doesn't like the cold - she does now!

[Simon]

my dommie's been running really bad these last few weeks. Its like its about to run out of fuel if you know what i mean. Having the choke in or out makes no difference but i do think its down to the cold. Has anyone had problems with their choke? My choke lever it really tight and only moves a couple of mm.

[Confucious]

Symz - I don't think that's anything to do with the cold. Only a couple of mm's is not good. The settings on mine are closed, half open & fully open with about 1cm travel between each. When I start...it's full open for about 10 secs then half for 20 secs depending how cold of course. I think I'll have to leave the cure to our more mechanically minded members

[Rubberchicken]

My choke cable used to freeze up all the time, and replacing the cable doesn't hurt either.

Does it get better when the engine's warmed up? Mine used to start just fine, but then a mile down the road it'd run really badly choke or no, no idle, misfires and such, and then a few miles on when everything started getting up to normal running temperatures it'd be just peachy.

But if your choke hardly moves at all then I'd say that's your prime suspect.

[Simon]

My choke cable used to freeze up all the time, and replacing the cable doesn't hurt either.

Does it get better when the engine's warmed up? Mine used to start just fine, but then a mile down the road it'd run really badly choke or no, no idle, misfires and such, and then a few miles on when everything started getting up to normal running temperatures it'd be just peachy.

But if your choke hardly moves at all then I'd say that's your prime suspect.

yep mine will start ok, then run crap until its warm and then its ok. when its in the bad stage, if you open the throttle it takes what seems like 10 secs and then the power comes in and the bike takes of. You need to open it on the red lights to go on the green!

[anton88]

Simon - a couple of tips:

1) Check and adjust that your choke so its operating as per the service book. Mine was wrongly set up (too much choke at the plunger end, so when i had the choke off, it was still giving too much fuel to the engine) and bogged down a lot.

2) If that doesnt work, try the pilot screw at the bottom of the carb - screw it in to lean it and screw it out to richen it - you'll have to experiment with this and adkjust your idle speed once done - mine now idles at 1000rpm no problem and very rarely cuts out

[nickygee]

This sounds like a prob i had yonks ago when i was going thro the ns400r stage. . lots of accidental wheelies and well hairy moments later the fault was eventually diagnosed and turned out to be the air inlet at the top of the carb had come ever so slightly loose at one side (I now know what caused that to happen) as you wound back the throttle, the sucking in from the carb pulled it tight enough to stop the air leaking in at the side and off you wnet again at full power. Might be worth checking for any damage to the manifold inlet or even just double checking the integrity of the connection.

[Jacqueslemac]

I've only had my Dominator since mid-October, but in the recent cold weather it's been running very lumpy. instead of being able to push the choke in after a mile or so, I need to keep it about half way for about 15 minutes. Even then it sometimes just dies at the lights.

In answer to an earlier post, my choke lever turns through 30 degrees, so just a few millimetres must be faulty.

Other than the cold running, I'm really enjoying riding it.

[Rubberchicken]

Keeping a bit of choke on sounds very familiar...

With a cold engine in cold weather it's a bit of a handful to keep running. Getting the idle mixture properly set up usually helps a lot, and when all else fails you can always turn the idle speed up to 1700 rpm or so for the winter, that usually makes the bike a lot easier to live with.

You could always turn it down again when the engine's warmed up, or at least you can if your adjustment screw isn't rotted solid as it is on mine.

(There's a tip next time you've got the tank off: Check all the linkages and moving parts on the outside of the carb and grease them.)

[Dim Reaper]

My '93 Dommie suffers a similar problem during the cold weather. I have always believed it to be carb icing as my choke mechanism works fine and all settings appear to be in order. I have a reasonably fast 10 mile commute so the engine does not get very warm and it always dies when closing the throttle in low gears.

If the bike stands for about a minute with a warm engine the problem goes away.

I have bought a TA now to replace the old girl, anyone want a '93 Dommie?

[Simon]

ok, so i spent the weekend fitting scotoiler and heated grips and fixing the choke. It took a while with the choke as it was just jamed up inside but now it actually works!

What a difference that make to the running of the bike. Did have slight problem coming into work though. When i took everything off the bike to work at it i obviously turned the fuel off, but it had been in reserve. I forgot this and turned the fuel to on when it was all back together again. about 2 mins from home and it spluttered and died. Quickly figured out what was wrong and went on my way to the filling station. I was really low on fuel now so any corners and it didn't like it too much. Got petrol and then flooded it! Had to wait 10 mins to get it started.

Result: late to work!