Saturday, November 9, 2013

Weird Weather and Strange Vibration

Stopped by College Coffeehouse this morning to see if George Rahn was around. I ran into some weirdness yesterday on my ride home. After going through campus, I pull out onto the main road and as soon as I reach ~40 mph, I lose power and get a strange vibration. Almost as if it is running on one cylinder. Since there wasn't much traffic, I proceeded to ride home at about 40 mph in third gear. I figured that if I kept the RPMs up, it'll stay running. It was around 0°F or so, and the bike had started up easily. No problem. I made it home and pulled into the garage. Both cylinders were warm to the touch. I thought that maybe there was some water in the tank or carbs so I added ½ a bottle of Heet. This morning, on the way to coffee, it started to do the same thing. I put the enrichener (this is in place of a choke) on full and all was back to normal. Turn it off and no power and vibration. After about ¼ mile, I turned it off again and it ran fine for the rest of the trip into town. This is the same vibration that I has been occurring over the years but I've never been able to pinpoint the cause. BTW, George didn't show up but I enjoyed a delicious chai latte.

Yesterday, while parked at the university, I saw someone taking a picture of the bike. What had caught his attention was the extension cord running to the outlets provided at each parking space for a block heater. He said "only in Alaska would you see a bike plugged in". I should probably find a better way to secure the cord rather than just let it hang next to the tank.

This morning, after my trip into town, I changed the oil to 5W30 (from 20W50) for the winter. I will also be checking the valve clearances and changing the oil filter later today once the engine cools off. The oil filter is behind the right exhaust pipe and is a real pain to reach.

This message came through from our local PD. More weird weather:

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 3 AM
AKST SUNDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FAIRBANKS HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WARNING FOR FREEZING RAIN AND LOCAL BLIZZARD CONDITIONS
...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 3 AM AKST SUNDAY.
THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
* FREEZING RAIN...WILL CAUSE ICE ACCUMULATIONS UP TO ONE QUARTER
INCH.
* BLOWING SNOW...WILL CAUSE LOW VISIBILITY AT TIMES OVER SUMMITS
AS WITH WIND GUSTS TO 35 MPH.
* SNOW...4 TO 8 INCHES TOTAL ACCUMULATION.
* TIMING...SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING. SNOW
WILL CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN SATURDAY. FREEZING RAIN WILL CHANGE
BACK TO SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW LATE SATURDAY NIGHT.
* IMPACTS...ICE MAY CAUSE TREES AND POWER LINES TO BREAK. TRAVEL
AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES WILL BE DIFFICULT.

8 comments:

  1. So on the beemer's carburetors, turning on the enricheners provides more fuel right? What's the color on the plugs?

    On my Ural, I would have drained the bowls, checked the air filter and the compliance fittings for cracks.....

    Hope you find the culprit

    dom

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    1. The plugs are tan when I pulled them this afternoon. No problem. More fuel helps which suggests that it isn't a clogged air filter. Carburetor icing would get worse with time and not happen all of a sudden. Water in the fuel bowls sounds likely especially since the enricheners draw their fuel not through the main jet.

      Valve clearance was right on. No adjustment necessary.

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  2. Lets hope you find the bike gremlins and don't get the nasty weather they predict.

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    Replies
    1. We did get some of the predicted weather. All of Octobers snow in one storm.

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  3. I'm with Dom, wondering about water or other fuel contamination. Your BMW runs in different temperature and weather conditions than mine does. I'm still a newbie with mine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm thinking water. The Heet seems to have cleared up the problem. One of the hazards of a warm, humid garage.

      I'm happy that it runs as well as it does in these temperatures.

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  4. Feezing rain is a norm for here (G day) that is all buses cancelled (yahoo when it's so bad that school is closed - doesn't happen often.) Mini break!

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    Replies
    1. I really don't care for freezing rain especially when it follows cold temperatures. It makes the roads slick for a long time.

      We've only had school closures for freezing rain not snow.

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