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I have a 2008 Suzuki Intruder (VL250) that is really struggling to run in the cold weather. It stalls and dies, loses power while riding, and dies while waiting at the lights. When I warm it up, even with the choke on full and the idle high, it still chokes and dies after a few minutes. I have to keep the revs up and constantly feed it gas just to make it to my destination.

I suspected a dirty carb, although the funny thing is that it only happens when it is cold. Seems to run fine during the day... only on cold mornings does it behave like this.

Also, the bike has straight pipes installed (with baffles + steel wool). In the past the pipes have not caused any problems, so I do not suspect them. It only happens in the cold weather.

Thanks for your time.

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  • Same happens with my 2013 KTM DUke 390 :)
    – Tolga Evcimen
    Commented Dec 21, 2015 at 14:07

2 Answers 2

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It is a carburetor problem, but only because the fuel and air mixture is too lean. In cold environment there is more oxygen in the air, which increases the amount of "air" in the air-fuel mixture. This is further proven by the fact you have to accelerate to keep the bike alive - by accelerating you use parts of the carb only used in medium/high openings, refer to this graph:

http://www.mopedarmy.com/mediawiki/images/thumb/7/72/PHBGGraph.png/286px-PHBGGraph.png

The solution is to tune the carburetor so it gives you more fuel during idle/lower revs.

Remember that during summer you have to undo that change as the oxygen % in air becomes smaller again!

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  • Thanks for the answer. Had the carb rejetted and cleaned, seems to be running much better - no more jerkyness and lives a little longer @ idle, but still tries to die when at the lights... although nowhere near as bad as before.
    – DawnFreeze
    Commented Aug 12, 2014 at 20:56
  • could be carb icing too, longer intakes are a major problem - mine dies regularly unless pro-fst is used in cold weather.
    – Mauro
    Commented Sep 23, 2014 at 11:45
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I think you need a new stator. Your problem sounds like there are loose connections or there may be reason that the bike is not charging properly. I think you start checking all the basics first and check the battery to make sure it is good. Check the volts on your battery with voltmeter.

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