Well, I can now say I see why people take fuel pumps off and go for gravity feed...fuel pumps die, but gravity is pretty much reliable.

So, I'm leaving work tonight about 10:30 PM for my 30 mile ride home, and I get almost 1/2 mile from work and my bike starts sputtering and bucking and then...nothing. So, I coast into the Dandy Burger parking lot (it's closed of course) and try to figure what the Hell is going on.

She turned over fine, but sounded like it was getting no gas. Petcock on--check. Power to starter--check. Fuel pump fuse- no check, it doesn't exist. So, I pull off the fuel pump cover and give a look, and the filter is full of fuel, so gas is flowing through the petcock OK. I pulled of the hose feeding the carb from the fuel pump, turned on the key...nothing--no fuel pumping going on. So, I'm sitting in a dark parking lot, dead bike, 30 miles from home, looking at the bike, thinking if I could just bypass the fuel pump and connect the fuel line from the tank to the fuel line to the carb, gravity might work its wonders and feed my carb. But how to connect the two fuel lines?

BINGO! A McGyver moment flashed into my head. Since I was leaving work, the briefcase is in the saddlebag. I break out a trusty BIC Clic pen, unscrew the barrel, snap off the narrow end, shove the threaded part into the narrow line to the carb and the wide end of the pen barrel into the bigger line coming from the petcock. Fingers crossed...and she turned over right away! Drove it all 30 miles, even at 70 MPH, and never once did I empty the float bowl and starve the carb. I figured without the bigger needle jet, I'd have to putt the whole way home so as not to suck the carb dry, but she ran perfectly! I don't think it should have, and I don't understand why it did work, but it did.

So, I'm considering removing the pump (does that thing have a relay that could have fried???)...and I'm adding BIC pens to my toolkit...

RK

Now that was a genius idea!! I'd have never thought of that. Thanks for sharing.

BT

RK

Yes the fuel pump relay is under the right side cover....

What brilliant solution to yer breakdown

http://roadstarclinic.com/content/view/65/96/<br><br>Post edited by: Pop Rivet, at: 2007/08/26 06:41

Very creative thinking there RK

Does it matter what color ink? There is a fuel pump relay.

Great job RK. I wouldn't have thought about that fix until about a week later in the middle of the night, much too late to be helpful. I'm great at thinking of solutions weeks after the problem.

Way to go ... and you had luck on your side. I could never get mine to run right without a pump.

As others have said the relay is behind the right side cover beside the turn signal relay.

Doc

Good thinking RK, I'd brag on that one too , if I had come up with it. Smart move, and now you're home, even better! BB

The relay is actuated by the &quot;Ignitor Unit&quot;. Locate the relay and jump the red wire black stripe to the bue wire black stripe. If the fuel pump runs you have a bad Ignitor or a bad relay. A quick test for the relay would be to disconnect the relay and hook the red/black terminal to positive, the blue and red terminal to ground and check for a &quot;click&quot; and voltage at the blue and black terminal. Let me know if this works for you, and what Ignitor you are using. It worked for me and I replaced the Ignitor. I keep the jumper in my tool kit.
Dave

Yeah - well I can make a nuclear reactor out of a tennis ball, a soap dish and an old copy of Mad magazine.

Good thinking RK

WhiteStarNC wrote:
Yeah - well I can make a nuclear reactor out of a tennis ball, a soap dish and an old copy of Mad magazine.

Good thinking RK

Hey...weren't you &quot;The Professor&quot; on Gilligan's Island?

RK