Am I worrying too much now?

[DRider]

Hey folks,

Me again. With another possible problem. Again.

I'm not sure what caused this, but coming home from work tonight, as I was turning at a junction to go down a road not long before my street, my bike lost power for a couple of seconds, then the power came back for a second, then it went for a second, and then it came back. (following me so far?) This happened in a similar manner after slowing down and taking yet another junction, and, while it may not be a big thing, I don't know why it even did it. I didn't get a chance to run it any more, as after another two junctions, I was back at my house. It was almost like it was being fuel starved for a moment, but I checked my fuel tank, and it's almost full still. It *is* very cold tonight, that is, there was frost all over my bike, and it had some trouble staying on (I stopped at Tesco's on the way home, and it conked off as soon as I stopped in my parking bay.) but it was fine after that. Could it have possibly just been the cold knackering it somehow? I'm sure I went over a little pot hole when it started playing up. The bike's schedule for a full service tomorrow anyway (its first service, so proud) so I might tell my mechanic about it and see what he thinks. I suppose I'll also see if it's still playing up on the 8 mile ride over to him come tomorrow, when the bike won't be covered in frost.

But yeah, ugh, anyway; any ideas on what might be causing it, if you think there's a big problem? I know it's very vague information. It's almost as if my kill-switch was on for a couple of seconds, it was that same low-pitched sound as if it was about to power down.

EDIT: Oh, and also, a huge apology to everybody; I know that all I do on this site is ask for help, and like this post, it's usually over some very trivial and tiny things, but seriously, I'm clueless with this, and you guys are absolutely awesome. Like, seriously; I would buy you guys a beer. Only one, but, still; a beer.

 

[Grandsatsuma]

This happened to me, I had a faulty battery, apparently because of the insane cold it cracked it. New battery and there were no problems at all. Hopefully that's your problem too. When I measured my battery it read fine, don't let it deceive you. Also, is there any muck in the carb filters? If its not the battery. Hope you get it going again xD

 

[BKarol]

hmm it sounds to me like there was some stuff in the fuel maybe water got into the tank and also you may need to get a new fuel filter. I'm not sure that the battery could cause that, if it was the battery then you would lose the power quicker not only when slowing down, but that's just my opinion I could be wrong...

 

[Friz]

Sounds like it has an issue with the cold.

Set it on fire.

 

[BKarol]

Sounds like it has an issue with the cold.

Set it on fire.

hahaha, the bike is ill from snow

 

[TrailChaser]

Maybe your tank is having a venting issue.(as gas leaves the tank air has to come in to replace it, but if air can't get it then gas stops going out) Best way to find out for sure would be to unscrew the gas cap and let it breath for just a second next time the bike starts dying. You don't have to actually take off the cap. Just unscrew and break the seal a little. If that is indeed your issue then your gas cap's one way valve is clogged or stuck closed.(frozen closed perhaps)

 

[thunderous71]

How many miles on the bike, I found riding in central London and in the wet knackers (clogs it up) the air filter fast.

 

[mrtommygunwhite]

yep my advce empty the tank then take it off and then flush it and the pipes with water

 

[dexterbiker]

How long had the bike been running before this started to happen?

 

[66shinobi]

with my model of bike, a common issue people had was the fuel pump. its a sealed unit so if it gets clogged,it needs replacing. no way to clean it out yourself etc etc. basically residue from inside the tank itself from when it was made would flake off and manage to block it. causing it to momentarily loose power and "kangaroo hop" especially on hot days. dirty fuel, dust, and other crap would have the same effect id think.

if its the lining of the tank normally this would all take place within the warranty period but some guys went through 2 or three fuel filters while it was flushing itself out. from what youve said i gather your bikes brand new so it may be worth checking over the fuel filter . if its a filter you can take apart and clean yourself , give it a quick look over and a clean. (but make sure you put the filtration bit back in the same direction you got it out, if its the other way around, any crap you miss will end up in the engine lol)

apart from that theres the ideas mentioned above. the fact its only happening when your slowing down would narrow it down a bit though thinking logically - if your throttle is off fuel is only going through at a minimum, so it would be harder to force its way through any crap in the filter. throttle on theres more force behind the spray so more would pass through it - if you catch my drift.

if there are any issue with starting the bike, then it could be down to the battery, but if it starts on the button first go id personally rule that out.

ps. im not a mechanic in the slightest, just my two cents

pps - if your bike isnt fuel injected and you have a choke, as a temp fix you could run the bike with the choke still on a little, although i wouldnt recommend that for a long period as it may do more damage then good.

 

[dexterbiker]

No i have thought about it and seen 66shinobi's response it does sound horribly familiar to the fuel pump issue i had with my bike where it would overheat, (i moan about this issue in a couple of my videos) once i had this replaced it has been smooth riding from there on in (luckily my desk is wood as i am writing this )

 

[66shinobi]

No i have thought about it and seen 66shinobi's response it does sound horribly familiar to the fuel pump issue i had with my bike where it would overheat, (i moan about this issue in a couple of my videos) once i had this replaced it has been smooth riding from there on in (luckily my desk is wood as i am writing this )

Your vids were one of my main sources of info on choosing my bike, and where my train of thought came on this issue lol. I'm only on day 8 of owning my cbf so I'm patiently waiting for it to happen to mine too. Fingers crossed it won't mind you haha.

@ Drider, please let us know what the mechanic says when you put it into service. I'll be interested to find out what's going on

 

[DRider]

Well, my ride over to the mechanics didn't have any problems, so I thought "Hm, maybe it was just a one-off." For the service I got an oil change, new spark plugs, new oil filter, an air filter (apparently my bike didn't have one before this, which was strange) and the other usual checks. *Just* after I left, it started to do this all over again, though it only did it once (for a few seconds) and was fine after. So, I really don't know what's going on. lol It doesn't help that there's a withstanding problem with my bike, in that one of the spark plugs has a rich supply of fuel coming to it, and the other one doesn't have all that much and is opverheating (you can also put your hands down to the exhausts and see that one is powerful, and one is really weak).

I'll be getting new tyres on the bike next week, so I might ask the bloke to check my carb and clean it all up, maybe run some engine cleaner through it, and see if that helps. I'm *hoping* that just cleaning up the carb will do the trick, as this is a carb that controls two separate cylinders, and is a proper bollock to try and tune. When I mentioned the issue with one spark plug going rich, and one overheating, he said that it might also be that the fuel is simply being blocked while trying to go through my pipe, although, I'm not too sure about that.

As for the battery, I don't know; my battery is only a couple of months old, and it doesn't seem to be running badly at all; if anything, it's running better than ever.

Also, shinobi, no, my bike isn't brand new at all. lol It's an 04 reg, but it's got less than 20k miles on the clock, so, it's not *too* bad. It's just had no end of issues ever since I got it, which has depressed me to no end.

I'll be riding it to work-and-back on my upcoming overnight shifts, so, if I break down in the middle of the night and get fired for no-showing my shift, then, I'll guess there's still an issue. ;-)

 

[dexterbiker]

No i have thought about it and seen 66shinobi's response it does sound horribly familiar to the fuel pump issue i had with my bike where it would overheat, (i moan about this issue in a couple of my videos) once i had this replaced it has been smooth riding from there on in (luckily my desk is wood as i am writing this )

Your vids were one of my main sources of info on choosing my bike, and where my train of thought came on this issue lol. I'm only on day 8 of owning my cbf so I'm patiently waiting for it to happen to mine too. Fingers crossed it won't mind you haha.

@ Drider, please let us know what the mechanic says when you put it into service. I'll be interested to find out what's going on

Cheers man good to hear that ...... see how you get on in summer

 

[NastyEvilNinja]

I'd be looking at fuelling first - then possibly electrics.

Simplest and cheapest 'fix' is to fill up with Super Unleaded next time and see if that makes any difference. Stay well clear of any supermarket fuels because they're crap and cause flatspots in the rev range, which may also be what you're describing.

My GPZ starts and rides fine but then for the first few miles in this cold weather it will stall rather than tick over. It's very hard to get anything warm in this weather, so I'm not worried about it.

It might also be worth raising your tickover speed a little until it warms up out there?

 

[DodgeRider26]

I wouldn't look any further at the issue... I've owned and serviced enough bikes now to realize that carb or fuel injection, both hate being cold... Take the bike out for a long ride... 10-15km then see if it exhibits this same behavior. I bet once the engine warms up it behaves just fine.