[darkjfman]

I was headed to work yesterday, and I stopped at a gas station to fill up then back on the road I go. No more than 200 ft away from the gas station, my bike dies doing about 45 mph.

Originally I thought I hit the kill switch on accident, but that wasn't the case. I try starting it as I was still cruising, no luck. It tries to turn over and nothing comes out of it. I pulled off to the side to call a friend with jumper cables to attempt and start it that way, still the same issue. I got it towed to my work, during my lunch break I have another friend hook up the jumper cables to it and let it sit for a bit, still nothing. I get a new battery to install and check all the fuses, no visible damage to the fuses but it still won't turn on. Got an extra spark plug to see if it's sparking and it is as it's supposed to. So today I will be taking out the spark plugs to see if they're fouled and test if they're getting fuel.

Has anyone had a similar experience or can shed some light on what could be the cause or what else I can try?

 

[greasemonkey]

Sounds like a case of bad fuel....

 

[darkjfman]

Sounds like a case of bad fuel....

Should I just drain all of it and start fresh?

 

[Nantan]

Should I just drain all of it and start fresh?

Check for a blown fuse. Then check for shorted spark plug wires.

 

[The Hornet]

So wait, bad fuel, dead battery. Which is it. Bad fuel not killing a battery
Did the bike turn over and attempt to start?
Did the bike die and would not turn over and start?

 

[wheelman1857]

It turns over, you have spark, that only leaves air and fuel. I would drain the tank, but would video doing it into a glass container, with a witness. If you got bad gas, you have something to go back to the owner with, if any internal damage was done. The fact it happened so close to fueling, my guess is a lot of water

 

[darkjfman]

Check for a blown fuse. Then check for shorted spark plug wires.

I'm checking for a blown fuse during my lunch break and I'll check the wiring after if they look good, didn't think of that.

So wait, bad fuel, dead battery. Which is it. Bad fuel not killing a battery
Did the bike turn over and attempt to start?
Did the bike die and would not turn over and start?

It turns over and attempts to start but that's it. I was listing things that I attempted while trying to diagnose the issue.

It turns over, you have spark, that only leaves air and fuel. I would drain the tank, but would video doing it into a glass container, with a witness. If you got bad gas, you have something to go back to the owner with, if any internal damage was done. The fact it happened so close to fueling, my guess is a lot of water

It better not be anything like that, but I think you might be right. Most people that I talked to around me don't mention the fuel. Thing is I've gotten gas from the station multiple times, I really hope no internal damage is done. How would I determine it's bad fuel with the help of a glass container?

 

[hsierra59]

Dark man hope everything works out for you.

 

[masspatriot]

do you hear the fuel pump run until the pressure builds up? Does it run (FP) continually or not at all?

 

[darkjfman]

Thank you hsierra.

wheelman, what about adding heet to the tank?

https://www.amazon.com/ISO-HEET-28202-Fuel-line-Antifreeze-Injector/dp/B000V4HC7Y

 

[darkjfman]

do you hear the fuel pump run until the pressure builds up? Does it run (FP) continually or not at all?

Yes I hear the fuel pump come on. Not sure what you meant by FP, but the bike attempts to start for about 3 sec after pressing the "Engine Start Switch" then dies out.

 

[Scarecrow]

How would I determine it's bad fuel with the help of a glass container?

If it's a case of water in the tank you'll see the fuel and water separate. Remember fuel rises to the top and water settles on the bottom.

Check for any dirt or debris in the fuel.

If it's old and rotten gas you should be able to tell by the smell. I've never seen old gas in a container but I've smelled bad gas and you can tell. It may not be as likely depending on how many people they have filling up and how often the station replenishes their supply. Unless whatever truck brought in the gas was carrying bad gas already.

 

[Scarecrow]

Thank you hsierra.

wheelman, what about adding heet to the tank?

https://www.amazon.com/ISO-HEET-28202-Fuel-line-Antifreeze-Injector/dp/B000V4HC7Y

Won't work if there is too much water

 

[RACNRAY]

Years ago customer of mine fueled up at the end of his ride and barely made it home, and then the bike died and stayed dead.
It was at my shop next day and I found diesel fuel in the tank and completely fouled plugs.
He swore he put unleaded and fortunately had the c/c receipt which showed 93 octane. He visited the station and found the fuel delivery they recently had, diesel was mistakenly put in the 93 tank!
Ya just never know!

RACNRAY

 

[darkjfman]

Thanks for the info Scarecrow.

Could fuel contamination be an issue? According to the manual, I'm sure it's not 100% correct, the sign for fuel contamination is listed under "Engine Starts But Misses or Runs Poorly" p. 130. However, my bike won't start at all and I've been following the diagnosis of "Engine Cranks But Will Not Start" which is on the previous page.

 

[Scarecrow]

Could be just what racnray mentioned.

 

[high plains rider]

Years ago customer of mine fueled up at the end of his ride and barely made it home, and then the bike died and stayed dead.
It was at my shop next day and I found diesel fuel in the tank and completely fouled plugs.
He swore he put unleaded and fortunately had the c/c receipt which showed 93 octane. He visited the station and found the fuel delivery they recently had, diesel was mistakenly put in the 93 tank!
Ya just never know!

RACNRAY

glad he had a receipt... but couldn't he tell the smell difference between gasoline and diesel?

 

[FetalEcho]

Any codes on the LCD?

 

[darkjfman]

I checked tank and it smells like gasoline, since it was a fill up due to low fuel gauge, the majority of the fuel was from the fill up and it would've smelled differently. So now I'm down to either water in fuel or bad spark plugs.

No codes on LCD FetalEcho. The only time something came up which was an isolated incident with an SPN 520262 FMI 4. I looked it up online and it's related to either cold start, moving the bike before starting, but like I said it happened once and haven't seen it again.

 

[Axxehead]

Drain the gas tank. I got a batch of bad gas after a rain, bike died, ran odd, but made it home. No codes thrown either. I drained the tank got fresh gas from another station and no worries since. It doesn't take much water to cause issues if it's in your gas. And btw, water is heavier than gas so it flows to the bottom.