Why Am I Here?

I'm not surpoosed to be in at work today, but I had too many things still sitting on my plate, so I'm here...but don't tell anyone.  If they know I'm in, they'll start coming to me with more things to do.

Anyway - just a quick post to catch you all up on a couple things.  One; I've fixed the bike problem.  Well, ok..."fixed" is probably not the correct word...I've found a work-around.  Here's how that came to be...

Tuesday night, I was working on the bike and looking at wiring, connections, etc., trying to see if anything jumped out at me as the obvious source of the skipping problem.  No luck.  But, I did pull the plugs and check them to see how they looked.  They were a little fouled, due to the power commander still running rich, but no big deal.  I cleaned them up and popped them back in, and didn't give it another thought.

Zig called while I was working on the bike and said he'd read my post about the issue reappearing, and wanted to take the bike out to experience it for himself.  Sure, no problem, take it.  Take it far away!

So he swung by yesterday afternoon and took it for a long spin.  When he came back, the first thing he said was; "Take that fucking seat and throw it in the woods as far as you can!"  (It would seem he's not a fan of it.)  He did go on to say that not only is it extremly solid and uncomfortable, but it just sits you in an odd/uncomfortable position.  (But it looks so good on the bike!!!)

Anyway, I asked him if the bike had skipped at all for him, and he said no, it ran fine the entire time.  He'd gone slowly, fast, bogged it down, opened it up, etc.  Nothing.  The bike didn't exhibit any symptoms at all.

And that's when it hit me...

Way back when this problem first appeared, the first thing I'd done was pull the plugs and clean them up.  That solved the problem for about a week or so.  And here it was, almost a year later, and I'd done the same thing.  I'd cleaned the plugs up and the bike seemed to run fine.  Sweet!  I have a workaround!

I'll simply ride the bike until it starts to skip again, clean the plugs, and then I should be good to go!  In fact, I've got the plug socket, the rachet, and some emery cloth set out to bring with me on the trip to DC.  Now, if the bike starts to act up, I'll just clean the plugs at the next gas stop (hmmm...I'll need to bring a rag, too, since they'll be too hot to hold), and I should be all set.

On a serious note, this does lead me in a specific direction, though.  Instead of replacing the ECM, I think the next thing is to replace the plug wires.  Maybe they are the culprit.  Time will tell.

Ok, time to get rolling.  Way too many things to get done back at the house today, in preparation for Saturday's party.  Oh, the weather?  It's changed!  Now, instead of a 70% chance of rain, it's now 90%!!  Awesome!  :-(    Oh well.  The good news is it looks like the folks riding out from New York will miss most of the rain.

Ta for now...