Do I have a fuel starvation problem?

broken26 · August 16, 2013, 11:41:37 AM

Hey, I have a 2007 gs500f and I was wondering If I have a fuel starvation problem.

My bike needed to be running in prime for me to be able to ride it because the ON fuel hose was kinked. The bike would sometimes run in the ON but it would sputter from time to time and I'd have to pull over and switch to prime and I just kept it running at prime until I fixed the hose. I replace the kinked ON fuel hose and filled up my tank and it was running fine for about a week or two.

Today at (150mi) into the tank I started to ride and my bike started to sputter and stall so I had to pull over. I put down my kick stand (not fully) and set my bike down and it started to drop and I broke my left mirror before I manage to bring it back up, so I guess I didn't actually fully drop it. None the less I didn't know what was wrong so I just kept trying to start it and when I got it running I just feathered the throttle until I got to work.

When I got back from work the bike seemed to run good after I gave it some good choke and was halfway to riding home when the same thing happened. I pulled over again and just put it into prime, waited for about a minute and rode home just fine.

I looked up this issue and it "seems" to be a fuel starving issue, and was wondering is there any way to fix it? Or should I just not care and just run it in prime all the time.

I'm just sad I had my first drop on my bike because of this incident, though I don't really count it as a drop because I caught it before it fell, though I broke my mirror.

Thanks.

cheetahman · August 16, 2013, 11:55:14 AM

Running OK in prime but not other positions is pretty indicative of two different conditions.
1. You could have a vacume leak in the hose that goes from the vacume port to the back of the fuel valve, or
2. The diaphram in the fuel valve could be bad.

You can run it OK in prime, but you should look into the problem and if you cant see a problem with the vacume hose, then you probably should replace the valve.

adidasguy · August 16, 2013, 12:13:30 PM

PRIME uses the same hose as RESERVE.
To determine if your vacuum line is pinched or kinked, try RESERVE.
I haven't seen a petcock go bad. When they don't work it has always been:
1. pinched or disconnected vacuum line
2. or petcock is dirty and needs cleaning out.

You might check your fuel lines again. Maybe it is again kinked.
When I run fuel lines, I give a few extra inches so there is plenty to route it so it won't get kinked...... like you see here.....

and extra length makes it handy when you need to work on the bike - like lifting up the tank.

cheetahman · August 16, 2013, 12:57:00 PM

The other thing it could be is that you said you had 150 miles on that tank of fuel. It might just be that that is all you get before you have to switch to reserve, 3.5 gallons @ 42 mpg = 147 miles. Adidasguy made me think of it when he said same hose as reserve. This just might be all about the gas station.

broken26 · August 17, 2013, 03:39:18 AM

Quote from: cheetahman on August 16, 2013, 12:57:00 PM
The other thing it could be is that you said you had 150 miles on that tank of fuel. It might just be that that is all you get before you have to switch to reserve, 3.5 gallons @ 42 mpg = 147 miles. Adidasguy made me think of it when he said same hose as reserve. This just might be all about the gas station.

It seems I might of needed a fill up.

This was the first tank i've run on the regular ON position because I have always run on Prime, so I filled her up and she was running handy dandy.

Thanks.

ese12105 · August 17, 2013, 09:09:56 PM

I did this too... I was only at like a 120 miles (but 120 miles of city driving with WOT after every light till up to speed

) but it started to sputter and I switched it to prime. On the way home same thing happened in the on position again so switched to prime again, but then it occurred to me to try reserve. That worked. Just out of gas lol... Maybe my driving habits are bad only getting 120 miles out of my tank, but it was a fun 120 miles...

Janx101 · August 17, 2013, 09:22:37 PM

Some here might gasp and tut at 120 , but I can see it, I've blown thru to reserve lately at between 200 and 240km, ....... Yes mine are fun km's also

ese12105 · August 17, 2013, 10:15:15 PM

Lol I sure hope I can get some better mileage together. But this is also after the bike had been sitting from the previous owner so I assume with some more use, it will improve as well.

Zookmang · August 18, 2013, 12:23:02 AM

Whoa Janx you must have some REAL good fun on your bike to blast through a tank in 240km, I regularly get about 300-330km before reserve and I'm not exactly kind on my bike either when it comes to getting up to speed!

Janx101 · August 18, 2013, 02:13:02 AM

Nah .. Not the whole tank ... To the switch/reserve point ... But the bike also is hauling my 320lb geared up carcass around too!

Zookmang · August 19, 2013, 01:39:03 AM

Yeah i'm a pretty thin guy, only like 85kg guess it would make a bit of a difference. You'd still be caning it though to make it drink like that!

Janx101 · August 19, 2013, 02:03:52 AM

Could be......... Due for the 18k service too...

mimikeni · August 19, 2013, 06:31:47 AM

Yesterday's ride taught me something important. I always fill up after riding about 120 miles, just to be safe (I've run out of gas twice). And, when the bike starts to sputter at 75 mph, I reach down and flip the frame petcock to prime and off I go, merrily on my way with no issues. Got 60+ mpg yesterday.

News:

Do I have a fuel starvation problem?