California 1400 , cold idle

[Chouchen29]

Hello,
I recently bought a 2012 1400 california, but despite all the pleasure it gives me, it still has a rather annoying little problem.
Cold starts are perfect and idle is good, even when the temperature is 0°C. Once you've set off with the bike, over the first few kilometers, at every stop the idle drops dangerously and sometimes the engine stalls. Once the engine has warmed up, the problem disappears and the bike runs smoothly.
There are no warning lights on the dashboard and I use Guzzidiag to check for faults, but there aren't any.
The temperature and atmospheric pressure sensors seem to be working well.

I disassembled the throttle body to clean it as it was very greasy. I also cleaned the Tmap sensor. I replaced the air filter with a new one and reassembled the air filter housing, which was poorly seated in the throttle body.
And it's still no better.
I've tried a Mark ( beetle ) mapping and it improves the operation a little, the idle drops less but it's still not satisfactory.

Has this problem happened to anyone else?

[Kev m]

I disassembled the throttle body to clean it as it was very greasy. I also cleaned the Tmap sensor. I replaced the air filter with a new one and reassembled the air filter housing, which was poorly seated in the throttle body.
And it's still no better.

This is 100% what I would have done too and honestly expect that it still could be the answer.

I've not worked on the 1400, but I assume there's some sort of idle air control valve/fast idle solenoid of some sort? If so, are you sure any related passage is clean? It would just take a small restriction there to mess with cold idle.

[Moparnut72]

My 1400 raced at a cold start up. Mine was a later model, '16. I wanted to install a Beetle map but there were issues with them at the time,he didn't want to give me one. He had the bugs worked out just after I traded the bike. Despite its few faults I really liked that bike.
kk

[kingoffleece]

Don't laugh.  Check the valves

[Huzo]

It does sound like a stepper motor. Do they run one ?

[Chouchen29]

There's no stepper motor like on the 1200s: idle is managed by the throttle body and the ECU.

Another thing that surprises me about this bike is the engine temperature, and in particular the temperature difference between the left and right cylinders.

The left cylinder is much hotter.

This evening on my way home from work, with an outside temperature of 10°C, with guzzidiag the engine temperature sensor read 110°C 

This seems very high to me.

[rocker59]

Don't laugh.  Check the valves

Yep.  First thing I'd do is check valve clearance.

[Chouchen29]

ok I'll check it out

[Kev m]

In the meantime a Guzzi fairy whispered this into my email:

Kev, it might be worth telling that bloke to check the continuity of his high tension leads and caps. Unlike the 1200’s you can’t flick the caps off from underneath with the 1400’s so very great care has to be taken removing them, which is often quite difficult, and it’s very easy to break the resistor in the cap when doing so.

Unfortunately replacement aftermarket caps aren’t available, (Well, I haven’t found any.) so you have to buy the odiously expensive factory leads which of course nobody apart from us ever kept in stock! Thing is odd idle problems are a common result of busted resistors. It may not be the problem of course but in a case like this it’s certainly a good place to start. If he’s going to check the valves he needs to be aware of the fragility of the caps anyway as he’s going to need to remove them to get to the valves.

And then followed up with this idle control explanation:

Oh, and on the idle management thing. The idle is controlled by a mix of real time throttle plate movement and spark advance. It’s hard to see on a Cali but if you fire up an RSV4 with the airbox off you van watch the throttle plates dance as the ecu manages the idle. Fun to watch. Once!😁

[Chouchen29]

Hello,

For now, I have removed the spark plugs, and they all look the same, with a color that seems correct to me. I tested the ignition of each spark plug with Guzzidiag, and the spark is strong and similar on all the plugs.

I am also going to test the ohmic values of the engine temperature sensor based on the temperature. The workshop manual has all the information on this.

[Huzo]

In the meantime a Guzzi fairy whispered this into my email:

And then followed up with this idle control explanation:

I love the British accent mixed with Australian vernacular…
He’s an absolute gem…

[Chouchen29]

Don't laugh.  Check the valves

You were right, I checked the valve clearance and everything was wrong, it was way too tight. I wonder how the engine could run hot. 600 miles since the last service, shame on the dealership that supposedly did it and charged for work they certainly didn't do. The valve covers were full of mayonnaise (that's what we call it in France).

Thank you for your help, the bike now runs very smoothly 

[guzzisteve]

A happy ending if idle is smooth now.

[kingoffleece]

Now, you need to check everything else.  I wouldn't trust anything they did.

[chuck peterson]

I know you fixed it but..I can’t help myself

I discovered I needed to return the fast idle lever back, in a 1/4 mile or so to let the brain work its magic. Anything longer than that it didn’t like it

Oops….no idea about a 1400

[kingoffleece]

I've seen the idle thing several times on a 1400 with valves out of spec