Hey yall. I got the 87 Banshee with DG pipes and some aftermarket carbs and whatnot. I was ridin it today racing my friend on my 250sx. I noticed when I would shift into 6th that it bascially had NO accelreation in that gear. I mean like 3rd,4th,5th all ripped ***. But when I shifted into 6th, it just stayed at about the same RPM and never really went any faster. I was wondering if I shifted too soon into 6th, not letting the powerband in 5th kick in all the way, or is it my pipes? I've heard with like MX pipes that you dont get much of a top end. But I need to know about one more thing too. I was riding up a hill, at I buried it at the top. When I let the engine die so I could pull it up the rest of the way, steam came out of the overflow on the radiatior. It was SUPER hot today (98deg.) though, so I think it overheated a little. I waited for it to get cool, and opened the radiator, and there was almost no fluid in it. I checked it the night before and it was full. Im thinking it all overflowed out, but Im not sure. I could hear it boiling when I stopped too. But luckily, I had a 20oz Dasani bottled water, and that topped off the radiator with that and got back to camp ASAP. I rode it around a little bit after and there seemed to be no problems with the motor, but it did scare me a bit. And when I stopped, there was white stuff coming out of a tube connected to the case where the radiator hose hooked up to. Could some one tell me what this all means? Im new to the "watercooled" (always had OLD air cooled dirtbikes) thing.


Any help is VERY appreciated.


NICK

 

Some one has to know something? oh comon!!

 

Hi Nick,

Well, how long have you had the Banshee? If you've had it a while has it always done that in 6th gear or just started? Obviously if it just started there is a problem somewhere.

I am sure somebody with more knowledge than me will post here to help, but until then this is what I would do...

Does it seem to lose power at the top RPM's of every gear? If so change your plugs and clean your air filter...I'm sure you know that if your filter is really dirty it will cause a rich situation (sometimes throughout the RPM range and other times just at the top).

I rode a '99 Banshee that was doing the exact same thing yours is. The kid wanted to trade it for a car I had so I took it for a spin and saw that it didn't accelerate at all in 6th gear. I asked him and he said "Well, I've got dyno port pipes on it which are for low end, and I've got a 15 tooth front sprocket so it won't pull through 6th". Okay, that sounded a little fishy too me, but I accepted it...UNTIL he said "Also, it's kinda windy today too...it's got full fenders on it so it hurts the aerodynamics" (must be he forgot that I owned a Banshee as well). Then to top it all off to prove that he knows absolutely nothing he said "Yeah, it's not a top end bike, I have it set up for low end power so it probably only tops out at like 95mph". Well that was enough for me, I told him that I wasn't going to trade because the top end problem really bothered me. I told him to put the stock pipes back on it and put the stock gearing back on it and let me take it again and if it ran like mine I'd buy it. I didn't hear back from him.

Luckily he is a "friend of a friend" so I still got to hear about him. It seems that about a month or so ago his Banshee was dead and needed Crank Bearings or something. Not sure exactly what the problem was, but the engine was toast. He ended up selling the quad for $1500.

Now I'm not saying this is a sign yours is dying...just pointing out what I have seen. Like I said, I'm sure somebody with more knowledge than me will come on here and can help more.

Good luck with your ride.

-Josh

 

Well. The last thing is does is lose power at the top of each gear. Maybe I just need to get used to it. This was my 1st time actually riding the thing. The damn thing is so fast, but the fact that it didnt really acclerate in 6th got me a bit worried. I guess I just need to shift a bit later and almost max it in 5th before shifting into 6th. Thats a pretty funny story though man. 95 on a low end power banshee? Ha. I would be lucky if mine hit 85. I hope to go up like 1 or 2 teeth in the front in the winter when the rivers freeze over. I need to compete with the other Raptors and Banshees, and it mostly a top end speed race. I kind of got the sleeper look going on with mine. It has the cut off "race(?)" front fenders with the gold douglass rims. So its lookin pretty cheesy (atleast to me it is) but I hope I can tear people up on the ice. The guy that I bought it from was like really really really careful about his stuff and we had him go thru the motor and make sure everything was fine before we bought it. He put it together for himself, but hes getting too old to ride, or so he says. And to top that off, hes the 6 time National IceRacing champion racing banshees, so I am just going to assume he knows what hes doing. I think maybe its running to lean and needs bigger jets to get more lube to the motor. We still have to check the plugs to see if its running lean or its alright. Thanks for the reply.


NICK

 

Nick,

Not really sure, the Banshee does lack low end, but even if you shift to 6th gear too early it should still accelerate, then once it hits the power band it should pull really hard.

The Banshee that I rode that was having that problem felt fine through all other gears...just 6th was the problem. He was right, he did have low end pipes on it, but I'm really shocked that they could cause it to not rev in 6th. However, his other excuses were just plain funny. I had a hard time not laughing. There are so many myths out there about the Banshee's speed and most people, like him, are Banshee owners. My Banshee was stock at the time...Dead even with my neighbors which we clocked at 72-74mph, and I know it would blow his out of the water.

I hope you get all of the bugs worked out of yours...hopefully it is nothing serious after all. By the way, do you know what your compression is reading?

Take care.

-Josh

 

The acceleration problem in sixth is normal. I think sixth is too high geared for the junk ports and such that the banshee has. Even my playbike with PC pipes, milled cages, trinity head, and proflow filter still has a problem acceleration in sixth if I don't wind it out in fifth. Really bad on gravel roads where you spin through fifth and hook in sixth. The RPM's drop and it takes some clutch massaging to get it up to speed.