Bike occasionally dies on me.... ideas?

[DanOh]

This has happened to me a few times during the past month... Riding along at various speeds, the bike suddenly just dies. There is never any warning, doesn't cough or anything. One second everything is cool and the next it is just not running. Everything electrical (lights, stereo etc.) still functions. After coasting to the side of the road, I can hit the starter and it turns over, but doesn't fire at all. Then I hit the starter a second or third time and it fires right up.

 

Very weird.

 

The bike has just shy of 80,000 miles on it.

 

All suggestions and ideas are very much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Dan

[Guest Slab_Ryder]

Can you say .... Fuel Pump

[flb_78]

Sounds like the ignition switch is going out.

 

Next time it dies, try moving the key switch and see if it comes back to life.

 

DON'T KILL YOURSELF TRYING TO DO THIS!!!

[Freebird]

My first guess would have been ignition switch also. Pretty common failure on these bikes.

[Guest Slab_Ryder]

When it fires, and does not turn over, take the left side cover off, tap the end of the Fuel pp with a rubber mallet or something. It should fire up after that. My Fuel pp died at 80,000 kms. It's a known RSV issue.

[OB-1]

As the other posts have already stated; odds are it's the fuel pump or the ignition switch.

 

There are plenty of threads on both problems and both problems can be fixed without expensive Yamaha parts.

 

Good Luck!

[Kregerdoodle]

My vote goes to the Ignition Switch, mine was doing the same thing, wired the bypass and installed a toogle switch, all is good, or at least it hasn`t died any more..

[muffinman]

Another possible problem that all the second gen owners forget is it could be a sidestand switch problem or the kill switch acting up.dont forget the simple things.you will need to eliminate one thing at a time start with the fuel pump and switch but dont forget to check the other things that can cause a no spark problem.

Jeff

[V7Goose]

This has happened to me a few times during the past month... Riding along at various speeds, the bike suddenly just dies. There is never any warning, doesn't cough or anything. One second everything is cool and the next it is just not running. Everything electrical (lights, stereo etc.) still functions. After coasting to the side of the road, I can hit the starter and it turns over, but doesn't fire at all. Then I hit the starter a second or third time and it fires right up.

 

Very weird.

 

The bike has just shy of 80,000 miles on it.

 

All suggestions and ideas are very much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Dan

If your description here is accurate, it is not the fuel pump. The ignition switch is most likely, but could easily be the sidestand interlock switch or other wire problem. Even the pickup coil is possible, but that is a rare failure.

Goose

[DanOh]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I've found the other posts on the site describing in detail the ignition switch and fuel pump issues. Since the bike just completely dies without even a tiny hint of a sputter, my first thoughts were something electrical. If it were being deprived of fuel, I figured it would at least cough a bit first.

 

In my case, it feels the same as it would if I were to simply hit the kill switch, making me think something is going on that is killing spark. Therefore I'll start with the ignition switch and go from there.

 

Thanks again for your help. I'll post a follow up when I learn more or have more questions.

 

Cheers,

Dan

[Barry.B]

I had that problem with my venture and I changed the fuel pump and then it happened again it turn out to be the fuel pump relay that caused the problem

[Guest Slab_Ryder]

Exactly like mine Barry B. and another local VR I know. Yamaha would not just replace the relay on both of our bikes, they fully replaced the pp. With both of our bikes, there was absolutely no sputtering, the bike just shuts down.

[V7Goose]

The fuel pump relay on the 2nd Gen is a LOT more than a fuel pump relay. It actually contains the starter relay also, plus a bunch of diodes that route various ground circuits to the ignitor. All the information shared so far still says this problem has nothing to do with fuel supply. Fixing it by replacing the fuel pump relay is still a fix, but it does not mean the fuel pump was not running.

 

But then again, I have seen plenty of cases where the rider was so out of tune with his own machine as not to be able to tell the symptoms of fuel starvation. Just because one person says it dies instantly without any signs of fuel loss does not prove that is what is happening!

Goose

[johntanya]

My father in law had the same problem. It turned out that it was the fuel pump. It would stop working intermittently. Kinda wierd but the yamaha shop replaced the pump and it never happened again

[Guest Slab_Ryder]

Yes, same as mine. Occasionally, I could get it to fire up on the Gravity Fed Cylinder ... Tap, Tap, Tap on the Fuel pp, it would spring to life. Yamaha agreed it was the pp and replaced it. No hint of problem since. When I contacted Yamaha Canada, I was told that the Fuel pp was a common issue on the Second Generation RSV

[OutKast]

Mine was the sidestand switch. It was not always coming all the way up. Cleaned and oiled the pivot and it quit.

[KAWoodworth]

I was riding down to Bike October Fest in FL from Northern Virginia 2 years ago. I only had about 17,000 miles on my 07 and all of a sudden going about 65 MPH on cruise control my bike just quit. No sputter or nothing, and I still had a quarter of a tank of gas. I sat on the side of the road in North Carolina for a good 30 minute. Not even a sound from the bike as I turned it on and hit the starter button. I tuned the kill switch on an off many times and tried to start the bike multiple times with no luck.. Then all of a sudden it started and I have not had a problem like that since then. It was very strange failure that I wish I knew why it happen.