Quote:
Originally Posted by dale-j
A few likely causes of this, some of which you might check on your own:
1) crashing is hard on batteries. If you haven't jarred and jolted it enough to dislodge a lead plate in the battery and lead to a short, you still may have had the bike on its side for long enough that battery acid drained out of it via the vent hose and has left the plates partially exposed. Filling with acid is not NORMALLY recommended when fluid loss is due to evaporation, but in this case if it's low you should find some undiluted electrolyte (dealer or battery shop) and top it up. If the battery has a dislodged or damaged plate leading to an internal short, it will simply need to be replaced.
2) the carburetors can drain fuel into the engine oil in some cases when the bike is lying on its side. In addition to wrecking the lubricating ability of the oil the higher sump level can lead to running issues, breather overflow and oily air filter. High sump level (excess crank windage and pumping losses) and oily air filter will both cause hard starting and poor running. You can check the oil level and smell to make sure there is no fuel in the oil - it will smell like gas and the level will be over the full line if this is the case. Changing the oil and cleaning the air filter (if it's excessively oily) will fix this.
3) the jolt and lying on its side can cause your float needle valves to stick and lead to hard starting and boggy rich running when the fuel bowls overfill. Sometimes this leads to fuel puddling under the bike, sometimes it leads to gas getting into the oil and the symptoms in #2 above, sometimes it is just hard to start and runs poorly at idle and low throttle openings. Carb removal, disassembly, cleaning and reinstallation should fix it. Of course you could always add a jet kit while you're in there (evil grin).... sometimes a sharp (but not hard) tap with a hammer and a piece of wooden dowel against the carb float bowl can set them back right (but be careful).
All in, a good thing that you're not hurt badly. This is all minor stuff....
Steve
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Thanks for taking the time to tell me about those potential issues.
I'm wondering if point #2 and #3 apply to my bike. My bike is fuel injected and in those two points you were mentioning carburetors.
I'll have a look at the battery.
