Bad miss (intermittent) right after I thot, "Boy is this thing running GREAT"

[Brad to the BONE]

Hello!

I have a 2004 ABS model FJR1300.  Had it since 2005.  It has 73K on it for miles right now.  It's always run great.  Went for a ride with the wife.  Beautiful day.  Thot to myself "Man this old gal is just running SWEET"!  Then I needed gas.  Pulled into the beautiful town of ROACHDALE, Indiana and filled up.  Continued the ride.  Not far up the road, I thot I felt a slight miss.  Nawww, must have been a bump.  Couple miles later, same thing.  By the time we got home 45 miles later it was missing a chuffing and cutting out regularly.  Figuring I got some bad gas, I drained the tank, put in 2 ounces of HEET and 2 ounces of Tectron Fuel system cleaner and 3 gallons of BP premium.  Went for a 5 mile drive.  No improvement.  Drained that gas.  Put in 2 gallons of alcohol free premium.  Rode it for 25 miles.  It's worse now....  Sometimes it would pull away from a light perfectly.  Even pulled a 3 gear set of near redline shifts, running good.  Then blahhhh, brrrrr, fiffttt for the next 5 miles.  Was supposed to leave for the Rockies in 6 days on it.

Any thots will be considered and greatly appreciated. 

It feels like fuel issues, but that is easily clouded with electrical since the fuel delivery is all tangled up with computers...

I do think back to my racing days when we had the saying "80% of carburetor problems are electrical in nature"...

Brad Martin

 

[BigOgre]

First guess here out of many I suppose.  Gen Is were known to have issues with a large connector under the tank, just behind the stem.  My 2004 cooked it at about 50k while on the road.  Can't remember what the symptoms all were but do remember my first indication was losing both headlights.  Sorta remember some rough throttle also.

 

[philter]

How old are the plugs? 

 

[Brad to the BONE]

philter:   The plugs are pretty new (last winter...) probably around 2500 miles on them.

I did check to see if there was any "Arching" between the plug caps and the head.  Nothing showing on any of the wires or plug connection (down inside the spark plug hole).

Several years ago I did have a spark plug wire that was just shorting out to the engine.  I found that out cuz it first did it on a ride home in the dark.  And I could see the spark flash!

I didn't note this in the original post.  I was getting a Check Eng Light when it started to mis-behave.  When it was running mostly OK the light would go out.

BigOgre:    I like this line of thinking.  Where exactly is this connector of which you reference?  Packed in there above the head just behind the steering stem?

 

[BigOgre]

Yup.  Removing the T-bar might make it easier to get to.  Not saying this is the cause of your issue but couldn't hurt to take a look-see. 

What I found on mine:

 

[12tinker]

check for stored codes in the Diag mode?

you would see misfire I think if it was plug wires and caps if you cleared them last time

 

[dcarver]

Quick check... open gas cap in dark garage, use flashlight, look for debris. You might have a tank full o' crap from the last gas station. With a population of 926, that Roach gas might be months old with particulates clogging your injectors. DAMHIK.