HELP!!! Bike died!!

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gearhead65 · Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:23 pm

So, I was on my way home from work when I stopped at the stop light and when I went to take off, my bike just died. It started right back up, but as I gave it gas it would die again. I managed to roll it out of traffic into a parking space. I tried the choke, the fuel valve, but nothing worked. It would idle, but as soon as I would give it some gas it would just sputter and die. I got a ride to my house where I got my truck and came back to my bike. I started it up and soon as I gave it some gas, it died. I started it up again and gave it some gas and then it started working just fine. I revved it a few times, but it wouldn't die again. I drove it home and didn't have a problem. It seems to be running fine now. What the heck?? It only has 693 miles on it. It has almost a full tank of gas. What could possibly be wrong?

#2 Unread post by **Skier** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:58 pm

It's fuel or air related. If your bike didn't have any issues at all, no minor symptoms until it fell on its face like that, I'd wager something worked its way loose. Could be something is preventing fuel from reaching the carbs or something rattled loose in your airbox or carb boots. If something blocked off your air filter it would show those symptoms, or if you suddenly had a huge vacuum leak from a carb boot coming undone.

I'd start by verifying you have fuel in the carbs by attaching a length of tubing and opening the drain screw at the bottom. Fuel comes out of your carbs, look elsewhere. No fuel, find out why it's not getting to your carbs. Perhaps your fuel line kinked.

ofblong · #3 Unread post by **ofblong** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:13 pm

why mess with all that if its got 693 miles on it? I would assume you still have it under warranty and should be getting the first oil change anyways (if it wasnt done at 600 miles). If it was me I would just take it back to the stealer you got it from and have them do the warranty work on it but thats just me.

gearhead65 · Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:44 am

It has no warranty. I bought it *used* with 361 miles on it. Only warranty it came with is a 15 day warranty.

#5 Unread post by **Skier** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:56 am

The factory warranty doesn't transfer with the bike?

ofblong · #6 Unread post by **ofblong** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:29 am

Skier wrote:The factory warranty doesn't transfer with the bike?

maybe the factory warranty ran out 15 days after he bought it? I thought they had a 5 yr warranty on bikes? Though I have seen someone that only put 32 miles on their motorcycle in 8 years.

gearhead65 · Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:02 am

I'll check for sure, but I think the warranty is only a year.

#8 Unread post by **Skier** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:17 am

gearhead65 wrote:I'll check for sure, but I think the warranty is only a year.

According to the web site, that's correct.

flynrider · Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:21 am

I think Skier's on the right track with air/fuel starvation. If it idles fine, yet dies when you try to increase the power output, it's either not getting enough fuel or air.

Once you've made sure that there are no obstructions in the air flow, then fuel supply becomes a possible culprit. Now, if this was a case of something temporarily clogging a carb jet, the bike would have just run on 1 cylinder when you tried to increase the throttle (rough, but it would have kept running). That it just sputtered and died seems to indicate a possible interruption in the fuel supply to both carbs. This could mean that was some foreign matter in the petcock or fuel lines that was interrupting the flow, or possibly a pinched fuel line (if you have one that feeds both carbs).

I'd check any fuel filters that are downstream of the petcock, and also the petcock screen. If there's a piece of gunk in there that block fuel flow once, it could possibly happen again.

gearhead65 · Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:38 pm

Found some interesting information. I called the dealer to see if there was a possibility that the warranty was still valid, but to my disappointment it expired in June. She did, however, tell me of a warranty claim in June of a carburetor vent hose issue. That's all she mentioned, but I wonder if that might have something to do with it. Is this a reccuring issue and maybe it got pinched? Would it cause that?