My bike died at a stop light!

[ChuckV309]

My '86 SEi caused me some problems on Friday. After riding for about 20 miles I was pulling up to a stop light and the bike started to die. I revved it up and it was fine. Took off from the light and it drove fine. Got to the next light and it started to die again. I revved it and it came back to life, as soon I let it go to idle it died. Cranked it over and it started. Took off and it ran fine. Did the same thing at the next light, but I had to crank a little more and use the throttle to keep it running. It would run fine while driving, but die if I let it go to idle. At the next light, it died and would not restart. Would only pop a little if I opened the throttle some. Pushed it to the gas station on the corner. Still had half a tank but topped it off anyway. Still would not start. I checked all the fuses and everything was good. Oil, temp and everything was good. I turned the key on and felt the fuel pump and could not feel the pump vibrate (don't know if you can anyway). I called my dad to bring my truck and trailer to haul the bike home. Tried a couple more times and all I could get is a few little pops while working the throttle. Gave up and waited until my ride got there. Just before he pulled in (about 45 minutes later), I tried it and it started up and ran perfect. B-( I decided to try and ride it home. Ran perfect all the way (25 miles). The only thing I noticed is that the idle is now at 860 RPM and used to be at 950 RPM. The bike runs smooth and good power otherwise. I have ridden it a couple times since then and it runs fine, just a lower idle speed. I forgot to see if I can feel the pump vibrate now; will check when I get home. I could not check spark (no tools). Is this my pump going?

Chuck

[alnvan]

Hi
I recently had my fuel pump let me down at the ferry terminal, after wiggling some wires and waving a magic wand it started
working again. After some investigation i realized a PO had installed a non OEM fuel pump on my 85 Ltd. The wires where crimped instead of solders which seams to have been the problem. I have since soldered all the connections to the fuel pump,
resulting in the fuel pump working better (more power?). This might not be your problem but since you mentioned the fuel
pump several times its a good place to start.

Hope this helps : :?:

[ghostrider52005]

For what its worth to ya, my 85 ltd did the same thing. Died at the light started back went about half a mile died again. After a few minutes would restart but then after a min or so run out of gas again.
Good samaritan biker pulls up and not having the option that day of a truck to come get us gave him the cash to go to the auto parts store for some lucas injector cleaner. Poured it in, waited a few minutes, fired it up, died fired it up idled died then fired it up and been running like a clock 15000 miles later. Piece of grit in the fuel filter. Might be worth a try.

[bluewing]

I had something like that happen twice, first time I changed the spark plugs and that fixed the problem second time it was the air filter, the filter looked fine but never the less the new one fixed the problem the RPMs increased about 300 when I put the new one in. You could take your air filter out and see if it makes a difference. You could try some seafoam in you gas and see if that improves the problem, maybe a carb sync is in order as well.

[ChuckV309]

The plugs were new in the spring (about 1500 miles) and I have a new K&N air filter. Just bought the bike 2 months ago.

Chuck

[jawajohn]

I had the exact same problem. It was the wishbone fuse. I did the fix that is posted on this site. Pulled the selonoid switch broke it apart and wired an inline fuse. While I was in there I checked the wiring connections the po already soldered the yellow wires together for the charging system. Then installed new timing belts and a poorboys alternator conversion. Just finished cleaning out the lifters on the left side no more issues. I took some good photos of the lifter cleaning. Just cant figure out how to downsize the photos to post.

[ChuckV309]

I ended up changing the fuel pump. Has run like a champ ever since.

[Granpah]

Just cant figure out how to downsize the photos to post.

Now THIS is something I know about.

If you use an Apple computer with Mac OS X, download GraphicConverter (it's free for months trying it out).
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.lemkesoft.com/">http://www.lemkesoft.com/</a><!-- m -->
From inside GraphicConverter, open your picture and then under the "Picture" menu, open the sub-menu "Size" and then select "Scale". You're almost home. When saving the new file of your downsized photo, there are dozens of formats to choose from. Generally, JPG or JPEG produces the smallest file.

For IBM-type PCs (Windows operating system) people have said IrfanView comes close to GraphicConverter for being easy to use.
It can be downloaded (and I suppose used without charge) at
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.irfanview.com/">http://www.irfanview.com/</a><!-- m -->
I never used it ... being a Mac biker. :d

No doubt there is some easy-to-use App out there for shrinking your photos. One on-line site allows you to re-size photos at their Web site
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.resize.it/">http://www.resize.it/</a><!-- m -->
Again, never used it ... because I've been using GraphicConverter even before there was such a thing as the Internet. :oops:

Good luck!

[1060dsl]

I had the exact same problem. It was the wishbone fuse. I did the fix that is posted on this site. Pulled the selonoid switch broke it apart and wired an inline fuse. While I was in there I checked the wiring connections the po already soldered the yellow wires together for the charging system. Then installed new timing belts and a poorboys alternator conversion. Just finished cleaning out the lifters on the left side no more issues. I took some good photos of the lifter cleaning. Just cant figure out how to downsize the photos to post.

If you have Microsoft Office open the picture with Microsoft Picture Manager select "Edit pictures" from the formating menu and choose resize I use the "percentage of the original Width X Height" option. touch the down arrow and as the picture reduces you can watch the sizes decrease below.

Once you do this you will find that this is much easier than it looks.

[fysty-1]

I had the exact same problem. It was the wishbone fuse. I did the fix that is posted on this site. Pulled the selonoid switch broke it apart and wired an inline fuse. While I was in there I checked the wiring connections the po already soldered the yellow wires together for the charging system. Then installed new timing belts and a poorboys alternator conversion. Just finished cleaning out the lifters on the left side no more issues. I took some good photos of the lifter cleaning. Just cant figure out how to downsize the photos to post.

If you have Microsoft Office open the picture with Microsoft Picture Manager select "Edit pictures" from the formating menu and choose resize I use the "percentage of the original Width X Height" option. touch the down arrow and as the picture reduces you can watch the sizes decrease below.

Once you do this you will find that this is much easier than it looks.

This is the same as I use and it works great! I set the size to 640 X 480. This seems to be about the best size. After you finish, press the dome button & then hit save. Good luck Angela ; ; ;

[GoneFishin]

My photo software of choice for everyday stuff is IrFanView. Easy to use and freeware.