Gmc28

I see it’s already touched on here a little in this thread, but is the general trend for folks to replace that u-joint every 10k miles (very roughly 15k kilometers, rounded...)? i would venture a wag that some do, and many don’t, but that’s my question.. Do we have any (or many?) 1st hand accounts of failure? Curious. I saw the notation of guzzi CYA in this thread, which is what I can’t help but wonder. I would say Better safe than sorry, but sometimes the margin of safety can get a bit overblown?

Thx all- did a half assed job of capping/unplugging the lines. Will need to get her home to dig in and do it right, to assure I have properly cleared or capped lines, but think we’re good for now. But no issues running today, other than crappy idling, after 8.5 hrs in the saddle, including some very spirited riding, several hours of freeway droning, and then capped with some lovely stop and go traffic in Salt Lake City when my ass had already had about all it could take. She purrs like a proper italian now at mid range rpm, where she’s living most of the time on this ride. man, the million dollar highway (hwy 550) with only a handful of midweek, off season cars was moto-heaven. When I die, bury me right there. And the run from Ouray over to Moab.... almost as good, and basically no cars for 2 hrs, so that’s pretty much a full house right there. Thank u motorcycle gods for your plentiful bounty...

In Durango, bike running sweet, and many happy smiles/curves behind me. Route 64 between Taos and Chama is not to be missed if in the area, myself only getting to it by accident after missing a turn and not noticing for too long, causing that excellent re-route. still not good idling, and that 3000-ish rpm stumble, and worse than it was a week ago, but as of a week ago she had been mostly sitting for a long time, so thinking the use/miles are getting things stretched and worked, which is good, but likely means a handful of adjustments later.

Moto bliss awaits. Out of the flat, windy, north Texas plains, and now into the tasty mountainous curves. I shall indulge.

Also have but of grease on the rear wheel, from the u-joint. I can see small amount of grease coming out from around the round joints, and i’m Assuming a small amount like that is normal if it was recently serviced? my only shat drive machine that i’ve Owned over a period of time and miles didn’t have that exposed u-joint, and it just required occasional gear oil change, so i’m Lacking in knowledge on what’s normal for this machine.

You bet. Already have permanent hearing damage from past stupidity, which my wife lovingly reminds me of.... is that emoji a pic of u removing a sticking petcock with a cigarette?😎 yep, starving fuel. it’s just the notion of the next 1500 miles ahead of me that makes me think long and hard about whether the problem is gone or whether that was just warning of impending pump failure or some such thing.

Shouldn’t that manual Petcock knob be able to turn? I see a wire next to that petcock, which I assume is for low fuel lgt sending unit? The knob doesn’t turn with quite a good heave in either direction, so don’t want to force it till confirming I’m not missing something obvious in my haste. the sound of the fuel pump relay this morning is clear. Maybe my ears are just ringing less, or maybe cooler temps or replaced relay is the deal.

Thanks all for thoughts so far. I’m thinking fueling issue, whether pump, relay (for pump), vacuum from clogged charcoal cannister, or bad fuel is hard to say. New relay in place, next tank of fuel and additive to address bad fuel, and maybe mess with the charcoal can lines and we’ll be off for Durango tomorrow.

Ya, in theory I can just unplug it all, and keep the lines open for now, but hoping to avoid tracing each line to figure out which is which, till I get home, if possible. Maybe it’ll be Easy. Just assumed that since it’s in back it may not be immediately Obvious where each line routes.

Roger-roger. this is an 02 lemans, so not sure if that qualifies as an early V11? tomorrow morning i’ll Seek out some fuel additive (maybe sea foam) to clean up some possible bad fuel, and check the charcoal cannister lines. Any quick guidance on which lines do what on the cannister? I’m comfortable with how they’re usually plumbed on other bikes but haven’t looked at the v11 setup. Assuming I can vent the one line to atmosphere and leave the other two or plug them?

Tomchri- your Rosso Corsa and 01 greenie world of course have some small but definite differences. I would think a tight TBS sync would be critical for all comparisons, and that’s what i’ll do soon as I get red home. But I know Goldie had a good TB sync, so then it’s seemingly a fueling issue for me. For you I’d suspect the same, given that two different model years may respond a little different to the ecu tuning, since when two identical models can respond different in my experience. I may hit up meinolf as well for some ecu playing..

I’ll have to double check docc, but I believe that’s exactly what i have. But the issue with the brand & model is more about longevity, and not so much about being junk out of the box? In other words, i assume that if the Bosch I just put in works, then it works, since it’s a relay, and then it’s just a matter of how long it will last?

Replaced the #5 fuel pump relay. With the old relay it still gave me a fuel pump “click”, but maybe it was failing, and the new one (Bosch, because it was there in the kit and readily available, but I have the Omrons in my kit as well) fixed it. I’d love to believe that is the case... hate not having a smoking gun. fuel and air filter are indeed a troubling possibility.

Arrived without further drama in Santa Fe. Adding fermented liquid to the throttle operator now... she ran basically flawless on the freeway. 75mph limit, so easy to do 85, and she purred the whole time, about 56 miles worth. Entering downtown went through the series of traffic lights, and she idles poorly. Odd. Perhaps just a distraction, or maybe related. I’m thinking distraction. Manual fuel cock, if I recall the details of that.... there’s a nickel sized metal turn-knob just under the aft left side of tank which presumably is the fuel petcock. What’s the tell-tale of a manual vs electric... a wire? bad fuel a possibility. Added fresh high octane at last stop, but it was only half empty, so could take a while to work that out. Maybe some additive, as suggested. cant yet prove yay or nay on suction/vacuum in tank. Was ready to pop fuel cap if she started to sputter again, but she didn’t. And I’m truly about deaf now from the brutal wind onslaught. I left my earplugs out after she quit, thinking I’d be able to better hear any telltale signs, but instead the road straight into that damn 30+mph gusty wind, which rag-dolled me around and shrieked in my ears to where I feel like I just left a Metallica concert, minus the good parts... do failing fuel pumps on these exhibit a pattern of faultering before dying?

Here we go... ”red” (what i’ll Call this silver/red 02 lemans) decided to quit running while cruising down a tasty back road north of Tucumcari. The cool road is another story, but of course it happened as I came into the most remote part of the road, and had no cell service. Coasted to a little driveway area to troubleshoot. Symptoms: while loping along in 6th at about 70mph, she just all of a sudden felt “gutless” for little bit... still running and going, but twisting throttle didn’t do much. That went on for 5-ish seconds, then got worse, then it faltered, and again, then started to decelerate whether I wanted it to or not, and I pulled in clutch to let her coast, and she sputtered, then quit. Toward bottom of hill I released the clutch to bump start, and it did, but sputtered more and quit. what I did: what I did didn’t fix it, I think the brutal wind that I’d been cursing probably helped cool things down quicker, though that’s just a stab. Turn key and hear the fuel pump and solenoid. But, it sound anemic. Little unsure about that, as a solenoid should either work or not, and the wind made it really hard to hear, but I swear the click and the hum from the fuel pump was weak. In fact, the pump sort of squeaked. Pulled the seat, checked fuses just because, then verified the fuel pup relay was clicking. It was, but changed it anyway. Started, ran rough, and I shut her down. Changes the ecu solenoid just because I had several solenoids and wanted to do something while thinking about what’s going on. Plenty of gas. In hindsight I did not pop the fuel cap to see if there was any suction, as actually the bike behavior would be consistent with a clogged charcoal cannister (just noticed it back there... thought it had been removed, but no). Vacuum build up from bad tank venting could cause that sort of slow flame-out, then allow it to run fine after waiting a bit. i had just come up a tasty, steep, twisty road carved into the the face of a mesa-cliff thing, with 25mph posted speeds and me of course not behaving. I was not going easy on red, but neither was I flogging her. Data point perhaps. And I pulled over for a 1 min photo op and left her running, and it was hot out. Another data point perhaps. After 15-ish mins of futsin’ around, changing those relays, things cooling off, I figured I’d give it another go and see if I could reach top of next hill to get cell reception. She ran fine , and I rode her the next 20 mins in deafening headwinds (32mph winds per the local airport Wx info) to the gas station and cell reception, where I am now. Topping off then, heading to Santa Fe, about half hour I think, and hope it goes well. Eager to hear thoughts on what u think my gremlin is. cheers

All that travel-log stuff said, i’m Now clear on the fact that something ain’t right with Goldie (the other lemans, at home), as this one is so different. As noted previously, Goldie has that super sweet top end, above 4800 rpm where it just smooths out and comes alive. That’s due largely to the crossover I assume. But the rpm below that on Goldie is just not pleasant, with a very unpleasant buzz and lack of kick, which I associate with the buzz, right or wrong. This “new” lemans proves what I had suspected and what y’all already know, that these things can run sweet, and that something is truly amiss with Goldie, as this new one (what to call her...hmmm) is super smooth through the whole rpm range, pulling beautifully from a very low rpm. I’ll have to re-energize my efforts to figure out what’s wrong with Goldie. She’ll go back to my good friend in 2020 (he’s buying it back from me, as he realizes he can’t live without his mistress), so for his sake and my curiosity i’ll be looking harder for a root cause. dave Blues tune-up, plus the new cross over, made it good enough where I figured “well, that’s how the v11’s run”, but now I know that ain’t the case, as my new girl sets the proper standard. Could be crank balance, but that’s a long shot, and I still suspect low end fueling issue for Goldie, as she feels like my old oilhead before I was able to enrichen that machine with the ecu magic.

What a sweetheart.... loved the V11 before, and love it more now. Yes, my left foot is still buzzing, and I have the other aches associated with getting older and being on a machine not as conducive to long distance comfort as my other machines, but she pushes the right buttons. finished work stuff today an hour or so early and headed out in the brutal Texas heat (for someone no longer used to it... others can scoff at my whining....there was a time when I didn’t mind it so much when i was more accustomed to spending large parts of each year in hot climates, but not any more). Up highway 287, beating my way toward Santa Fe, but in middle nowheresville Texas tonight (all due respect to any north Texans who call this home), pulling off the highway when the sun went down. tomorrow a long but not too painful day to Santa Fe, and looking at some possible alternate routes toward the last part (sena, NM?) to break up the super-slab grind. Next day will be a fun one, winding my way on a shorter day up to Durango via some fun backroads (chama, and/or Taos, pagosa springs) then to brothers house in Durango. Next day million dollar highway, Moab, etc. Need to get some miles on this underutilized tart, to work on catching up with all u guzzi high-milers.

I like it. i’d consider dying the leather a bit darker, but would just consider it.... don’t know that I would bother.

Nipple covers installed. Seems to run a little better, but main culprit seems to be heat... it hates those long, un-coordinated traffic lights, in traffic, in the heat. It’s fine, but she isn’t happy that way and let’s me know it with some hesitation/sputtering in the get-go still, but nothing that bad. Proper full tune at home, and cooler temps are likely the recipe for happiness. replaced some missing bolts (sigh), loctite blue on some other suspect connectors, topped up oil a smidge, and parsing out more stuff/baggage I don’t need once work here is done and will FEDEX home to make loading bike easier on Saturday when I get back on the highway. Will likely wrap left footpeg with some thin foam for the long ride home.

That sounds like my limited experience, at least the going dead thing. Learned to let it “warm up” with key on for a cold morning, which took some getting used to. But then sometimes it would just be low voltage, and need a bump in order to come to life and crank the motor, but then afterward would act normal again for a week or two. Maybe the PO, who had installed it not long before I bought the bike, had killed it then revived it, doing some “memory” type damage. I forget the brand, but it’s the more popular one I see around.

I hear u, and won’t argue....but my experience is that the open airbox thing is usually (not always) overrated or even counter productive, even with enhanced exhaust. But certainly depends on specific machine and mod status.

Properly designed airbox in my book is a small but real plus, and is one less (or lessened) variable if chasing the ideal tune. I can’t get My Austrian bike to run as well on the highway with an (expensive) aftermarket air filter system as it does with the (“factory tuned/shaped”) stock intake/air-box. Air flow and pulsing at intake at higher speeds and Rpm’s Appears to be the issue, based on what I experience, and what a ktm guru strongly voiced. But depends on the machine, of course. Same physics, different physical variables at play. I just like to stick with the stock box, if it’s well designed.

Mostly just a gee-whiz question, but is Anyone running a lithium batt in the v11? I’m not a big fan, but have one at home on it’s special tender, on the shelf, that I removed from another bike because I don’t like them for reliability (I know, some swear by them, but I grew weary of the issues with it). The odyssey in the lemans is a bit tight in there, and the lithium would open up some nice working space to do a fuse block or something like that with more ease. I’d likely stick with the trusty odyssey, but if someone here has had good experience with the lipo in the v11, then I’d consider it again perhaps. I walk into the shop and see that expensive thing staring at me, which makes me keep fishing for ways to use it.

Very good. I have a bunch of those nipple covers at home, but hopefully Napa will have some locally here. footpeg buzz is left side.

Question: the rubber nipple/caps on the throttle body housings are cracked. Both of them. I assume that’s for the vacuum measure/attach (?), and if so wouldn’t that cause some less-than-ideal running if some air can get in? was thinking of swinging by Napa and grabbing a couple new caps.