A Fuel mystery on the Vstrom

DavidFL

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Jan 16, 2003
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Chiang Khong
www.thegtrider.com
I'm on my 3rd V-Strom after 180,000 km on V-Strom #1 and 90,000 km on V-Strom #2.
Vstrom #2 I bought "3rd hand," and the clock had been wound back, but I was not too worried because the bike handled well, and it was a V-Strom motor—they are bulletproof.
I knew that the motor did not sound as good as the 90,000 km or 180,000 km bikes, but it was still ok.
I now have clocked up 38 km since I bought the bike, and there's an annoying fuel issue we cannot solve yet.
I've almost run the bike out of fuel a couple of times with 2 bars showing 80 km fuel range.
If you do a sharp U-turn or any turn, the motor will cut out.
Straighten the bike up, complete a dodgy turn, hit the starter button, and away it goes again.
Got enough fuel?

But in the last 2 months, this has started to come in at 3 bars of fuel.

Also, should you need to shut down the throttle quickly—a red traffic light—the motor will cut out.

Alarmingly, on my recent trip to Nan, riding on R1091 from Ban Luang to Song Khwae, there are multiple continuous corners where you change direction and close and open the throttle.
And yep, you guessed it, rolling off and on with the throttle in all those corners with the bike laid over, the motor keeps cutting out.
I had 3 bars of fuel and 180 km of fuel range left!

I was not impressed and had to drop to a lower gear, keep the revs up, and gently ride through all those bloody corners carefully.
Kong, the V-Strom, Chang, & I all thought maybe a fuel pump issue.
But Kong did not want to strip down the tank until I had another V-Strom fuel pump ready to swap over.

I promptly ordered one from AliExpress for 500 baht, it turned up in 10 days, and it didn't fit. Oh well.

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We cleaned the fuel pump and filter.

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We replaced oil ring seals & cleaned the fuel filter that was dirty with carbon.

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We cleaned the fuel injectors.

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The fuel pump pressure was within spec.

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Everything is back together again, but I suspect the problem is not resolved.
I will need to wait until there are only 2 or 3 bars of fuel left and we see what happens.
Any ideas?
 
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