Hi guys,
Hope i have posted this in the right section.
I've recently bought an '05 ST1300 with 38,000kms that was perfect except for the fact that the fuel gauge would only read with two lights regardless of the amount of fuel in the tank according to the previous owner. He advised the sender unit in the upper tank had been replaced but the problem remained. Didn't think it would a big issue to fix so was happy with the bike for the price.
When I picked it up I topped up the fuel tank and rode approximately 30kms home. All went well.
A couple of days later, I rode 70kms one way to work without a drama but on the way home (about 40kms into the 70km return trip) I noticed that it started to intermittently miss at 110kmh and this gradually got worse over the next 10kms when I was fortunately off the highway and on a back road. It got to the point that I couldn't accelerate at all and pulling back further on the throttle made the motor almost die completely, so I had to change up through the gears at less than 1800rpm to get any sort of speed up to limp home. Thought it may have been an old fuel issue or even a bit of water in the fuel as I noted when I first fueled it up that there was a bit of condensation in the top of the tank.
A week or so later I finally had the chance to fill her back up (16 odd litres, so far from empty) with 98 and take it for a quick 20km squirt to see if the issue was still there, and the bike was perfect again.
So, yesterday I decided to ride work again completing the 70km trip to work without the bike missing a beat, however, on the way home (approx. 50kms into the 70km return trip) the bike started with the same intermittent miss whilst on the highway and I had to short change below 1800rpm just to get home again. Grrrrrrrr!!!!!
As the bike appeared to start with the same issue at approximately the same distance into a full tank of fuel, I am assuming this points to a fuel feed issue but I'm wondering whether it may be a coil pack starting to die. I am really not sure.
I've had a bit of a search around the forum and there appears to be some members with similar issues but not quite the same as what is happening with mine. I know they have an upper and lower fuel tank with the fuel pump being in the lower tank between the frame, and I took the upper tank off last night draining about 8 litres of fuel out (fuel gauge still read 2 bars only) before I could disconnect the large hose between the two and remove it completely.
So I guess my questions are:
1. Is the fuel gauge issue to do with sender unit/s or the dash itself? (I earthed out the gauge last night after taking the tank off and had all bars showing a full tank)
2. What could be the issue with the fuel system and/or coils causing the miss firing and eventual non-acceleration (and possible testing/ fixes for same)?
Sorry for the long post guys and thanks in advance for any knowledge you can impart my way to help fix the blimmin' thing.
Cheers,
Coop.