My bike keeps stalling out....please help! | GTAMotorcycle.com

My bike keeps stalling out....please help!

Driskal

Driskal

Member
So, I bought a 2001 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 about a month ago....It only has 5000kms on it, its in very good condition. Its been running fine but when I went to go take it out today i got about half way out of my complex and I was giving it throttle but the engine was doing anything....and then it died. So I checked to see if I ran out of gas....nope....plenty of gas in the tank....the petcock is set to "on" as well. So I fired it back up and tried to get it going....I got about 10 feet and rolled on the throttle and it started to putt putt putt then it died. I have no clue about bikes....Does anyone know what might be up....any suggestions? Would greatly appreciate....thanks!
 
That thing is famous for clogging pilot jets.

Does it run better with the choke on?
Yes? Clean or replace the pilot jets.
You will find a "how to" at www.ex-500.com. (Ex's use the same carbs as a Vulcan... the rest of the motor is pretty much the same too).
 
Yes when the choke is on it doesnt chug and when I roll on the throttle its fine....then when I put the choke back its ok for a few mins then it just stutters and dies....Rolling the trottle does nothing
 
Try a half can of Seafoam in a tank of gas. It will smoke like crazy but will eventually clean it out. You may need to run through a couple of tanks before its right so in each subsequent tank cut the Seafoam down to 1/4 can. Once the bike is running right again I would recommend you add a couple of caps of SF to each tank. It keeps the gas from going off and will stop the build up of varnish in the carb jets. It sounds like the bike was sitting for a long while so a full out carb cleaning and rebuild might still be needed.
 
Sorry guys, there is no such thing as a mechanic in a can.
IF it is the pilot jets, the ONLY thing that will fix it is removing the jets and cleaning them (till you can see light through the oriface) or replacing the jets with new ones. (Either of you two ever seen a pilot jet out of a CVK carb? No... I didn't think so) (Just so you know they're tiny and stuck way up in a hole. Probably could be designed better, but that is what we got).

So to translate for the OP: Don't waste your time or beer drinking monies on Seafoam or STP or Lucas et al. It ain't gonna help.
 
Does the petcock have a RES (reserve) setting? If so, switch it to that and see if it gets better.
 
Thanks for all the info everyone!! So my bike seems to be running ok as of right now....I ended up putting more gas in it....But the thing is...the tank wasnt empty when it kept dying on me....I could still see gas swishing and moving around in the tank. I'm thinking of taking it in to the bike shop in my area to see what they reccommend. The bike is 12 years old to so Im guessing that a carb clean is long overdue.
 
I would run a can of sea-foam though the fuel system,it couldn't hurt.
And it will not smoke as spyug says.
 
But would the bike stall out even if there was still a bit of gas left in the tank?
 
yes it would stall, that bit of gas is used for the reserve. there is only 1 fuel tank, and it runs both your "on" and reserve fuel, it gives you time to get to a gas station once you switch to reserve.

REMEMBER ... if you switch to reserve... when you get to a gas station, remember to switch the fuel back to the ON position, if you run out of fuel set to reserve, thats it, there is no more in the tank..
 
^^^^exactly.


You ride till the fuel gets low in the tank and you'll feel the bike start to lose power, stutter, and bog down, you then quickly reach down and switch the petcock to RES, and the bike will regain power.
Then it's time to get to the Gas Station. Full Up and switch the Petcock back to ON or whatever.
 
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