virago 920 prblems

Does anyone know where I can find help with problems on a 83 virago 920? The thing pops out of the exhaust then seems like it is going to stall I pull in the clutch and rev it a few times and it is fine for about another mile.I had it to 2 bike shops the first shop said its a wireing or charging issue but its charging at 13.5volts. The other shop said that the carbs need to be rebuilt but the first shop cleaned them and said everything was fine.Any help would be great.Thanks in advance.

 

What EXACTLY did they do when the "cleaned" them? How old are the plugs? Have you taken a plug reading? Do you have the choke off, or does the choke have to be on, or does the choke lever seem to not do anything? How old is the gas in the tank? What's the condition of the fuel filter? Have you replaced the oil and filter? How's the air filter?

Got a lot of questions, you need to give us more to go on.

Dave

 

They took the carbs apart and cleaned it completely.Blew jets out and everything.the plugs are new.Have not checked the plugs yet.The tank was drained and cleaned and fresh gas put in.The Choke is off.Choke operates properly.New fuel filter.new oil & filter and air filter.

 

The bike stalled out again tonight and when I started it back up it would only rev to 1000 rpm full throttle I pulled the plug wire off and no change but it doesnt do it all of the time.My question is would it be the coil or pick up coil are these bike known for one of these problems or has anyone else had a problem like this. I just dont want to spend money on something if that is not the problem.

 

sounds like it might be a bad coil, but see if you can isolate that....it could`be a crack in the wire casing, a bad connection in the spark plug boot, etc....

If possible, see if you can pull a plug out, keep it connected to the coil and hit the key. You should see a good spark. Switch coil leads and see if you still have spark. Do it with the other coil, too. Hopefully you'll find it that way. If everything still seems to check out, but the intermittent problem persists, then you'll have to get out some meters, and check voltages, etc....

I do have a couple different virago books--clymers, and also a Yamaha factory manual, so if you still need help email me and I'll photocopy flowcharts or whatever I can do.

Here's my email: hogfiddles@hotmail.com

Dave

 

Check your wiring connectors to the coils,they can get pretty corroded

 

If you've changed the plugs and ruled out the pickups/coils, I'd verify the float levels in the carbs. Easy to do with a clear tube.
Make sure the carbs are synced.
Check all electrical connections as previously mentioned.

If everything checks out, I'd be looking at the TCI.
The early Virago's had a problem with TCI Failure.

You might check over on ViragotechForum.com for more info.

I had an 85 XV700 that drove me nuts troubleshooting what I thought was a carb problem. Turned out the TCI was failing right around 2500rpm and elsewhere intermittently. I had David Denowh rebuild it and all was fine.

 

rpgoerlich - interesting reading. Could you give me the address for Dave Denowh? The article has the address x'ed out.

Thanks!

Dave Fox

 

Some more interesting reading with some good links.
His contact info is there as well.

http://homepage.mac.com/ddenowh/TCI/index.html

 

Thank you guys. I ruled out electrical i am leaning towards the carbs.I was told backfiring is due to carbs being out of sync so I am tring that to see how it works.

 

it will backfire when the carbs are out of sync i just stnced the carbs on my virago it had a slight popping at idle and partial throttle was off by about 3 inches soon as i got it close the idle jumped to about 3500 also have you changed your plugs viragos are real hard on the plugs. also carb boots crack alout on them. also make sure both petcocks are supplying fuel

 

or go to ebay you can get a pair of new ones really cheap