Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Engine Missing Problem Solved

Well, I decided to add a couple more posts to the blog.  This one revolves around the engine missing problem that started in Anchorage, Alaska and continued ALL the way home.  Four thousand miles of engine missing every day for the first part of each days ride.  The amount of missing varied from around twenty miles of missing and then the bike would run super fine for the rest of the day, all the way up to over one hundred and ten miles of missing and then it ran super fine until we stopped for lunch the last day. 

I am now convinced that the problem has been water in the tank.  If you read my blogs you know that in Anchorage, I had to replace the fuel filter on the bike because it was clogged and not working properly.  That replacement was brought about by the amount of bad gas that I had put in the bike all the way back to my trip to Alaska last year in 2008. 

I replaced the filter just before leaving for Alaska in June of 2008 and I left that one in there when I left for Alaska this year.  Evidently, I got a lot of bad gas last year in Alaska and I must have gotten even more bad gas this year and the filter finally gave up the ghost after about 15,000 miles of travel. 

Anyway, after I replaced the filter in Anchorage this year, the bike ran like a new bike for one day.  Until the bike went over on its right side in the Whittier tunnel. 

The gas tank on a BMW R1150GS is sort of like a saddle.  One part of the tank is on the right side of the frame (and that’s where the gas “pickup” is) and the other part of the tank is on the left side of the frame.  There is a certain amount of “liquid” (either gas or water or other stuff) that stays on the left side unless the bike is leaned WAY over to the right side. 

I believe the tip over on the right side caused all of that “trapped” liquid to spill over to the right side of the tank where the gas pickup is and started the missing problem. 

The engine wasn’t getting enough water to actually make the bike not start but only enough to make it run very badly.  Then, as I went down the highway, less and less water was being picked up with the gas and the bike would run better and better until there was no water being picked up and then it would run fine for the rest of the day. 

What I cannot explain is why the process would start over each day.  I would think if the engine were burning some of the water out each day, that after a few days the bike should run fine but it didn’t.  Each day the problem would start over and run badly until a certain amount of gas/water went through the engine and then it would run fine until the next day. 

This missing problem started on the 17th of June in Anchorage and continued until we arrived back home on the 29th of June. 

The BMW mechanic in Anchorage wouldn’t have been able to see anything on his computer because the computer wouldn’t show what was being burned in the cylinder.  He was looking for some kind of malfunction with the engine and the problem was actually with the quality of the gas that was being run through the engine. 

Even given that, he should have been able to call someone in BMW and ask them about the symptoms and they probably would have told him to drain the tank and put new gas in it. 

Therefore, I am now getting a business card and my title is going to be “Master BMW Motorcycle Mechanic”.  Since he wasn’t able to cure my bikes problem and I was, ergo, I am smarter than he is and worthy of having the true title of Master Mechanic and he should be sent to Germany for a two year refresher course in maintaining BMWs GS bikes.  AND, he should be paid minimum wage while he is in the course and he should have to ride a moped to work each day. 

I should have my tire back on the bike in the next day or two and then I’ll be doing more test rides. 

The Adventure model of the BMW GS bike has an eight gallon tank on it while mine has a five gallon tank.  On the GSA, the tank actually has a hose that connects the bottom of the two parts of the tank so there can be no “trapped” fuel on the left side of the tank.  I’m thinking I may do a modification on my bike so it is like the GSA model. 

Since I’m going to have to take the tank off the bike to empty it, I’m going to have someone weld fuel fittings on the bottom of each side of it so I can connect them together with a piece of fuel line so I don’t ever have this problem again.  Plus, if I get water in the tank in the future, it will be simply to disconnect the hose and drain both sides of the tank completely without having to remove the tank to drain it. 

More info as I get into the testing more.

1 comment:

  1. Late reply, it's November.
    You should have this problem in an airplane!
    An aerobatic ace was piloting my Aeronca Chief, and we put the plane into a maneuver which goes straight up until it hesitates at the top, does a wing-over and starts a dive straight down to earth. Uh-oh, sputter sputter... we limped into a local airport. The auxiliary fuel tank behind the cockpit had some "stuff" in it because it didn't have a sump, was never filled, and just sat back there riding along. When the plane nosed over to earth, whatever "stuff" was residing in that tank ran forward to the main tank up forward in front of the cockpit, and as the carburetor picked it up, well... you know that water won't burn... so it just coughed along. The solution was to install a fuel sump in the line, to be used regularly, and keep some fresh fuel in that tank occasionally.
    That learning experience put an instant load on my ticker, and I'm ultra sensitive about "cough cough" while flying. On a motorcycle, it would be sort of "ho-hum".

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