[jtfoto]

Oh K1200LT Gurus..... Your guidance please.
Replaced fuel filter, air filter and plugs Wednesday. Road bike 75 miles that afternoon, all was perfect. Left with bike at 5 AM yesterday, road 75 miles, parked bike and again all was perfect. Ten hours later, tried to start bike. It spit and sputtered, almost started, then nothing. Just turns over but won't fire.

My first thought was charcoal canister. Did the bypass on it. Did it under the seat as I was not at my home. (cut line under seat running down right side of bike and vented down. Cut line in left side under seat and plugged.) Crossed my fingers, hit the starter.... And........ NOTHING. Still won't start. Not even a sputter. And yes, it does have gas in the tank.

I await your infinite wisdome.

 

[DanMartin]

Oh K1200LT Gurus..... Your guidance please.
Replaced fuel filter, air filter and plugs Wednesday. Road bike 75 miles that afternoon, all was perfect. Left with bike at 5 AM yesterday, road 75 miles, parked bike and again all was perfect. Ten hours later, tried to start bike. It spit and sputtered, almost started, then nothing. Just turns over but won't fire.

My first thought was charcoal canister. Did the bypass on it. Did it under the seat as I was not at my home. (cut line under seat running down right side of bike and vented down. Cut line in left side under seat and plugged.) Crossed my fingers, hit the starter.... And........ NOTHING. Still won't start. Not even a sputter. And yes, it does have gas in the tank.

I await your infinite wisdome.

Maybe the hose came off the fuel filter in the tank. Open the tank, turn key on,
listen/look for fuel movement/spray.

 

[Lee510]

Since the engine ran for 150 miles, but now won't, I don't believe the canister would be to blame. Do you have quick disconnects on the fuel lines? Male and female for the pressure and return lines should be facing opposite directions so you can't get them connected wrong. I doubt this is the problem either, but just covering everything. If you have QDs are they plastic? The male ends of the plastic QDs are susceptible to breakage when inserted into the female ends and not perfectly aligned. Even if one did not break, maybe it didn't click completely into place. The check valve would prevent fuel from leaking if this is the case. A broken male end would probably leave a nice puddle on the ground.

Hope this helps. It may be a place to start. I'm sure others will be along with other suggestions.

 

[JPSpen]

I had one of those damn disconnects back out about 1/8 of an inch and shut off the fuel flow.. I sat on the side of the road for two hours trying to figure out what was going on until I took a close look and DOH !!!!

Make sure they're fully connected...

Turn key on.. Listen for fuel pump to run...Open tank look for fuel movement...
If you can find a can of starting ether.. You can shoot a little of that into the air intake... If it runs for a couple seconds then your issue is fuel...

Usually is...

John

 

[Cochinosucio]

Maybe the hose came off the fuel filter in the tank. Open the tank, turn key on,
listen/look for fuel movement/spray.

+1

 

[jtfoto]

OK, so still baffled. Looked in tank while turning over. I see no spray of bubbles. I see movement, but that very well could be from the starter vibrating the bike. I can't physically hear the fuel pump either.

I took off the lower tupperware on the right side just to be sure wire to fuel pump hadn't come loose. They were fine. But....... I reached up under the front cowl to the air intake and sprayed ether while turning it over. And, much to my surprise, still nothing. I assumed if it were a fuel problem, it would have at least hit a time or two with the ether, but nothing.

So, oh Gods of the LT, what do you command?

 

[jtfoto]

OK, answering that myself. I'll take everything back apart and check the line on the fuel filter. Any other suggestions while it's down AGAIN?

 

[DanMartin]

OK, answering that myself. I'll take everything back apart and check the line on the fuel filter. Any other suggestions while it's down AGAIN?

You should hear the fuel pump.
How sure are you that it has gas? Don't trust guage.
Fuel pump fuse?

 

[jtfoto]

Yes, it has fuel. Getting ready to check the fuses now. Anybody know off hand which fuse it is?

 

[parishollow]

The time this happened to me the connections inside the tank to the filter had come off. Put it back together with stainless steel hose clamps.

 

[Lee510]

The time this happened to me the connections inside the tank to the filter had come off. Put it back together with stainless steel hose clamps.

Make sure you use stainless steel fuel line clamps. You don't want to use the ones with the eliptical holes and the screw that works like a helical gear. They will ruin the fuel line, chewing it up and causing leaks.

 

[ebear695]

so, what was it? Inquirering minds what to know!

 

[Cochinosucio]

Was it your QDs?

 

[jtfoto]

OK, so last I posted it still wouldn't start. Before taking all the plastic off, I grabbed one of the old Bosch plugs (I replaced the plugs while apart with NGK DCPR 7E that Beemer Boneyard sent with a 24K service kit) and hooked it up to a plug wire just to be certain I had spark. Yep, lots of it. So that being said, I resigned to the fact that one of the fuel lines came off in the tank even though I knew there was a very very slim chance that could have happened. While not "Joe Mechanic," I am fairly proficient with a wrench on a bike and know how to attach fuel lines.

I finally got time to tear the plastic off, pull the tank, and pop out the fuel pump. Guess what? BOTH of the lines where right where they were suppose to be, tight and intact. I even hooked the pump up to the bike to be sure she was pumping, and yep, perfect. Put the tank back on and hit the starter.....still not a thing, so now I'm REALLY scratching my head.

Went to the fridge, grabbed a beer and sat and stared at the LT for a bit. Grabbed another beer and thought some more. "I checked the spark, and it was fine. The fuel pump is pumping. WTF." (Yes, talking to myself after two beers.)

Being the somewhat logical person that I am, I decided to work backwards to see if we could get to the bottom of this. With the tank back in place, and lines hooked up, the next backwards step was to put the old Bosch plugs back in. I know, I know, thats stupid. You had spark, so of course the NGK plugs wouldn't be the issue, but working back, thats then next step.

Pulled all 4 plugs. Put the Bosch back in. Pushed the starter. (Ready for this????) It started right up. Seriously. Just to be sure I hadn't drank A LOT more beer than I thought I had, I put the damn NGK's back in, and again it would not start. Put the old Bosch in, and poof, purred like a kitten.

Go figure...... (I look forward to your thoughts oh masters of the LT)

 

[kimokk]

I guess your bike doesn't like NGK plugs. I changed mine with boneyard-supplied NGKs this past Saturday without any problems.

 

[saddleman]

Do the tips of the plugs that go into the plug wires look the same on both the NGK & Bosch plugs & was the gap set on the NGK plugs ?.

 

[rattler50]

I'm betting the NGK plugs don't have the ends on them to make contact with the wire. I had to rob some to install NGKs into my bike.................

 

[David13]

Something wrong with those spark plugs.
dc

 

[saddleman]

I'm betting the NGK plugs don't have the ends on them to make contact with the wire. I had to rob some to install NGKs into my bike.................

All the NGK plugs that crossed over in the chart that I have looked at did not come with the screw on tips to contact the plug wires.

 

[bikerj]

While he said the spark plugs were changed out, he said it did run okay initially for a 100 miles or so?

Nobody has mentioned the possibility of the engine flooding. He said he tried ether, and that didn't work, so that's sure indication it wasn't a fuel supply problem. The fact ether didn't work should have immediately cued him to look at the ignition. Remember, all you need is air, fuel, and spark to get a gasoline engine to fire off (in simplest terms).

the idea that another set of spark plugs fired it off gives credence to fouled/flooded spark plugs, but not necessarily the definitive answer. If the plugs are simply fouled, he will want to figure out why. if the cylinders flooded (w/ fuel), then that has to be troubleshot. another possibility for spark plugs is the correct heat range, though it would most likely have to be vastly different from the last set of plugs.

Also, look to see if the ceramic/porcelain was possibly cracked on any of the plugs during install. A plug could be cracked enough to allow for the spark to short to engine before reaching the tip. I don't know how few cylinders the LT will run on with one or two dead, but a cracked spark plug might wreak havoc.