roger 04 rt
New member
Late in April I put my ‘04 RT (dual plug) on “ice” for the summer in Naples and left it on its own to struggle through Hurricane Irma. I filled the tank with Premium, and put it on a non-AGM trickle charger (weekly 4 hour timer).
When I got back 6 months later the first start was a bit sluggish but it ran pretty good (or so I thought at first) and so I mentally wrote off the slow start as cobwebs. Unfortunately the cobwebs got thicker and it also began to have a barely noticeable hesitation when I rolled on acceleration (surely I was imagining that). Then last week it took three presses of the starter button first thing in the morning to get it going.
I finally got out the GS-911, LogWorks software for the LC-1 to record AFR, Harmonizer and pulled off all the plastic so I could work out what was going on. My motivation was low because I’m also seriously thinking about a low mileage 2015/16 R1200RTW. But since I’d have to fix the 04 to sell it and because I couldn’t stand not knowing, I got myself in gear, one cold start per day.
Day 1
My first look was at the GS-911 cold start data and log—no errors, data looks good. Next, I looked at the LC-1 cold start log of AFR—leaner than normal during the poor start period but nicely settled in at lambda=0.92 (13.5:1) once warmed up. From my experience measuring cold start AFR, the leanness at cold start is usually due to poor ignition. My stick coils are fairly new but the plugs were 2 1/2 years old so I put in new bottom plugs which I had lying around since they are problematic on the dual spark (all four plugs actually looked great but a little warn). New plugs did nothing. (Note: the hotter NGK DCPR6E lower plugs looked really good and I’ll stick with them.)
Day 2
Since I had the Harmonizer out and it had been a while since a TB balance I dialed out a small amount of l/r error and boosted the idle about 75 rpm—no effect on starting the next morning.
Day 3
Thinking about whether charging the battery for 6 months, once per week on a low voltage trickle affected the battery but set that idea aside as I’d put 150 miles on the bike since returning and my VR is modified for AGM—and since my good charger was up North. At this point that nagging idea that the gasoline sat through a Florida summer and is now about 7 months old reached the surface when the low fuel light came on. And I know at least half of you reading this have been thinking “drain the tank and put new fuel in”, since the first sentence.
I filled the tank with Premium, added 6 ounces of Techron Concentrate and rode 100 miles into the Everglades and back at good speed on Rt 41.
Day 4
The bike started normally in about a second and idled smoothly. I’ll run a couple tanks of fuel laced with Techron and call it a day. Was it fresh fuel or Techron? I’ll never know for sure since I added both at the same time.
When I got back 6 months later the first start was a bit sluggish but it ran pretty good (or so I thought at first) and so I mentally wrote off the slow start as cobwebs. Unfortunately the cobwebs got thicker and it also began to have a barely noticeable hesitation when I rolled on acceleration (surely I was imagining that). Then last week it took three presses of the starter button first thing in the morning to get it going.
I finally got out the GS-911, LogWorks software for the LC-1 to record AFR, Harmonizer and pulled off all the plastic so I could work out what was going on. My motivation was low because I’m also seriously thinking about a low mileage 2015/16 R1200RTW. But since I’d have to fix the 04 to sell it and because I couldn’t stand not knowing, I got myself in gear, one cold start per day.
Day 1
My first look was at the GS-911 cold start data and log—no errors, data looks good. Next, I looked at the LC-1 cold start log of AFR—leaner than normal during the poor start period but nicely settled in at lambda=0.92 (13.5:1) once warmed up. From my experience measuring cold start AFR, the leanness at cold start is usually due to poor ignition. My stick coils are fairly new but the plugs were 2 1/2 years old so I put in new bottom plugs which I had lying around since they are problematic on the dual spark (all four plugs actually looked great but a little warn). New plugs did nothing. (Note: the hotter NGK DCPR6E lower plugs looked really good and I’ll stick with them.)
Day 2
Since I had the Harmonizer out and it had been a while since a TB balance I dialed out a small amount of l/r error and boosted the idle about 75 rpm—no effect on starting the next morning.
Day 3
Thinking about whether charging the battery for 6 months, once per week on a low voltage trickle affected the battery but set that idea aside as I’d put 150 miles on the bike since returning and my VR is modified for AGM—and since my good charger was up North. At this point that nagging idea that the gasoline sat through a Florida summer and is now about 7 months old reached the surface when the low fuel light came on. And I know at least half of you reading this have been thinking “drain the tank and put new fuel in”, since the first sentence.
I filled the tank with Premium, added 6 ounces of Techron Concentrate and rode 100 miles into the Everglades and back at good speed on Rt 41.
Day 4
The bike started normally in about a second and idled smoothly. I’ll run a couple tanks of fuel laced with Techron and call it a day. Was it fresh fuel or Techron? I’ll never know for sure since I added both at the same time.
