BMW F650 intermittently firing?

[Icemaestro]

Hi, have a bmw f650 1997 that i filled up on Friday 5min from home, right at the end I noticed the bike stuttering a bit, like when a bike runs out of fuel. Rode today the 15min to work and it's been getting worse the whole time, and am worried about getting home.

There is fuel coming out, I've drained the floats and they re filled...what else could it be? Loose electrical contact somewhere? It only just had a service by George..


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[unstuck]

Any water in the fuel you drained out?

[Icemaestro]

Nope no water - I have had water in them before hence why I tried that first...


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[unstuck]

I would be looking over the electrics then, especially the earthing points.

[Icemaestro]

Thanks, just for the ignition? as lights etc all stay on. my other thought was maybe there is something blocking some flow of fuel and its not filling the carbs quick enough? might drain the tank and clean it to see if that helps.

[unstuck]

Does it have an inline filter? Or a filter on the petcock? Pull the fuel line off the carb, and see what the flow is like, then do the same with the fule line back on and the carb drain screw undone and the fuel turned on.

[Taxythingy]

Side stand switch? When they fail, they'll sometimes give a sputtering effect but leave the motor running and just get worse over time.

Check the battery terminals, if you haven't already.

[Icemaestro]

Thanks for that one..hadn't thought of the side stand switch...might check ignition and kill switch wiring too. Battery - new and in tight :-)


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[F5 Dave]

I'd still think water in the tank. Bit of meths might help.

[willytheekid]

Do these have built in resistors on the spark plug caps?...I have heard that when they go it makes the engine stutter just like you stated.

edit...I also found this :D

http://www.f650.co.uk/forums/archive/index.php/t-6273.html

[Quasievil]

take the one way valve out of the fuel cap, or if you need to ride home with the cap open a bit.
I had a funduro and this fixed mine (taking the valve out) just dont drop the bike or the fuel will run out albiet slowly :yes:

[Icemaestro]

Thanks, my fuel cap doesn't seal anyway, hence the previous water in the bottom of the tank problems (though I've heard this can come through the air filter also in wet weather). this problem has started almost straight after filling it up at mobil the other day though so I'm going for crap in the fuel (since I checked the floats and there was no water in the bottom of them when I drained). should get to it tonight hopefully, or tomorrow evening. It's a good excuse to use the VFR :-P (and I managed to get home yesterday, just took a little longer, choke full on surging etc with a stop every couple of minutes!)

[F5 Dave]

Tank off, drain into bucket & look for 'heavy bubbles' rolling around the bottom.

Probably should avoid Mobil & use BP instead



:innocent:

[caspernz]

Last time I had symptoms like you described I'd filled my dirtbike with diesel...albeit 25 or so years ago. The joys of trucking and biking combined with filling at the same place :laugh:

Sounds like fuel problem though, drain the tank and check/replace your filter

[Icemaestro]

Fixed...drained the fuel and cleaned the in tank filter...was clear coming out of the main part, but crappy coming out of the reserve, and a whole lot of water...that fixes the short reserve I've had since buying the bike (retarded cyclespot didn't want to hear a word of it and the other 50 million problems I've had in the last 6 months!).

On going to start it up then it would only start on every 2nd or 3rd go, just nothing when hitting the starter half the time, and still having the same problem - feeling like it is running out of fuel. I started at the sidestand switch - no change when shorting those wires, checked the kill switch and cleaned the contacts, no change on shorting the wires here. looked up the wiring diagram, ignition would kill the lights if there was a problem with that, both kill and sidestand switch come back to the 7.5A fuse...pull that out to find 1) there was a 5A fuse in there, and 2) one of the leg bits was snapped - so the vibrations were probably causing it to rattle. Replaced the fuse (with a 7.5A one), now running fine :-)

Thanks all! Mental note. Check fuses first!

[Icemaestro]

also the heavy bubbles thing was good to look for...helped that they were brown heavy bubbles :-P I'm guessing the tank hasn't been drained often (?never) Also interesting to note is that despite the KM speedo and being NZ new, it seems to be the US spec bike with two hoses from the tank - f650 faq tells me that UK etc bikes only had one, and that often these can cause the symptoms I described (probably solved by the earlier post about removing the one way valve at the fuel cap).

[Taxythingy]

Nice! Glad to hear you got it sorted. A bit of a bugger having multiple problems thou. Well done on the perseverance to get it all.

[F5 Dave]

Cool. hope you got it all out & dry so no chance of residue. A flush might help if it was that mucky. Don't want water rolling around the bottom of the tank or it will rust through.

[gammaguy]

Funduro tanks are plastic

[F5 Dave]

OOOhhhh Zing:facepalm:

[Gremlin]

Thanks all! Mental note. Check fuses first!
As long as your BMW is old enough to have fuses... mine is all electronic with virtual fuses. :D

Well done on getting it sorted.

[Icemaestro]

Virtual fuses? What are they?

Yeah don't want to know what the brown came from...18 years of accumulated crap? Rusted Shavings from the tank key lock?

Next mission is to re align the wheel and handlebars and replace the instrument bracket that is bent - someone as stripped one of the mounts on the old one however, and can't get the instrument cluster off :-|


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[Gremlin]

My R1200GSA has no normal fuses (except the ones I added for accessories). Everytime the bike starts it does a self check. When running, if a circuit exceeds it's limits it's shut off until the next check.

Neat, but not quite as easy to diagnose issues... but then, simply take it to your nearest authorised dealer to have it put on the factory diagnostics... <_<

[Icemaestro]

And bring out your check book?;-)


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[Gremlin]

And bring out your check book?;-)
Put it on the account... ;) To be fair though, been reliable most of the time, but sometimes you're there regularly for little things.

Then the salesmen grab you and offer you test rides... :crazy:

[Icemaestro]

That's what it feels like with this, it'll be a new bike by the time I'm done! Though I have been told it was more a lack of maintenance - the dealer had not done anything they said they did.

What's wrong with test rides? I test buy bikes haha.




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[Gremlin]

That's what it feels like with this, it'll be a new bike by the time I'm done! Though I have been told it was more a lack of maintenance - the dealer had not done anything they said they did.

What's wrong with test rides? I test buy bikes haha.
Always a potential issue with 2nd hand bikes. What have previous owners done or not done and dealing with the passage of time (wiring getting old, rust developing etc).

Test rides often highlight a fantastic bike you suddenly want - and if I can't afford it then it's even worse. Fortunately (now - unlike previous years) I love the bike I have, and haven't found anything better than mine.

[F5 Dave]

. . .
Yeah don't want to know what the brown came from...18 years of accumulated crap? Rusted Shavings from the tank key lock?
. .

Seen those old petrol stations that close down around the place? Tanks have a finite lifespan. Eventually they have to be replaced (unless independant owner who can't afford it, only option when they won't fill for you anymore is to close), but for years before when the petrol level gets low they are sucking from the bottom & that goes in your tank.

My comments before about Mobil vs BP were merely fishing for a bite from one of the other posters; they often fill each others tanks when they are low.