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Engine stall? Help with a diagnosis...


smashweights

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I was getting the R6 all set for winter storage, put some Sea Foam in, rode it down the street to get gas, brought it back to air up the tires (yeah I know, wrong order, but it's about 1/10th of a mile to gas), and then went out for a short ride to work the fresh gas through the system. Got it up to temp around 180 degrees and was gonna do a quick shot down I-675. I got to the bottom of the ramp, changed lanes to get around the two cars ahead of me and punched the throttle. Got to around 8k RPMs and suddenly the engine cuts out. Multiple profanities start rattling in my helmet. Engine kicks back on. I quickly change lanes back over, get onto the shoulder and the engine cuts out again. So I started it back up and hopped off to ineptly look the bike over, check the chain. Seems to be running just fine. Within 1 minute a kind soul in a pickup had pulled over to check on me, who I promptly thanked, but since the bike was running, said I'd be fine. So I got back on and carefully rode back home. No other issues.

Nothing felt weird on the ride, engine was smooth, power was normal. No sounds, rattling or otherwise that I noticed when it cut out or any other time on the ride.

The battery was just charged up the day before. The bike had not been ridden in about 4 months and the gas was probably about half new, half old, 3oz. Sea Foam. filled it right up to the brim of the tank. The oil has about 800 miles on it and was last changed in early 2010 with Motul semi-syn. The garage seemed to have a slightly different exhaust scent when I was letting it warm up.

Any thoughts? Could I have overfilled the tank? Odd quirk of sitting around too long? I don't want to sell this thing if there's something wrong with it.

Edited by smashweights
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Hard to tell really, take it out again next chance you get, work it back up to temp and toss it through some turns. If there's no issue, sell it. :dunno:

Could be something ignition related since it simply quits then comes right back to life?

Edit - check your grounds for the elects, could be one a little corroded that interrupted it? Someone with better knowledge should chime in with more experience.

Edited by Hellmutt
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03-05 r6 had coil issues. perhaps that gremlin is coming out now?

This seems a good possibility, especially with the sudden stall. Fuel issue or Seafoam overdose would have indicative surging and hesitation, not just quit?

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Just charged the battery? Check terminal connections for tightness and corrosion.

This was my thought too. I had a similar issue earlier in the year. I was so excited to get riding that I forgot to tighten one of my terminals..... :o It was running fine for like 5or 10 minutes, then suddenly it would shut off while I was riding.

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I've had mine shut off occasionally in cold weather. It kicks back on in a couple of seconds. I blame the computer/fuel injection if it's running okay before and after the event.

What I didn't like was it shutting off in a lazy corner when I was reaching across to adjust the right mirror with my left hand. Zingo. Think fast.

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Thanks for all the input guys. I'll check out the battery terminals tomorrow and the kickstand as well. If it's a fuel issue, is should work out after a few miles since the gas should be well mixed now. And I didn't measure how much seafoam exactly. It was a 16oz can, I put about 1/4 of it in.

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I put seafoam in every tank on my old carbed bikes, but only a few capfulls. 1/4 of the can = dumbass didn't read the directions.

Dumbass did read directions. Can is 16oz. Directions say 1oz/gal of fuel. R6 holds 4.5 gallons of fuel. Therefore, it should get 4.5oz of seafoam to a full tank. 4oz/16oz = 1/4 of a can, which is erring on the side of not adding enough.

I'll chime in to blame seafoam. Never used it in a bike but have had several friends use it with shit results or stalling issues in cars

I've used it in every car and bike I've owned with no problems. I've even used it in this bike every winter since I've owned it. I'm wondering if I just overfilled the tank and the tank breather tube was blocked and starved the engine for gas at high RPMs. Or maybe there's some maintenance that needs done?

Edited by smashweights
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I bet it's this. If you just poured it in and started it you may have got a slug of not gas in the fuel line that has already passed.

Now that you mention it, I'm thinking this might be the case too. I only put about 1 mile on the bike after filling up before this happened and was pretty light on the throttle, any misfiring may not have been as big of a deal at lower RPMs. It also seemed to idle a little higher at start-up than usual. I also hadn't thought about this until now, but the Monster was much less appreciative of me adding the SeaFoam before filling up and stalled out when I first pulled away from the garage to get the gas. I figured I lived so close the gas station it wouldn't be an issue putting some in before filling up the tank, thinking it would mix it throughout the gas better due to the force of the incoming gas. Must have had a lot less gas in the tanks this year than in past years when adding the SeaFoam cause I've done it this way for a few years without any issues. Live and learn I guess. Thanks for helping me think this through, panic brain isn't the best at seeing the obvious answers.

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Now that you mention it, I'm thinking this might be the case too. I only put about 1 mile on the bike after filling up before this happened and was pretty light on the throttle, any misfiring may not have been as big of a deal at lower RPMs. It also seemed to idle a little higher at start-up than usual. I also hadn't thought about this until now, but the Monster was much less appreciative of me adding the SeaFoam before filling up and stalled out when I first pulled away from the garage to get the gas. I figured I lived so close the gas station it wouldn't be an issue putting some in before filling up the tank, thinking it would mix it throughout the gas better due to the force of the incoming gas. Must have had a lot less gas in the tanks this year than in past years when adding the SeaFoam cause I've done it this way for a few years without any issues. Live and learn I guess. Thanks for helping me think this through, panic brain isn't the best at seeing the obvious answers.

I don't know that it would bother it unless it was pure sea foam site says up to 2oz per gallon

http://www.seafoamsales.com/recommended-mix-amounts.html

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The tank may have had anywhere from 2 gallons or less in it. I dont recall how many gallons I put in it when i filled it up, but I probably had about a 1/4 tank left, so might have had 4oz/gal or higher. Might have been running on SeaFoam-free gas that was already in the fuel line for a mile or so and then the little bit of gas with too much SeaFoam that was sucked into the line while I rode to the gas station hit the engine when it stalled, then the normal ratio gas was running through from then on so no problems. That's my thought anyway. Unfortunately I can't really test my theory til springtime...

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There might have been a little too much SF in there before you topped it off and it was cycling through the fuel system when it cut off.

Sounds like it remedied itself, though, and you should be firing it up over the winter so you'll be able to burn off more of it.

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