Bike died :( help?

[TCochrane]

When riding into work this morning the engine just decided to cut out for no apparent reason.
I pulled over, popped it in neutral and it started again.. I was so confused, can anyone shed any light on the matter?

It's been running fine since.. and didn't show any obvious problems before..

And before anyone says the obvious:
YES it has plenty of fuel
YES the battery was full
NO I didn't hit the killswitch!

[Fallout]

Could be one of a million things mate. Dodgy connection to plug, fuel blockage, side-stand sensor etc. Any other thoughts on it? If not, wait till/if it happens again and try to take in as many symptoms and events leading up to the fault as possible.

[Bordtea]

Did you hit the killswitch ;)

[TCochrane]

Did you hit the killswitch ;)

Just updated the original post for obvious causes ;)

[Spank86]

Can you elaborate on the "cut out" bit?

Did you just lose power or did the engine seize? What happened exactly?

[TCochrane]

Was moving at roughly 25 - 30mph in 2nd gear, pulled in the clutch, flicked up to 3rd, opened the throttle a fraction and just as I started the release the clutch the engine switched off. So i pulled the clutch back in, put on the hazards and moved to the side of the road.

I'm not sure how much more information I can give? :S

[Spank86]

When you say switched off do you mean immediately went completely silent as if you'd hit the kill switch?

Or did it splutter and die?

(tbh I have no idea what was wrong, I doubt a mechanic could even tell you at this point, not unless you can replicate it, I'd put it down to something you did wrong and maybe just check a few things like the connectors on the battery)

[TCochrane]

Just completely went silent, as if I'd hit the killswitch, but i checked that and that wasn't the problem. The stand wasn't down either ( not that it would be at 30mph.. ) I'm not sure, I'll let you know if it happens again

[Bordtea]

had you just set off or had you been moving a while?

[TCochrane]

been riding for a good 3 - 5 minutes, at the start of my journey. water temperature was probably around.. 60ish i'd say? but that's a guess based off previous rides

[TSM]

Now you said 'hit the hazzards' so it must be a pointy.
When you turn on the bike does it flash up FI on the clocks?

[Fallout]

Sounds like RPM dropped on clutch in and it cut out then. Do you know the condition of your spark plugs?

[TCochrane]

It doesn't, no. Just the normal screen on the display

[TCochrane]

Just changed them about 300 miles ago for its MOT

[Mark_h]

Mine used to do that when half warm. Just turn the tickover up a tad and it'll not happen again. Tickover adjuster is plastic Philips screw by where your left knee would be when riding. I'm sure messing with the injection equivalent of a choke would sort but it this is much easier

[Fallout]

Good shout Mark. Your idle should be min 1100RPM if my memory serves me correctly. So if yours is much lower when the bike is warm, it may be that. If it happens again, check the idle when you restart.

[Mark_h]

The problem seems to be that in reasonable weather the bike comes off choke a bit too early and this causes tick-over to dip. Being a twin, at low revs if one cylinder fails on one stroke it's a big ask for the other to recover from it. If you had a boring IL4 then it'd probably sort it out itself.

I know that from my house to the edge of town with a cold bike on a warm day I have a 50:50 of a stall when dropping back to tickover when the engine is registering between 35 and 70 degrees.

I lifted my tickover a little bit and now it happens a lot less but to be honest I just got used to applying a manual tickover lift via the throttle at the two sets of lights I usually get held at in the afore mentioned scenario.

One day I'll investigate the various widgets, levers, sensors and computers that replace the simple choke flaps on the carbed models and see if it can be sorted although that day is a fair way off.

[TCochrane]

Thanks for all your advice guys, just managed to get onto the forum to reply with updates.

***UPDATE***

It died again ( same symptoms ) 3 times in one day the other day.

First time, moving down a dual carriageway, slowed to about 30mph as some **** cut me up, mid-changing gear, letting out the clutch, just as i applied the throttle, the engine died. Restarted bike on the move and was fine.

10 minutes later, moving at about 10mph, changing from 1st to 2nd, same thing happened again.

5 minutes later, moving from standstill, it died again. ( no i didn't stall it, the revs were too high to stall )

The next day, as I pulled in the clutch to come to a stop, it cut out again. Getting frustrated by this point, when pressing the ignition button again, the engine simply turned and didn't bite until i turned the throttle and it choked into life again.

Since the plugs have been changed about 400 miles ago, I came to the conclusion its probably the injectors. I think they're clogged. So I put some injector cleaner in with the fuel yesterday and so far it hasn't died, but it's only been one day.

Will keep you guys updated if it dies again! but thanks for all your help!
I'll see if this fixes the problem before I start mucking about with the idle

[Fallout]

If you were on the throttle pulling away, it's definitely not the idle. Good shout on the injectors. My only other thought is possible fuel line blockage.

[Spank86]

Air, fuel, spark.

Gotta be one of the three, trick is which, and why.

I'm assuming you didn't get a smell of petrol like it was flooding?

[Thunderace]

Does the sv have a chip to manage fuel, if so could be a half assed engine map!

[TCochrane]

Nah the ECU is fine to my reckoning, I honestly think it's the injectors being clogged by contaiminated fuel. But as I say, I'll let you guys know in a week or so if the problem is fixed by the injector cleaner :)

and no out of ordinary smells of petrol

[Mark_h]

Nah the ECU is fine to my reckoning, I honestly think it's the injectors being clogged by contaiminated fuel. But as I say, I'll let you guys know in a week or so if the problem is fixed by the injector cleaner :)

and no out of ordinary smells of petrol

Low rev stalling when half cold will be Tickover related. Injector cleaning will do it no harm but I doubt it will sort it. I had exactly the same stalling from junctions, stalling when slowing etc. does it only happen when engine is half warm?

[TCochrane]

Majority of the time it does only happy when the engine is half warm, but the one time it happened on the dual carriage way, the engine was at optimum temperature.

The reason I think it's the injectors is that when I tried to start it, I needed to apply throttle to get it to start. The engine turned over, but didn't choke into life until i turned the throttle

[TCochrane]

****UPDATE****

So the bike has had some time for the injector cleaner to work its way through. It's been running sweet as a nut for the past week or so with no faults however..

Today it died again. 3 times in 10 seconds!
I was sitting at some lights in first gear, clutch pulled in. The moment i turned the throttle it died. Bike did the whirring sound it does when you turn it on. When that had stopped i pressed the ignition button, the engine turned but wouldnt start until i turned the throttle.. weird i thought.

So now with the engine running again, i twisted the throttle again and it died again! This repeated a further two times until it finally decided to work and i could drive off. Got mean looks off other drivers as they thought i'd stalled it 3 times in a row :( :(

HEEEEEELPP?!?!?!?

I don't think it's the idle as it's fine idling, its when i apply throttle that it dies!

[Mark_h]

Still sounds exactly the same a mine. Tickover is a ten second change. Also worth getting your throttle bodies synced as low revs make them worse if a bit out but that's a bit more involved.

[TCochrane]

Okay thanks Mark