guzziroc Posted July 15, 2014 Posted July 15, 2014 Two weeks ago I started having issues with my 00 v11 sport. It would not start. My bike sits outside with a cover, we had a big rain and I figured there might be something wet. So I let it sit for a couple of nice hot dry days and voila, it fired up, with a bit of effort but it did. After that it would not fire up unless it was sitting in the sun for a while, so I figured maybe the humidity and cooler morning weather was creating some kind of short in a wire or something. So I would just wait and then ride. After a week the bike seemed to be normal again. I rode it a three days ago and in the middle of the ride it started bogging down, giving it gas would not accelerate and finally when I would hit the clutch it would die. Parked on the side of the road, waited 10 seconds or so and it would fire back up right away like nothing ever happened. This happened two days in a row, once per hour ride. We had another rain yesterday and it got a bit wet while it was outside when I was at a friends house. It has not been able to start since. The strange thing is: it turns over and I have the clutch in and cut off switch off so the basics are covered. The pump comes on. The battery is fully charged. I have new spark plugs. The K&N air filters have been cleaned and oiled recently, but I tried with these off and still nothing. The bike had a power commander but I took it off so it's back to standard and it did run while it was off. Bike riding friends and a couple bike shops (who don't want to touch guzzis) said it could be a wire shorting out or water in the fuel filter or the tank. Has anyone experienced this before? Suggestions from symptoms?
fotoguzzi Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 water in tank? suck or drain it out and get fresh gas. do you have electric petcock? look carefully at the wires coming out the bottom. not easy to spot but it is easy for the wire there to break. clean battery terminals, coat with Vaseline.
GuzziMoto Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 There is a drain that is supposed to drain the area around the fuel filler cap. If it clogs (and it likes to) it can result in water making it into the gas tank, which can cause symptoms like the ones you describe. It could be a variety of things, both fueling and electrical. But water in the gas tank is easy to check for and fix. Make sure that drain is not clogged or it will happen again.
guzziroc Posted July 17, 2014 Author Posted July 17, 2014 UPDATE: A couple days ago got the bike to start with engine starter spray, also sprayed some carb cleaner in there in case there was some sludge buildup. I noticed there was some gasoline spewing out of the air intakes. Rode it around that evening. Yesterday morning early the bike started up ok and rode it several times during the day. This morning its a lot cooler and humid and the bike will not start again, so there has to be a time factor. Thank you GuzziMoto and fotoguzzi, I will check for water in the tank.
docc Posted July 17, 2014 Posted July 17, 2014 First couple electrical issues to check would be the ignition switch (remove, clean, inspect, repair wires if needed) and relays (especially positions 1 and 2, swap in known good quality spares, make sure the connections are clean and tight). Do the three main indicator lights come on with the key (neutral, oil, battery)?
dangerous Posted July 17, 2014 Posted July 17, 2014 do you have electric petcock? look carefully at the wires coming out the bottom. not easy to spot but it is easy for the wire there to break. By electric petcock, are you refering to all V11? just that I asume those wires you speak of are for the fuel light and that the fuel shut off was the plastit joiners ie will only flow if conected, surley ya dont need power for the fuel to flow? There is a drain that is supposed to drain the area around the fuel filler cap. If it clogs (and it likes to) true, happened to mine and know of another that is blocked and wont clear
PhilPassmore Posted July 24, 2014 Posted July 24, 2014 true, happened to mine and know of another that is blocked and wont clear Bicycle gear change cable can sometimes be forced through an offending blockage if it has occured in the top section of metal tube round the filler. Check though if the block is in the rubber drain section, as this can be cleared fairly easilly. Phil
guzziroc Posted July 25, 2014 Author Posted July 25, 2014 @docc, all lights come on, engine turns, pump turns on. Update: No water in the tank. Nothing is clogged. Was able to ride yesterday but today won't start again, not even start with engine starter, so assuming no spark. Will be checking the coil next, it might be having some issue where it's erratic and the sparkplugs might be firing sporadically.
dangerous Posted July 25, 2014 Posted July 25, 2014 silly question but it spins over easy on the starter aye... just wont fire? 1
guzziroc Posted July 27, 2014 Author Posted July 27, 2014 silly question but it spins over easy on the starter aye... just wont fire? Yes I am almost certain the coil is being erratic. Yesterday again it would not fire, even with engine starter and it was very humid out. I talked to a guy at the bar who said he had a similar thing happen to him, whenever it was cool and or humid out, his bike would not fire, it was his coil. That's where I'm headed next
docc Posted July 27, 2014 Posted July 27, 2014 Have you disconnected a plug lead, inserted a screwdriver and held it close to a ground to see if it throws any kind of spark while cranking over?
LowRyter Posted July 29, 2014 Posted July 29, 2014 similar thing happened to me on a hot day (low 90s) of in-town riding. I decided to fill it with gas and big "SUCK" when I open the filler cap. Filled it with gas, has not happened since (cross fingers).
dangerous Posted July 29, 2014 Posted July 29, 2014 similar thing happened to me on a hot day (low 90s) of in-town riding. I decided to fill it with gas and big "SUCK" when I open the filler cap. Filled it with gas, has not happened since (cross fingers). tank vent blocked, that will do it... they breath thro the key hole I think and or the other orefiss next to the drain.. i think LOL cant be buggered moving to look
GuzziMoto Posted July 29, 2014 Posted July 29, 2014 I believe that in the US the cap is not vented, it uses two vent/drain lines to the tank. One is a drain from the area around the filler neck and the other is a vent from inside the fuel tank. As supplied from the factory these vents went to the charcoal canister and at least the tank vent had a one way valve on it. Removing that one way valve was a good idea in my opinion. The rest of the world apparently made do with the tank venting through the key hole. In the US all Guzzi's are California models and have the emissions crap on them. Guzzi does not sell enough bikes to justify two version like the mainstream brands have done, and the Cali market is too large of a market to not be able to sell Guzzi's in.
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