The Phantom's busted again!

All right, now I'm just getting to the end of my patience! I'm cranky and complaining with this post, so if you don't care to hear me grousing, just go away now. [NOTE: this sounds an awful lot like a Possumblog Moron Project tale...] Anyway, after tinkering with the carburetor jetting on the Phantom 2 weekends ago, the scoot's been just fine for almost a week and a half. Yes, it was over-jetted somewhat but it was rideable and it idled properly and the power seemed ok, if a little "fat" due to the over-jetting.

And yesterday, it all started falling apart. Today, its really unacceptable. Its starting a little hard, dieing at every stop sign and traffic light and the power seems to be way down when I was climbing a hill today on my way to lunch. Its taken to backfiring on overrun a little bit and I also noticed some stumbling during just steady-state running on my way back from lunch a little bit ago.

I was blaming the problems on my carburetor and intake manifold and probably a vacuum leak, just like it has failed in the past. I even called the machine shop to inquire about getting the cylinder head flange area welded up and machined to fit the size of the intake manifold flange to increase the actual flange mating area. They were certain they could do the work but wouldn't commit to it until I carried it in for them to inspect. I hate to spend money on this head when I was just beginning to consider buying a new head, either with 2 bigger valves or one of PSF's trick 4 valve heads. Either way, I would probably end up paying to get the flange area welded up and matched like I'm considering on the stock head.

But now, I'm not so sure. I think it might be a coil or CDI failure that is killing my spark and causing the problems. I've never had any backfiring problems with previous carburetor or vacuum leak problems but I have them now. Poor or failing spark might certainly be a factor in the stalling at idle and I'll bet when (if) I get it home, I'll find a fouled plug.

But I'm pretty pissed! The scoot has just 4450 miles on it total and 93 hours on the hourmeter. As much as I would like a bigger bike, I really like my scooter for my daily commute. It looks stylish and manages the urban commute perfectly, but only if its running properly. But too often, something's phucked, leaving me scratching my head, cursing and taking things apart in my shop. I'm busy dammit! I need to be doing school work and yard work and preparing for next week's travel and vacation. I don't have time to be tinkering on my daily commuter.

Maybe I'll get the dang thing torn down tonight and trouble shot to a fault that I can identify and fix. Probably, I'll be able to figure out what's wrong and get whatever parts I need ordered up for installation after I get back from vacation. [This is sounding like a Moron Project!]

If I had time for a project scooter, I'd probably already have that damaged 650 Suzuki Burgman that I know about in my shop being repaired... I'm also supposed to go see a guy about a $600 Gold Wing this afternoon too!