Engine dies, sometimes!

[ALANT]

Recently installed the Audiovox cruise control on my '04 ST1300 and I love it but now I have a problem. Every now and then the engine will die for no apparent reason. It has always started right back up and run fine just as if nothing had happened. It may not do this for several days and then it might do it 3 times within 10 miles. I hate things like this, if something is gonna brake I prefer is to be complete and total. Intermittent problems drive me crazy.
I?ve tried to determine if there is a pattern to this madness but so far I haven?t detected any. It has happened at speed, turning left or right, under steady throttle, while decelerating, and even sitting on centerstand idling. When this has happened while sitting at idle it was just as if I has turned the idle adjust screw slowly until the bike died. Weird!
When installing the cruise I followed NM6R?s excellent instructions and encountered no problems. As far as I can tell the cruise is working just fine. For what it?s worth I did install a vacuum canister. After this problem began I removed all of the plastic again and retraced my cruise installation steps looking for something I did wrong or left disconnected. Found nothing but of course that doesn?t mean I didn?t miss something.
I?ve put off taking it to my local dealer simply because they have never had an ST much less worked on one and I?d hate to be their first victim. If you?ve experienced this or a similar problem or just have an idea what might be causing this I?d love to hear about it. Any help with this matter will be surely appreciated. Thanks in advance?

AlanT

 

[kingprawnokay]

Vent hose

I agree that it might be the vent hose. Other people on this site have pinched it. Sounds like a fuel problem of some kind.

Check your idle as well.

What's your altitude. Mine dies occasionally over about 8,000 feet when idling due to the lean nature of the fuel injection.

Hope you figure it out.

 

[gstanfield]

Mine dies occasionally over about 8,000 feet when idling due to the lean nature of the fuel injection.QUOTE]

You might want to have your bike checked out. I live at 5,000ft and my bike see's around 9,000ft at least once a week, usually three or four time a week and has never died on me at any altitude up to around 12,000 (that's the highest I've been) I might have just got lucky and happened to get a bike that will run like it should, but then again, ther may be something causing your to die out on you. Just a thought.

George

 

[ALANT]

I agree that it might be the vent hose. Other people on this site have pinched it. Sounds like a fuel problem of some kind.

Check your idle as well.

What's your altitude. Mine dies occasionally over about 8,000 feet when idling due to the lean nature of the fuel injection.

Hope you figure it out.

Thanks for responding to my post. I think ataDude may have pointed me in the right direction (see my previous post). I had already checked my idle but was pretty sure it wasn't the problem as it would idle steady until the problem began. Not sure if it's just my bike or what but that's one tough idle screw to turn. Does yours turn easily? As for altitude, that's surely not the problem. I'd love to live even remotely close to 8,000 ft but that's a hard days drive from Southwest Oklahoma where our alt is 1100 ft. :-(

AlanT

 

[kingprawnokay]

Thanks

Mine dies occasionally over about 8,000 feet when idling due to the lean nature of the fuel injection.QUOTE]

You might want to have your bike checked out. I live at 5,000ft and my bike see's around 9,000ft at least once a week, usually three or four time a week and has never died on me at any altitude up to around 12,000 (that's the highest I've been) I might have just got lucky and happened to get a bike that will run like it should, but then again, ther may be something causing your to die out on you. Just a thought.

George

Thanks for the concern. Fortunately, it hasn't died in over a year. The last time was at about 7,000 feet at the Grand Canyon. It was also 100+degrees and the bike was pretty loaded. It died at a stop sign (yes, I pulled in the clutch ).

It died a few times that summer, but hasn't done it since.

Now I have a K&N and pipes, so it shouldn't happen again.

 

[gstanfield]

I'm with you Kevin, sometimes stressing a machine for a while and then stopping can make them "forget" what they are supposed to do. I had this happen on my VTX today, I rode it for 110miles and the stopped at a light by my house and it went dead, it fired right back up and idles fine at 900rpm so it's a mystery why it died at all.

Alan, glad you gotit figured out, would have chimed in on your problem, but I had no idea what it was

George

 

[ALANT]

Hey ataDude,
Thanks for the tip. I took a look and sure enough it appears that the vent line is being pinched. Looking more closely I noticed that the hose is not routed thru the hose guide on the under side of the tank as shown in the shop manual on page 5-51. I assume the hose must have been reinstalled incorrectly when the ground fault recall was worked and they just got lucky when they put the tank back on. Guess I wasn't so lucky when I installed the cruise control since this is the only time I've raised the tank and when the problem began.
Unless there is a way to remove the line without gas gushing out everywhere (guess how I know this will happen ) I'll wait until the upper tank is nearly empty to relocate the line. As luck would have it I just filled up Friday and haven't ridden any over the weekend.
I'll post again when I've rerouted the line and put a few miles on 'er.

AlanT

Hey ataDude,
Just wanted to thank you for the tip about the pinched vent line. Seems to have been the problem. I just came back from a short ride of 30 miles after having rerouted the vent line and it never coughed, burped, farted, or died! Thanks again for helping me out.

AlanT