Terrible vacation with my doo

[68ragtop]

When you say "sitting", I assume you mean after you turn off the engine? 12.6 is a normal fully charged battery, but can read a little higher right after its been charged. (face charge) should be higher than 12.6 at idle & not more than 14v at 3K

Did you change the regulator after the bog, or before? Did you try running it with the regulator unplugged? On the DI, the ski goes into limp mode from the low voltage, so I'm not sure if the RFI does that or not? Sorry, I think you covered this before, just need a refresh. The regulators can do some weird things as they are the only thing in "charge" of converting the unregulated A/C to usable regulated DC.

 

[jammin777]

i believe i read the rfi go into limp mode as well but there never was a low battery light on and also after a huge struggle getting on plane and hits 5000 rpm, it runs fine. cruise at 30 mph then gun it it bogs again till i get to
higher rpm the takes off again to 6400 rpm which is ok i think for being 4800 ft above sea level.so realy no limp mode but a bog.
im planning on taking it to the lake tomorrow night to my local lake wich is 2700 ft above sea level and see how she does and to test fuel pressure and voltage while riding. at my local lake, it had a bog but not nearly as bad as being in the higher altitude lake. also reached 6700 rpm at my local lake before it took it camping with me 2 weeks ago

 

[jammin777]

When you say "sitting", I assume you mean after you turn off the engine? 12.6 is a normal fully charged battery, but can read a little higher right after its been charged. (face charge) should be higher than 12.6 at idle & not more than 14v at 3K

Did you change the regulator after the bog, or before? Did you try running it with the regulator unplugged? On the DI, the ski goes into limp mode from the low voltage, so I'm not sure if the RFI does that or not? Sorry, I think you covered this before, just need a refresh. The regulators can do some weird things as they are the only thing in "charge" of converting the unregulated A/C to usable regulated DC.

i changed the rectifier before my maiden voyage. yes sitting as of not running 12.9 sitting and 13.1 to 13.2 running 3000 rpm

 

[68ragtop]

How are the exhaust raves controlled on the RFI? exhaust pressure? any chance they are opening way to early? 5K I believe is right around the number that they should open.

 

[68ragtop]

i changed the rectifier before my maiden voyage. yes sitting as of not running 12.9 sitting and 13.1 to 13.2 running 3000 rpm

Have you tested the original one? Might be worth swapping out too.

 

[jammin777]

How are the exhaust raves controlled on the RFI? exhaust pressure? any chance they are opening way to early? 5K I believe is right around the number that they should open.

hmmm not sure but i believe the same as any other ski that has one. i pulled that apart last winter and inspected it and for functionality and looked good pipe is nice and cool to the touch after riding awhile. have the red knob set to flush as per spec. anything more i need to know about the water valve? this is all new to me.
can it cause a situation like mine?

on my way home from work i'll be back lol!

 

[jammin777]

Have you tested the original one? Might be worth swapping out too.

if i remember right it didnt do anything when i ran it on the trailer last fall

 

[68ragtop]

hmmm not sure but i believe the same as any other ski that has one. i pulled that apart last winter and inspected it and for functionality and looked good pipe is nice and cool to the touch after riding awhile. have the red knob set to flush as per spec. anything more i need to know about the water valve? this is all new to me.
can it cause a situation like mine?

on my way home from work i'll be back lol!

Sorry I meant the Rave valves, not the water injection system. My bad choice of words.....
Any chance the springs are missing? That would be sweet if they were.....

 

[PGHMAN]

Hi Kevin, I think your right on the battery specs....about the same as mine while sitting and within range at the 3-3.5 rpm range. My old battery which I thought was good even had load tested would never charge above 12.6 volts. New one reads 12.8 or higher after an hour off the Battery Tender Jr.
Gosh, I feel for you. You would think it would not be this difficult. Hang-in there!
Rob

 

[68ragtop]

I just looked at the rave system for the RFI. It would appear your ski uses crankcase pressure via a check valve that eliminates the crank case +/- pulses & just produces positive pressure through a solenoid, then that solenoid is controlled by the mpem.

Try this, remove the rave valve caps & springs. manually push the valves down (should be already) start the ski. they should stay down. if you raise the RPM to over 5K you should see them pop up when the solenoid activates. without the springs they will stay up, but at idle you should be able to push them back down pretty easily.

EDIT: Its possible that exhaust pressures may push the valves up a bit when you rev it up, but nothing like the pressure released from the solenoid. I guess what I am hoping is that somehow your valves are opening up just off idle. Maybe a bad solenoid or something? I can hope......

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

If your oil pump valve was wide open I can imagine you'd notice some running issues down low but I'd also think it would smoke a ton at low speed as well, telegraphing a clue? Well, maybe not....

 

[jammin777]

Sorry I meant the Rave valves, not the water injection system. My bad choice of words.....
Any chance the springs are missing? That would be sweet if they were.....

no its my bad choice of interpretation lol you were just fine. the springs are still there i removed the rave caps while camping
and they moved freely and i also pulled the vac hose off the solenoid that goes to the raves and blew into the hose and they operated fine that way. so ill try pulling the rave caps off and run the engine and see what it does.

btw while i had it apart i checked all the orings on the rv cover and intake riser and they checked out too so i believe there's no vacuum leak

 

[jammin777]

If your oil pump valve was wide open I can imagine you'd notice some running issues down low but I'd also think it would smoke a ton at low speed as well, telegraphing a clue? Well, maybe not....

true and no smoke that i knew of. it didnt lose adjustment but the top nut that locks it in place came all the way loose but the tension held it all in place as it appears anyway.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

I guess what I am hoping is that somehow your valves are opening up just off idle. Maybe a bad solenoid or something? I can hope......

Agree, if the RAVES were opening too early that might be causing this. Definitely worth investigating, IMO.

12.9v is the absolute minimum a L/A battery can charge and 13.8 is about perfect.

And the waterbox valve... Is the plumbing connected correctly and the valve pintle can move freely (debris in WB valve might bind the pintle)?

 

[68ragtop]

Lately I have been putting a drop of blue threadlock on all the cable connection nuts. hate the idea of over tightening them to keep them in place, but also have nightmares of loosing an oil pump cable & it not going wide open.....

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Another thing man, there's a check valve in the RAVE pulse line, maybe it's plugged up or the check valve is in backward?

Edit: ah, but that would cause the raves to remain closed.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

How about an exhaust leak, try riding with seat off? I realize this is a little inconsistent with the symptom but just throwing out ideas.

 

[68ragtop]

Another thing man, there's a check valve in the RAVE pulse line, maybe it's plugged up or the check valve is in backward?

Edit: ah, but that would cause the raves to remain closed.

That might not be a bad test tho. pull the line & cap it so the raves can't open & see if it hesitates?

maybe we'll get lucky & the solenoid is stuck open!

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Lately I have been putting a drop of blue threadlock on all the cable connection nuts. hate the idea of over tightening them to keep them in place, but also have nightmares of loosing an oil pump cable & it not going wide open.....

This can even be added after tightening the nuts if you can get the nozzle up close to the nut the threadlocker will wick into the threads.

 

[68ragtop]

This can even be added after tightening the nuts if you can get the nozzle up close to the nut the threadlocker will wick into the threads.

My luck it would wick down the casing, seize the cable & the nut would fall off......... jk

 

[jammin777]

Agree, if the RAVES were opening too early that might be causing this. Definitely worth investigating, IMO.

12.9v is the absolute minimum a L/A battery can charge and 13.8 is about perfect.

And the waterbox valve... Is the plumbing connected correctly and the valve pintle can move freely (debris in WB valve might bind the pintle)?

you guys are awesome thanks for all the input and i will try all of it.
as for the plumbing for the water valve the 2 hoses are of different size and would be pretty hard to switch them but when i took it all apart last winter i made a note of the the smaller of the two the black one and the larger grey one went, i also took the valve apart to inspect the diaphragm and the metal clamp and the clamp is not rusted in any way and the diaphragm is like new and inspected the pintle and it operates as it should.
before the bog got really bad the i could feel the rave kick in nicely but i will also ck to rule that out as well..
how do i check the pulse line for the raves?

 

[jammin777]

hey ragtop, i'm a little confused, when i take the rave caps off the rave are up and open and when i push them down manually, they come back up

 

[68ragtop]

Sportster was talking about the check valve being installed backwards. There is a check valve on the pulse line between the engine block & the rave valve solenoid. nothing to do with the water injection at all.
Its designed to keep positive pressure heading into the solenoid to open the valves when needed. If it was backwards, or defective you would have no pressure. However, we are kinda hoping your valves are opening too soon.

 

[jammin777]

Sportster was talking about the check valve being installed backwards. There is a check valve on the pulse line between the engine block & the rave valve solenoid. nothing to do with the water injection at all.
Its designed to keep positive pressure heading into the solenoid to open the valves when needed. If it was backwards, or defective you would have no pressure. However, we are kinda hoping your valves are opening too soon.

yes i understand. the water valve is a separate thing i was just letting sportster know that is ok
read post no 122

 

[68ragtop]

The springs under the caps should hold them closed (down) But even with the caps & springs removed they should stay down Are they poping back up while running or just siting there? there is probably some air trapped in the line between the solenoid & the valves I'm guessing