F800GS Wont start - Help

[JoeDuck]

Thats odd, last I checked, my manual was rather straightforward in stating to fuel the bike on the side stand. A difference between the 650 and 800?

[HighFive]

Originally Posted by shuston

Well, it does to me. The tank needs to pressurize, and the fuel volume was such that it wasn't able to be pressurized. Once I siphoned fuel out, it started, and runs just fine. So, if that wasn't the problem, please tell me what was.

The tank is vented to atmosphere, it is not a pressurized system.

I don't know what your problem was/is. Don't think anything was solved, per se'. Maybe not a problem that will surface again. I donno. Keep an eye on things.....watching for any other gremlins to appear as clues.

You don't need to put your bike on the center stand to refuel. In fact, sidestand is better to gain proper fill volume (hold more). I always topmine off to the max (brim) with no problems.

HF

[shuston]

I fueled it up on the side stand. When I put it back into the garage, I put it on the center stand. That's when I noticed I over filled it. My lesson learned is regardless of filling on the side or center stand, just fill it to the bottom of the red base.

[JoelWisman]

Originally Posted by shuston

I fueled it up on the side stand. When I put it back into the garage, I put it on the center stand. That's when I noticed I over filled it. My lesson learned is regardless of filling on the side or center stand, just fill it to the bottom of the red base.

No, I can see this guys. The bike will fill higher easier on side stand, so....

Bike is badly overfilled (above bottom of red filler neck). Then parked on center stand on a hot Cali day. Fuel expands, filles charcoal canister, next morning it won't start cause bike is sucking globs of fuel into engine.

Drain some fuel, wait some time, crank some more.... And it starts.

If this was the cause, it will intermittently run like a turd till the canister is completely purged, but then will be fine.

Impossible to say for sure, but overfilling is a possible scenario.

[HighFive]

Castrate it!

HF

[dalebor]

Originally Posted by JoelWisman

No, I can see this guys. The bike will fill higher easier on side stand, so....

....

If this was the cause, it will intermittently run like a turd till the canister is completely purged, but then will be fine.

Impossible to say for sure, but overfilling is a possible scenario.

This seems to be what's happened with my F8GS. I was having a hell of a time starting it and finally took it to the dealer where, after sitting for a week, it started just fine. This week it seems to have returned to its regular, reliable starting, self. We'll see if this trend continues.

I first thought that I had a clogged or stuck injector. All the symptoms fit except that I've been running non-ethanol gas as much a possible all this year. I've only put in two tanks of ethanol gas this year and that was on days that I immediately ran out that tank and refilled with non-ethanol gas. The bike was also stored last winter with non-ethanol gas.

My owners manual says that to get the rated tank volume that I should fill it to the bottom of the red funnel on the side stand.

I do have two questions about the carbon canister.

- Why does getting liquid fuel into the canister cause no start? Joel implied that it's just way too rich on start as it's sucking in liquid gas out of the canister. Is it so rich that it won't even try to fire, even a little bit?

- If I did get gas into the canister, did it do any damage? Do I need to replace the canister?

DaleB

[JRWooden]

Originally Posted by shuston

Well, it does to me. The tank needs to pressurize, and the fuel volume was such that it wasn't able to be pressurized. Once I siphoned fuel out, it started, and runs just fine. So, if that wasn't the problem, please tell me what was.

I'm not here to start a fight ....
While I would not recommend you do this on a regualar basis ...
I once rode for about 100 miles with my gas cap unlatched - no problem bike ran fine.

As an experiment you could carefully put the squirter-straw from a can of WD-40 in the gas tank opening to insure the tank was vented. I will bet you that the bike runs fine. The fuel tank may end up with a slight positive or negative pressure due to temperature changes and the check-valve in the vent line, but IMHO the tank does not have to be pressurized for the bike to run.

Overfilling and screwing up the canister I can see... but I don't think the system needs to be pressurized.

[lm002e]

Soooo.... My F800GS has experienced that exact same issue 3 times now, with the most recent being today. The previous 2 times the bike was hauled to the dealer and serviced under warranty. The first occurrence was diagnosed as "clogged injectors". Dealer states they cleaned the injectors and she's as good as new. From then on I've been adding seafoam or techron to the fuel at least every 3rd tank of fuel, usually more often. The 2nd time (about a week ago), same thing. It cranks and cranks and then finally starts. I take it to the dealer again b/c I have a 5 week trip I'm prepping for and I leave in just a few days. This time the dealer says there's nothing wrong. No fault codes, nothing. The bike starts and rides fine for one week. Today I go out to start her up and it just cranks and cranks but never starts. I open the gas tank and crank but nothing. It never even tries to catch. The tank is nowhere near full and I always fill up on the sidestand and never go above the bottom of the filler neck. As stated before, I use techron or seafoam religiously. Thoughts??? If it were the fuel pump, shouldn't the dealer be able to figure that out rather easily? And why would it just randomly not start and then a day later it starts fine? I'm really stressing now cuz I'm supposed to leave on my continental divide adventure in 5 days. I've been planning this trip for a year and half! ARGHHH!!!

Luke

[LiLiBug]

Rode 300 miles yesterday and after a gas fill it acted up with the same issue as described above! Finally got it running and everything was just fine.

Today, rode 150 miles home with no problem, got it into the garage, put it up on the center stand, explained to hubby what happened and said "let see if it does it now" and it would not start!!

It cranks and cranks but does not start! 2010 F 650 Twin with 3500 miles, always on a tender, garage kept and only premium gas.

WTF?
Thank God the dealer is only 1.5 miles away. They will be coming for it... Not happy!!!

[togume]

Hate putting a "me too" type reply, but... me too!

Actually, mine issue seems to be a little different; Since about 4 weeks ago I've noticed that it's gotten progressively harder to start the bike. I used it throughout the Minnesota winter (at least a couple times a month), and throughout that time it fired right up. However, now that the weather has started to improve, I've been ramping up on the riding.

This morning, after not riding for ~5 days, I cranked and cranked, but no start.

I will be doing the following:
* Checking fuel level (doubt it, since it's been deteriorating over time)
* Check battery health
* Check voltage going to fuel pump
* Tap fuel injectors as I crank

If anyone has any ideas regarding the fact that it got progressively worse, It'd be appreciated.

Wish me luck!

------------------------UPDATE------------------------

Followed Joel's instructions. Tapping on the injector through the right-hand side triangle did it. Went to auto-parts store for some Techron, but they only had Seafoam, so got a pint of that. Put in 4 OZ of the stuff on a mostly full tank, and rode around for a few miles. Turned her off, came back a while later, and fired right up.

Will update if anything changes.

Thanks for the tips and great write ups, crew!

[JoelWisman]

Originally Posted by togume

Hate putting a "me too" type reply, but... me too!

Actually, mine issue seems to be a little different; Since about 4 weeks ago I've noticed that it's gotten progressively harder to start the bike. I used it throughout the Minnesota winter (at least a couple times a month), and throughout that time it fired right up. However, now that the weather has started to improve, I've been ramping up on the riding.

This morning, after not riding for ~5 days, I cranked and cranked, but no start.

I will be doing the following:
* Checking fuel level (doubt it, since it's been deteriorating over time)
* Check battery health
* Check voltage going to fuel pump
* Tap fuel injectors as I crank

If anyone has any ideas regarding the fact that it got progressively worse, It'd be appreciated.

Wish me luck!

------------------------UPDATE------------------------

Followed Joel's instructions. Tapping on the injector through the right-hand side triangle did it. Went to auto-parts store for some Techron, but they only had Seafoam, so got a pint of that. Put in 4 OZ of the stuff on a mostly full tank, and rode around for a few miles. Turned her off, came back a while later, and fired right up.

Will update if anything changes.

Thanks for the tips and great write ups, crew!

Keep running techron concentrate in every tank for a while, but good chance the screwdriver trick worked and saved you $500 bucks which I love as am no longer in BMW service lol :)