GL1800Riders Forums banner

Idling Home

1K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  SMSgtE8 
#1 ·
On the way home from work yesterday, I stopped at an intersection, waited for traffic to pass and twisted the throttle to get onto the highway. Throttle twisted OK but nothing happened. First thought, WTF. :shock: Second thought, Throttle cable broke. :roll: Third thought, get out of the way of traffic. :oops: So, I waved the cars behind me around and pushed the trike over to the side of the road. Called the wife :chatter: (she was on the way home from work also) and waited. She pulled in behind me and we proceeded to idle the bike 5 miles to the house. A couple of the hills I had to go up had the bike moving but the speedo needle did not even get off of the peg, but I was able to coast down the other side and even got up to 20 MPH. Anyway, it took about an hour to go that 5 miles. I have just over 31K on the trike and was getting pysched up to do the valve check and replace the air filter so, I guess it will all get done a little early since I have to pull the shelter off to get to the air filter anyway. Just wish I had a heated garage to work in. My storage shed/garage gets a little cold. Gonna have to dig out Fred's Maintenance videos and review them before digging into the trike.

Sure am glad the idle speed is enough to pull the trike. :lol:
 
#2 ·
Sure sounds like the throttle cable unhooked at the tbi unit,have fun,OLE YELLER MBG PA
 
#3 ·
I haven't looked at the 1800 to see if this is possible....
But I got stuck the same way with my GL1200 once, I reached in with a long screwdriver, and turned up the idle to about 2500rpm to get home. Some idiot at a stop light thought I was doing it on purpose (revving my engine) and decided hhe had to squeak his tires leaving that light... I never laughed so hard in my life!

It was late spring, so the heating of the garage wasn't an issue.

Good Luck! Glad you made it home!
 
#4 ·
Daver,that only works on a carb model,he 1800 is fuel injected and has no idle screw,its all electronic,good thought though,OLE YELLER MBG PA
 
#8 ·
magenta said:
Daver,that only works on a carb model,he 1800 is fuel injected and has no idle screw,its all electronic,good thought though,OLE YELLER MBG PA
Yep knew that...
But, the cable has to pull on something... and I am a wiz a riggin if Needs-be.

I haven't been to the Throttle body yet, so I dont even know if it would even bee remotely accessible while on the road. It was just kindof and FYI type of post... something to think about.
 
#9 ·
Hope you find out what going on and it easy to fix. if you shed is big enough get a small heater that might help

The throttle cable broke on a LTD I was driving once, I had to feed my shoe string to the carb through the firewall to get her home. I then just pulled on it by hand to give it gas, was kinda fun, well maybe not at the time.

Let us know what it was

N Ga Rider
 
#10 ·
Well, what with being down with the flu AND starting a new job, I finally got to work on the trike. The cable WAS broken about 1/4 of an inch from the end up in the hand throttle assembly. Ordered a new one from Hal, wasn't sure which one it was from the less than perfect fiche pictures so Dave at Hal's is sending me both of them and I will return the incorrect one. They should be in today. Fred's videos were an invaluable source of good information and I highly recommend them for getting into your bike.

What a bear getting to the throttle housing to remove the old cable.

After looking closely at the cable break, it is apparent that some motorcycle wrench at the place I bought the bike pinched the cable when he re-installed the hand switch assembly. Why did he re-install the assembly you ask? I bought the bike brand-new and on the way home (60 miles) it died. Got it back to the shop and after 3 days of troubleshooting, they determined that the factory had put a screw thru a cable harness causing the cruise control circuit to short out when ever it was turned on. This is also the circuit that feeds the field windings on the alternator. Anyway, they had torn the hand switch assembly apart troubleshooting that problem.

Now if I can just remember where everything goes :oops: when I put the bike back together. Wish me luck.. I used a little parts divider box to sorta keep all the parts that go together, together. I need some one with little hands to come over and help. Wish me luck. :D
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top