'88 Virago 250 dies after a couple hours of use.. any suggestions?

[niclariv]

Hi everybody
I've got an '88 Yamaha Virago 250 and it's got a cracked carb manifold.  The one's on order but it will be at least another week until it comes in. The guys at Adrenalin thought it would be rideable with the cracked manifold, it just wouldn't run as well, but after a couple hours of riding it sputters and dies.  It seems like it gets better after I let it sit for a while.  Before I passed my skills test I was riding a lot but only at lower speeds and it didn't die on me.. It's only now that I'm going on the highway that it's giving up after it's been running for an hour or two. They said that might not be the carb manifold causing this, but they don't think there's a point in figuring it out until the carb manifold is in.. So i'm stuck driving the car around for another week (very frustrating)... Unless one of you has experienced a similar issue and knows of an easy fix?  Anybody?

I know I'll probably just end up waiting for the manifold but if there's a solution I'd like to know about it, I just got my license and all this waiting to ride is very frustrating.

Thanks!
Nick

[yamaguzzi]

http://www.devcon.com/products/products.cfm?brandid=1&catid=2

[535rider]

If it is cracked then it is sucking in air where it should not be. More so at higher RPM and more open throttle. It will make the bike run leaner since it is gathering air after the carb and not properly mixing it with fuel, thus changing the ratio. The bike will then run hotter which can lead to blue pipes and exhaust valve burning.

It is an air cooled bike and when it gets really hot (summer idling in stop and go traffic) it will run poorly. They all do it to some degree. If it seems to bog down and lose power but then back to normal once you let it cool then this is likely the problem. At any rate it is not a good thing for the bike to be driving it that way.

Seal it for the time being if you want somehow, but fix it.

[niclariv]

Thanks for the info! The part finally came in after 2 and a half weeks, and I haven't been riding.. So i'll get it fixed on Monday.