Guest escondido bike Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Picked up new '03 v11 naked in July. Just turned 475 miles. Yesterday, while entering a 35 mph [thank god] corner throttle remained open after release. low side crash resulted in heavy damage to bike, light damage to me, thanks to Arai and Joe Rocket ! What gives? I see recalls for same problem on California '98-'02's dated 9/9/02,but no mention of the v11. Any thoughts? Mike W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaing Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Glad you are ok. My sympathies to your bike. A simple pull-open/spring-close is not the safest design. Many Ducatis use the same plastic throttle. Weren't the californias replaced with a pull-open/pull-and-spring-close design? I can only speculate -the cable lead got hung inside the plastic pulley, -the cable was mis-routed. -something went wrong with the throttle linkage, return spring or othe mechanism. But my money would be on the pulley mostly cause I have a bias against PLASTIC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callison Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Glad to hear that you're not seriously injured. The throttle return problem on the cruiser bikes is related to the chintzy plastic covers on the throttle bodies. The sport bikes don't have them, so that wouldn't be the issue. But, if you've changed the grips like alot of us, you may find that the grip on the throttle side drags against the switch housing causing the throttle to drag. There is really very little in the linkage/cable setup that could hang up and I haven't seen any instances of throttle hang on any of the sport models so far. I have had one instance where the engine didn't want to reduce rpm when a throttle body came loose from its mounting spigot on the cylinder barrel. This happened after I failed to re-tighten the hose clamp after fooling around with the mount to see what the throttle body looked like inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murray Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Thats cause that hasn't been identifyed as a problem with these bikes. It might be worth going though the machine very carefully with someone who is familar with the brand and dertermine exactly why it happened. Low siding a corner because of a stuck throttle sounds kinda odd usally you tend to run wide. Or did it run wide off the road whist been leant over and subsequnetly fell over. Impossible to say from so far away with so little information its just sounds kinda odd to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jaap Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 -something went wrong with the throttle linkage,... Would be my guess. Just a few drops of oil on the joints and it's fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roberto Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 I had this sticking throttle problem early on with the Scura - pretty scary I eventually traced it to the plastic ball joint in the linkage between the throttle bodies. I would recommend prizing apart the ball joint and giving it a clean out - maybe a tiny spot of oil would be OK. I did this last year - I have had no problems since. The ball joint is supposed to be dry, but since the cup is facing upwards I guess it is susceptible to rainwater and dust ingress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John T Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 I have seen this on a MGNA demo sport. Disgusting, dirty, un-maintained demo bikes that just needed a wash and a few drops of oil on the linkages. Lets not ignore the owners responsability to check things on bikes before a ride. A few simple checks like tire pressure, fluid levels, checking of fasteners and just a simple 20 minutes of going over the bike once and awhile will help. Sorry for the crash and glad you are O.K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaing Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 I think oil would degrade the plastic ball joints. Are they any lubricants better suited for plastic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jaap Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Teflon based lubes maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichMaund Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Lets remember too that if the bike "coughs" back through the intake for whatever reason, it can dislodge a throttle body and that will jam up the linkage as well. If the throttle bodies aren't firmly seated in the rubber boots and the linkage well lubed, it can stick. Had my V11S cough like that once at a traffic light as I pulled away. Shoved the left TB back a tad and stuck everything up. I hit the kill switch and pulled in the clutch and coasted to he roadside. Easy fix. TB's (Throttle Bodies) were slightly out of balance, hence the cough. I lube all linkages every 3k miles alng with my opil changes and such. If I keep up the bike there's no problems. Glad you came out OK after the crash. That had to be quite a feeling when it stuck! The problem with the Cali's was also binding of the butterfly shaft in the TB. They needed lubed and when dry would hang open. They were even easier to dislodge from the rubber boot and any misalignment would result in a hung up linkage. The "Fix" Guzzi came up with isn't a good one in my opinion. You can't pull a physically jammed up linkage shut regardless. So the pull cable did little to fix it. Preventive maintenance is the key. My Cali stuck open one time on the freeway. Dry pivot for the shaft in the TB. It later stuck another time after a cough slightly dislodged a TB. As long as we have bikes tuned to a fine edge for EPA reasons, we have the occassional backfire if anything is even a tiny bit off. I see nothing wrong with the linkage or mounting myself. But they DO need checking, lubing and good tuning to keep the up to snuff. Rigidly mounting the TB's will keep them in place, but then vibration will wear them out. Can't have it all! I had a cable splitter on a Ambassador hang up due to old grease getting sticky in the cold weather. Things like this can happen to any system. I should have been using a better/fresher grease in this case! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jap Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 hi there, On the german site (www.v11sport.de tipps) there is another scare thing to see the adjusterbolt of the linkage between the throthlebodies can get caught behind the suspension adjustment cilinder.. i am not sure if this makes sense otherwise check the site there's some pics. I am not sure if it is the same with the le mans i changed mine for a smaller one after a very interesting ride jasper 00 v11sport which is running SUPER the last couple of weeks i am really in love.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jap Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 hi, here's the pic.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exwtk Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 Hello Guzzisti, Also from v11sport.de this image of the corroded throttle shaft (righthand side) Apparently water remains standing under the throttle position sensor! I keep this cavity hole filled with lub and grease! Co from Holland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callison Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 You guys are scaring the hell out of me. I ride year round and right now, my TPS is giving no problems and I'm extremely loathe to pull it off to check that shaft. Maybe the throttle body needs a zerk fitting... <_> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John T Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 Nah, don't be scared Carl, looks like alot of these bikes don't get the TLC they need. If you ride in the wet often you need to be liberal with lubricants on all electical gear and just about everything else. WD40 is yor friend, use it often!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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