Strange starting Incident

[Gcontroller]

After work today went to start the bike to go home. Turned on the key flipped the kill switch to the on position and heard the fuel pump come on as usual. Hit the starter and the motor just turned over not even trying to fire. Went through this like five different times.

Finally took it off the side stand leaned it side to side and tried again nothing. Put the bike in gear and rolled forward slowly dumped the clutch and felt the motor turn over a bit did it again this time in third gear not really trying to push start it just trying to bump the engine over a bit which I did.

I then found netural and hit the starter and she fired right up. Idle was a little slow around 950 rpm but it revved out fine and I rode home 40 miles. Not really sure what to think. I did just top off the tank right before I parked it in the morning and the temps got over 80 degrees today so it was warm.
So I wasn't sure if there could be some kind of vapor lock possible but I did open the fuel filler once to see if there was pressure in there which there wasnt. It's gotten plenty hotter in that parking lot with a full tank before.

So I'll keep a eye on it and see what happens.

 

[gpostarmy]

Strange, obviously turning your engine moved something that allowed it to turn over? Can a vapor lock occur somewhere else in the system? say the engine if your bike is on the rich side, IDK. NO really IDK. I will follow this thread, I am interested to hear the theories, cause i had a similar situation happen last summer, but didn't worry about it cause it was just the once and not as stubborn as yours.

 

[Motogiro]

Interesting...Maybe condensation in the tank because of temperature change?
Though your prolly using fuel from pumps in Cali and that's prolly getting near 10% alcohol which should bond to and burn the moisture unless there was a lot of moisture. The moisture would go to the bottom of the tank and get picked up first. Always the possibility you got some water in your fuel at the pump. Maybe get fuel somewhere else?
Good luck!

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

There have been problems with the kill switch failing after constant use (however that, if it failed, would prevent cranking over). Personally, I wouldn't use the kill switch (just for that reason) and am used to using the ignition switch for years..

I'm leaning towards a dirty ignition switch, possibly allowing cranking but the contacts for voltage to the coils/ECU might be poor.

You may try a squirt of WD40 in the ignition switch, or if it acts up again, rotating the ignition switch on and off (hopefully cleaning the contacts).

If it was cranking over somewhat slower than usual, check the battery voltage and have a load test done on it. The starter and ECU need full voltage to crank/run. If the voltage is low, the bike won't fire...


Good luck..

 

[novaks47]

I had something similar a while back happen. The FZ had been sitting for almost a month, and when I tried to start it, it just turned a little longer than normal, but finally fired up. I let it sit for a minute or two, and blipped the throttle just a tiny bit, and it sputtered and stalled. After that, it took almost 10 minutes of cranking to get it to fire. It then smoked a bit, then ran fine. It's like it got flooded or something. Go figure!

 

[chaskell27]

I would tend to lean towards an electrical problem. The bike wont start while in gear unless the clutch is pulled in. maybe the switch in that system was messed up. I'd also check the kickstand switch and kill switch. I'm not sure but now that I think about it, the engine may not even turn over if these switches are faulty. Good luck and I look forward to hearing how it turns out for you.

 

[Gcontroller]

Well have put another 150 miles on the bike with no starting problems at all. Everything has been fine. I'll chalk this one up to just a fluke incident.

 

[novaks47]

That's what I did! Oddly enough, my commuter car did something similar late December. It just cranked and cranked, but wouldn't fire. I took a meter to the electronics, and all seemed fine. I hit the throttle twice, and tried starting again. It almost fired. Repeated, and it finally got going! Smoked a bit, and all was fine. So weird! Just like the FZ, it acted like it was flooded! Maybe it's the damp, humid mornings here.

 

[lunchboxer]

Noticed all the other CA posters in here so I thought I would chime in:

happened to me twice in the last month. Too much sunshine, I guess.

 

[charlietuna04]

I just went through the same thing. Seemed to be an intermittent problem. Sometimes would fire right up, other times had to try it several times to get it to run.
Finally wouldn't start at all. Had to push the bike home, and it absolutely would not fire. Had a code 19 on the console. That's the code for side stand switch. Checked it with the ohm meter, bad switch. Did a temp bypass on the switch, and it fires right up. New switch coming.
Charlie

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Somewhat related, on some of the FJR's, if you turned off the bike while it was still in "cold mode" (high idle) turned it off and tried to re-start it, it would flood...

The fix, was to just hold the throttle wide open, crank for several seconds, stop. Keep the throttle open and repeat until the bike starts...

You didn't want to turn the bike off right after starting it...

My 04 FJR never did this and always started although all the CO settings are still stock (lean on the bottom end) from the factory...

 

[wazu]

To me it sounds like it could be a tip over sensor issue.