Engine Note And Loss Of Power

Hello form a British Newbie.

I've been in India for the last 2 years, and my 2001 VFR 800FI has been covered and garaged, battery out, during this time. With some new oil, he bike started first time, and all seems well, apart from the following issue:

I've just ridden 1000k to Denmark. During the trip, I thought the engine note sounded a little rough, and the power pickup was sluggish from standstill  to 100-120 mph (the fastest I rode on this trip). Several times, whilst riding at around 6k RPM, I'd get a power surge (maybe 20%), the engine note would be sweeter, and the power response from the throttle would become more instant. This would come and go, usually, as I said, whilst cruising at high speed on the highway.

I'm not (very) stupid, but I lack mechanical knowledge and experience with this machine. Where should I look to solve this problem? Plugs? Timing? Fuel or air flow? Also, how can I solve the problem myself - 2 years in India has left me very cost-conscious.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Red

Hey Red, welcome to VFRD!

When these bikes sit for vary long they seem to be susceptible to Injector issues like sticking, more so on the 5th gen too.

Your symptoms sound similar to a bad/stuck injector and with the intermittent part of it I would say there is some type of small debris in one or more injector.
I would start with finding a few cans of the best Injector Cleaner you can find and run it at maybe even double strength and see what happens.

Others will post up other suggestions soon, good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

Got pics?

BR

Check your airbox for mouse nests. Check your spark plugs for fouling. You did change the gasoline out for fresh gas, right? I would also run injector cleaner as Baileyrock said.

Might be worth running a can of that water evaporator stuff (like heet) through the system, too.

add to the above mentioned a good tuneup-with new plugs.   and a new fuel filter wouldn't hurt.  check it for debris.  

did you have any stabilizers in your fuel?  2 years can gunk up fuel pretty good.