2006 died on freeway on way home from trip

[slatonp4]

Howdy,

Looked all over for an answer on the forums and have not been successful, so if it's here, sorry in advance for asking what has already been answered.

On the way home the other day about 750 miles short of the end of about a 4500 mile trip, the bike died on the freeway without so much as a hint that anything was wrong. Seemed like it was running out of fuel, but had plenty. Stumbled a couple of times before it died and caught for a few moments like everything was fine and then died altogether. Coasted to an offramp and was able to get a tow to a Uhaul place; loaded it up and came home.

Nothing seemingly amiss. Gauges appear fine, bike cranks fine, but no hit. Oil light is on, but I'm assuming that is as it should be. There is no clicking when I turn on the key as the fuel pressurizes, so I am thinking that I need to start by looking at a fuel related issue. One of my questions is what a fuel pump acts like when it goes out and is it typical for one to go out in this manner.

As I mentioned, the bike has been flawless right up until the moment it stopped. Home is about sea level and I changed elevations several times up to 11,000 feet. Had plenty of fuel, but I had been running on it for 150 or so miles, so I don't believe it was bad fuel. I was 4 or 5 gallons into 11 gallons. Oil is fairly fresh and full enough. Weather was dry and warm. All of my accessory wiring is run through a relayed fuse block. Nothing is run from the bike's wiring. Bike has about 60K on it.

Nothing went bang when it stopped and I'm thinking it has to be fuel or electrical. Looking for advice on a good place to start.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[RichDoyle]

Yep, my inclination is start with fuel delivery. First step is whether power is getting to the fuel pump, and the grounding continuity to the fuel pump.

 

[lnewlf]

I believe you can fire the plugs and cycle the injectors using the diagnostic mode on the screen...you should hear the fuel pump run when u turn the key on [kill switch on]...no sound from the pump could be a bad kill switch or fuel pump relay or fuse or bad pump... gotta start looking at the easy things first...good luck

 

[philter]

Do your tanks switch over automatically? Is there a petcock on the reserve tank?

I don't know how those things work, but anytime something is not stock that might

be the second place to check after the fuel pump.

 

[Tyler]

Where is the bike now? Might be able to put you in touch with someone local who might be able to help.

 

[RossKean]

Lift the tank and check the two plugs that connect to the fuel pump assembly at the bottom of the tank. I assume nothing odd with high beam dash light, signal light indicators, windshield mechanism etc. (symptoms of grounding issues that could kill the bike). Ignition switch recall done on this bike?

Good luck.

 

[slatonp4]

Thanks for the input.

Thought about the kill switch, but the absence of any prior issues and the suddenness of this issue puzzles me.

Need to figure out the diagnostics thing. Didn't even know about that.

Aux tank is gravity feed with a manual petcock and it is working fine. I can see fuel in the main tank through the filler cap and the fuel gauge indicated it was working properly.

Bike is at home. Loaded it in a UHaul truck and got it here.

 

[slatonp4]

Haven't checked the wires to the pump yet. Trying to get my ducks in a row and have some kind of plan before I get started.

Nothing odd with the dash lights at all. Ignition switch recall and instrument cluster recall done long ago with no problems. It is my understanding that usually things that were related to those two issues gave some kind of warning. I guess that's no guarantee.

Thanks RossKean, I really do appreciate you all's help.

 

[kmanflyer]

Pull the tank up and locate the 2 plugs going to fuel sender/pump. The plug with the red/blue wire is the fuel pump. Check across terminals with a multi meter or test light. Turn key on, should have power. If it has power it's most likely the pump. If it has no power than it's the circuit to the pump (fuse, grounding issues, relay, etc.)

Of course these are all just educated guesses, by the the way you describe how it died on you. I agree with the above posts, probably fuel related.

Hopefully you have access to some tools and narrow it down. Good luck.

 

[Powerman]

I think the fuel pump comes out of the multi function relay under the headlights.

Mine was all corroded up the other day and the neutral stayed on.

The lean angle sensor also, it can be checked by the diagnostics.

I'll have to check the diagram.

 

[Bounce]

I had a problem with tank pressure in my Gold Wing hampering fuel flow from my Aux tank on a gravity-fed design (passenger seat mount). Open the filler cap on the main tank and everything was fine again. If I read it right, you're running aux fuel but I don't know if that from a single, modified main tank or from a dual tank design.

Beyond that, fuel, fire, air.

Check your battery for tight, clean cables,

Check for fuel (sound at ignition on, back pressure on aux tank).

Fire (spark).

 

[08FJR4ME]

Electrical key switch. Some have been known to go bad twice. If the engine cranks maybe you can count that one out.

Good luck,

Dave

 

[FJR Flyer]

No codes?

 

[FJRBluesman]

Start off easy. People are way over thinking this. Look at your battery terminals, are they tight or is the rubber insulator underneath preventing a good connection? Mine did the exact same thing and I thought fuel, it was the battery terminals. Clicky.

 

[SwollenRaccoon]

10-4 on the battery connection inspection. Earlier this summer, and a couple times the previous summer, the bike just plain quit running while riding down the road. ABS light flashed one time, another time, it wouldn't start after it was off for 10 minutes. Wiggling the positive wire from the battery made intermittent things happen, like powering up the dashboard, but would power off when the starter switch was pushed. Thought it was corrosion or something funny with the ring terminal, but it visually appeared OK. Screws connecting the battery terminals were tight. Hmmmmmmm......

Got home from a ride with a buddy, during which it quit on me several times, and I was getting pissed off. Pulled the battery out (the battery was about three years old at the time), and started messing around with the screws and nuts that fasten the terminals. They're pretty small, as you know, and at a quick glance, looked acceptable. Then, I threaded the nut (from the positive connection) on to it's mating screw, in my hands, not on to the battery. The nut wouldn't tighten all the way up to the bottom of the screw head. Half way up the threads, on closer inspection, the threads were corroded, and wouldn't let the nut go further. I replaced the screws and nuts, and it hasn't happened since.

The evil, insidious thing about this very simple, easy-to-fix problem is that when you install the battery in the bike, and fasten the terminals, the screw tightens down, to as tight as you can turn the screw, but because of the corroded threads, wasn't letting the threads tighten the terminal to the battery post. It FEELS like it's tight, and it is, but it's not tight on the terminal. Just evil.

I hope your solution is as simple as this was. Good luck.

 

[slatonp4]

Finally getting a little time to dig into this uninterrupted.

Thanks for all the good suggestions

No power to the plug at the fuel pump when the key is on. (Or off for that matter.)

Have the service manual out and learning about the diagnostics now.

Ran a jumper wire to the fuel pump just to see if it was operating when power was applied and it appeared to be okay.

Thanks again. I'll keep you posted.

 

[slatonp4]

Getting quite an education on this one.

Says it is having a fault code 43 which, according to the SM, says the ECU is not reading any voltage to the fuel system.

Battery is new and fully charged with good, tight connections.

Ran diagnostic mode 09 and the gauges should have read battery voltage (if I'm reading the manual correctly,) but it's reading 0.0.

Checked the connector at the ECU and couldn't find anything amiss that was readily apparent.

I think the next step is to shed the plastic so that I can get to the relays to check them and the connections.

If you know of anything I can do before submitting to the pain, I'm all in. Gotta take a bunch of acc's off just to get to the plastic.

 

[Niehart]

Still think it's you key switch.

 

[08FJR4ME]

I will second that motion,

Dave