Tomcat

The crossover is aftermarket. Anyone develop this problem after changing to an aftermarket exhaust? No comments yet on the timing question. Was it too ridiculous? Tomcat

I do have Mistral mufflers but no Power Commander. I'm not very familiar with the function of one. Could installing one allow you to "tune out" the stumble that may have been induced by the aftermarket exhaust? Thanks again, Tomcat

I've had this bike since April and have put about 3000 miles on it. I've done all the routine maintenance like new plugs, oil change, throttle body synch, etc., in an attempt to cure 2 issues. At 3000 RPM, it has a stumble that I can't seem to get rid of. Like I said, I've synched the injectors several times using the different methods talked about on this forum. I settled on the MICA method and now it runs good except for this stumble. Its only at 3000 and particularly if I am cruising steady or decelerating. The other issue is pinging if I accelerate without downshifting while cruising at 60 MPH or so in 5th or 6th gear. I would expect it to ping if I got into it at 40 in a higher gear but it seems to be hyper sensitive to pinging. Forgive me if this is a dumb question but, how do you time this engine? I've read everything I can find on the subject and all I've seen talks about timing when the engine is being reassembled. Is timing a function of the ECM that is not adjustable by mechanical means? Thanks for any help. Tomcat

Thanks for all the tips guys. I ordered a replacement from Harper's MG today. Tomcat

You're absolutely right. There is an adjustable bolt missing from the sidestand. After your last post, I found a diagram of the original setup in an online parts manual and there it was, a socket head type bolt with a locknut that would obviously make contact with the switch plunger when adjusted properly. I will find a suitable replacement. Thanks for the advice. Tomcat

Thanks for the reply. Can't picture in my head what this proper bolt looks like. Any chance you could post a pic of the proper configuration? Like I said, I just got this bike not long ago and I'm not very familiar with how some of these bits looked when they were new. As far as adjustment, the switch is all the way down now. No more threads left to bring it closer to the sidestand. That's what makes me wonder if this is even the right switch in the first place. Thanks for the help. Tomcat

Correct me if I'm wrong please, but isn't this switch supposed to be depressed by the kickstand when it is down? If I understand how this is supposed to work, when the switch is depressed, the bike can't be put into gear without killing the engine. I just got this bike afew weeks ago and I'm still getting familiar with everything. Will somebody post a pic of what this switch should look like please? I suspect that either the plunger that acuates this has been somehow shortened or the swicth was replaced at some point with the wrong part. The plunger doesn't come anywhere near making contact as you can see. Thanks. Tomcat

Just went out to the garage and tried the 1/4 throttle while cranking technique and guess what? It fired up in about a second. I'm going to keep using this method if I keep getting those results. I still think its weird that you have to do that on a FI bike, but if that's all it takes to get it started quickly, then that's what I'll do. My valves are adjusted to .004 intake and .006 exhaust by the way. Thanks everyone for your advice and replies. Like I said before, I haven't had this bike for long and I'm figuring this stuff out a little at at time so I really appreciate hearing your experiences. There really is no better source for a solution than hearing from people who have been there and done that. I've waited a long time to get one of these bikes and I'm really stoked to finally have it but this starting thing was bringing me down. I feel much better now. You guys rock! Tomcat

Define "hard starting"... How many seconds of cranking does it take? How many attempts at cranking does it take? "battery is in good shape" means what? how old is it? What weight oil are you running? 5w40? 20w50? 1. By hard starting I mean it will not start by normal procedures. If I advance the fast idle to max, turn on the run switch and wait a few seconds for the fuel pump to stop after building pressure, the bike should fire up after a few seconds of cranking, right? This one will not fire up unless you cycle the run switch several times, open the throttle and then crank for several seconds. To further confuse the issue, it doesn't always do this. There have been a few rare occasions when it fired after a few seconds of cranking. I can't really say it always when its cold either because it has been hard to start both warm and cold as well as starting easily in both conditions. 2. Usually it will take 5 or more seconds of cranking to get even an attempt to fire. If I do nothing else but put the fast idle on and try to start, I have cranked it as many as 10 times without it firing before I gave up and held the throttle open or cycled the run switch to try to make it fire. I am concerned about running the battery down and/or frying the starter so I haven't cranked it anymore times than this yet. even so, ten attempts without firing up is ridiculous. (I think this answers question 3 also) 3. The battery is kept on a battery tender and although I don't have a load tester, from the way it spins the starter, I think it is up to the task. The battery was in the bike when I bought it about a month ago and I haven't seen the need to change it yet since it has been working well. I've had no problems with getting the bike to crank. 4. I just changed the oil and am running Castrol 20W50.

I've had this bike (2000 V11 Sport) for about a month now and I'm really liking everything about it with one exception, starting. I've been reading posts regarding this problem and so far, I've seen reccomendations from new relays to fuel filters to cycling the on/off switch to holding the throttle open during cranking. Is this a Moto Guzzi issue? I can't understand why a fuel injected engine is having so much difficulty starting cold or starting anytime for that matter. Since I bought this bike used and it has obviously been highly modified, I have been doing some routine maintenance and tuning just for my own peace of mind and to make sure the bike is safe. As part of this process, I have replaced all the fuel lines and the filter. I thought a clogged or dirty filter would be a logical cause of hard starting but after this upgrade, the problem persists. I have also adjusted the valves, changed the plugs and oil and synched the throttle bodies. The bike runs very well in all other aspects except starting. I hear the fuel pump cycle when the run switch is switched on. It runs for a few seconds and then stops. I assume this is because there is sufficient fuel pressure sensed in the system? The battery is in good shape and the starter cranks the engine with no obvious problems. I have the fast idle cable adjusted to get max travel while still having a small gap when off. The bike idles at around 2K when the fast idle is engaged. I've tried cycling the run switch, holding the throttle open 3/8 to 1/2 when cranking and combinations of all the aforementioned. The hard starting persists. I was reading a post about the starting relay possibly having something to do with this. I guess what I'm asking for is a checklist of items that can cause hard starting so I can go through them and hopefully figure this out. I really don't want to have to crank this thing over and over everytime as I'm sure this will severely shorten my battery life. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Tomcat

Thanks for the info. Those sites sre in my favorites now. Here's another rookie question; Is there a nominal or baseline length for the synchronization rod? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that if this rod is not adjusted to the correct length before you set the TPS or idle speed, the angle of the plates in each TB can be different which will make any synchronization adjustments inaccurate. In other words, you may be able to synch the intake pulses on a manometer at a given RPM, but the plates could still be at a different angle relative to each other. The turbine engines I maintian at my job, have a similar arrangement for the fuel control that is known as the 11" rod. As the name implies, this rod is adjusted to exactly 11" before any subsequent fuel control adjustments are made. Forgive me if I'm way off base with this question, but I'm not finding this information in any of the manuals I 've seen so far. Tomcat

Did the software for tuning that I've seen mentioned in some posts here come with these bikes originally? What is a good source for it? Now the big question, (forgive me for if its already in the forum but I couldn't find it), how do you use it? I assume you hook up a laptop to the ecu via the large connector under the seat and then run the program while the bike is running. Will someone either give me a brief outline of the procedure or post a link if the question is already out there? Last question, what are the two bullet type connectors that also come from the ecu used for? Thanks, Tomcat

I've hooked it up to the cylinder vacuum ports for now. Haven't noticed a difference so far but I really haven't had the bike long enough to say. I think I'll run it this way for a few tankfuls and then uncap it and do the same. I'll post the results. Thanks for all the input. Tomcat