- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
- Messages
- 4,216
- Age
- 49
- Location
- Grant, MN (aka Stillwater)
- Bike
- ST1100 & ST1300
- STOC #
- 6145
I have been talking with a few people off line and thought I would post the issue I have been having here in the event that the resolution helps someone else.
Symptoms: Most of my riding is about a 35 minute commute a mix of riding in town and back country roads. At some point toward the end of the 30 minute or so ride the bike will stall when I pull the clutch to stop of a stop sign or stop light. I do notice that early on the trip that when I pull the clutch the RPMs drop to 1000 and jump back to 1100 where I have idle set. As I get further along in my trip the RPMs will dip lower and lower each time I pull the clutch when coming to a stop. Eventually, near the 30 minute mark the RPMs will dip to 500 or so and the bike stalls. The bike fires right back up and is fine from that point on. Though I haven't ridden for another 30 minutes. I suspect it would happen again around the 1 hr mark. There are no FI codes being thrown. MPG is normal (mid 40s) and power seems fine. In fact I pulled out from a stop sign with a little more throttle the other day and had the front wheel about 2' in the air and this was about at the 20 minute mark of my commute. Fuel level has no impact on if the issue happens or not. It doesn't happen every day or every commute but it does happen most of them.
Possible cause/notes about the bike: When I did the Moonshine SS1K I got what I suspect was bad gas in Fargo. My MPG numbers for that tank of gas were way off. I was getting mid to upper 20s. Though the SS1K my mileage slowly improved and when I got to Moonshine and the trip home I was back to normal. Infact the last leg from Des Moines to home I got the best MPG I have ever seen. It was in the low 60s due to a strong tail wind. Not saying the bad gas was the cause but it is in my mind. Another thing worth noting is that I do have an Audiovox Cruise that I recently added just before the Moonshine SS1K. It has been operating fine. Used it this morning. I did the install with a vac tank and check valve. The bike will tick over to 94,000 miles on the way home this afternoon. The bike has the Turbo City FPR.
What I have tried: I keep thinking something may be up from the fuel from Fargo back in April that has been plaguing me. So most of my efforts have been around the fuel system. Honestly I haven't tried much. Just the normal stuff. Normally I burn Non-oxygenated. On the SS1K I know I ran some E10. I should mention that the tank of gas from Des Moines was 89 cot E10 as that was the highest grade I could find and remember that turn out really high MPG numbers. Of course the wind was helping but I did have the cruise set to 80MPH. Since the issue has come up I have switched to E10 in hopes the Ethanol will mix with possible water in the tank and clear things up. I will say I have been through about 10 tanks of E10 92 octane fuel and there has been no change. I did run one tank of Seafoam. Then a couple tanks later one tank of Techron. This has caused no change in the issue.
What is next: I have to look in the service records but I think the fuel filter is original. I have one on hand but haven't changed it yet because the gasket has to be replaced as well. That is on order and should be in next week. I was talking with a local member here about the issue as he had a fuel pump issue in the past. He mentioned that the fuel pump is only sold as an assembly for something like $400 from Honda, which I knew. The fuel pump which is in the assembly however is a fairly common one used in cages but Honda won't sell it to us from some reason. He said that there are all kinds of cars and truck on the road from various manufactures that use this same pump. He mentioned an ebay listing for the pump and said that it can be removed from the assembly and swapped. This pump can be bought for around $65. For that price I opted to order one and swap it just because I don't want to have to go back in later to do it if the filter doesn't clear up my issue. I wouldn't do a $400 gamble but a $65 gamble I am willing to take. Either way there is close to 100K on this fuel pump so it can't hurt. So once these parts come in I will be replacing the fuel pump and filter. The only note on the fuel pump is that the aftermarket one doesn't come with a new sock filter on the pump. The one that is on there now can be moved over to the new pump but the sock filter isn't available as a part from Honda as they want you to replace the entire assembly. In addition to the gasket I also ordered what is called a fuel return filter. I wasn't sure what it is but it is on the parts list and was pretty cheap. $6 or so. I asked the other member if he recalled what it was when he had his fuel pump apart and he described it as a material kind of like stainless steel wool. It is there to capture big chunks of stuff. May not need it but I won't know what the inside of the tank looks like until I crack it open. Again willing to make a $6 gamble but not $400 at this point. If these parts don't resolve the issue I am having the next step will be to pull the FPR and swap back in the OEM one. I have it in the box o parts. After that we will see what is next on the list.
Symptoms: Most of my riding is about a 35 minute commute a mix of riding in town and back country roads. At some point toward the end of the 30 minute or so ride the bike will stall when I pull the clutch to stop of a stop sign or stop light. I do notice that early on the trip that when I pull the clutch the RPMs drop to 1000 and jump back to 1100 where I have idle set. As I get further along in my trip the RPMs will dip lower and lower each time I pull the clutch when coming to a stop. Eventually, near the 30 minute mark the RPMs will dip to 500 or so and the bike stalls. The bike fires right back up and is fine from that point on. Though I haven't ridden for another 30 minutes. I suspect it would happen again around the 1 hr mark. There are no FI codes being thrown. MPG is normal (mid 40s) and power seems fine. In fact I pulled out from a stop sign with a little more throttle the other day and had the front wheel about 2' in the air and this was about at the 20 minute mark of my commute. Fuel level has no impact on if the issue happens or not. It doesn't happen every day or every commute but it does happen most of them.
Possible cause/notes about the bike: When I did the Moonshine SS1K I got what I suspect was bad gas in Fargo. My MPG numbers for that tank of gas were way off. I was getting mid to upper 20s. Though the SS1K my mileage slowly improved and when I got to Moonshine and the trip home I was back to normal. Infact the last leg from Des Moines to home I got the best MPG I have ever seen. It was in the low 60s due to a strong tail wind. Not saying the bad gas was the cause but it is in my mind. Another thing worth noting is that I do have an Audiovox Cruise that I recently added just before the Moonshine SS1K. It has been operating fine. Used it this morning. I did the install with a vac tank and check valve. The bike will tick over to 94,000 miles on the way home this afternoon. The bike has the Turbo City FPR.
What I have tried: I keep thinking something may be up from the fuel from Fargo back in April that has been plaguing me. So most of my efforts have been around the fuel system. Honestly I haven't tried much. Just the normal stuff. Normally I burn Non-oxygenated. On the SS1K I know I ran some E10. I should mention that the tank of gas from Des Moines was 89 cot E10 as that was the highest grade I could find and remember that turn out really high MPG numbers. Of course the wind was helping but I did have the cruise set to 80MPH. Since the issue has come up I have switched to E10 in hopes the Ethanol will mix with possible water in the tank and clear things up. I will say I have been through about 10 tanks of E10 92 octane fuel and there has been no change. I did run one tank of Seafoam. Then a couple tanks later one tank of Techron. This has caused no change in the issue.
What is next: I have to look in the service records but I think the fuel filter is original. I have one on hand but haven't changed it yet because the gasket has to be replaced as well. That is on order and should be in next week. I was talking with a local member here about the issue as he had a fuel pump issue in the past. He mentioned that the fuel pump is only sold as an assembly for something like $400 from Honda, which I knew. The fuel pump which is in the assembly however is a fairly common one used in cages but Honda won't sell it to us from some reason. He said that there are all kinds of cars and truck on the road from various manufactures that use this same pump. He mentioned an ebay listing for the pump and said that it can be removed from the assembly and swapped. This pump can be bought for around $65. For that price I opted to order one and swap it just because I don't want to have to go back in later to do it if the filter doesn't clear up my issue. I wouldn't do a $400 gamble but a $65 gamble I am willing to take. Either way there is close to 100K on this fuel pump so it can't hurt. So once these parts come in I will be replacing the fuel pump and filter. The only note on the fuel pump is that the aftermarket one doesn't come with a new sock filter on the pump. The one that is on there now can be moved over to the new pump but the sock filter isn't available as a part from Honda as they want you to replace the entire assembly. In addition to the gasket I also ordered what is called a fuel return filter. I wasn't sure what it is but it is on the parts list and was pretty cheap. $6 or so. I asked the other member if he recalled what it was when he had his fuel pump apart and he described it as a material kind of like stainless steel wool. It is there to capture big chunks of stuff. May not need it but I won't know what the inside of the tank looks like until I crack it open. Again willing to make a $6 gamble but not $400 at this point. If these parts don't resolve the issue I am having the next step will be to pull the FPR and swap back in the OEM one. I have it in the box o parts. After that we will see what is next on the list.