newbie001
Junior Member
I have been a pretty happy owner of 2005 fz6 until 6 months ago;
the bike was great till about 7000 miles -- lots of power , no buzz at highway speeds, no handlebar vibrations whatsoever;
for the last 2500 miles it is been very dissapointing; In fact I am on the edge of selling it;
It seems to ride fine while still relatively cold ( first 10-20 mins); after that, the bike seems like it is underpowered and restricted; also at highway speeds ( over 60mph) the engine sounds like it is doing a lot of extra work to the point that handle bars give me tingling ( it was not doing it before so I do not think it is common issue as some owners report they experienced from day 1 with their bikes);
I used to ride at speeds over 90mph for 20-30 mins continuosly on hwy280 at traffic pace and it used to be very smooth ( not anymore
);
So far I checked the TPS and the range goes from 16 to 97 in diag mode -- which is normal;
engine rpm is stable at any speed when I lock the throttle with my cruise control;
bike never stalled; always starts perfectly;
I pulled the spark plugs, no carbon deposits ( little dark but no carbon fouling);
I pulled the air filter, cleaned it ( it was not that bad in a first place anyway), checked all the hoses to the air box;
Fuel economy seems ok -- 35-40mpg;
I pulled out the air box, checked the throttle bodies for any sings, carbon deposits -- not seeing anything strange visually;
I ran the seafoam in the tank and sprayed some in the throttle bodies; it helped a little bit for some periods but did not fix the issue;
what I noticed, sometimes lately I have some extra exhaust smoke or smell , but it is very intermittent;
my pipes are stock, and they have some dark carbon deposits ( not really sure if it is normal over time for my 9500 miles or related to my problem);
should the inner pipes in the exhaust be dark or clean and shiny ?
next on my list would be to check the reed valves, pull out the throttle bodies and check deeper in the manifolds for any sings;
next will check the valve clearances -- but at 9500 miles I doubt it is the valves ( I never race it or aggressive with it, never ride over 6-7k rpm );
I used to put 91 octane fuel; lately been putting 89 to see if anything will change -- same problem;
I changed oil to spectra gold cap semi synthetic to see if engine will benefit last month -- no help;
can it be crankshaft position sensor? carbon build up in combustion chamber?
I can still rev it up to 7-8-9k rpm and go to 90-100mph, it is just running very restricted and totally different from before - no more smooth easy breathing;
hope someone can give ideas; ( or an experienced mechanic I can trust here in bay area who can ride it and feel what's going on -- experienced is the key word here since most dealer would just say it is normal, charge for diagnostics and suggest a bunch of unnecessary part replacements that will not address the issue ); one dealer told me to replace the tps, but it does not have idle or rpm issues or stalling ever, and in diag mode always goes gradually from 16 to 97;
also some owners report the issue with buzz and underpowered restricted in the 5000-7000rpm, then normal above that, but mine stays pretty restricted through the entire rpm range -- very uneasy breathing, no coughing or jerking, still smooth acceleration but uneasy and restricted.
so hope can get some inputs from you guys/gals; ( I used to love my bike
-- not anymore);
thanks
the bike was great till about 7000 miles -- lots of power , no buzz at highway speeds, no handlebar vibrations whatsoever;
for the last 2500 miles it is been very dissapointing; In fact I am on the edge of selling it;
It seems to ride fine while still relatively cold ( first 10-20 mins); after that, the bike seems like it is underpowered and restricted; also at highway speeds ( over 60mph) the engine sounds like it is doing a lot of extra work to the point that handle bars give me tingling ( it was not doing it before so I do not think it is common issue as some owners report they experienced from day 1 with their bikes);
I used to ride at speeds over 90mph for 20-30 mins continuosly on hwy280 at traffic pace and it used to be very smooth ( not anymore
);
So far I checked the TPS and the range goes from 16 to 97 in diag mode -- which is normal;
engine rpm is stable at any speed when I lock the throttle with my cruise control;
bike never stalled; always starts perfectly;
I pulled the spark plugs, no carbon deposits ( little dark but no carbon fouling);
I pulled the air filter, cleaned it ( it was not that bad in a first place anyway), checked all the hoses to the air box;
Fuel economy seems ok -- 35-40mpg;
I pulled out the air box, checked the throttle bodies for any sings, carbon deposits -- not seeing anything strange visually;
I ran the seafoam in the tank and sprayed some in the throttle bodies; it helped a little bit for some periods but did not fix the issue;
what I noticed, sometimes lately I have some extra exhaust smoke or smell , but it is very intermittent;
my pipes are stock, and they have some dark carbon deposits ( not really sure if it is normal over time for my 9500 miles or related to my problem);
should the inner pipes in the exhaust be dark or clean and shiny ?
next on my list would be to check the reed valves, pull out the throttle bodies and check deeper in the manifolds for any sings;
next will check the valve clearances -- but at 9500 miles I doubt it is the valves ( I never race it or aggressive with it, never ride over 6-7k rpm );
I used to put 91 octane fuel; lately been putting 89 to see if anything will change -- same problem;
I changed oil to spectra gold cap semi synthetic to see if engine will benefit last month -- no help;
can it be crankshaft position sensor? carbon build up in combustion chamber?
I can still rev it up to 7-8-9k rpm and go to 90-100mph, it is just running very restricted and totally different from before - no more smooth easy breathing;
hope someone can give ideas; ( or an experienced mechanic I can trust here in bay area who can ride it and feel what's going on -- experienced is the key word here since most dealer would just say it is normal, charge for diagnostics and suggest a bunch of unnecessary part replacements that will not address the issue ); one dealer told me to replace the tps, but it does not have idle or rpm issues or stalling ever, and in diag mode always goes gradually from 16 to 97;
also some owners report the issue with buzz and underpowered restricted in the 5000-7000rpm, then normal above that, but mine stays pretty restricted through the entire rpm range -- very uneasy breathing, no coughing or jerking, still smooth acceleration but uneasy and restricted.
so hope can get some inputs from you guys/gals; ( I used to love my bike
-- not anymore);
thanks