The bike just died for no reason today

[Midrsv]

We left home bound for Sikeston, MO this morning and about 20 miles from home running 70 mph on the parkway the bike just died like it was out of gas. A little sputter and dead. I coasted to the side of the road and checked everything. Kill switch was good, kickstand was up, ignition switch seemed to work, full tank of gas, fuel pump seemed to run, etc. I tried cranking it but it wouldn't fire. We set there a couple of minutes and I pulled the choke out and and tried again. It would fire and run a couple of seconds and then die again. I repeated this several times until it continued to run. So I assumed I had some bad gas or something. I rode on to Bardstown, about 50 miles and stopped a Walmart and got a can of Seafoam. I ran two tanks of gas with the Seafoam treatment as we continued on to Sikeston and we had no more problems other than very poor mileage. Riding two up and towing the Unigo at 70 mph I was only getting 30 to 32 mpg in 92 to 95 degree heat.

 

Is there anything else I should check?

 

Dennis

[Seaking]

We left home bound for Sikeston, MO this morning and about 20 miles from home running 70 mph on the parkway the bike just died like it was out of gas. A little sputter and dead. I coasted to the side of the road and checked everything. Kill switch was good, kickstand was up, ignition switch seemed to work, full tank of gas, fuel pump seemed to run, etc. I tried cranking it but it wouldn't fire. We set there a couple of minutes and I pulled the choke out and and tried again. It would fire and run a couple of seconds and then die again. I repeated this several times until it continued to run. So I assumed I had some bad gas or something. I rode on to Bardstown, about 50 miles and stopped a Walmart and got a can of Seafoam. I ran two tanks of gas with the Seafoam treatment as we continued on to Sikeston and we had no more problems other than very poor mileage. Riding two up and towing the Unigo at 70 mph I was only getting 30 to 32 mpg in 92 to 95 degree heat.

 

Is there anything else I should check?

 

Dennis

 

Sounds similar (close enough) to what happened to me which was resolved with a fuel filter change.. it was SO clogged it needed a full fuel tank head pressure to assist the pump in moving the fuel to the engine..

 

How old is your bike and have you changed your filter in a while? Mine is an 06 with close to 40,000 miles on it.. and being the 3rd owner, I doubt anyone previous to me changed the filter..

[Midrsv]

How old is your bike and have you changed your filter in a while? Mine is an 06 with close to 40,000 miles on it.. and being the 3rd owner, I doubt anyone previous to me changed the filter..

 

It's an 07 with 25,000 miles on it and the filter hasn't been changed. There's a Yamaha dealer here in Sikeston so I may stop there in the morning and see if they have a filter.

 

Thanks,

Dennis

[Brake Pad]

I have the 07, that happened to me twice, before the Fuel pump went.

and Yamaha NO" about it.

 

riding at 65 the first time, and about two weeks later at 35, we had to sit for about 20 minutes, pulled the choke, and laid on the starter, it finally kicked over. rode it home, the next morning rode it over to the shop, and had everything tested, they said the fuel pump is going. something about the pump gets hot, and shuts down.

the thing is, Yamaha no's the bikes are doing this.

 

Hence..... our 5 year warranty's

I'm starting to think,they have to have a 5 year warranty, or they'd have a major law suit on their hands....

[Midrsv]

I have the 07, that happened to me twice, before the Fuel pump went.

and Yamaha NO" about it.

 

riding at 65 the first time, and about two weeks later at 35, we had to sit for about 20 minutes, pulled the choke, and laid on the starter, it finally kicked over. rode it home, the next morning rode it over to the shop, and had everything tested, they said the fuel pump is going. something about the pump gets hot, and shuts down.

the thing is, Yamaha no's the bikes are doing this.

 

Hence..... our 5 year warranty's

I'm starting to think,they have to have a 5 year warranty, or they'd have a major law suit on their hands....

 

Thanks for the info. When I get home I'm going to the dealer for a new pump. I'm not going to wait until it fails for good.

 

Dennis

[Seaking]

riding at 65 the first time, and about two weeks later at 35, we had to sit for about 20 minutes, pulled the choke, and laid on the starter, it finally kicked over. rode it home, the next morning rode it over to the shop, and had everything tested, they said the fuel pump is going. something about the pump gets hot, and shuts down.

the thing is, Yamaha no's the bikes are doing this.

 

Hence..... our 5 year warranty's

I'm starting to think,they have to have a 5 year warranty, or they'd have a major law suit on their hands....

 

Hmmm makes sense, weak pump couldn't pull fuel through a filter without any head pressure from a full tank on mine.. Obviously the pumps aren't hard to change however, how expensive are they?

[Squidley]

The fuel filter sounds like a solid guess, I would also have liked to know if you pulled the tank gas cap off. If the vent in there is plugged it wont breathe properly and will kill the bike until the vaccume is relesed. I would look possibly into cleaning the vents out in the gas cap.

[Eck]

I would also say it is your fuel pump if you have not had the fuel tank off like Squidley mentions.

 

Mine did the same thing.

 

I found out after having Yama replace mine under warranty, that if you carry the right tools with you, you can take the fuel pump apart on the side of the road, clean the contacts and it will work like a new one...

 

[RandyR]

Sounds like this needs to go into the 'known issues' thread ?

[OutlawRider]

Eck,

 

What are the right tools. The tools you need to carry to do the job. I would like to know if I need something special. Thank you for the info. How is the G.W. treating you. Hope your enjoying it.

[ediddy]

I had similar problem. Fuel pump. When the pump is going bad it will be intermittent. It may work fine for a while and quit. When it won't run you can tap on the fuel pump and it might start working again. It's covered under warranty.

[Eck]

Eck,

 

What are the right tools. The tools you need to carry to do the job. I would like to know if I need something special. Thank you for the info. How is the G.W. treating you. Hope your enjoying it.

 

Man your picking my brains, and I have very little left..

 

I do not want to mislead you in trying to answer your question and act like I know exactly what tools you would need.. I do not know.

 

I do not have a RSV sitting here to go look at or I would go look to see and then make up a list of tools you would need.

 

I have to find / borrow someones RSV to look at then I can tell you more..

 

As mentioned above, you can remove your left side cover and then tap on it and it should begin to work again. If it does, head to the nearest yama dealer or home..

 

[Midrsv]

Ok, we made it to Nashville today with no problems other than the blasted heat. Where is the fuel pump located? I don't have my manual with me. I need to put it on this laptop.

 

I stopped at a Yamaha shop today to see if they could help me with a fuel filter. I explained I was from out of town and had had a problem and they quickly told me that their mechanics were already booked for today. I had them check for a filter and I would install it on the side of the road if I had to. No luck there either. Won't be going back there.

 

Dennis

[BuddyRich]

Fuel pump is behind the left battery cover. The filter is further in behind it. Its a pain in the butt to change the filter. I did on mine at 54k and it looked as good as new but after all that work the new one was put in.

[1sttenor]

I have the 07, that happened to me twice, before the Fuel pump went.

and Yamaha NO" about it.

 

riding at 65 the first time, and about two weeks later at 35, we had to sit for about 20 minutes, pulled the choke, and laid on the starter, it finally kicked over. rode it home, the next morning rode it over to the shop, and had everything tested, they said the fuel pump is going. something about the pump gets hot, and shuts down.

the thing is, Yamaha no's the bikes are doing this.

 

Hence..... our 5 year warranty's

I'm starting to think,they have to have a 5 year warranty, or they'd have a major law suit on their hands....

 

Mines been doing the same thing. I had to lightly tap the FP with the butt end of your hex wrench it will pump up. I have an appointment to take her in on Tuesday. I would have taken it in last week, but I had a 650 mile trip planned. Just returned! :) I feel much better now!

Edited June 29, 2009 by 1sttenor

[Grandpagak]

thanx guy's ... this is good to know..

[Midrsv]

We just made it home with no more problems. But I'm still worried about the fuel pump and I plan to talk to the dealer about that this week.

 

Dennis

[Bikerjd]

I have a 07 RSV with 37000 on and mine has quit twice. The first time was at 20000 miles and I assumed that it was the filter so I changed it out. (man what a pain in the butt that was) . The secound time it quit I removed the left battery cover and the pump was so hot it almost burnt my hand. After some bumping and backwashing I got it to work again. My dealer has a new one on order along with a pump relay and a new filter, all under warrenty.

[slick97spirit]

I thought that the pumps on these bikes work intermittantly when they are working normally. Maybe just some misinformation I picked up somewhere. Is it possible that the filter being somewhat clogged could be causing the pump to run on a constant basis rather than intermittantly. Just a thought & those can be dangerous when coming from my pea brain!

[FreezyRider]

We just made it home with no more problems. But I'm still worried about the fuel pump and I plan to talk to the dealer about that this week.

 

Dennis

 

Hey Dennis, glad you and Valerie made it home safe and sound.

Nice little ride just to go to dinner! Did you run out of restaurants in Lexington?

 

We came through (actually past) your hometown on Friday afternoon on our way home from our week-long Shenandoah Mountains/Blue Ridge/Smokies trip. What an awesome week that was. And the new-to-me Venture was a pure joy to ride. Unbelieveable comfort. I had one happy butt all week.

 

Joe

[N3FOL]

This thread is very helpful to me. I also have an '07, but with only 6000 miles. Sounds like the Fuel Filter and Fuel Pump are the culprits. If I can remember down the road, I may go ahead and replace my fuel filter somewhere between 10K to 12K miles. I hope my fuel pump last longer than 50K miles.

[Bvinson]

When I had my 1st Gen. I carried an extra pump with me. I never had to install it but it was in the saddle bag just in case. The pump itself is small and the little room it takes up is worth its space if it breaks in the middle of BFE.

Thanks for the reminder, I think I will pick up an extra as a backup.

[Mover]

This has happened to me as well twice in the last two weeks. First time we'd been out close to 1 hour when it started sputtering then just quit. We were almost home. Would turn over fine but wouldn't fire. Waited maybe 15 minutes and tried it again and it stayed running so rode home. Rode it about 20 minutes over to a recommended Yamaha dealer a few days later. Dealer changed the regulator rectifier which he said was overcharging.

 

The second time was today. Had been out for about 40 minutes and it started sputtering then just quit. This time though we were much further from home. Let it sit for a few minutes and tried it again. It would run for a 10 seconds then die or if I gave it any throttle it would die right away. Called for a tow truck. After waiting about 45 minutes I tried the bike again and this time it stayed running. Tow arrived shortly after so we trailered it back home. Unloaded it, started it and rode it into my garage.

 

Does this sound like the fuel pump could be the cause?

Can the fuel pump be easily bypassed as a road side fix?

What's the level of difficulty in changing the fuel pump with little mechanical know how?

Any other possibilities?

 

We're supposed to be heading out for 10 days on the bike this coming Saturday but have zero confidence in the bike at this point.

Thanks

[RedRider]

Yup, fuel pump. It's fairly easy to change. Helps if you have small hands as it is packed in there pretty tightly.

 

Remove the left battery cover and you will see it in there. It is rubber mounted and the size of a large pill bottle.

 

RR

[steamer]

FYI, If the fuel pump goes out you can bye pass it. there are posts here that explain the procedure. I believe you may need a extra piece of fuel line to do it. You can run the bike on gravity until you can get home and replace the pump. you may have to top off the tank when you get down to about 1/2 a tank.