• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

bike dies after running 40-50 miles

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hello, looking for some help from the experts on here.

Bike is a 1980 GS1000GL got it about 1 month ago, has run fine around town and idles smoothly. So finally last weekend time for the longer ride, well it stopped after about 50 miles, symptoms really felt like it was running out of gas. Since tank was near empty, figured that was it. Coasted into a gas station, filled up (hmm only took 2.5 gallons and it's a 3.5 tank). Overall the stop was about 15 minutes, it started right up and then ran fine 20 miles to home.

So today, bike did the same thing ran perfect for about 50 miles. Started dying, first symptoms were no reaction to more throttle. Coasted to a stop. So this time I just repeated what I did before, removed gas cap, sat for 15 minutes. Started up fine and got me the 10 miles home.

Idea's? It sure seems like a fuel/vacuum issue to me, but what and where should I be looking?

thanks much
mike
 
Sounds like it may by the vent in the gas cap. Vacuum builds up after a while, which stops fuel flow. Openning the cap allows air in, so it starts up again. Clean out the cap to see if that solves the problem.
 
Could be a bad line or connection for the vacuum line that controls the flow of fuel thru the petcock. If that was it , turning to the "prime" position would restore the flow (don't forget to turn it back to "on" when you shut down). If switching to "prime" (not reserve") doesn't solve the problem then that ain't it.
Another possiblity is you've got crud built up in your gas cap & it's not venting, causing a vaccuum in the tank and again no fuel flow. Did you hear a 'whoosing" sound when you removed the cap?
Could also be something heat related with your ignition--it fails when it heats up. From what you describe my 1st guess is that it's a fuel delivery problem. When it happens you need to pull one of the plugs and ground it on the engine--with its wire attached, of course. Hit the starter and see if you've got a healthy spark--be careful not to get zapped!
Other possiblities:Crud in the tank that's plugging the screen that's attached to the petcock. A dirty inline fuel filter if someone installed one.
I'm FAR from an expert but hope something here helps ya out. Good Luck!

ED
 
Thanks for tips, yea my first guess is/was gas cap venting, but a quick look at this cap and I can't even see how the venting works? Looks like a solid rubber seal all around the rim? I'll disassembly it tomorrow in any case. Didn't hear any sucking sounds on removal and was watching for it the 2nd time.

This bike has what some call the no petcock, petcock, takes a small flathead screwdriver to turn to prime. but thanks on my next test ride, I'll make sure I'm ready to both move it to prime and also check for a spark. Since it appears the problem goes away quickly, it if turns out to be more then just a gas cap vent issue, might be a real bugger to find.
 
check for any kinks in the fuel line and also make sure the vacume line to the petcock is in good shape and is not kinked.
 
mikeymike said:
Thanks for tips, yea my first guess is/was gas cap venting, but a quick look at this cap and I can't even see how the venting works? Looks like a solid rubber seal all around the rim? I'll disassembly it tomorrow in any case. Didn't hear any sucking sounds on removal and was watching for it the 2nd time.

This bike has what some call the no petcock, petcock, takes a small flathead screwdriver to turn to prime. but thanks on my next test ride, I'll make sure I'm ready to both move it to prime and also check for a spark. Since it appears the problem goes away quickly, it if turns out to be more then just a gas cap vent issue, might be a real bugger to find.
Click to expand...


The simple test for gas tank vacuum is to create the condition, then just open the cap, put it back, and carry on. No need to clean out the cap if this test doesn't show any change.
 
I had a similar problem last year. But my distance was much shorter before the bike died. It was more like ten miles. The problem, for me, turned out to be a defective fuel filter. I rode it home. But not after it died on me in the rain and I stepped off the bike into a ditch. Yeah, I laid it down. Took me something like forty five minutes to get the thing back on its wheels. But I digress.... The next day I took the fuel filter off and it had fuel in it still. It wasn't flowing out as it should have been. So, I blew it's contents into a glass and voila I got mostly water. The paper element had absorbed the water and wasn't allowing the fuel to flow. No more el cheapo fuel filters only the metal type for me from then on. I hope that this is the easy fix for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top