08 GSA splutters and dies 30 seconds after starting

FatBob

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Hi all, this is a bit of a long shot but thought I would ask just in case.

I have an 08 GSA which doesn't see the light of day much these days (family, work and everything else gets in the way...). I have probably only done a couple of hundred miles in the last year which I'm sure doesn't help, but the bike is garaged and kept on a solar trickle charger when not in use. Last service was almost a year ago, its been fine since then although a bit rough at idle.

When I used it a few weeks back to go to work, it started OK, I got about 800m before it spluttered and died like it had run out of fuel. I restarted and it was fine, go to work and fortunately it also got me home again. Couple of weeks ago I tried to use it again, this time I got about 400m before it died. It started again OK but now it dies again after about 30 seconds. I hoped it was just out of fuel (fuel gaugue is bust again for the n-th time so I never bothered to get it replaced because I know it will just break again) but after putting in a 5L can of super it still won't keep running.

Doesn't seem to make any difference whether its idling or revving, dies after about the same time in both cases. I tried opening the petrol flap in case there was an airlock but that made no difference.

I called my local (non-BMW) garage but the earliest they can look at it is 8 Sept! I guess it is likely to be in the area of the fuel pump or injectors but I am no mechanic. Is there anything easy I could try myself on the off chance I can get it running again? Also I have breakdown cover and they will try to fix the problem if possible, but I don't know how much investigation they would do and they probably wouldn't have spare parts, but if I could point them in the right direction it might help.

Any ideas, or do I need to wait for the garage? Cheers!
 
Fuel pump controller. Buy one it's plug and play.

I keep a spare under the seat :thumb2
 
That sounds promising, thanks very much. Approximately how much is one of those going to cost me, and where/how do I install it (no rude answers please :D )?
 
Left hand top (sitting on bike) , front of tank. If you look from the front you can see a metal finned thing in a circle. That it. Pretty simple thing to change but there are quite a few posts on changing it from a few years ago. Check with a dealer that your bike wasn't part of the recall but missed. BMW replaced a lot of them for free under it.
 
The newer type is powder coated. Failure of earlier versions was blamed on corrosion and overheating. Who knows many failed while in good physical condition.

Bypass it first with a wire from the battery. In my case, the problem turned out to be the fuel pump.
 
Bendy toy said:
The newer type is powder coated. Failure of earlier versions was blamed on corrosion and overheating. Who knows many failed while in good physical condition.

Bypass it first with a wire from the battery. In my case, the problem turned out to be the fuel pump.
Click to expand...

I have done some searching and found various versions of the instructions to create an FPC bypass cable, but they all seem to require an old broken FPC that you can cut the connectors from, which I don't have. I don't know if I can get an old FPC from a garage, the nearest BMW dealer is an hour away and I can't get there very easily. There was one version which didn't require a spare FPC but you still have to cut the connector off the bottom of the current FPC. I don't want to do this since I don't know yet if the FPC is the problem. Is there a way to bypass the FPC without cutting any of the existing wires just so I can see if it fixes the problem?
 
If I unplug the connector from the top of the FPC, take a lead from the battery and splice into the wires from the bottom of the FPC going into the blue plug which connect to the fuel pump, will it fry the FPC if its not already dead? So I am supplying power direct to the fuel pump but using the blue connector while it is still connected to the FPC.
 
newman7096 said:
http://www.motorcycleinfo.co.uk/ind...ric.nvxszdkebklxuaer&pageId=233223#fpc_bypass
Click to expand...

Thanks. I saw that already but in both of their methods the blue plug has been cut off the bottom of the (dead) FPC. Since I don't know if mine is dead or or not I don't want to cut the wires if I can avoid it, so the question is what happens if I follow method 1 but splice the power lead into the blue plug while its still connected to the (possibly functional) FPC? Will it kill the FPC if its not already dead?
 
Can you not push the pin with the blue wire out of the plug and just locate a temporary loose wire in its place whilst you check operation of the pump?
 
FatBob said:
Thanks. I saw that already but in both of their methods the blue plug has been cut off the bottom of the (dead) FPC. Since I don't know if mine is dead or or not I don't want to cut the wires if I can avoid it, so the question is what happens if I follow method 1 but splice the power lead into the blue plug while its still connected to the (possibly functional) FPC? Will it kill the FPC if its not already dead?
Click to expand...
Probably not a good idea putting power in the wrong end. Cut the plug off and join it back on if it turns out not to be the fpc
 
Unplug the FPC and use prods to put power on the fuel pump. Ideally get an FPC connector (of course) but poking some instrument prods (wired to the battery) into the socket should tell you if the pump runs at all.
 
Ok I have an update...and more questions! The FPC itself looks ok, it's the black replacement type, although the screws were so rusted I thought I wouldn't be able to get them out. I managed to get the FPC out but the seal underneath was broken and the recess in what I assume is the top of the fuel pump was full of water and some whitish gunge, maybe silicon grease. The socket for the blue plug was full of water and the pins were a bit corroded.

I dried it all out, reconnected everything and the bike started no problem, mind you it was starting before with all the water still there. I left it running for about 15 mins mostly at idle and sometimes holding it around 4000 rpm for a while, it seemed ok (a bit rough but it has been for a long time). At one point it coughed a bit and the revs rose of their own accord, then it went back to idle. But after about 15 mins it coughed and died, even opening the throttle it behaved like it was out of petrol. The engine was getting quite hot by this time so I'm hoping that was why it died. What do you think?

I haven't been out for a road test yet because I don't want to break down and get stranded!

Also I didn't try the FPC bypass cable because it seemed to be working and I didn't want to break it. With ignition on but engine off both wires going to the blue plug seemed to be live (positive), about 0.9V on the yellow and 0.4V on the blue so which one would you connect to the battery + with the FPC bypass? There seems to be some debate.

I presume the engine couldn't run for 15 mins if the FPC or fuel pump was dead?
 
Air cooled….15mins.:eek:
My advice, by all means have it running stationary but put a fan or 2 in front of the cylinders.
Otherwise yes you can cause more problems due to overheating.

Hopefully nothing has been affected.
 
Running the engine "light" demands a very low fuel flow so wont test the pump in any useful way.

By the sounds of it you have corroded wiring that feeds the fuel pump. This is more than enough to cause the problems you are having with fuel flow.

Why are you concerned about riding the bike with the controller bypass wire?
 
Bendy toy said:
Why are you concerned about riding the bike with the controller bypass wire?
Click to expand...

I'm not concerned about running the bike with an FPC bypass wire, I just don't have a bypass wire to use. To make one I would have to butcher my current FPC which might actually be working.

Also I am still not sure how the bypass wire direct to the battery would be wired ie which side is positive? There seems to have been some debate about this in the past, in one thread Wapping apparently confirmed that blue is live but in another thread someone else said they put a meter on their working FPC and confirmed the yellow was live! I put a meter between the battery -ve and the blue plug from the FPC on mine with the ignition on and engine off. From memory I got +0.9V on the yellow and +0.4V on the blue ie they both seem to be +ve :confused:

With the blue plug disconnected the engine turns over but won't start which suggests that the FPC and pump are doing something and not completely dead. Not sure if I have some intermittent fault though because with all the wiring reconnected it started OK then spluttered and died after 4-5 minutes. Restarted again and it seemed OK although I didn't leave it running very long to avoid overheating.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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