Engine completely died on the outside lane of the motorway, but I'm still alive!

grahamf505

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Hi All

Need a bit of help on this one!

Riding to work Tuesday morning via the M42 on my usual journey round from Bromsgrove to Tamworth doing about 70 in the outside lane and without any warning the motor suddenly and completely died on me. I managed to get to safety, but it was scary stuff doing so without any motive power.

Once safe, I tried re-starting it - fired up, it ran for a few seconds and then died on me. Did this several times and same outcome. Plenty of fuel, been running great for last 10,000 miles, never missed a beat.

Got the bike home and tried again. Same result. Did a bit of googling around and the general consensus was the fuel pump controller. Took mine out and discovered the rubber seal underneath had split and I could see (and smell) the circuit board having been burnt where it looked like it had been shorting out. Aha, I thought, that must be it. Ordered a new one from Motorworks (updated one with the black heatsink - mine was silver). Fitted it earlier today and no joy - the bugger still wont start :-(

Not sure what to do now. Engine turns over, coughs, tries to start but won't. My thoughts now are maybe the fuel pump, but I've no reason to suggest this other than gut feel.

I don't want to take it to the main dealer up the road just yet, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Something simple maybe? I was thinking electrics, fuse maybe, but the fact that it tries to start seems to suggest electrons are getting to all the right places, but they're somehow not doing the right things. I don't want to play around with it too much in case the replacement controller burns out.

One other thing is that I can't hear the fuel pump run up to pressure when turning on the ignition, but I can't remember if i ever did.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Cheers

Graham
 
Possibly may have the fuel lines fouled by the tank when replacing. Also make sure the fuel pump connections are pushed all the way in. I found this out after swearing a lot after putting the tank back on after changing air filter
 
Glad your OK, it does not bare thinking about losing all power on the outside lane of a busy motorway. If you had a heads up you could plan ahead, but just losing it would be scary as shit.

James
 
I trust the fuel vent line is doing it's job in preventing a vacuum in the tank - opening the filler cap should tell you
 
Thanks for suggestions so far. Popped open the filler cap and not wooshing of air to suggest a vacuum. Tried starting it with the filler cap open, but no luck. Re-checked the connections to the fuel pump controller - all look clean and good. There wasn't a lot of crud or any water around mine when I removed it, but Like I say, the rubber seal where the two wires come out had cracked and I can see the circuit board has been getting hot and has burnt out. I initially thought it was moisture gettin the seal that may have cause a short circuit in the device (and maybe it was), but having changed it with no luck I'm wondering if something was causing it to overload. I may try the trick of bypassing the controller tomorrow after work and see if that changes anything.

Cheers

Graham
 
OK. Will give it a go. Sounds bizarre but I'm up for trying anything ;-). What am I doing by doing that- apart from doing my back in ;-0? Maybe re-riming the pump or something?

Cheers

Graham
 
I'm only up the road in Stourbridge and I've got a GS911 diagnostic tool if you want it plugging in for a check?

PM me if you do....

Roger
 
Thanks Roger and others for help and suggestions. The great news is that it's now running again. All I did was open the throttle when I started it and it spun up into life - that is with the new fuel pump controller fitted. I usually just start it without any throttle as I don't like revving my bikes from cold, but thought this was worth a try. Maybe the throttle bodies needed to be opened up to get the fuel to flow, or something similar. You live and learn!

I'll ride it round locally for the next couple of days before getting back on the motorway just to be sure. Happy Days! :bounce1
 
littleredrooster said:
Easier to get some fuel in a can and aim the nozzle into the LHS of the tank, surely?

(Edit - I would also suspect Hall sensor)
Click to expand...

Depends where you are when the tank left hand side runs dry.
The pump controller is supposed to put more power on the fuel pump when tank level is low. This makes sure all fuel gets transferred across the tank. Google will throw up tons of info on that. There is good stuff on advrider.com as well.
If the fuel pump is weak it's possible to run dry anyway. Usually you get some stuttering at very low tank levels.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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