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Bike quit on me on the drive home. Again.

2274 Views 44 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  oldguy, 
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Mine's a 2006 VLX, 38k miles on it. Great bike, but I'm curious about a problem we're having:

About a month ago I was driving home, and I knew I was running low on gas. The bike started sputtering, so I switched to reserve. A few moments later, it started sputtering again and shut down. I coasted and pulled into a lot and tried to get it to start again, nothing. Thinking I might've actually run out of gas, I had my wife bring my gas can; I put about a gallon in, but the bike wouldn't start. Crank, but no fire. Eventually spent the battery.

Had it towed to the shop, and the mechanic charged the battery up, and it fired right up, and couldn't tell anything was wrong. His guess was that I had inadvertently flooded it when trying to get it to restart.

I took it to and from work last week, everything was fine. Today, coming home, the bike started stuttering, like I was running out of gas. I knew I had gas, having filled up last week. Bike conked out again, and I rolled into a lot. Tried to restart, first time nothing, second time, it coughed, and third time it started back up, and I was able to drive home. Would've gone straight to the shop, but he's closed Monday.

I'm curious what you all think might be going on. Something some SeaFoam would cure? Something clogging the fuel strainer screen? Perhaps a faulty fuel valve?

Regards,
Brian
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brismith said:
Mine's a 2006 VLX, 38k miles on it. Great bike, but I'm curious about a problem we're having:

About a month ago I was driving home, and I knew I was running low on gas. The bike started sputtering, so I switched to reserve. A few moments later, it started sputtering again and shut down. I coasted and pulled into a lot and tried to get it to start again, nothing. Thinking I might've actually run out of gas, I had my wife bring my gas can; I put about a gallon in, but the bike wouldn't start. Crank, but no fire. Eventually spent the battery.

Had it towed to the shop, and the mechanic charged the battery up, and it fired right up, and couldn't tell anything was wrong. His guess was that I had inadvertently flooded it when trying to get it to restart.

I took it to and from work last week, everything was fine. Today, coming home, the bike started stuttering, like I was running out of gas. I knew I had gas, having filled up last week. Bike conked out again, and I rolled into a lot. Tried to restart, first time nothing, second time, it coughed, and third time it started back up, and I was able to drive home. Would've gone straight to the shop, but he's closed Monday.

I'm curious what you all think might be going on. Something some SeaFoam would cure? Something clogging the fuel strainer screen? Perhaps a faulty fuel valve?

Regards,
Brian
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"the mechanic charged the battery up, and it fired right up, and couldn't tell anything was wrong". His guess was that I had inadvertently flooded it when trying to get it to restart. Maybe a fuel pump or pump relay problem. Do an electrical test also. Check the stator, make sure battery is charging.
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KiwiRider said:
Is that the voice of fruitless hours of experience I hear? A voice that has chased down many fuel problems and carb faults only to find it was a wire somewhere? :)

(Or a person who swore they only filled the car yesterday before driving home, and it must have plenty in the tank, and the gauge is faulty... rather than admit that yes, perhaps they did run out of gas?)
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