Garsdad

What he said.

My Tenni pings. I have adjusted the valves, set the TPS, only use premium fuel, and unless it is cold (under 60 degrees F) she will occasionally ping. She is stock. I have new intake boots to install this winter (will be modding the air box at the same time) to make sure I don't have a leak anywhere, although testing with ether didn't show any. It pings under heavy load, but also when I blip the throttle for a down shift- no load at all. For the most part, I just ride around it, but when it pings at 6500rpm when I finally go to WOT it is a little frustrating. If I can't get it figured out over the cooler months, I may have to ride to Seattle and let the gurus at MI take a whack at it. Either that, or ship it to Mr. Roper! Garsdad

Holy Crap! I have found my next motorcycle, to stand beside the Tenni in the garage. I must find a way to have this!

A couple of things. First, this is what it should look like. When you close it, it should require a little downward pressure before you can turn the key to lock it. If yours just falls closed, then it is not sealing. Make sure the rubber seal (the black ring around the red) is complete and not pinched or mis-shaped so it doesn't seal. Second, when you use the search function at the bottom of the thread, it only searches that thread. Go to the forums home page and search using the search function at the top of the page, type in "tank suck" or "tip over valve" and you will get enough discussion to make you totally confused. Hope this helps, Garsdad

I've not tested mine, but in theory it should seal. However... There is a "tip over" valve in the vent line for these bikes that often was installed incorrectly, causing it to not vent at all and "tank suck" to occur. Many of us have fixed the orientation of the valve and lashed it to the frame in the right position. Some of us, myself included, just removed the valve and run a plain vent line. Others removed part or all of the rubber seal around the gas cap so the tank could vent there. Have a look at the cap first. After that, I am out of ideas! Garsdad

Now you are truly in the fold.

Anything less than a Tenni is just a LeMans...

Wow- tires must be really expensive if you by another bike instead of replacing the tires!

My cousins own the shop, but I have no financial interest in the bike, etc etc etc. He sent me the link, and I thought I'd pass it on. Rosso Mandello in Reno Garsdad

Hell, for $19,500 I would sell mine!

Bitchin'! 250 Ninja... might as well be sporting while you are at it. I'm sure Erin will be on the Guzzi before you know it. Garsdad

The valve is, to the best of my knowledge, supposed to let air go both ways when it is upright, and block the flow of fuel when it is not. Thus, vented fumes can travel to the canister, and air can be pulled into the tank to replace the fuel and keep the tank from collapsing under the vacuum. Mine didn't work. The PO warned me of the problem when I picked it up. Once I got home, I took it out and just placed a straight plastic fitting in it's place. I removed the carbon canister at the same time. This hose is not under any pressure, so I didn't see the need for hose clamps. I worried about fumes in my garage from the tank venting without the canister, but I have yet to experience anything that I can smell. Heck, my pressure washer stinks up the place if I don't let it cool completely before putting it away, but the Tenni is always fine. Yes, I know if I crash I run the risk of my bike bursting into flames from the rush of fuel that will come gushing out the vent line. In the event of a crash, I hope I am able to worry about such things. I found that futzing around with it to make it work was a pain in the ass, pulling over every hour to burp the tank was a pain in the ass ( I rode the 800 miles home from where I bought it doing this) so I removed the source of the pain in my ass. Garsdad

"The tradition of forced, pre-arranged marriage is still widely practiced in Turkey. Often, the bride is reluctant to go along, and must be coerced or forcibly detained until the wedding ceremony is complete." What kind of man would do this to his daughter?

Van, when you read "father's worst nightmare" you hope it is a story of his daughter's boyfriend; it can only be that or a story like yours. Sorry to hear of Tom's accident, but glad it happened where you had access to the right kind of care quickly. Tom is your top priority, as he should be, but don't forget to take care of yourself, too. There are enough prayers, positive thoughts, and general good JuJu from the Guzzi community to sustain him for a couple of hours so you can take a break. We are all hoping, wishing, and praying for a full and speedy recovery. Garsdad

No temp gauge on mine, but I can tell you that if I sit at a long red light in the summer, it will ping pulling away. A short ride at 30-40mph and it seems to "cool down" and after a short stop it will not ping. When it was really hot (mid-90's) and my fuel was low, it would stumble a bit and the idle would fall, almost to the point of stalling. I twisted the grip just far enough to maintain my 1100 rpms on the tach. Don't know what caused it, and I didn't suffer any oil light episodes, but everything else seems to match your problem exactly. I did adjust my valves, and re-set my TPS, but have not had a chance to ride in temps that high since to see if the issue repeats. It may just be the nature of the beast...

tenni paint link Search is your friend...

Nope, its the price of all that "cool"!

"Why the vast difference from quote to quote? My quotes must be going from store A group C pricing to Store B group A pricing depending on whether or not Store A scores me a 666 and Store B an 86. Incompetence? or a "sucker is born everyday" strategy? If, my sales rep is not profiting by offering me insurance for 1000+ per year, is (s)he merely ensuring that (s)he does not get in trouble for grouping me in too preferred of a pool? What is the motivation? the threat of The Director? When quoted outrageous rates should I be negotiating for a better rate? I didn't think that would work!?! What does the government have to do with it? Does the government demand that profit cannot be taken from the pools?" They have very different scoring models. They may have very different non-claims expenses. They have different profit levels. They have different loss experiences based on their mix of bikes and policy holders. and yes, it can mean a difference of 300%. I was quoted by a company that mis-quoted me on my Katana, As a regular, 750 standard I was quoted $973 a year. I bought the policy, then they notified me that they had mis-quoted me (I gave them the VIN for the first quote- this ended badly for them) and my real premium was $3400. I told them to pound sand, got the Oregon DOI involved and got a full refund. The best I could find for it on a real quote was $1470 a year. The price you pay for all that plastic. For some companies, bikes like Yamaha R1 and R6's have a 25% "kill rate"- they are totaling 1 in 4 that they insure. Premiums for those bikes at those companies are going to be very very high, where a company that simply quotes on displacement without a "supersport surcharge" will be much lower. Some companies group vehicle differently. I had several companies rate my Triumph TR-7 the same as a Corvette (two-seat sports car). I insured with one that did not. There are companies that would like to get out of a line of insurance, but they are not allowed to simply exit the market, so they price themselves out of it and let market forces thin their book of business. With the possible exception of banking, there is not a more regulated business than insurance. DOI's have to make sure that premiums are not so low the company goes under. Companies have to make sure they are not so high that they can't sell any in a market they want to be in. It is a balancing act, and one that gets fine-tuned constantly. The best thing you can do is shop around. Don't assume that the company that quoted you a high rate is trying to "rip you off." They may be telling you they just don't want to write bike business right now. Fine. Go somewhere else. That is what a free market (even a heavily regulated one) allows you to do: Choose. The only way an insurance company can "rip you off" is if they fail to pay a legitimate claim. Other than that, if you choose to pay more than you have to because you refuse to make a few phone calls, it is on you. Garsdad

Actually, they do vary. I'll try and explain... Company "A" has 3 risk pools. Every person that comes to them gets put in one of the three. I am going to us an arbitrary scale here to assign risk; the theory holds up, but there is no direct real-life application. Group A has people with risk scores of 300 or less, group B has people with risk scores of 301-600, and group C has risk scores of 601 and up. Rates for each of these three groups will be based on the loss history of each group. Not everyone in the group will have a loss, but the whole theory of insurance is to spread the cost of loss among a large pool of similar risk. Your risk score is a 82, so you are in group "A" in company "A" and you get offered their best rates. The company has submitted it's loss data and premiums to the Director of Insurance and the premiums have been approved. Company "B" has 10 categories. Risk scores 1-99 are in group 1, 100-199 group 2, 200-299 group three, and 300-399 group 4, etc. Again, your score is an 82, and you are in their best rate group. However, you are sharing risk (and loss cost) among a better-quality risk pool- in company "A" you were rated with guys with a score of 300; here in company "B" Mr. 300 is in group 4. Same person, two very different rates from two companies. It depends on how the risk are separated, and how the premiums are structured. It is very complex, and underwriters are paid well to make sure they are right. Directors of Insurance will also stop a company from charging too little in premiums to support their expected claims and expenses. An insurer that goes tits-up really creates a problem for their policy holders. Garsdad

There's a great looking Tenni in England...

At the risk of inviting ridicule and harsh retorts, I will admit that I am still a licensed insurance agent. Not practicing anymore, but still licensed (at least through August when it expires). Rates are based on losses experienced for a risk group. You will be surprised to learn that insurance companies rarely earn an underwriting profit (profit made by taking in more premium than they pay out in claims). They make the bulk of their money by investing all those premium dollars between the time they collect them and the time they pay them out, and on fees they charge to service your policy ($5 a month for monthly billing times 3.5 million households...). The premium they charge is regulated by the state, and must be approved by the Director of Insurance in each state the insurer does business in. You can't even offer a tiny discount for paying by auto deduction rather than monthly paper billing unless you submit proof to the DOI that there is a clear savings to the company that justifies the discount. Your age, driving record, credit score (in some states), level of education, where you live, etc are all used to put you in a pool of similar risk, and the premiums charged are based on the claims payments made on behalf of that pool. Events like Katrina can be a real bitch, because losses are huge across all risk pools that share nothing but geography. While a home owner's policy excludes damage from flood, your auto insurance does not, and those claims were huge. By your own reckoning, the quality of driver in your area is not too great either. Boston has the same problem, and thus has some of the highest rates around. So, where you live counts heavily against you. Your rates are going to be higher than mine. Your car doesn't help, either, as I know of at least two companies that won't touch a new customer with a Porsche (losses on those are much higher than average). Keep in mind that the laws in your state vary from mine and everyone else's, and that will affect premiums, too. The fact that person A pays $190 a year in North Dakota means very little to someone in Louisiana. Start with an independent agent, and get a quote for your entire book of business (auto, bike, home). Call Liberty Mutual- they may let you past the car thing if you represent more than one policy. They rate on displacement only as well, but they don't surcharge for "sport bikes" like many others do. Check with Progressive, and try one of the motorcycle specialty companies, too. Dairyland may work for you if they write there. Good luck. A little homework will pay off. Start with an independent agent, though, as they can research lots of smaller carriers for you, freeing up your time for the big five. Garsdad

Straight from Wikipedia: Heat range The operating temperature of a spark plug is the actual physical temperature at the tip of the spark plug within the running engine. This is determined by a number of factors, but primarily the actual temperature within the combustion chamber. There is no direct relationship between the actual operating temperature of the spark plug and spark voltage. However, the level of torque currently being produced by the engine will strongly influence spark plug operating temperature because the maximum temperature and pressure occurs when the engine is operating near peak torque output (torque and RPM directly determine the power output). The temperature of the insulator responds to the thermal conditions it is exposed to in the combustion chamber but not vice versa. If the tip of the spark plug is too hot it can cause pre-ignition leading to detonation/knocking and damage may occur. If it is too cold, electrically conductive deposits may form on the insulator causing a loss of spark energy or the actual shorting-out of the spark current. A spark plug is said to be "hot" if it is a better heat insulator, keeping more heat in the tip of the spark plug. A spark plug is said to be "cold" if it can conduct more heat out of the spark plug tip and lower the tip's temperature. Whether a spark plug is "hot" or "cold" is known as the heat range of the spark plug. The heat range of a spark plug is typically specified as a number, with some manufacturers using ascending numbers for hotter plugs and others doing the opposite, using ascending numbers for colder plugs. The heat range of a spark plug (i.e. in scientific terms its thermal conductivity characteristics) is affected by the construction of the spark plug: the types of materials used, the length of insulator and the surface area of the plug exposed within the combustion chamber. For normal use, the selection of a spark plug heat range is a balance between keeping the tip hot enough at idle to prevent fouling and cold enough at maximum power to prevent pre-ignition leading to engine knocking. By examining "hotter" and "cooler" spark plugs of the same manufacturer side by side, the principle involved can be very clearly seen; the cooler plugs have more substantial ceramic insulators filling the gap between the center electrode and the shell, effectively carrying off the heat, while the hotter plugs have less ceramic material, so that the tip is more isolated from the body of the plug and retains heat better. Heat from the combustion chamber escapes through the exhaust gases, the side walls of the cylinder and the spark plug itself. The heat range of a spark plug has only a minute effect on combustion chamber and overall engine temperature. A cold plug will not materially cool down an engine's running temperature. (Too hot of a plug may, however, indirectly lead to a runaway pre-ignition condition that can increase engine temperature.) Rather, the main effect of a "hot" or "cold" plug is to affect the temperature of the tip of the spark plug. It was common before the modern era of computerized fuel injection to specify at least a couple of different heat ranges for plugs for an automobile engine; a hotter plug for cars which were mostly driven mildly around the city, and a colder plug for sustained high speed highway use. This practice has, however, largely become obsolete now that cars' fuel/air mixtures and cylinder temperatures are maintained within a narrow range, for purposes of limiting emissions. Racing engines, however, still benefit from picking a proper plug heat range. Very old racing engines will sometimes have two sets of plugs, one just for starting and another to be installed once the engine is warmed up, for actually driving the car.

My first thought was a coil, but that would not re-set with the key. Once they over-heat, you sit for awhile... Is it cutting out, like in immediately going from running to not running, is it a slow loss of power, like it is still firing but there is nothing to burn, or an intermittent miss that continues to get worse? This will help narrow it down to a fuel or spark issue. I'm not familiar with the workings of the ECU, but someone here may know if the programing includes a timed "fuel enrichment" program or a cold-run program that pushes extra fuel until the bike warms up. I know about the temp sensor, but could it also have a timed program that once it shuts off the regular programing doesn't take over? I am thinking that the temp sensor is supposed to tell the ECU the bike is warmed up and it is time to lean the mixture. What if the ECU just switches maps, and the system is timed as a fall-back for a faulty temp sensor? If for some reason it failed to switch maps, once you hit the time mark, it shuts off the cold fueling map but doesn't engage the regular one? Would a faulty temp sensor cause that to happen? Just thinking out loud, but I would check my temp sensor connection just in case. Your ECU may turn off the cold run program, but not be receiving the input necessary to start the regular run program, and just stop giving you any fuel. Of course, I am probably way off base and you will do extra work for nothing!!! Garsdad

Let's see.... 4 islands with 4 pumps each and three grades of fuel each would mean 48 valves underground, and 48 separate lines coming up. Or, you put the valves in the pumps and plumb three lines to each island... In most cases where government is not involved, logic rules.

The spring is, what, $6? The repair takes an hour or so in the comfort of your garage/carport/apartment parking lot. The spring I got from my Guzzi dealer is 1) heavier-gauge wire than the old one, and 2) has a bigger diameter loop to provide clearance around the over-size boss. I did the measurements (see thread somewhere on this site) and I have more clearance with the big boss and the larger spring than would have been available with the 15mm boss and the stock spring. It won't be binding up when I shift. I do not understand why any owner of a 2002 would carry a spare spring with them, along with the tools, so that they can make the switch on the side of the road if it breaks on a trip. Change it now. So you spend $6 when you may not have to; are any of us so close to the financial edge that we will go broke with a spring purchase? Seems silly. We spend the same amount to change out the cheap stock relays because we know they are junk. Why not the spring, too?