This week I removed and replaced 3 fuel pumps and fuel filters on ST1300's.
Two of the bikes were civilian models, and the other was a police motor.
All the bikes had between 40k and 60k miles on them.
One of them was guilty of running his fuel tank down to one bar too often, over heating and putting strain on his fuel pump.
The other two were serviced by their owners, doing yearly brake & clutch flushing, oil changes, air filters, and brake pads.
All three of them had one thing in common, (neglected) and that was their fuel filter had never been changed since new.
"my bike runs fine, no need to change it" etc.
I suspect this is one of the main reasons that the fuel pumps start dying a slow death.
After removing the filter(s), I filled a syringe full of fresh fuel and inserted it into one end of the filter(s), and placed a clean red shop rag over the other end, then pushed the fuel through.
Each time, what strained to come out the other end, was very nasty, and left a large black deposit as big as your palm on the shop rag.
Replacing the fuel filter is not a difficult job, and only runs about $40 dollars for the OEM filter, and $10 dollars for the packing (gasket).
It can be done in about 30 minutes with simple tools etc.
And its a whole lot cheaper than replacing the fuel pump.
So next time your thinking about servicing your bike, think about that poor, out of site, out of mind, fuel filter.
Two of the bikes were civilian models, and the other was a police motor.
All the bikes had between 40k and 60k miles on them.
One of them was guilty of running his fuel tank down to one bar too often, over heating and putting strain on his fuel pump.
The other two were serviced by their owners, doing yearly brake & clutch flushing, oil changes, air filters, and brake pads.
All three of them had one thing in common, (neglected) and that was their fuel filter had never been changed since new.
"my bike runs fine, no need to change it" etc.
I suspect this is one of the main reasons that the fuel pumps start dying a slow death.
After removing the filter(s), I filled a syringe full of fresh fuel and inserted it into one end of the filter(s), and placed a clean red shop rag over the other end, then pushed the fuel through.
Each time, what strained to come out the other end, was very nasty, and left a large black deposit as big as your palm on the shop rag.
Replacing the fuel filter is not a difficult job, and only runs about $40 dollars for the OEM filter, and $10 dollars for the packing (gasket).
It can be done in about 30 minutes with simple tools etc.
And its a whole lot cheaper than replacing the fuel pump.
So next time your thinking about servicing your bike, think about that poor, out of site, out of mind, fuel filter.
