HELP!!!!!!! lol. cats unwell.

bought my beautifull cat after writing off my last bandit so have been taking it easy for the last few months but as im growing in confidence ive started pushing the cat harder.
I found that at high revs 8-9k the rev dial would suddenly fall to 0 and the bike would have a dip in power (not cut off just dip) then a few seconds later it'll cut back in with a lil jump in power and be fine. Originally i thought it might be a dodgy connection for the revs but that wouldnt explain the power dip. This has been happening more and more often and at lower revs, someone said they had a loose front sprocket would that cause something like this?. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Also. yes not one problem. i dont do things half arsed
crested a hill on the way home from work today to find traffic lined up in front of me. jumped on the brakes and got a sort of skipping feeling through the front of the bike. I tried again a couple of times on the way home, its definately under heavy front braking, doesnt feel like the tyre skidding on the road, cant think how it would be the brakes. sounds and feels like when you were a kid on your push bike and changed gear while peddling and the chain didnt catch the gears properly.
again any idea would be greatly appreciated.

thank you in advance.
Richard.

Almost sounds like there's an oily patch on the disks. :/

thats a possibility. i'll clean em up and see if it makes a difference. thx wooster

If there is, I'd wonder how it got there.

The only two places I can think of that could drip oil on the disks are a blown seal on one of the brake pistons (brake fluid), or a blown fork seal. :/

..I was wondering if maybe the disks were warped, but I reckon you'd feel that through the brake lever.

-edit- p.p.s
Under heavy braking the back wheel has a tendency to skip, as most of the braking load is going through the front. You couldn't be mistaking that for a front brake issue could you?
Were you on the back brake as well when you noticed the problem.

Hi Richard,
I noticed from your profile picture there is something in front of the air intake on the front cowling - I have ringed it in the pic below. If that is an obstruction to the air intake, might it be what causing the dip in power? I am by no means technical on bikes so just an observation.

zXSavageXz wrote:bought my beautifull cat after writing off my last bandit so have been taking it easy for the last few months but as im growing in confidence ive started pushing the cat harder.
I found that at high revs 8-9k the rev dial would suddenly fall to 0 and the bike would have a dip in power (not cut off just dip) then a few seconds later it'll cut back in with a lil jump in power and be fine. Originally i thought it might be a dodgy connection for the revs but that wouldnt explain the power dip. This has been happening more and more often and at lower revs, someone said they had a loose front sprocket would that cause something like this?. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Richard,

It sounds similar to the problem I had last month.
Mine was corrosion in the fuel sender connection.
The bike would be running fine, then the revs would suddenly dip to 0, the bike would jump a little, revs back up and everything seemed ok again.
All I did was pull the connection apart, cleaned the connectors with a small wire brush and gave a squirt of WD40.
Been fine ever since!

Sean.

thank you so much for all your input guys.
Sean, thats sounds exactly right i'll try the same thing and see what happens.
The thing infront of the air intake is an extra light of some sort. It came with the bike when i bought it, if Seans suggestion doesnt do it i'll try taking that off and seeing if it helps.
Ive had a good go over the disks with the braking problem and they seem fine, a little pitted in places but nothing too bad, theyre not warped either. Got to get an mot next month so i'll get my mechanic to take a look and see what he thinks. i'll let you all know if we pinpoint it incase someone gets a similar problem

Richard.

I've had a look online and in my haynes but can find no mention of a fuel sender unit or connections, i found fuel pump and relay, is it anything to do with this?
sorry noob to the mechanical side of bikes atm. gotta start somewhere.

zXSavageXz wrote:I've had a look online and in my haynes but can find no mention of a fuel sender unit or connections, i found fuel pump and relay, is it anything to do with this?
sorry noob to the mechanical side of bikes atm. gotta start somewhere.

Lol. No worries mate. We have ALL been Noobs at some point!
The whole point of the forum is to share info, so share we will!!!

Right, the fuel sender connection is to the pump itself.
If you attempt to take the tank off you will meet resistance with a few things.
One of which is the fuel pipe (This is black and runs from the tank to the carbs....I think!) Make sure the fuel tap is switched to "Off" get a rag to catch a small amount of fuel from the pipe and un-clip the squeeze clip.
The other black pipe, which is smaller than the fuel pipe, is the tank breather hose. This un-clips the same as the fuel hose. Dont worry, nothing will come out of this, it just carries away air.
The final connection is the fuel sender connection. This has a green to clear wire connection male and female, there is a connection from the tank which connects to another connection in the wiring loom. (you cant miss it if you take off the tank)

I will have a look in my Haynes manual and see if I can find it!!!

Right.
Ive found it on page 4.4 of the haynes manual.
Read point number 10 (Under the photo 2.8a)
It is actually called the "fuel level sensor wiring connector"

If this wire is either not connected, OR dirty, Or has a dodgy connection you will have problems similar to those I described.

Bike revs will drop, it will jump a bit, then kick back in.

Give the wire and connectors a real close inspection and make sure it has none of the above!

Richard, I'd be getting the light removed before u did anything else tbh.
The air ram will be seriously restricted with the light blocking it & will make it run like a bag of nails, you will think you have a new turbo fitted if you free up how she breathes

Definitely, basically you're choking the engine with that light blocking the intake.
Well spotted Manor.

(Why the previous owner thought it was a good idea beggars belief)

Wooster wrote:Definitely, basically you're choking the engine with that light blocking the intake.
Well spotted Manor.

(Why the previous owner thought it was a good idea beggars belief)

Very interested to see if that cures it or a the very least improves it, as you guys say logic suggests it should. I noticed mine is getting a lot of gunk in it so may have mine off and give it a clean (on a rainy day).

zXSavageXz wrote:Ive had a good go over the disks with the braking problem

I'm wondering if you're not bottoming out the shocks and that is what you are feeling. Easy enough checked, put a cable tie (the reusable ones are better) around one of the forks, place it near the seal. You don't want it too tight that it would cause damage nor too loose it would slide down.
Go for a ride as normal, then check and see how much gap there is between the top of the fork and your cable tie. If it at the top, then you have a problem

Not sure about your rpm probs but perhaps worth bleeding the front calipers and see if there's any air in the system that could be causing insuffiocient braking force.

all great idea's guys. thank you very much. i have some time this weekend so i'll remove that light (ive been told it doesnt have the power it should so looking forward to that) take the tank off and poke around at the fuel sender and try out the forks idea.
Cheers guys great help. fingers crossed. i'll keep you updated.

Hi guys. managed to remove the front light like you suggested and that has made a nice difference in power and responsive acceleration,
I removed the tank and cleaned up the fuel sender connection underneath, which has helped a little but not cleared it up so i think its definitely in the right area might just have to trace all the fuel pump wiring.
brakes ive had to give up on and have it booked in at mechanics on friday.
Thanks for all the suggestions, been a great help.
Richard.