TLDR: engine died with no power while riding. Engine will (sometimes) restart and idle, but dies once any power is requested.
While out touring this past weekend, riding along at about 100 km/h, coming out of a curve, the bike just died on me. No response to the throttle at all, right down to a stop. Stalled when I pulled in the clutch.
The last time this happened to me (in 2019) it was due to the fuel pump controller, which I had bypassed and then replaced, so I started looking around there. I actually forgot what I had done, but I have an FPC bypass wired in parallel with the FPC connector from the last time it happened, although I didn't try it this time because as I say I'd forgotten what I did there.
While trying to get it going, I found that it would start and idle (for several minutes), but then after buttoning it back up and hopping on, it died as soon as I tried to get going, after a second or two. After that it didn't want to start again right away (on the side of the road).
I should mention the possibility of low fuel, but the bike was telling me I still had 90 km of range, and I can see at least some fuel sloshing around the tank, through the filler. I haven't added more fuel to it, yet.
At that point, being far from home with even my motel where I had left stuff a couple hundred km away, and the nearest BMW dealer (Ottawa, I'm from the GTA area) a couple hundred km away in the other direction, I gave up and got a U-Haul truck and loaded it up with the help of a guy who stopped, and headed back to my motel for the night. At this point I was committed to just hauling it home (which was another few hundred km away) in the truck, and didn't try any further troubleshooting.
After getting it home on Saturday, I've left it alone in disgust for a couple days. Needless to say I wasn't happy to be stuck on the side of the road with a non-running bike a second time. Never happened in 20+ years of Japanese bikes, second time with this one. I know it's getting old, but even so...
So, same thing today in the garage. FPC is getting full voltage from the ECU/FP relay. Pump seems to be running - again the bike will start and idle just fine. But I'm pretty sure if I try to ride it away it will die again in short order.
Not sure where to look at this point? Fuel pump? FPC? Fuel pump regulator? FP intake screen? Maybe not FP related at all?
Should I add some gas to the tank and plug in the FPC bypass instead of the FPC? (Although I don't think the FP will run at all if the FPC is dead, right? If so, that's not the problem)
I guess I need an OBD reader (i.e. GS911 or alternative) to see what kind of codes it might be throwing.
Considering just getting the dealer (Budd's in Oakville, ON) to pick it up and figure it out. That will be expensive but I can (probably) count on it getting it back in running condition.
Thanks for any suggestions. I'm not in a big hurry, as the end of my riding season is nearing its end, anyway. At this point even if started and pulled away under power, I don't trust it to not leave me on the side of the road again, which is inconvenient.
I did search around quite a bit but can't find another post with quite the same issue. Feel free to point me one if you're aware of one.
08 RT starts, idles, dies on acceleration
Re: 08 RT starts, idles, dies on acceleration
Or maybe I'm just being an idiot and it's just out of gas.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GzDkwW6UmeWMfPwA9
The fuel gauge says there's still gas, and the bike computer says I've got 107 km of range remaining, but I've already gone 505.6 km since refueling, if
I'm not mistaken (pretty sure I reset the trip meter at the last fuel stop the day before).
I should have paid more attention to that - I don't think I've ever gone near 600 km (~400 miles) on a tank.
Yeah, I don't think the gauge is reading accurately at all. I really should have looked at the trip meter.
I can't believe I wasted vacation riding time hauling a bike that was just out of gas.
But it makes sense. When I stopped I put it on the sidestand, so some of any remaining fuel might have sloshed over to that side. That's why it would restart and idle. And then die again as soon as I stood it up and tried to ride it away, demanding more fuel.
And then it spent a few hours bouncing around in the truck on the sidestand, probably moving whatever fuel was left over to that side. So now it runs fine on the centerstand in my garage. I guess I should just put some fuel in it and see what happens. And never trust the fuel gauge again (I had the fuel sensor strip replaced once already - why couldn't BMW just use a fuel level float like almost every other bike, including theirs?).
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GzDkwW6UmeWMfPwA9
The fuel gauge says there's still gas, and the bike computer says I've got 107 km of range remaining, but I've already gone 505.6 km since refueling, if
I'm not mistaken (pretty sure I reset the trip meter at the last fuel stop the day before).
I should have paid more attention to that - I don't think I've ever gone near 600 km (~400 miles) on a tank.
Yeah, I don't think the gauge is reading accurately at all. I really should have looked at the trip meter.
I can't believe I wasted vacation riding time hauling a bike that was just out of gas.
But it makes sense. When I stopped I put it on the sidestand, so some of any remaining fuel might have sloshed over to that side. That's why it would restart and idle. And then die again as soon as I stood it up and tried to ride it away, demanding more fuel.
And then it spent a few hours bouncing around in the truck on the sidestand, probably moving whatever fuel was left over to that side. So now it runs fine on the centerstand in my garage. I guess I should just put some fuel in it and see what happens. And never trust the fuel gauge again (I had the fuel sensor strip replaced once already - why couldn't BMW just use a fuel level float like almost every other bike, including theirs?).