GenII won't start

[droptail]

I was surprised to have just encountered this this morning. I let it warm up for about 2 minutes before driving about 5 miles at 6AM. I thought I had 2 bars, but perhaps only 1. I parked it and tried to restart it 3 hours later, but it wouldn't start. I forgot about the WOT, but finally got it to fire.

 

[road runner]

When trying to start the engine with a wide open throttle, doesn't the throttle position sensor notice that the throttle is open and prevent the bike from starting?

Howard, if that was the case why would a bunch of us experienced fart smellers be recommending you do that?

Don't think, just do.

Howard

Don't take it the wrong way, but he's got a point.

If you don't like the WOT start, then just let it warm up before you turn it off and no more problamo.

 

[bucky]

Howard, I would take most of these comments here with a grain of salt. I have started and stopped my fjr and every fuel injected bike I have ever owned MANY times without it being partially or fully warmed up for the past 5 years at least. After all, this is a highly functional and modern fuel injection system. Does your car not start after a quick start/stop? Of course not. No difference. I don't know what your bike's problem is, but I doubt it is caused by quick start/stop and damp plugs or whatever they call it. And for these guys with all the technical verbage of this, that and the other, well unless they are a trained fjr specific technician, I wouldn't bet the ranch on their advice (no offense intended, just my opinion).

Half the guys on this forum are anal retentive and are always screwing around with their bike, adjusting this or that, flushing this or that and replacing the johnson rods or whatever. I don't. And I don't have any problems either. Fixing things that don't need it and other "preventative maintenance" in my opinion are a waste of time and only invites problems. Why is it that some people think that if it says do something every 15k miles, then doing it every 5k miles is better?

 

[HotRodZilla]

Howard, I would take most of these comments here with a grain of salt. I have started and stopped my fjr and every fuel injected bike I have ever owned MANY times without it being partially or fully warmed up for the past 5 years at least. After all, this is a highly functional and modern fuel injection system. Does your car not start after a quick start/stop? Of course not. No difference. I don't know what your problem is, but I doubt it is caused by quick start/stop and damp plugs or whatever they call it. And for these guys with all the technical verbage of this, that and the other, well unless they are a trained fjr specific technician, I wouldn't bet the ranch on their advice (no offense intended, just my opinion).

Except there is a difference between your car's fuel injection and a bike's fuel injection. The FJR specifically runs really rich when it is started cold. If it gets started and shut down quickly, it has a tendency to not want to start the next time the rider tries, because it floods.

This has happened enough to just about everyone that owns an FJR that we have realized that the best way to get it started without draining the battery or overheating the starter is to crank it at WOT.

Believe it or don't...I don't give a ****. Mine starts every time. However, if you ever find yourself with an FJR that will crank but not start, make sure you don't try the WOT method. You should instead call your Yamaha shop at 6pm on a Sunday and see if they can give you any suggestions.

The collective knowledge about the FJR on this forum is immensely better than any Yamaha trained tech I have ever met.

 

[Denver_FJR]

Why is it that some people think that if it says do something every 15k miles, then doing it every 5k miles is better?

Because it's absolutely true! No time to chit-chat though, gotta run back to garage and change out the "winter" oil and replace the nitrogen in the tires.

 

[wfooshee]

Nitrogen in winter? Dude, so out of touch with the times!!!!! You need lighter gases when it's cold. Helium, baby! :yahoo:

 

[Donal]

Nitrogen in winter? Dude, so out of touch with the times!!!!! You need lighter gases when it's cold. Helium, baby! :yahoo:

No don't use helium. You definitely needs something that warms up quickly. Try Carbon Dioxide, if it can warm the planet..... :yahoo:

Don

 

[bucky]

Well, I just guess I must be the luckiest guy around. I have 3 fuel injected bikes, cumulativele ownership of about 9 bike years. And frequently I start, stop and restart at various short intervals whether in summer or winter and have never once had the hard start problem talked about here. Just sayin'.

I thought all fuel injected engines, car or motorcycles start out a little rich? But cars do lean down alot quicker though i think for emission purposes. But a cold start is a cold start no matter what the engine, as far as fuel atomization goes anyway, with probably the exception of the new direct injection auto engines.

And that helium idea, now that is a good idea. When you run over a nail, the higher pitched noise will tell you what happened. Cheaper than a tire pressure monitoring system too.

 

[wfooshee]

bucky, it doesn't happen to all FJRs, and as far as I know it doesn't happen to any Gen-I FJRs (big fuel system changes in Gen-II,) but when it does happen, it's a HARD no-start, and the solution is simple and well-known: wide-open throttle while cranking. I'm guessing here, but I think the wide-open throttle pumps a lot of air through the engine and clears out the flooding in the cylinders.

 

[Richouse]

hmm, I've just always made sure the kill switch is on turn the key on, wait a second or two for the pump to stop and press the start button. it fires up firs time every time. I don't ever twist the throttle any.

I can't see how twisting the throttle will do anything on a fuel injection system. pumping the throttle a couple of times on a carb engine would shoot a little fuel in the cylinder to start it.

 

[SkooterG]

hmm, I've just always made sure the kill switch is on turn the key on, wait a second or two for the pump to stop and press the start button. it fires up firs time every time. I don't ever twist the throttle any.

I can't see how twisting the throttle will do anything on a fuel injection system. pumping the throttle a couple of times on a carb engine would shoot a little fuel in the cylinder to start it.

What he above you said. If the engine is flooded, opening the throttle lets a metric buttload of more air through to expel the excess fuel.

Bucky. It doensn't happen all the time. Not very often even. In over 300,000 miles of FJR ownership it has happened to me about 4 times. If a bike has sat a long time, it seems to increase the chances as does shutting down after when cold after a short time when the engine is running 'rich'. I don't know the root cause - stuck injector perhaps? But it's nothing more than a simple (and old) trick to quickly cure a flooded condition.