In Santiago, CHILE: '02 1150 GSA Idle Question

Howdy--

I'm currently in Santiago, Chile about to throw my leg over the saddle for a long day to Pucon (top of the Lakes District). I rode through SW Bolivia (Laguna's Route), and when I got out of the Lagunas route I noticed that my bike was idling really high--or the high idling may have been after I put in 97 octane in Chile--not sure. In any event, my idle is now quite high (1,700 to 2,000 RPM), and it is especially bad when I come off the Autopista ("freeway") and my engine is hot. Usually you can just pop the throttle to get the RPM to drop back down to the normal sub 1,500 RPM range, but that is not working all of the time. I did switch from the 97 octane gas to the 93 octane gas, but that doesn't seem to help.

So what do we think? Is this a TPS thing? Throttle body thing? Throttle cable thing? Fuel filter? Fuel pump? Spark plugs?

I have my ohm meter and could check out the TPS, but I am doubting it would be the throttle bodies, as I am not getting any surging. It might be the fuel filter/pump, as I did just get out of Bolivia and Peru--but the fuel pump and filter were both new when I left the states 3 months ago.

Beyond the high RPM idle, the bike is running amazing! I crossed 90,000 miles on the odometer outside of Lake Titicaca in Peru before we crossed the border into Bolivia. She's an old gal, but she's solid--and I can smell Ushuaia!

I'm not like the other dudes down here with tons of time (I have a wife for christ's sake), so I need to keep moving. So unless this is an indication of a much more perilous issue, I'm predisposed to keep moving south, which would be outside the Santiago safe zone (moto shops everywhere, BMW, etc). Therefore, I would appreciate a quick response in case I need to stay in Santiago for the day sorting this out.

BTW, Chile is amazing. Clearly I'm able to appreciate it because I've now been through quite a few of these Latin American gems...but Chile is amazing.

Okay, I'm going to go and snag a cup of coffee and breakfast. Thanks guys (and gals)!

"Usually you can just pop the throttle to get the RPM to drop back down"

There's the key brother. Sounds mechanical. I think you are on the right track with sticky throttle body or cables. Make sure they funtion flawlessly before moving on to the electrics.

Good luck!!

Starting...I guess...
Nothing to do with the octane rate. I run mine indifferently and it doesn't happen. The motronic doesn' t consider it.
I would start to check if the TPS is loose or changed it's fixing accidentaly and then the throttle cable, at least releasing it to see.
Well, got to start somewhere...
You´ll solve it.
Keep going.

So on the mechanical front, I do have quite a bit of goodness on the bike that I have so far elected to leave in its natural state, as I strongly believe that I GS should remain unwashed, which enhances its bad ass appeal. So perhaps I should rinse the throttle bodies and throttle cables. Maybe it's just a sticky bit from the Salar or sand or something.

So far I am not seeing any alarm bells, so I'm going to plan on continuing south.

I love you early risers! Clearly being in Canada helps, but still, it's your quick responses that make ADV so great. Thanks a ton! Heck, I hadn't even gotten my own damn coffee yet before you responded! Much appreciated!

Hi Aventeren

Glad u have a nice trip until Santiago... and enjoy you trip in Chile.

I cant recommend it what happen with u bike, I know a good mechanical in case u need. I bring my bmw G650x challenge to him and no problems until now.

Btw if you wanto drinks some beer let me know hahaha

Im newbie compare with u but I love bikes too!

Well, I am an early riser. That's true.
But living on the other side of the Atlantic makes some difference. There´s always someone awaken.

"my idle is now quite high (1,700 to 2,000 RPM)"

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=835521

Particularly Post #5! Won't hurt to check!
Source: The Master...JVB.

It just needs a bit of cleaning likely of the outside and possibly inside of the TBs. I woudl check/clean/lube the throttle cable and the crossover cable {I assume the 1150 has one like my 1100 does}.

Maybe set it on the cenyer stand and start it let it get to the high idle problem, then reach down and manually close the butterfly from the actuator arm {where the cable mounts} and see if it drops, then you would know it is either gum/carbon inside of the TB on the butterfly, or in the cable and not some FI issue.

Aventeren,

Que Pasa? We're all sitting here awaiting your progress report!:huh

Are you out of the woods yet? Can we send the 'emergency team' home?

How is the fast idle lever on the left grip? My 03 GSA had one?


Number 1 below. I left mine set for high idle once.

Turn the idle screws inwards 1/2 - 3/4 of a turn each side. Job done

So I made it down to Villarrica yesterday (450 miles in 8 hours, whoa). Again, get down here folks...Chile is amazing. Even if you just fly into Santiago and then rent a bike, it's amazing. It's just like the US. Just freaking do it.

Okay, so I checked to make sure that the cables are seated corrected (ie, not propped up), and they're fine, so we can rule that out. (Thanks, LaurelPerryOnLand)

I sprayed the throttle bodies with a bit of water from the parking lot dude's hose before I left Santiago, but that didn't totally solve the problem.

I'm still having to manually "pop" the throttle to get the idle to come back down, and then the idle will only drop down probably 50% of the time...the other 50% it remains high.

I have a great place to tinker today, as today was a planning day anyway for my route south, so now that I've recovered from yesterday's ride down here, I'll walk up and take a look at these various items and report back. Thanks to everyone for their input!

I'm also going to run into town and see if I can track down a place to clean my bike up--at least in this one area on the bike! I like the way it looks, and if I can avoid spit shining it I will (plus as a general rule, I hate cleaning).

Again, thanks to everyone for their help, input and suggestions. You are what make ADV so great.

Chile and Argentina are awesome. I can not wait, we are going next February. My wife is from Chile. Her mom and dad and brothers live here now, but all of the rest of her family is still there in Rancagua about 100 miles south east of Santiago.

We have a book on the country and it is just awesome. YOu HAVE to make it down to the glacier. Absolutely gorgeous.

A friend of ours from New Zealand saw some pics of the Chilean Glaciers and thought they were the Glaciers in NZ they look so much alike.

Ride safe and have fun.

So after coffee this AM, I walked up to the bike to have a closer look at what's going on. Here is what I found:

1. The throttle cables are both seated properly.

2. I noticed a knocking come from the right hand throttle body, and upon further investigation I found that the "wheel" that the throttle cable seats into appears to be moving around quite a bit. I compared the play to the other side (which wasn't making the knocking noise), and the right side appears to have a bit more play than the left. Again, play in the shaft and "wheel" that the throttle cable seats in to.

3. The right hand throttle cable (again, the right side is making noise) appears to be looser than the left hand throttle cable at the point below the throttle cable adjusters (ie, the small bit of exposed throttle cable before it runs onto the "wheel" mentioned above). Therefore, I'm going to watch JVB's maintenance DVD (which I brought with me) and refresh myself on how to properly tune the throttle cables. My problem is now going to be that I do not have a TB sync to sync the throttle bodies after I equalize the throttle cables, so if things are really running bad I'm going to need to go down to a hardware store and build myself a manometer, which I REALLY do not want to have to do.

4. I noticed on the underside (kind of) of the "wheel" there is another screw adjuster that looks kind of like a throttle adjuster screw on a carburetor (ie, screwing it in or out will speed the idle up or down). However, given that this is a fuel injected bike, I'm not quite sure what this screw does. Plus, I also noticed a small bit of marking paint on the screw, so clearly this was tuned by the previous owner to be in the position that it is in.

5. Getting back to the basics (air, fuel, spark), I also popped the air filter out and cleaned out the air intakes and air filter housing, as I thought maybe the bike was "breathing hard" try to get more air, so therefore I figured that maybe if I did my best to "clear" the airway that the patient would be able to breath easier--and maybe slow down the idle. So we'll see how that goes, as I have not yet taken the bike for a spin to get it up to temperature. I also banged the air filter out as best I could, and although this is the original air filter that I had in when I left back in November from the States and that it looks kind of dusty, the air filter itself looks okay.

Here's where I can use a little help:

A. Does anyone know of a quick and dirty way of syncing the TBs without the use of a TB sync device (ie, CarbMax, manometer, etc)? I have a feeling that I am going to need to do this.

B. Does anyone have any idea why I would be having more play in the right hand "wheel" than the left side? Is there a mechanical bearing of some type that seats the "wheel" shaft to the TB that might be wearing out? Or will simply tightening up the throttle cable likely take out the play.

C. Per 4 (above), does anyone have any thoughts on whether I will need to adjust this screw once I take the slack out of the throttle cable? Any advice or thoughts here would be appreciated.

D. Per 5 (above) does anyone think that I need to swap out the air filter--and whether doing so would slow down the idle? Clearly now that I have left Santiago, getting an air filter might be a challenge.

Okay, so that's the update. I'm going to be watching JVB's DVD for a bit, so hopefully some of you will be able to chime in on the above items if you have a moment. (The bike does not have WiFi, so I'm doing the back and forth thing).

Thanks everyone!

I just watched JVB's DVD (for something like the 83rd time, good value, go and get ya one), and I flat don't know how I can do this without a proper TB sync tool (ie, CarbMax, manometer, etc). Therefore, I searched the web, and lo and behold I discovered that Moto Aventura in Osorno, Chile, which is only 200 or so km from my current location in Villaricca, Chile. Just in case someone else needs the lat/long in the future, here is the cut and paste of their location:

General Manager: Roberto Baum C. roberto@motoaventura.cl / motoaventura@telsur.cl

Marketing and trips Manager: Sonia Dvorachuk sonia@motoaventura.cl / motoaventura@telsur.cl

msn: soniadvorachuk@hotmail.com / skype: motoaventura

Telephone: 0056 64 249121 / 0056 9 98298077

Telephone secretary: 0056 64 249123/24 – 0056 9 98868050

Workshop and main office Osorno:

Gregorio Argomedo 739

S 40ª34´53.2”

W 073ª06´24.3”

Workshop Santiago de Chile:

Motoaventuracenter

Avda. Kennedy 7686

Vitacura

Tel. 0056 2 8914344

Manager: Matías Vergara matias@motoaventuracenter.com

http://www.motoaventuracenter.com

other workshop in Chile:

Punta Arenas and Iquique

USA:

Eric Lange: eric@motoaventura.cl

Int’l Cell: +1.512.203.4552
Office: +1.305.600.0611

Standing by with thoughts and suggestions on my Update #2...although I am leaning towards not doing anything until I am at a workshop with other knowledgable folks with the right tools to complete a job. Man I'd be pissed at myself if I went ahead and started adjusting things, and then somehow mucked something up so as not to be able to even GET to Osorno. The bike is running OK right now--it could just be better. Plus, I'm really concerned about something going seriously wrong further south, where I will truly be on my own.

Go to the shop and get that fucker fixed. It sounds like you might have a worn out tb.

I had a problem with the idle on my 2004 1150gsa. Sitting in traffic, out of town, engine got really hot (almost to redline) and the idle was just high and wouldn't drop. Ended up screwing in the Big Brass Screws until it dropped down an acceptable amount--nothing else to do while sitting in traffic. That might be what Steptoe was talking about. The guy's a genius. Figure out what he's saying and do whatever he says, first.

Anyway, I stopped at a hardware store, got about 10 or 15 feet of small, clear tubing and made a synchronizer with some zip ties and a little 30 wt. oil that I carry with me, and a straight-ish tree branch I found. Worked fine. Suck the oil into the tube as if it were a straw. Pouring it in won't work. A couple of feet of oil is all you need. Fold tube in half (equal length each side) without kinking the bend, and zip tie it to the branch. Yardstick or wooden dowel would work better.

Big Brass Screws adjust the balance at idle and the cables adjust the balance "at speed." Set cable freeplay, and then work from one side. The Hall of Wisdom link at the bottom of the page, here, will tell you all you need to know.

Dan Cata (I think that's the guy's name) makes rebuild kits for the throttle bodies. You can find his link around here somewhere. I haven't gotten one, yet, but I need to. It sounds like you might need to get one, too.

Okay, so I went to Moto Adventura, and the consensus was just to run the damn thing, as they don't think it will out and out fail.

Therefore, I'm typing this from a small restaurant in Chaitan, Chile at the top of the Carretera Austral (2 ferry rides to get here today), and I'm about to dive I to a plate of fries salmon and fries.

So keep your fingers crossed, as I have all of mine and my toes crossed!

When I get back to the real world, I'll rebuild the damn TB and get it back to normal.

And it probably goes without saying, but Patagonia is amazing. But this place on your list.

Thanks everyone! I REALLY appreciate your help and input. Now I just hope the bike holds together on this unbelievable bumpy road.

Don't camp near the river!!!!:huh
Picture from the 2008 eruption.

Now...back to that salmon and fries.

<a href="http://s635.beta.photobucket.com/user/RMWBMW/media/ChaitenChileVolcano.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/R/RMWBMW_ChaitenChileVolcano.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo ChaitenChileVolcano.jpg"/></a>

I took this photo 2 months ago.