Attempted start after new battery

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Firestarter · #16 Post by **Firestarter** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:19 pm

Glad you got it sussed JR

jonnie_r · #17 Post by **jonnie_r** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:23 pm

mangocrazy wrote:
jonnie_r wrote:Ignition on and a liquid that look suspiciously like water came out. A match test confirmed it's lack of flammability. Not sure if the misses liked me using a pyrex bowl to do my testing though

Several twists of the key later, and about a litre of fluid, I'm back to petrol.
Could this be the dreaded ethanol doing its sneaky phase separation thing? How long had the bike been left standing, and was it outside? If leaving the bike for any length of time these days I think it's advisable to fire a bit of fuel stabiliser into the tank to stop just this kind of thing from happening.

It's been stood since the week before xmas, ans yes it is outside and stupidly I didn't cover it, cos I kept telling myself that I was going to sort the battery.

Should have just got on and done it instead of bloody procrastinating. A lesson learned.

randomsquid · #18 Post by **randomsquid** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 7:43 pm

mangocrazy wrote:
jonnie_r wrote:Ignition on and a liquid that look suspiciously like water came out. A match test confirmed it's lack of flammability. Not sure if the misses liked me using a pyrex bowl to do my testing though

Several twists of the key later, and about a litre of fluid, I'm back to petrol.
Could this be the dreaded ethanol doing its sneaky phase separation thing? How long had the bike been left standing, and was it outside? If leaving the bike for any length of time these days I think it's advisable to fire a bit of fuel stabiliser into the tank to stop just this kind of thing from happening.

What I've been doing with mine if it's going to stand for any length of time is more or less run it out of fuel. Before trying to start it I stick 5l of fresh fuel in and give it a swish. This new fangled stuff doesn't seem to last long.

#19 Post by **mangocrazy** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:23 pm

fatboy wrote:Glad you got it running

What's phase separation ? ?

Ethanol is hygroscopic and absorbs water. It also tends to separate out from the main body of the petrol over time (unless fuel stabiliser is used), so you get different levels (phases) of water, ethanol and petrol in a tank if you're not careful. Water always sinks to the bottom and gets pulled through first when attempting to start the bike (as jonnie_r found).

As Andy says, the more likely cause is the drain outlet being blocked, but there is also the possibility that ethanol in petrol could cause the same symptoms, but would probably require a longer time period before it did.

jonnie_r · #20 Post by **jonnie_r** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 7:39 am

Mine did have hardly any in, until I stuck 5L in like you would. I guess this probably just exacerbated the cause rather than helping, as mango has said the water would sink to the bottom.

Drain tube cleaning will be the order of tonights business.

fatboy · #21 Post by **fatboy** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 7:34 pm

Thanks for the explanation of phase separation, obvious when you think about it. That coupled with a blocked drain tube, in less than a week I had a micro puddle around the filler neck, removed it with a syringe bit it was back in no time, so time to probe with welding wire followed by 30 amp wire ect