I had a couple hours free this morning and decided to go for a ride. Had just been on a longer ride in the twisties 2 days ago, on the way back I put gas at costco and parked it until today.
Got geared up, got 2 miles down the road and the bike coughed and died. Just enough to be a pain in the ass. I call a ride, and in the meantime start taking the bike apart on a hunch that the fuel pump connector had come out. It's only then that I realize the bike's tools don't include the required 6mm hex (now added to the bike).
Anyway, get home run back out to the bike, 6mm in hand, pull the tank, and to my dismay find the connector perfectly seated.
I don't think these fuel pumps prime with the key in position 2, or if they do, they do it off some mechanism based on time or fuel pressure or something, but putting my hand on the fuel pump and turning the key to position 2 yields no results I could tell, so I get creative and release the quick disconnect for the fuel line, shove something small in there and crank the bike. Gas goes everywhere, pump's fine.
I did notice the gas lacked the right consistency, something I could tell b/c I got gas all over my hands. It didn't smell super strong, nor did it evaporative cool my hand that fast (my hands still smell like gas btw). I pull the gas tank and drain it; it's a hunch, but I decided to follow it. Glad I did.
I put 2 gallons of premium back in the tank (I did the pump walk arithmetic to find one not polluted with regular), and the bike coughed back to life, eventually running on all cylinders again.
SO WTF GIVES HERE?!
The only tell of anything is that the gas cap was not 100% closed when I got to the bike. It was 98% closed, but hadn't clicked down. It had rained, but the bike was covered the whole time. After putting gas, I'd managed to ride the bike 5 miles home with no indication of anything untoward.
Is there a chance Costco had bad gas?? Maybe I didn't connect something right, or something came dislodged with the fuel pump? There is that internal hose, but I'm pretty sure I reconnected it when I swapped out the fuel level sending unit.... but regardless, the bike was covered in the rain, and even with the cap not being completely shut, I don't see how water might have gotten in.
Everything's working now, but damn getting stranded sucks; even if only 2 miles from home. I really want to know what transpired. I'll call costco tomorrow and see if they've had any reports of bad gas, but they'll likely not admit shit if so.
Got geared up, got 2 miles down the road and the bike coughed and died. Just enough to be a pain in the ass. I call a ride, and in the meantime start taking the bike apart on a hunch that the fuel pump connector had come out. It's only then that I realize the bike's tools don't include the required 6mm hex (now added to the bike).
Anyway, get home run back out to the bike, 6mm in hand, pull the tank, and to my dismay find the connector perfectly seated.
I don't think these fuel pumps prime with the key in position 2, or if they do, they do it off some mechanism based on time or fuel pressure or something, but putting my hand on the fuel pump and turning the key to position 2 yields no results I could tell, so I get creative and release the quick disconnect for the fuel line, shove something small in there and crank the bike. Gas goes everywhere, pump's fine.
I did notice the gas lacked the right consistency, something I could tell b/c I got gas all over my hands. It didn't smell super strong, nor did it evaporative cool my hand that fast (my hands still smell like gas btw). I pull the gas tank and drain it; it's a hunch, but I decided to follow it. Glad I did.
I put 2 gallons of premium back in the tank (I did the pump walk arithmetic to find one not polluted with regular), and the bike coughed back to life, eventually running on all cylinders again.
SO WTF GIVES HERE?!
The only tell of anything is that the gas cap was not 100% closed when I got to the bike. It was 98% closed, but hadn't clicked down. It had rained, but the bike was covered the whole time. After putting gas, I'd managed to ride the bike 5 miles home with no indication of anything untoward.
Is there a chance Costco had bad gas?? Maybe I didn't connect something right, or something came dislodged with the fuel pump? There is that internal hose, but I'm pretty sure I reconnected it when I swapped out the fuel level sending unit.... but regardless, the bike was covered in the rain, and even with the cap not being completely shut, I don't see how water might have gotten in.
Everything's working now, but damn getting stranded sucks; even if only 2 miles from home. I really want to know what transpired. I'll call costco tomorrow and see if they've had any reports of bad gas, but they'll likely not admit shit if so.
