1989, dies on higway wont restart

[Keyster]

 
Hello, Patrick here, long time bike owner rider, racer...45 years old.

I have an 1989 FJ1200, just bought it last weekend. The bike has 36k and is all original, it sat for a few years as the previous owner mentioned, and thus the carbs are in need of a good clean, but other than that it runs pretty good.

I went out on the road today and put around 70 miles onto the bike. For the most part the bike is running good, missing very little. The idle is okay with the exception of a hesitant throttle at low rpms.

So after letting the bike cool completely down durning dinner and some web surfing, i get back on the bike to head over to girl friends house, the bike has a little bit of cold starting issues, nothing the choke couldnt handle, so i take off with full choke, get onto highway, and get up to around 65 in 3rd, and all of a sudden, the bike loses spark and stalls out. I pull over, and still have juice (headlights on) and it wont restart.
As im trying to restart I notice that it is laboring on the battery, but it I give it a little throttle the laboring goes away and it actually turns over better.....but no restart?

Please help with some advise.

Thanks
Happy Holidays to all!   

[racerman_27410]

A tuned FJ should need the choke on to be ridden... When i was running stock carbs i only needed choke for the first start of the day.....dinner and web surfing is still not enough for the bike to need choking again..... I would say you flooded it.

cracking the throttle on a hot start is not uncommon.... mine definitely starts easier with a crack of throttle


clean those carbs if the bike wont run without the choke.


Kookaloo!


Frank

[ribbert]

So after letting the bike cool completely down durning dinner and some web surfing, i get back on the bike to head over to girl friends house, the bike has a little bit of cold starting issues, nothing the choke couldnt handle, so i take off with full choke, get onto highway, and get up to around 65 in 3rd, and all of a sudden, the bike loses spark and stalls out. I pull over, and still have juice (headlights on) and it wont restart.

I'd go with the choke as well.

That's how we used to check choke operation on a roadtest, pull the choke on full while driving down the road and motor should die.

FJ's, like most bikes, have short rubber intake manifolds and no water jacket so carb/manifold/head heats up very quickly.

Even on very cold mornings, say 0 deg.C, with a 30 sec. warm-up, I have the choke all the way in within a minute or two of riding off.

After a couple of hours sitting in cold weather it does start a little easier with a LITTLE bit of choke but then push it off again almost immediately.

If you're not familiar with choking an engine to start it, understandable in this EFI age, the ideal amount of choke to start an engine is generally more than it needs to keep running.

As a rule of thumb, you would start it with full choke and a couple of seconds after it fires push it in until it sounds happy or wherever it runs smoothest which I find on the FJ is about half way.

My 2 FJ's have had dozens of carb, filter, jet, mixture, exhaust, altitude and temperature configurations and the choke operation is generally the same, as it is with all carb motors.

Was there any particular reason you suspected it ran out of spark, because the sequence you describe would most certainly cause the engine to die.

Noel

[93fj1200]

So after letting the bike cool completely down durning dinner and some web surfing, i get back on the bike to head over to girl friends house, the bike has a little bit of cold starting issues, nothing the choke couldnt handle, so i take off with full choke, get onto highway, and get up to around 65 in 3rd, and all of a sudden, the bike loses spark and stalls out. I pull over, and still have juice (headlights on) and it wont restart.

I'd go with the choke as well.



That's how we used to check choke operation on a roadtest, pull the choke on full while driving down the road and motor should die.

FJ's, like most bikes, have short rubber intake manifolds and no water jacket so carb/manifold/head heats up very quickly.

Even on very cold mornings, say 0 deg.C, with a 30 sec. warm-up, I have the choke all the way in within a minute or two of riding off.

After a couple of hours sitting in cold weather it does start a little easier with a LITTLE bit of choke but then push it off again almost immediately.

If you're not familiar with choking an engine to start it, understandable in this EFI age, the ideal amount of choke to start an engine is generally more than it needs to keep running.

As a rule of thumb, you would start it with full choke and a couple of seconds after it fires push it in until it sounds happy or wherever it runs smoothest which I find on the FJ is about half way.

My 2 FJ's have had dozens of carb, filter, jet, mixture, exhaust, altitude and temperature configurations and the choke operation is generally the same, as it is with all carb motors.

Was there any particular reason you suspected it ran out of spark, because the sequence you describe would most certainly cause the engine to die.

Noel

I had almost the same thing happened to me and it turned out to be my fuel pump malfunctioning which caused the fuse to blow cutting off most of the power.  Disconnected the fuel pump and connected the lines with a Bic pen and got going again. 

[Keyster]

Thanks for the replies.....turns out it was flooded and very low battery.
this is the first time I have ever flooded a bike on the road while driving, and I dont believe the choke was even on when it happened.

I have owned viragos, vmax, maxium, hondas, ktm, suzuki, triumph, and never had this problem....live and learn to ride another day.

Thanks

[FJmonkey]

Thanks for the replies.....turns out it was flooded and very low battery.
this is the first time I have ever flooded a bike on the road while driving, and I dont believe the choke was even on when it happened.

I have owned viragos, vmax, maxium, hondas, ktm, suzuki, triumph, and never had this problem....live and learn to ride another day.

Thanks

Welcome to the club Keyster, sounds like you have some interesting history on bikes. With all the experience here you will get your FJ issues fixed. No promises on any other issue you may have...

[FeralJuggernaut]

A few thoughts for you....   my riding buddy has just done the same thing with an '89 coincidently.   Check your tank for surface rust.  Also, the fuel filter to make sure it isn't clogging up.   Next item; look at your side stand switch.  It can get dirty/wonky and the vibration on the ride can make it troublesome.   His final issue to getting it road-trip worthy was the ground at the coils.  He actually went one further and put in the coil relay mod.   Like the others said, get into the carbs for a full cleaning.   After sitting for anything over a few months (especially if you get the crap Phx fuel additives) things will goo up in there!   Look into getting the stainless steel carb screw kit from RPM and the Dr Raforth carb cleaning bible.  Ride well, and welcome to the asylum.