Problems after being parked for 8 months

A

Azrial

Member
www.azrial.com
In November 2012 I was hit by a large truck and broke my hip in three places. Fast forward through a lot of pain, surgery and rehab and I have been walking for the last three months, so of course I want to ride my 2002 FZ1. Last night I attempted to do that, with what appears to be disastrous results.

I expected the damned Chinese battery to be dead and it did not disappoint me, even after a 2 hour charge, it would not take a charge, it was 9 days out of date...

I did get the bike to crank without a lot of fuss and it settled into a idle after 2 minutes of choke. So I lube the chain and top off the fuel. I have lived in the inner city hellhole of Atlanta for several years and wanted to move it to its new garage home out in the GA countryside where I could ride it regularly.

Sooo, I figured that I would just be careful not to stall it out, which should not be too difficult as it was now warm, and ride it out there and order a new battery for it. I got suited and rode away and this is when the problems started.

As I pulled away the bike would not pull under load, one second it would make power, and then it would fail. Also the low fuel, overheating and one other light (Don't know which one) would flash on and off intermittently as if there was suddenly a short. Again, this only happened under load! The power was very intermittent and I was afraid that it would hook up at the wrong time and dump me, so I turned it around and rode it back the 300 yards to where it has been garaged. It was a handful and a lot of clutch work to get it there!

As I pulled into the shed suddenly the coolant overflow hose came flipping up and cooked my right wrist with steam. It had suddenly overheated!

So, I am wondering what happened to my bike and if it is dead for good! Any ideas?
 
Well, glad to see that your healed up enough to ride. I'll assume that you weren't on the bike when you got hit??? I know you don't want to hear this but after 8 months sitting with today's gas, you can rest assured that your carbs are gummed up. Best first thing to do is to drain the tank and replace with fresh gas, but first, get a can of Seafoam at any auto parts store and put in 5 ozs. in the tank first. Before putting the fresh gas, crank the bike over with just the seafoam to make sure it makes it to the floats. Then fill it with good fresh gas. Start it again and make sure to NEVER run the bike on Choke for two minutes. Not good for the motor. Remove the right side inner fairing cover and remove the radiator cap. Make sure it's up to level and start her up. Leave the cap off and let any air escape. Once the fans kick on you then know that the T-Stat is open. Replace the cap and hope for the best. If it doesn't respond to the Seafoam, it's time to pull the carbs and clean them.
 
I purchased my 04 fz1 in april and it had 2997 original miles. the previous owner garage store it with the same gas and all original fluids. when I bought it I immediately flushed all fluids and cleaned the carbs.

it runs without a hitch and ive rolled my odo past 6300 miles with zero complications.

just give your bike some tlc you should be good to go.after that

good luck
 
loosenut said:
I don't see where the battery was replaced. Doesn't the Gen1 bikes have flakey meters when the battery is bad?
Click to expand...
+1 doubt it will run right with a duff battery , you state you couldnt get it to take a charge so the bike wont either ,therefore the bike is using all its energy just to try and keep running so once you start loading it , it will die ..
New battery & do the fuel flush as yzf rider says above & take it from there
 
Glad you recovered and get back on 2 wheels.

Never try to run any engine with a dead battery (old diesels may run ok though)

A dead battery draws a lot more current than a good but discharged one, it also can be shorted , you can start a fire or destroy electronics and the regulator/rectifier.

I don't know what they put in the gas these days but my carburetors gum up even with regular riding, I can't advise on the seafoam.. never used any of them engine cleaning snake oils, my cars and bikes seem to run good without any, just some maintenance when I remember to do it.
 
:jaw drop:
donoharm said:
Glad you recovered and get back on 2 wheels.

Never try to run any engine with a dead battery (old diesels may run ok though)

A dead battery draws a lot more current than a good but discharged one, it also can be shorted , you can start a fire or destroy electronics and the regulator/rectifier.

I don't know what they put in the gas these days but my carburetors gum up even with regular riding, I can't advise on the seafoam.. never used any of them engine cleaning snake oils, my cars and bikes seem to run good without any, just some maintenance when I remember to do it.
Click to expand...

Guess I better get out to the garage and install batteries in my snowmobiles then, if I can ruin em without batteries. Seems like an awful lot of work for something that didn't have a battery from the factory.

Seafoam is definitely not a snake oil. It works Period.
 
Sebastian F7 said:
:jaw drop:

Guess I better get out to the garage and install batteries in my snowmobiles then, if I can ruin em without batteries. Seems like an awful lot of work for something that didn't have a battery from the factory.
Click to expand...

don't forget the chain saws :rofl:


Seafoam is definitely not a snake oil. It works Period.
Click to expand...

sure it works....redbull works too
 
Last edited:
donoharm said:
don't forget the chain saws :rofl:




sure it works....redbull works too
Click to expand...

My old duc had a serious bog around 5k after winter storage one year. Put seafoam in it cleaned the bog right up. I figured I had better clean the carbs anyway, pulled em apart. There wasn't anything to clean they were awesome.
FYI startron works wonders too.
 
Well it was my ignorance that prompted me to believe that I could ride it home on a dead battery once I got it running and that is fixed easily enough, but what do you think made it over heat so fast, I mean in 200-300 yards. THIS is what really worries me about the whole this! I am scared of a warped head or blown head gasket!

Thanks for all the advice and help!
 
Sebastian F7 said:
:jaw drop:

Guess I better get out to the garage and install batteries in my snowmobiles then, if I can ruin em without batteries. Seems like an awful lot of work for something that didn't have a battery from the factory.

Seafoam is definitely not a snake oil. It works Period.
Click to expand...

It's not the problem of running no battery, it's the problem of the load a dead or bad battery will put on the electrical system. If he took the battery completely off and jumped the bike and it is the battery causing it it should run fine without a battery.

Just a thought on the overheating. Was the fan running and was it running at speed with the battery problem. My 08, on hot days like we have had in the south, will kick the fans on pretty quick sitting still or moving pretty slow like you would on city streets.
 
Last edited:
Seafoam is good but the latest I have been reading is that B-12 Chemtool is better

7040112_bry_0116_pri_larg.jpg
 
Azrial said:
Well it was my ignorance that prompted me to believe that I could ride it home on a dead battery once I got it running and that is fixed easily enough, but what do you think made it over heat so fast, I mean in 200-300 yards. THIS is what really worries me about the whole this! I am scared of a warped head or blown head gasket!

Thanks for all the advice and help!
Click to expand...

It's possible that with a dead battery there just wasn't enough power to run the radiator fan :dontknow:
 
I read that seafoam is good but its old tech and there are better alternatives. I currently have a can of seafoam and some techron additive I was recommended. I also read a list by the Fcc I think it was and they had a ton of additives that actually damage engine part so be careful what you use.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top