neville briggs

Had the same problem with my V11 in hot weather. This is how I fixed it. Pulled the tank off after carefully disconnecting all the wireing.Losened off the external fuel pump and slid it through the clamp to give a little more freeplay to the fuel line. Disconnected the pet cock fuel line and rerouted away from the left cylinder barrel cooling fins which it was touching. I wrapped a heat resistant sticky backed silver foil tape like is used on exhaust down pipes around the fuel pump and fuel line from the pet cock. After rerouting I managed a gap of around 30mm from the cooling fins to the side of the fuel line. This gap plus the tape has stopped the fuel pump from cavitating due to the petrol in the line boiling to gas under the vacum caused by the pump. Hope this has helped. NB

Unfortunatly I had a simalar problem with my 2000 V11. I bought the bike with very low milage and the problem should have been fixed under warrenty. The previous owner had been fobbed off with various band aid fixes like oil line replacements, gaskeys ect. I rode it for a couple of thousand klms before I got peeved off with getting oil down the side of the bike and on me. I handed the bike over to my trusted Guzzi doctor and what was found was not for the faint hearted. Down the oil return hole there was a huge bubble in the casting, which in it's self wouldn't have been to much of a problem had most of the area around it not been pourous. Gulp. The oil return hole was drilled out slighty the hole was filled with glue and an aluminium tube was shrunk in to create a new oil return hole.The head was bolted back on and the bike taken for a ride. It still leaked though not as much as before. The whole cylinder head was then posted off to a specialist mob who force some type of glue into the pourous parts of the casting I think under a vacum making it oil tight. Again the Head was bolted back on and bingo no oil leak. A very happy chappy though not too happy having to shell out on what should have been fixed under warrenty. It's a complete bummer in this day and age that someone can get it so wrong. It used to happen years ago and it's still happening today. However as long time Guzzi owners you tend to get on with it and sort out these niggles cause as we all know when the bike is running well and your on a great peice of road nothing else comes close. Neville Briggs

Definatly the crap standard relays , there's five of them under the seat. Pull them out and throw them in the bin, then replace them with the Bosch mini relay (here in Australia they are used in Holden Commadore's as headlight relays) available from any decent Bosch stocist. Since doing this my 2000 V11 hasn't had a problem. Nev Briggs

When I first bought my 2000 V11 it was handleing like a pig on a pogo stick. I drained about 150ml of piss out of each fork leg and refilled with 400ml of 10wt fork oil and it transformed the front end. Then it was just a question of tuning the suspension properly and hey presto a great handling bike. By the way I weigh around 110kg with all the riding gear on and the static sag is ok. Neville Briggs

Dear Steve, It is the relay. I had exactly the same problem. Pull all of the Seimons relays out, take them down to your tame Bosch stockist and have them match them up with thier item. Turns out they are a very common headlamp relay from a Holden Commadore or simalar. ATB Neville Briggs

Pete, that little story was foul. Neville MGCV

Hello fellow Guzzi riders, this is my first attempt so please bare with me. When I first bought my 2000 V11 I was horrified at the amount of fuel it was using around town. The next tank full was smooth fast country riding and hey presto fuel usage was quite good. The only problem seemed to be the low speed running and the fuel tank capacity. Around town the fuel light was coming on after only 200klms and in the country it was 245klms, on filling up the tank usually took around 15 litres. One day I had the engine spluttering as I turned into the servo and it only took 18 litres or 4 imp gals to fill it up. Rechecking the owners manuel confirmed that the tank capacity was suposed to be 23 litres or just over 5 imp gallons. I've since found out through the V11 Le Mans page that the fuel is trapped in the right hand side of the tank where it returns from the fuel injector loop. Originally my plan of thought went somewhere along the lines of the fuel pick up being too high in the tank, a common enough problem in older Guzzi's and easily fixed. However this is a really hairy problem to solve. How do you get the use of that extra gallon of fuel from the RHS of the tank. I once had a Honda CB175 and the tank actually had a link pipe between the two sides, of course the older Guzzis have twin linked fuel taps and I have heard of some folks useing this as a twin reseve by only turning one reserve tap at a time. I'm thinking about it. One of the ways to help with the fuel problem was to get the Fuel Injection remapped so that the fuel is used more efficently. So the bike was booked in for a thorugh going over which included the throttle position sensors, primary enriceners and a remap. Unfortunatly I haven't had much chance to evaluate the improvements though initially the throttle response lower down the rev range feels alot crisper, probely cause it's not now being drowned in petrol. I'll let the fourum know more in a couple of more rides. Neville