Fuel starvation problems

[Eveready1100]

Interim progress report on the issue-

Rolled the bike out of the garage Saturday morning to prepare for the run down to the Chrissy meeting.
Fired it up and it ran smoothly on 1/2 choke till it warmed up a bit.
Helmet on, choke off, clunk into first and I head up the road to fill her up ready for the trip. Running smoothly at this stage for about a kilometer until I backed off the throttle for a longish descent to a tee intersection with the Bruce highway. No traffic, so I started to turn out onto the roadway and went to accelerate and the bike went off song and blubbered?? its way slowly up the hill to the servo.
I thought a full tank of fuel would stop the nonsense but to my dismay, when I went to start it up again, it refused to fire up. After about 6 or 7 attempts, I gave up and pushed it away from the bowser and parked it for a few minutes.

It did eventually start after much cranking ( had to have the throttle wide open to get any response at all, most unlike its normal routine)
It took some time to get it running enough to risk trying to get home, but it did manage to limp slowly down the hill  and laboured a LOT up the last climb to the safety of my garage.
Then I picked up the phone and rang Geoff to let him know about my problems.

I haven't had a chance to have another look at it since, but I can see I'm going to have to go through the cleaning of taps and lines and fit new filters again, but I'm pretty certain now that some crud has made it into the carbs now, so they'll be coming out for an intimate going over as well.
BTW, I have one of these kits on the way to do a proper job on the tank-

[pgnz]

Just make sure the rust is gone first, I have seen rust appear later under the sealer but as said the best idea for long term results.

yeah the por15 kit comes with a jar of a wicked rust-killer potion,  dissolves rust like it's nothing. then just hose it all away with water...

[Timbo]

Just make sure the rust is gone first, I have seen rust appear later under the sealer but as said the best idea for long term results.

I'm with Kiwi on this one
the POR15 product is the cats pajamas - I've used it on just about every machine I've owned...
 

A couple of tanks I did I quarter filled with fine gravel chip and white vinegar. Packed securely into cement mixer and let her go for about five hours, works real good..

[Christian Raith]

Just make sure the rust is gone first, I have seen rust appear later under the sealer but as said the best idea for long term results.

I'm with Kiwi on this one
the POR15 product is the cats pajamas - I've used it on just about every machine I've owned...
 

[Timbo]

I'm with Kiwi on this one
the POR15 product is the cats pajamas - I've used it on just about every machine I've owned...
 

And plus one more, great product and well worth the money. Permanent fix, no worries ever again.

[AussiXS11G]

I'm with Kiwi on this one
the POR15 product is the cats pajamas - I've used it on just about every machine I've owned...
 

[Eveready1100]

Jonesey, i forgot to mention that I travelled about 3/4 of the trip with the cap open, as I've experienced that problem before, but just to be sure........



I pulled the whole thing apart on the weekend and gave it the cleaning of its life.
It vented ok when I pulled it off, but it breathes as easy as, now!

I got a bit distracted this arvo (scored a pair of old greenhouse frames from work so had to fit the racks on the ute to bring them home tomorrow)
so my test ride didn't eventuate. Tomorrow, maybe

[SCARFEY]

I'm using this stuff:

https://www.kbs-coatings.com/large-cycle-tank-sealer-kit.html

As soon as I can get the old BMW paint out of my tank.

I'm currently using spray gun cleaner because it's a liquid paint stripper. The guy from KBS tells me their paint stripper will do a better job and while it's Gel it's more liquid than a standard paint stripper and will coat the inside of the tank.

Don't use Kreeme it's crap it puts a plastic liner the same consistency as a cheap Woolies shopping bag and doesn't stick all that well. I've got sheets of the stuff floating around in the tank I have on the bike at the moment.

I'll let you know how the KBS product goes.

[pgnz]

yo,  don't shag around,  get the real deal and fix it for life  http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Fuel-Tank-Repair-Kit_p_62.html

[Christian Raith]

I reckon do a rinse with CLR a couple of times then wack a bit of diesel in for a slosh around.

I had a similar thing, draining a tank on the bench, thought it was drained as the fuel flow had stopped but still heavy.
Popped the lid and out came the fuel.
The breather in the tank cap needs a bit of a look and clean.

[Jonesy :-)]

just thinking out loud on the running better after topping up the tank........maybe the small amount of head pressure from the higher tank level is helping and/or the fuel cap vent is blocked, opening cap to top up is removing the vaccuum created by fuel usage. like i said, just thinking out loud.........

[excess.11]

Seems like moisture is condensing in the tank and forming scale.
Have you put additives of any type in the tank ?

[Jonesy :-)]

reckon she'll run like a beauty  now after removing all that gunk Ev. Cant help thinking its rusty tank bits adding to the mess in the filters. gotta spare tank? or a dose of POR 15 tank liner or whatever its called?

[Eveready1100]

Just a quick post about a problem I'm experiencing at the moment.
Recent history - Had an absolute ball at the Mapleton Muster towing the trusty keg through the Sunshine Coast hinterland twisties in company with Mr & Mrs Steptoe and a gaggle of enthusiastic FJ 11 and 1200 owners.
While returning home on the Sunday arvo, the bike started to splutter at around 200klms on the clock and appeared to be running out of fuel. Opened cap and restarted the bike and motored down the highway on 2 or 3 cylinders for about 20klms till I got to a servo, where after filling up (only about 18 litres) the bike ran fine for the short hop home.

Weekend before last, I rode down to Brisvgas for Grand daughter's birthday.
Bike started well and ran good for about 70klms then dropped a cylinder or 2 spasmodically.
Dived into the next servo and topped up, left the cap open and the bike ran sweetly again..... for about another 60klms then the same thing happened. Cured it again with a quick top up but it kept happening for the rest of the whole trip down, and back again.
(It makes for a very drawn out trip when you have to stop at nearly EVERY service station in order to keep your bike running properly) Actually, it worked out at 6 hours for the 340klms home, so i couldn't be bothered looking at it on my arrival.

This weekend, after completing my mowing and garden pruning duties, I pulled the tank off to check things out. I had my suspicions that I must have gotten a dose of mucky fuel that might have blocked my fuel filters, which would explain why the bike would run ok wth the tank full, but would starve when the pressure reduced.
Well, here's some photo's of what I found...


Found a nice shady tree to work under


Pulled fuel taps and found the bases of the towers surrounded by gunk


I removed the fuel filters and ran some fuel back through them and a lot of fine black muck came out. ( not all the stuff in the photo. The bigger bits came out of the tank)


Looking ominous


Poured some fuel into the tank with the taps off, gave it a shake them drained it out onto some rags

So, I've now pulled apart and cleaned the taps, replaced the filters, flushed the tank (a few times) and reassembled
Started the bike and ran it back over into the garage.
I'm a bit concerned still as the filters seemed to take a long time to fill with the taps on prime and though the bike ran ok idling around the yard, I'll take it for a proper run tomorrow arvo to see if it's cured .
I do have a spare set of working fuel taps at hand, so if I have issues, I'll swap them over and try it again.

Thank God for those inline filters, though.
Couldn't imagine the dramas if that stuff found its way into the carbies.

BTW, the bits seem to be a mixture of what looks like fine crushed up welding slag, with a dash of small rusty flakes, though the tank looks to still be in pretty good shape inside.