Buell XB9 not getting fuel

[OntarioBueller]

Hey guys...got a caper for you here...

2006 Buell XB9

Highway riding the other day and my fuel light goes on...I make it maybe 2 kms before the bike completely dies and I have to pull off the highway. I figure its run dry and I need more gas. I have a tow come with gas, nothing...huffs and puffs a bit but won't fire. Towed home.

I buy a new set of plugs for it....pull the plugs, they look fine so i leave the old ones in. I check the fuel rail...fuel is present, fuel pump flicks on and primes when I turn the ignition on, pumps fuel out of the fuel line. I figure ok, something at the bottom of the tank got sucked up, maybe my injectors are clogged. I pull them, clean them, they're fine.

Still won't fire.

I figure long shot, new plugs...I throw in the new plugs, nothing.

So i figure well I'll toss a bit of fuel down the throttle body, crank her over....thing fires right up, runs on the gas I've tossed down and thats it.

Im at a loss why this thing is not getting gas....Any help is much appreciated!!

 

[bsd]

Check your fuel pressure at the T/B should be around 50 psi.

 

[OntarioBueller]

how do i go about doing that? and if its weak?

 

[OntarioBueller]

how do I do that? and if its weak?

 

[bsd]

You need an adapter and gauge. The factory H/D adapter is # B-45522-A call Lance @ saint Paul hd as he can get one or find a Ford one that fits then you need a gauge. If pressure is low than one component of the fuel pump assembly has failed. As in regulator, o rings, filter, pump etc.

 

[Cooter]

Great advise BSD:up:

 

[user_deleted]

before you proceed with anything else carefully check ALL your fusebox fuses.
your XB is 11 years old. chances are good the pump was never previously "run dry" but now it has been. the fault is in/with the pump assembly. i'm seeing these failures at an alarming rate as these XB's continue to age gracefully.
what you described is the pump priming BUT not establishing and holding sufficient pressure.

 

[ocgreenmachine]

Another possibility is you may have a hole in the plastic hose that goes from your pump to your regulator. It is located on top of the assembly and it is known to wear through over time. If there is a hole, you will obviously lose pressure and depending on the size of the hole, it may be completely unrideable. I had two small pinholes and the symptoms was loss of pressure after priming (it would prime and get to 50 psi then as soon as the priming stops, the pressure would drop) that led to the bike not starting

 

[user_deleted]

^^^^^ nice call. something to check closely when removing the pump for examination/freshening.

 

[OntarioBueller]

Alright guys, still stumped....heres what I've done...

Took out the fuel pump assembly...number of things going wrong in here that I corrected. The strainer to the pump had completely disintegrated and was lying in the bottom of the fuel tank. Cleaned that up. As ocgreenmachine pointed out, the hose going from the pump to the reg had completely snapped off. Rather than assuming that this was the only thing wrong, I went ahead and replaced everything with brand new: Brand new pump( Thanks to the DIY fuel pump thread!!), brand new filter, brand new reg, new o-rings, and brand new submersible fuel line(almost $40 for a foot!!).

Everything is in, but this thing still does not want to fire. I've checked, and there is fuel being pumped to the rail, but none of it wants to get in the damn cylinders.

Anymore suggestions?

 

[Cooter]

will it still run on fuel down the TB?

 

[njloco]

Meaning, spray some fuel into the throttle body, with everything hooked up and key and cut out switch in run position to see if it kicks over.

P.S. are you sure you have spark ? The above two answers should answer that !

 

[OntarioBueller]

Ya, I squirted some fuel down the TB and it fires right up

 

[Chicknstripn]

Have you hooked the bike up to ECM spy or ECM droid? If you're not getting a signal from the TPS the bike will never fire

 

[OntarioBueller]

No i haven't...I don't have any of that hardware...Im guessing i have to order that online?

 

[user_deleted]

if you're receiving fuel at the injectors but they're not allowing said fuel to be injected into the motor it's ecm related. you need to rule out the BAS and any other sensors possibly telling the ecm not to trigger the injectors to open and close. follow the link below and at the very least check for stored active and historical fault codes. this may give you an indication into what exactly is the root of the problem. the check must be done with key AND red run switch to on.

http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/32777/146574.html

 

[Chicknstripn]

^^^^plus one to this!
And you need some type of software to figure out what the ECM is doing. If the ECM isn't getting a signal from the TPS it thinks the throttle is always closed, or as lunatic just pointed out, it's not communicating when to inject fuel into the throttle body. This I would believe is why you can start the bike by manually injecting fuel into the throttle body.
Get some software, and the necessary hardware, to see what the ECM is doing or from here on out you'll just be blindly trudging through an abyss of frustration.
Now that last line is what the cool kids call a hashtag for the buell life!

 

[Cooter]

The BAS is a good call Lunatic!
So is the TPS...
both can be checked manually with a voltmeter.

Buellmods.com or Buelltooth.com will have a service manual to download

 

[njloco]

If you live in Ontario, some of your brethren are having a get together, maybe one of them could hook you up ( get it ?, Hook you up, ha,ha,ha, you know ECM ) o.k. so the joke sucks ! I tried.

P.S. Sorry, it might have been last year's get together ?

 

[Silverrider]

Early on you said the injectors are clean and fine, How did you clean them ? How do you know that they are fine. Later on in your thread you say you put a new pump in, But did you turn it on before you cleaned out your tank ? It just seems like after you put in a new pump is the time to clean injectors.