU mapping and adjust the idle CO (roch or lean adjustments). In the states, the engine, at least mine, is dialed in and I never checked or touched mine as it runs so well. Someone may have gotten into the program (thru the dash) and re-adjusted those settings. They may have also added a "Power commander", ECU fuel mapping device and have it set rich with a rich map. Keep your eye open for that while under the seat / tank (I'm not sure exactly where they generally mount them)

I would first, as Cliff mentioned, check the air filter (basic stuff) first. While the tank is up, you'll see the battery. If you un-bolt the battery for maybe 15 minutes, it'll re-set the computer too (this does NOT change the CO settings back).

Once at the air filter, after removal of a couple of hoses, the air intake tubes to the throttle bodies loosened up and your at the throttle bodies to check for any binding/issues..

 

[Voz]

Really appreciate the in depth and prompt responses Scott & others!

Ok, here are my updates:

Rang the selling dealer about binding carby butterfly's, I decided to start the engine to see if the carby was stuck shut or open, fortunately open, bike idled. Shut down and the carby butterfly was now free, happy days.

So, took it on a 50klm run today, inner city CBD & inner suburbs. Ok, starting this bike, it blows a bit of light coloured smoke, not crazy amounts but you can see it when you rev it. I can clearly smell rich exhaust emissions, it is not a fuel leak, it is coming out of the pipe, I can even smell it as I ride along and defo when I stop at lights. The pipes are fairly black with loose black material at the outlets. I will look into the dash ECU programming.

As for not being able to exceed 8000 rpm, ok, this one is easy, I was just going up too many gears, if I leave it in 1 & 2 longer then I can spin into the early teens, I just need to get used to this.

After the run today, I removed the tank and checked the air filter, looked OEM and clean. I have the last service invoice from 9000 klm ago, I suspect this air filter is more recent. The airbox itself on the filter side had a reasonable amount of oil on the base of the airbox, cleaned it all up.

Added a 12V accessory cable to the front left fairing (loose connector cable tied to another loom) wired direct to battery, 20A fuse. This so I do not have to take the tank off every time I need to access 12V. I can plug a trickle charger and my Tomcat compressor as well as a 12V lighter socket.

Topped up coolant with premix, was just under LOW. Noted running temps today to be about 4-5 bars, not sure what is normal. Sydney was cold today and a bit of rain.

Added Givi Tank ring and XS308 20L Tankbag, just for fun...

Replaced blown rear globe,. now I have a parking light, yay!

Moved handlebars toward me more, maybe an inch closer, needed it as my fat gut is pushing into the tankbag pushing me back a little, lol.

Re-adjust rear brake pedal, difficult to get a fine adjust on this, I am adjusting at the pivot point, can it be adjusted anywhere else?

Check air in tyres, 32F / 37R


NEXT JOBS

Not that I really know what I am doing here but. I think I need to have a look at the following list.

- Address running rich problem
- Consider draining fuel tank and check / replace fuel filter.
- Consider frame sliders
- Check brake pads and discs for thickness
- Check with selling dealer if they did an oil and plugs service, if not do these.
- Check wheel and steering head bearings
- Check suspension
- Clean out the dust and grime for every nook and cranny, dust everywhere, not used to this as I have only ever had new bikes, lol.

Feel free to suggest more, thanks!