| Author | Message | ||
     Easttroy |
Hi all, Went on a 2200+ mile trip to northern california last week and 5th day in the bike died with what seemed like a bad gas issue. Drained and re-filled with known good gas, bike seem to be fine idling and running for a while and then the same issue. Had to be towed 40 miles, spend 3 nights in a hotel and wait until this last tuesday to get the pump from Harley (still under warranty). I've read a variety of people posting that this is/isn't an issue (bad batch of pumps) and also discussed with various techs that they've never done one before (seemingly this is not that big of an issue). A day or two before it failed, it was showing signs (and I didn't notice them at the time). From a steady throttle while riding, rolling on the rest of the way would do nothing / S _ L _ O _ W _ L _ Y speed up as though someone was turning a garden hose on trickle. Then it slowly came out of it the rest of the time we were riding that day until day 5. On day 5 toward the end of our riding day, It had a similar feel and eventually cut out anything above an idle. Once I stopped and let it idle, it died and wouldn't start from that point. From this point, the pump failed once warmed up. It would work fine cold and then once warm, wouldn't create any pressure and the bike would cough and sputter until it wouldn't even start anymore. Wait to cool down and it would start right up again (not very handy in 80+ degree heat). Because this happened on a Saturday, Harley's offices are closed Sat/Sun. Orders are not processed until Monday and then because the dealer was closed on Monday (WTF? During the summer, really?) there was no way to determine whether the parts had shipped OVERNIGHT next day air. Shout out to Al at americansportbike.com for helping me get a second fuel pump in case the HD shipped one was not shipped. They had computer issues and we worked around that and were able to ship me a second pump to my Hotel so I could GTF out of there and back home. Fortunately, both pumps came the same day and I was on my way (with a spare that I felt I would need possibly). Thanks again Al and your staff for all the help under these circumstances! Even though I was feeling like I got F'd by HD for not having the parts available at least on the left coast, I felt better after I learned a guy at the dealer broke down a WEEK ago due to a stator issue in his '09 1125. The first one they shipped failed after install and they had to wait over the weekend for the second one. I'm so glad I had decided to spend the $$$$ and get a second pump on the way had the first failed, I'd been waiting another day or two. I hope that this never happens to anyone else, though i know parts fail, I wouldn't expect a fuel pump to fail in the first 8k miles. | ||
| Buellerxt |
Sorry, Man. What a drag. You seem to have handled it well though and kudo's to Al. Traveling by motorcycle, particularly on service challenged ones like Buell, Moto Guzzi, Victory, BMW, Triumph etc., can be a real drag at times. I just spoke with a friend who told me his buddy on a BMW broke down outside Amarillo Texas on the way from Houston to Alaska. He got a tow into Amarillo, a town with a population of nearly 250,000 people and he discovered there was no BMW dealer and the closest one, heading north on his route, was Colorado Springs, Co., 350+ miles and 6 hrs. away. He rented a truck and drove it to that dealer who told him they can do it but the parts will take a while to get there. He being relatively well healed, and having planned this trip for a long time, bought a bike from the dealer and headed north. He'll deal with the broken down bike later! Yep, it can be a challenge.  (Message edited by buellerxt on July 14, 2011) | ||
| 7873jake |
Did the pump give up the ghost entirely or did the wiring wear and cause the issue? Just curious. The BMW dealership in Jacksonville, FL closed down about 10-15 yrs ago. If you live in the northern half of the state and are in need of a BMW shop, you have to come to Daytona. After that, head south or up in to Georgia or up to Charleston, SC. I bought the Uly so I'd have more dealer support.  | ||
| Easttroy |
Don't know about the wiring issue, but I don't think so as it was working fine when cold and they didn't denote that to me (and I asked a lot of questions). | ||
| Dr_greg |
Oh, man; sorry to hear a story like that, even if it has a relatively satisfactory ending. I've often pondered such a failure on one of my '06 12X pumps, but so far so good... --Doc | ||
| Jwblue |
I'm sorry to hear about your bad luck. I had a similar problem on a BMW. It turned out to be a dirty/blocked fuel filter, not the fuel pump. |
