Guzzi very lumpy?

[England-Kev]

Been out on my Guzzi today, and something is not right, it is still leaking oil on the R/H side, I think it is coming from the Distributor? but may be from the r/h head to barrel joint?
Also the motor is running very rough/lumpy, unless it gets loads of revs then it smoothes out, could this be the big ends going or something else.

 

[cookie]

first thing i'd check is the points gap, then carbs, then condenser maybe.

i can't see it having anything to do with the big ends. they would knock as you opened the throttle in high gear (or everywhere if they were truly bollocksed).

 

[ianboydsnr]

I will give you £50 for it

Isn't the distributor a common leak?

 

[ghiribizzo]

Guzzi what? 850/1000/1100 often leak from the blanking plug that is removed to get the upper cylinder stud tightened. However it's probably more likely to be the oil feed leaking.

 

[JayC]

Also the motor is running very rough/lumpy, unless it gets loads of revs then it smoothes out, could this be the big ends going or something else.

Quite possibly the cam chain rattling about. The tensioner doesn't do a lot, as in it doesn't do very well what it's meant to be doing , self adjusting.

If this is the case then the valve timing will be out, and particularly sloppy at idle, which could explain why it runs better when the higher revs are fed in, ie the chain is back under tension, thereby balancing the valve timing more accurately.

 

[cookie]

IIRC it's an Ambo or similar, so it almost certainly doesn't have a cam chain. hard to be sure as guzzi do seem to have sent some bikes which would normally be fitted with gears in euro markets to the USA with cam chains. the tensioners are a bit rubbish though if you do have a chain. they're just a bit of rubber on slotted fixings.

leaking oil feed is a good call though. can a bit of trial and error to get them to seal well, particularly the solid pipes that the loopframes have fitted.

 

[ELIMINATOR]

My cali' 3 was running rough on Saturday, wouldn't idle. I looked down petrol was dripping from the carb. Took the float bowl off, sprayed Isopropanol onto the needle vlave, it still leaked. I realised that the float assembly was a tight fit in its mounting lugs. So I filed a little bit off. All well now. Perhaps this is the ethanol in the fuel making the plastic swell.

just my opinion.

Maybe yours is running rich?

 

[theoneandonly]

lumpy guzzi ?

did you fix it ?

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

Sounds like blocked idle jet on one side...hence 'smoothing' out at higher revs...

Regrding the oil leak....Distributor has an o ring...could also be oil feed pipe banjo washers..

 

[England-Kev]

As it happens I did get to the bottom of the problems, and it runs great now...

The oil leak was from the o-ring on the dizzy shaft, a little lube with some rubber grease sorted that problem out. As for the lumpy running, this turned out to be wrong timing, where the previous owner had timed it to the wrong timing mark, so it hit full advance at higher revs, hence the smoothing out. When I sorted out the dizzy o-ring, I actually timed it all to the correct timing mark, and this sorted out the lumpy running.

The bike is now reliable, and has been used on various runs and camps, including the V-Twin rally, with no problems, and no oil leaks.