Loss of power and lots of sparks out of my exhaust. What did I break?

ChopperCharles · 11-12-2020, 09:24 PM

9000 rpm sustained on the highway in the fast lane. Plenty of oil. Coolant temperature nominal. Suddenly the bike loses power. I head check the lane on my right, and see a goddamn fireworks display coming out of my muffler. I keep the throttle pinned, but the engine is not firing. I make it over two lanes and then she roars back to life. She's running pretty shitty, but I slow way down, finally make it to the right hand lane, and figure if I pull in the clutch she will never start again... and I'm less than a mile from my exit. So I keep trucking. It has no power down low, so I have to downshift and keep the revs around 6000 in order to continue moving. She sputters again, and I move into the breakdown lane. I'm less than a quarter mile from my exit now. I get off the highway, down the ramp, and rev the bike in neutral to keep it from stalling. My house is just a couple miles from the exit, on 45mph and 25mph roads. By the time I pull into my neighborhood, my bike is running fine again. I pull into my driveway and it idles normally. I hit the kill switch, then try the ignition and it restarts fine.

There are no strange noises, and there is nothing obviously wrong with the bike. It revs freely, and makes no weird noises when I do.

Bike has 2800 miles on it. PO said he had done the 500 mile service and valve adjustment. I bought it with 1500 miles on it, so it wasn't due for 300 more miles.

What happened, and how bad was it?

Charles.

11-12-2020, 09:24 PM	#1
ChopperCharles Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: RDU, NC Posts: 677	Loss of power and lots of sparks out of my exhaust. What did I break? 9000 rpm sustained on the highway in the fast lane. Plenty of oil. Coolant temperature nominal. Suddenly the bike loses power. I head check the lane on my right, and see a goddamn fireworks display coming out of my muffler. I keep the throttle pinned, but the engine is not firing. I make it over two lanes and then she roars back to life. She's running pretty shitty, but I slow way down, finally make it to the right hand lane, and figure if I pull in the clutch she will never start again... and I'm less than a mile from my exit. So I keep trucking. It has no power down low, so I have to downshift and keep the revs around 6000 in order to continue moving. She sputters again, and I move into the breakdown lane. I'm less than a quarter mile from my exit now. I get off the highway, down the ramp, and rev the bike in neutral to keep it from stalling. My house is just a couple miles from the exit, on 45mph and 25mph roads. By the time I pull into my neighborhood, my bike is running fine again. I pull into my driveway and it idles normally. I hit the kill switch, then try the ignition and it restarts fine. There are no strange noises, and there is nothing obviously wrong with the bike. It revs freely, and makes no weird noises when I do. Bike has 2800 miles on it. PO said he had done the 500 mile service and valve adjustment. I bought it with 1500 miles on it, so it wasn't due for 300 more miles. What happened, and how bad was it? Charles.
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