Help! - In France with loss of power at 5pm RPM

[Jumpjim]

In France for a week away with the guys.

Went to pull away from a junction smartly this morning and at 5pm rpm the bike started losing power along the lines of fuel starvation? Had an odd stuttering to it. The revs would continue to increase if I wound the power on slowly but rapid increases in power demand lead to the same thing.

Is this the dreaded fuel pump controller going wrong? It's dangerous and I will have to get it fixed but it would help if you've got any ideas please.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Wapping]

Been alright since? Was it just over a few yards of the one junction?

If so, all's well and just a temporary glitch caused by who knows what and will (probably) never come back.

If it persists and goes on for miles and miles, it sounds like a coil might be playing up..... not enough spark / electrical umph to ignite lots of fuel at higher (or forced) demand rev's to really crack along but OK if you are gentle with the right hand.

There again, it could be a number of things. If it has never done it before (or since) I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[richie]

meet us in the morning at Bolezeele someone will sort it out

 

[Jumpjim]

I'm down in Beynac in the Dordogne at the moment. I will have to find a BMW dealer tomorrow if I can't sort it. Nightmare trying to overtake on switchbacks when the power dies halfway through.

It's been doing it all say since it started so not a temporary glitch unfortunately.

 

[Gecko]

Dunno about 1200's but maybe check if there is an airvent on the fuel tank up near the filler cap. If that get's blocked it could cause the symptoms you describe and I have heard of this happening on 11xxGS's .
good luck....

 

[Wapping]

I'm down in Beynac in the Dordogne at the moment. I will have to find a BMW dealer tomorrow if I can't sort it. Nightmare trying to overtake on switchbacks when the power dies halfway through.

It's been doing it all say since it started so not a temporary glitch unfortunately.

BMW Motorrad France website lists several near you.

http://www.bmw-motorrad.fr/fr/fr/index.html

Limoges is your best bet, I guess?

ADVENTURE
AVENUE DU PRESIDENT KENNEDY
87000 LIMOGES
Tél. : +33555103842

 

[F104]

If this happened out of the blue check the air filter elememt? You only need to suck up a bit of paper / plastic etc to block a large precentage of the air filter. This airfilter design sucks IMHO

 

[Jumpjim]

If this happened out of the blue check the air filter elememt? You only need to suck up a bit of paper / plastic etc to block a large precentage of the air filter. This airfilter design sucks IMHO

I had the fuel tank off the other day so will check the breather pipe. How do I get at the air filter? My haynes manual is at home. Thanks for the help chaps

 

[Jumpjim]

I had the fuel tank off the other day so will check the breather pipe. How do I get at the air filter? My haynes manual is at home. Thanks for the help chaps

Throttle position sensor? Would a fuel pump controller give these sort of symptoms?

 

[F104]

I had the fuel tank off the other day so will check the breather pipe. How do I get at the air filter? My haynes manual is at home. Thanks for the help chaps

Easy.. remove right hand side panels(when sitting on the bike). the easiest one is the small black panel which just clips in. When removed you can seen the inlet pipe. It has a sliding lock on top and bottom. Pull both out, the inlet pipe slides off, and you see the filter
this is dead easy compared to removing the htank...

 

[Pukmeister]

Has it been raining?? Water in the throttle position sensor connector can give the symptoms you describe, as can a failing coil (check the lower ones).

Get a can of WD40 from a petrol station, whip off the TPS wiring connector and spray it with WD40.

 

[Pauly S]

try the lambda probe

unplug it for a wee while and see what happens, thats what my moneys on.
it should default to a limp home mode,hopefully.
it will then substitute a value for the missing lambda probe,and hopefully get you home safely,

 

[Jumpjim]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I managed to get home okay although it wouldn't manage more than 95mph on the autoroute

Having had it looked at by Coopers in Tunbridge Wells it would appear that it was a connection fault with one of the coils. It sounds like they just unplugged it from the spark plug and connected it all back up again and it is all working fine. Always handy to know if I get the same thing in future.

Basically symptoms were the engine stuttering at 5500 RPMish or if I applied the throttle smartly to overtake etc. It wouldn't pull through it but would recover instantly if I rolled off slightly so sounds like it wouldn't ignite the fuel correctly due to a weak spark.

A few non-GS owners were singing the praises of this forum and how helpful it was for all sorts of thing including trip planning!

I can HIGHLY recommend the roads around the Dordogne area if anyone else fancies embarassing some sports bike riders on the twistys!

 

[alex_rsa]

Was just about to suggest coils....

I updated a previous thread on how to test your coils but your sysptoms were spot on of a failed (or unplugged) coil - maybe we should get a sticky for it as it appears reasonable common and confusing issue.

Glad your sorted

Alex

 

[Pukmeister]

Has it been raining?? Water in the throttle position sensor connector can give the symptoms you describe, as can a failing coil (check the lower ones).

Get a can of WD40 from a petrol station, whip off the TPS wiring connector and spray it with WD40.

Nobody listens, as usual.

 

[hops]

sorry

Nobody listens, as usual.

What did you say.........

 

[Mr K]

Has it been raining?? Water in the throttle position sensor connector can give the symptoms you describe, as can a failing coil (check the lower ones).

Get a can of WD40 from a petrol station, whip off the TPS wiring connector and spray it with WD40.

Had the same in Ireland. Gasket on FPC was twisted and orifice beneath filled with water shorting out.

 

[Wapping]

It's dangerous and I will have to get it fixed but it would help if you've got any ideas please.

Thanks in advance!

I'm down in Beynac in the Dordogne at the moment. I will have to find a BMW dealer tomorrow if I can't sort it. Nightmare trying to overtake on switchbacks when the power dies halfway through.

It's been doing it all say since it started so not a temporary glitch unfortunately.

Thanks for all the help guys.

I managed to get home okay although it wouldn't manage more than 95mph on the autoroute

Having had it looked at by Coopers in Tunbridge Wells it would appear that it was a connection fault with one of the coils. It sounds like they just unplugged it from the spark plug and connected it all back up again and it is all working fine......... Always handy to know if I get the same thing in future.

Great you survived. Where's the 'Phew' emoticon when you need one? From all the drama of your initial posts it looked like the end.....

 

[Jumpjim]

I was more worried about having to sit in a bloody car transporter all the way back from the Dordogne. Thankfully that wasn't the case.