Fuel pump?

[darthandy]

Washed the bike today after a very rough and dirty ride last Thursday through parts of NY and PA. We found ourselves having to take some gravel roads and one that even had a bit of a "ditch" full of mud running across it. Anyway, we made it but the bike was filthy. After washing it, I left it in the driveway to finish drying in the sun. I then started it and ran it into the garage to clean out the air filters (Lots of dust on those roads!). I put it back together and had a bit of trouble starting it - like I did't have the choke on - but I did. I repositioned it in the garage but it was quite a chore - the bike would barely run with the choke on and then with the choke on I couldn't give it gas or it would try to stall. This sounds like the symptoms I've read on this forum for fuel pump problems.The pump seems to click, but very slowly. It was too late to do more testing, but tomorrow I'll try tapping the pump to see if that does anything but it sure sounds like a fuel pump problem. Has anyone had these symptoms where it was not the fuel pump?

 

Andy

[Peder_y2k]

It is possible that the wash water has collected somewhere critical and is shorting out some of the ignition componants producing an irregular spark. Another day drying will reveal if that is/was the issue.

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

[Neil86]

Were your airboxes totally back together when you did the restart?

All the ductwork is secure?

Ventures typically don't run well with open air boxes especially on startup.

[IronMike]

I think something is just too wet. If it ran good before the wash it will when it dries.

I have had both air boxes off my 2008 and it ran like a top with them off even as i squirted Seafoam DEEP CREEP into the intake. As he mentioned maybe a spark plug or ignition problem. Spray that area with WD and try it again.

 

As far as a fuel pump, you can test that by sqirting something it will run on, like gas, either, WD40 into the intake as you crank it. if it runs as you squirt but dies when you stop. It's not getting any gas. So trace that down to fuel pump or Filter. But I am told the filters last a very long time. VERY.

 

My vote is Fuel pump is ok.

[MikeWa]

Remove the gas cap and see if it runs ok. You may have a plugged vent hose.

 

Mike

[cowpuc]

Andy, I have had exactly what you are describing happen to me many many times.. Especially using a power washer on my dirtbikes..

Normally the fix for the problem is as simple as removing the terminal caps from the sparkplugs and blowing the inside of the caps, the tops of the sparkplugs that the caps slide onto and the area that the plugs set into all out real well with compressed air until all components are dry.. Considering that your bike may now be in a over choked state, it may need some new spark plugs. I have found that the smaller sized plugs that our bikes use, "D" plugs, dont take to kindly to being over choked and foul pretty easily when they are.. Try starting it after blowing it dry with the choke off and throttle open for a second and see if it starts.. If it doesnt, than try throttle closed and choke on and see if it sputters to life..

Personally, I have never had a fuel pump fail me cause of water, not that it couldnt happen but I gotta hunch it would be rare....

Hope this helps!

Puc

PS, you can squirt a little wd-40 in those plug caps and stuff before blowing em down if ya want to,, it displaces water pretty good..

[Cruiser1021]

I had the same problem a couple weeks ago while on a trip. Pulled into a lot to check it out. Ended up being an bad electrical connection at the fuel pump plug. Cleaned the connectors and finished my trip.

[XV1100SE]

You mentioned cleaning the air filter box. Do you have K&N's and did you oil them?

 

I made the mistake of over spraying my K&N's a few years ago (was first time I'd done it) and with the filters being too wet, enough air wasn't getting thru. Dried them off a bit with paper towel and bike ran fine after that.

[PGunn]

Just went through the fuel pump change (Thanks Freebird for the article) and the symptoms of what mine was doing are the same. Now before you dig too deep one simple test is to shut the gas off unbolt the fuel pump (under left side cover) next figure out which line is the one coming from the gas tank and remove the other one and be careful gas will run out. Now plug a hose onto it and put it in a bucket or something. Now turn on the gas back on then turn on the key the pump should pump like mad. Now if it does not first check the connection and clean then test again. If it is still slow, good test put your finger over the hose end and see how much pressure you have or if you have a pressure gauge it should be around 5 lbs. If after all that and the pump is not pumping or has really low pressure replace the pump.

[XV1100SE]

J... If it is still slow, good test put your finger over the hose end and see how much pressure you have or if you have a pressure gauge it should be around 5 lbs...

 

Suggestion... do this with the fuel petcock turned off or it could spray gas.

[darthandy]

Whoaa! That's a lot of suggestions! Thanks guys - coming through as always! For the record (Think I mentioned this up top) I started the bike (after washing) and rode back into the garage, no problem. It was after cleaning the air filters (Which I have done previously) that it acted up. No - I don't have K&N's. These were brand new Yamaha air filters I bought from Weaver motorsports in North Tonawanda last Wednesday (Great folks to deal with - and they have an interesting load of antique snowmobiles in the place as they are a Polaris dealer) and installed on Wednesday. I cleaned them because I did about 32 km of gravel road on Thursday and thought I'd knock some dust out. I'll try the suggestions above and see if any of them fix the problem or at least confirm what the problem is. While on the subject, I noticed in some old threads that someone had "fixed" the pump by replacing the points with a repair kit from K&L Supply. The link they gave sent me to part number 18-4615 which is for a number of various makes and models of bikes but the Venture isn't in the list. Anyone know if this part is the correct one? At around $30 for the kit and $5 shipping (In the U.S.) it seems like a good way to fix the pump at low cost and without the potential problems of using aftermarket pumps.

 

Thanks again, guys.

 

Andy

[darthandy]

OK, went to check things out and began by starting up the bike. Noticed right off that the fuel pump was ticking away at a good speed, but the bike was still slow to start. Then I remembered that the bike had been running just a few minutes before I had checked the fuel pump sound last night, so it probably didn't need much pressure which was why it had run slowly. Noticed also that as it warmed up, even a slightly sudden twisting of the throttle caused it to hesitate badly, but a slow application of the throttle let it rev up quite a bit. It stalled as soon as I killed the choke. I restarted it and let it run while checking the exhaust pipes. I noted that the rear pipes got up to uncomfortable temps while the two front pipes were just warm. After a couple of minutes, the rear pipes were searing hot but I could still touch the front pipes with only mild discomfort. Sounds like the fuel pump is OK but the the two front cylinders aren't firing well, if at all. Of course - it has to be the two where the plug wires can't be removed without removing the gas tank - that is more than half full of gas. I ran the bike at elevated rpm's for a minute and it was starting to pop loudly out the exhaust (Unburned gases from the front cylinders?) and run rougher. There seemed to be more exhaust smoke (Same unburned gases?) but not really that much. I'm beginning to think that the problem is electrical (Wet plugs, coils?) rather than the fueling system since the motor will rev if I move the throttle slowly and the pump was ticking normally.

 

Andy

[darthandy]

Well, I went out and started it again. Again it was hard to start but finally went. I decided to let it run for a few minutes and after a minute or so, I killed the choke. It kept on running as long as I held the gas open a bit. At one point it backfired (Almost sounded like it cam through a carb so - a real backfire) and then slowed and stalled. I waited a couple of minutes and restarted it. This time it stared more easily and after a couple of minutes, when I released the throttle, it settled into what sounded like a normal idle. As well, I could "blip" the throttle like normal and it would rev up and down. After a couple of more minutes, it started to slow down and when I held the throttle open, it started popping through the exhaust. I held it for another minute or so and it was still running rough and popping. I'm pretty sure by now that I'm dealing with something that got wet which I find surprising as I was using a garden hose with a nozzle on a low pressure setting, but I guess water still got to where it shouldn't. I guess in the rain, it doesn't get up there or if it does, the with the bike running it gets turned to steam before it can settle anywhere. I'll let it sit for while so hat engine heat can soak up into the various parts to, hopefully, dry things out the easy way, especially since at one point there, it seemed to be running normally. Failing that, I guess I'll have to pull of the tank and do things the old fashioned way. So close!

 

Andy

[darthandy]

Started the bike up again and backed into the driveway. Noticed a small puddle of something where it had been parked so I checked it. It did't smell of gas but looked and felt oily so I put the bike back to where it had been and laid on the floor to see what was up underneath. There was a drop of oily liquid coming out of one of the overflow hoses! I guess that would be consistent with a backfire blowing stuff through the hose and pushing any residue in the hose to the outside. Since it backfired, I'd guess that the cylinder in question was firing at that moment. It's still running rough, almost like it's running on three cylinders, but will now accept a throttle application without stalling and idle (slowly) without the choke. I guess that's some sort of progress but it looks like I'll be pulling things off to fully fix the problem. Too much to hope that things would dry up on their own, I guess.

 

Andy

[XV1100SE]

Dumb question (and won't help with an electrical issue) but did you run a can of Seafoam thru the gas? Can't hurt and if it is a carb problem it can help.

 

Are the plugs wet?

[darthandy]

Dumb question (and won't help with an electrical issue) but did you run a can of Seafoam thru the gas? Can't hurt and if it is a carb problem it can help.

 

Are the plugs wet?

 

Just recently ran some Seafoam through and in fact I run some through about once a month to keep things clean. Haven't checked the plugs yet. Will do that hopefully tomorrow when I pull off the gas tank to check for wet connections. I just hope that te backfire through the carb didn't damage anything.

 

Andy