Bike Starts- Shuts Down after few seconds

[James_H]

The bike R1100RT, went through a few minutes of heavy rain, stopped at a store. About 30 minutes after stopping I started the bike and it ran for about 10 seconds. Would not restart. The engine turns over fine and there is fuel in the tank. Waited another 30 minutes, bike re-started and then shut down. It appears that the longer it sits the longer it runs but never for more than about a minute.

 

Possible fuel supply problem it seems. I have had the bike shut down in the rain but it always re-started after it dried.

 

Any suggestions on where to start looking to resolve the issue?

 

Thanks.

 

Jim

[flars]

Sounds like the classic 'wiring on the HES plate' problem. The HES tells the fuel pump to run, and the sparkie things to spark. What is the tach doing when you try to start it? If it bounces around, it is definitely the HES. If not, it could still be the HES.

The fuel pump runs as part of the start up process to pressurize the fuel lines. The HES doesn't prevent it from starting even if the HES doesn't signal the fuel pump to run- the bike will run for a few seconds until it runs out of fuel as long as it gets the spark signal from the HES.

If it wouldn't even attempt to start, then my guess would have been the side stand switch. If it runs badly, then a coil could be bad.

But, since the 1100s are known to have problems with the HES wiring that always seems to rear its ugly head in the rain (as did mine), that is where I would look.

Beemerboneyard has them, and it is a very simple fix.

[T__]

The bike R1100RT, went through a few minutes of heavy rain, stopped at a store. About 30 minutes after stopping I started the bike and it ran for about 10 seconds. Would not restart. The engine turns over fine and there is fuel in the tank. Waited another 30 minutes, bike re-started and then shut down. It appears that the longer it sits the longer it runs but never for more than about a minute.

 

Possible fuel supply problem it seems. I have had the bike shut down in the rain but it always re-started after it dried.

 

Any suggestions on where to start looking to resolve the issue?

 

Thanks.

 

Jim

 

Jim, while there are many possible causes of your problem there are 3 that stand above the others..

 

The first is the HES crank sensor as mentioned above..

 

The second is vacuum in the fuel tank from a plugged evap system.. Open the fuel tank cap & if you hear a whoosh the evap system is probably plugged & not allowing the fuel tank to vent properly.. If you hear a whoosh it will probably then run OK with for a while until the tank goes to negative pressure again..

 

The third is a failing fuel controller.. If you have an aftermarket fuel controller on the bike like the Techlusion (or similar) DISCONNECT- IT.. Just turning them off usually won’t make the problem go away..

 

 

Other than the above I suppose you could have a failing fuel pump,, or ign system shutting down..

 

Twisty

[James_H]

Thanks for the comments. I suspected the fuel/vacuum problem so I did open the tank. Did not hear a wosh but will try a run with it open just in case.

 

I will check the tach and see how it behaves when I can duplicate the problem. If the problem is more permanent than wet wires, then it should repeat today when I get home.

 

No after market fuel additions that I am aware of.

 

I'll let you know what I find.

 

Thanks again.