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2009 Vulcan 900 Custom - Bad Gas Issues

29K views 73 replies 10 participants last post by  MidIAVoyager 
#1 ·
I recently purchased a 2009 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom with just under 10k miles. I got a great deal on it, and the bike overall is in good shape. The downside is that it sat for about 3 years.

The tank had approximately 2 gallons in it (no more than that) when parked 3 years ago. At one point about a year ago, the fuel was "cleaned", which I think means they put an additive in it. A couple of weeks ago when I bought the bike, I put an additional 1 gallon of new fuel it, and the bike ran very well. I rode it home about 10 miles and didn't experience any stalling or hesitation, though I rode slowly and carefully because the tires desperately need to be replaced, along with who knows what other potential problems. I parked it in my garage and at this point it was still running fine.

I then did the following over the last 2 weekends:
- Changed oil and filter (warmed engine up first - ran a tiny bit rough but was ok)
- Siphoned gas and removed the tank (a bit of old gas I couldn't get out, a few cups worth)
- Changed spark plugs (checked gap - all should be well)
- Changed coolant
- Inspected air filter (a little dirty but not bad)
- Reinstalled gas tank and added 2 gallons new fuel, along with several ounces of Seafoam

Once everything was reassembled I was able to start the bike, but noticed it was running rough. Any attempt to give it throttle caused a stall. After a few restarts it got noticeably worse, with the bike stalling at idle after a few seconds. Now it will not start at all (cranks strong, but shows no sign of actually starting).

I'm thinking that I was too overconfident with the old fuel, and now I've clogged either the injectors or the fuel pump, or both. I'm going to take things back apart and double check to make sure there's nothing else causing the issue, but it sounds like the engine isn't getting fuel.

My questions are:
1. Is there anything else I should check first?
2. Which order should I check things in? i.e. can I check the fuel pump first, or skip straight to the injectors?
3. Is there a cheap way I can clean the injectors with them potentially clogged like this?

Like most people I'm on a budget and my goal was to fix this bike up myself to save a few coins. If I have to replace expensive items then I will do it, but it will delay the project pretty significantly. Any advice is appreciated!
 
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#41 ·
Well I think I'm just going to remove the wires, not the plugs themselves. I can test the wires/ignition system with the new plugs I bought. I think I can get the wires off without removing the tank. If not, I'll just pull it. If nothing else I'm at least getting fast at that!

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#42 ·
Update: I pulled the spark plug wires and tested with the new plugs, and confirmed they are getting spark. The original plugs (that the bike was running fine on) are what is in the bike now.

Against advice, I decided to try a little bit of starting fluid. The bike started on the first try, and continued running (roughly) until it warmed up. I think when the idle speed dropped, it died.

I took a video which you can see here: https://youtu.be/km79q5o1bUc

Its obviously not running right. Judging by the sound I honestly can't tell if its a spark issue, or a fuel flow issue. It ran like this for several minutes. I put the air filter back on after a couple of minutes to see if that might be affecting the air that was getting to the engine, hence why it is on in the video.

Any ideas?

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#43 ·
Second update: I had let the bike sit for about 10 minutes without running. Now does not want to start. So clearly there is something going on that starting fluid won't resolve. I was hoping it would get things going, but obviously that's not the case here!

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#44 ·
Maybe pull the tank again and look for chaffed wires. Also pull your belt cover and inspect for pinched or bare wires there. Mine has bare, pinched, messed up wires under the belt cover which caused it to run like this:



BTW, super awesome bike. Love the color and especially the like new condition. Best of luck.
 
#45 ·
Maybe pull the tank again and look for chaffed wires. Also pull your belt cover and inspect for pinched or bare wires there.

BTW, super awesome bike. Love the color and especially the like new condition. Best of luck.
Thanks for the help! It's odd to me that the bike was running just fine, and then once I get it to my place it's not. But I suppose since it had sat for so long without being ridden, it's entirely possible that some wires had dry rotted a bit (for lack of a better term) and got pinched on the ride over to my garage.

Thanks for the tip on the belt cover - I will check that as well. Electrical is one area where I have very limited knowledge/experience, so if I can't find anything obvious then I may have to throw in the towel and get it towed to a shop. :frown2:

Lastly, thanks for the comments on the bike! I wasn't sure if I was a fan of the orange or not at first, but it has grown on me. The bike is actually in very good condition cosmetically. There is a small chip in the tank, but otherwise I can't find a scratch. It was absolutely filthy when I got it, and I was so happy to see the condition it's really in when I cleaned it up a couple of weeks ago. The good thing about all this disassembly is it's giving me the chance to clean areas that I normally wouldn't, so that's been good at least. It's going to be a sweet ride when I finally get it back on the road!
 
#47 ·
The light was not on, no. The bulb is working as the light does come on when you first turn the key, but when the engine is running it does not come on at all. I'm guessing that means the EFI system isn't throwing a code.

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#49 ·
Thanks for the suggestion, sfair. I unplugged it and tried again, but no luck. It's the same as before.

The battery in the bike is brand new, but if it weren't getting enough power due to a faulty charging system that could certainly cause the issues I'm having. Guess I need to get a voltmeter?

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#50 ·
I think that the next test is a fuel pressure test. You could be getting flow, but the pressure is just too low for the engine to run correctly. Your video seemed to be showing extremely lean condition.

This is a little more involved...

As an add, does it have a fuel processor installed?
 
#51 ·
There is no fuel processor installed that I am aware of. Other than the drilled baffles, I believe the bike is totally stock. I haven't seen anything obviously not stock, nor have I noticed any signs of tampering with the wires, etc.

A fuel pressure test sounds like it would require special tools to perform. Any thoughts on if/how I would be able to do that? Or am I rapidly entering into "take it to the shop" territory?
 
#52 ·
Or am I rapidly entering into "take it to the shop" territory?
This is where it gets tough. One downfall of FI is some of the diagnostics required to troubleshoot problems.

I try and do my best to steer folks in the right direction as best as I can over the internet, but there is always a chance for error.

It is your call whether to tackle, or not.

This is what you need, or equivalent, and maybe some fittings to be able to Tee into the system:

https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/anm-cp7818/overview/

Please ask any questions you may have.
 
#53 ·
Seems like it might be a bit over my head. I'll do some research though to find out for sure.

Any other thoughts on what might be causing it? It's bugging me that it was fine one day, and suddenly not fine the next. It's very frustrating, but I guess I knew I was getting myself into a project. I thought I'd gotten a pretty sweet deal - looks like it may be a little less sweet than I thought.

Thanks again for all the help!
 
#55 ·
Wildcard idea: Could this severe of a problem be at all caused by misadjustment of the idle screw? Gut feeling says no, but hear me out.

When I was first getting the bike running (at the sellers house, before riding it home) I was very liberal with the idle adjustment screw. Since then I've messed with it some more in an attempt to get the bike running, and can't tell if it feels looser than before or not.

The idle adjustment screw controls air flow not fuel flow though, right? I'm probably reaching, but just exploring all options.

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#57 ·
That's what I thought, but figured I would mention it just in case.

I'm going to look at my options over the next few days and try to determine what my next step is going to be. I think the most logical problem would be the injectors, and I'm not sure if I can take those out and take them to a shop to have them cleaned, or if I have to bring the whole bike. I'll give them a call and find out.

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#60 ·
Your timing is great! I was actually just thinking of posting an update here, as I have some new information.

In the latter part of October I said "screw it" and bought a set of injectors from a crashed 2008 Vulcan 900. I got them cheap enough that it was worth a shot in case it was the injectors. Took me a few hours to swap them out due to some PITA bolts, but I got it done. Unfortunately I had the exact same issue. With a lot of coaxing the bike would run, but was still running incredibly lean. At this point I had a few other things going on (work conference, personal commitments, etc) so I had to let it go for a couple of weeks.

This past Saturday I had the bike picked up and taken to a local dealer that I've used for some maintenance and a few fixes in the past. They dug into it today, and found that the fuel pump is only putting out about 16 PSI. I'm not sure what it's supposed to put out, but that is low. It would certainly explain why the bike was running so lean (if at all). It was starved for gas. They ordered the part ($500 - ouch), but probably won't have it in time to do it before Thanksgiving. I'm not in a rush to get it fixed so that's alright with me.

So the fuel pump was partially clogged after all. Not having much experience with this I assumed that if fuel came out when I tested it, it was alright. But apparently I was wrong. They are going to replace the fuel pump, and my fingers are crossed that it runs well after that!
 
#61 ·
Cool, man! Thanks for the response!! I bought my '08 in July, it has been sitting for years, and has always run like crap. I also had changed injectors, to no avail. I have the Service Manual, and I have rung everything out, checked just about everything, and I am at the screw it phase as well. I just can't yet bring myself to paying someone else to fix it for me. I haven't checked fuel pressure yet, I will do that this weekend! Your response has renewed my desire to get back to troubleshooting!!! I will post back with my results as I come across them. Glad I found this forum, it seems to be full of great info and a lot of nice and helpful people.
 
#62 ·
I know exactly how you feel. In a span of about 3 weeks I think I disassembled and reassembled the bike about half a dozen times. The sad part is that it was running good when I first got it. I think my biggest mistake was riding it with the old gas still in the tank, then letting it sit for a week. I'm betting that gave it time to gunk up in the fuel pump, and voila, here we are. I don't expect to have anything new for 2 weeks, but I'll be sure to post and update when I know more.

And you're right about this forum. People have been very helpful throughout this thread (sfair especially), as you can see. I did a lot of searching before posting, and found a lot of good information here.
 
#63 ·
Same happened to my dads 950 tourer. Had to remove the pump and the internal fuel filter. Was a mess. There is not reason they cannot formulate this stuff to be compatible with E85 / ethanol blends.
 
#69 ·
It's interesting that your pump is putting out the same pressure, by the way. I wonder if there is something about how they're built so that when they get clogged, but otherwise are working, just enough fuel gets through to out out 16 PSI.

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#71 ·
Update: I heard back from the shop a few days after Thanksgiving. They replaced the fuel pump, and that resolved the problem! It is running smoothly. I'm still waiting for tires and brake lines before I get it back, but I wanted to post here and say thanks again for the help. Can't wait to get the bike back on the road!
 
#72 ·
Hey man, glad to hear your good news! I received my new pump in the mail last Monday evening. I threw it on, filled it up, and boy howdy did it run! This is the best it has idled and ran since I have had it. I got a few days riding in before it got too cold to ride comfortably. I cannot express how excited I am to finally have a good running bike! Thank you so much for starting this thread. It's crazy how we both basically went down the same path and had the same issue. Hopefully if someone else has this issue, they will come here and find this as well. Thanks all for everything you do! Ya'll have made this a damn nice forum :)
 
#74 ·
Sfair was leading everything in the right direction. I work at a community college in the automotive tech training program it never ceases to amaze me that people don't understand that diagnosis is a process. You take your vehicles in to get a repair and if the tech starts shotgunning parts at it your paying for parts you didn't need and it boiled down to "well that wasn't the problem" next part please. I've seen people pay for an alternator when all they needed was a battery or voltage regulator. Fuel pumps when a simple fuel pressure regulator was the issue. Even had one story of an engine rebuild because the engine was supposedly seised and would not crank, turns out the alternator was locked up and the starter could not overpower the belt friction. There's always a proper diagnosis procedure to be followed logicly. Cudos to Sfair in helping all those he dose. It would drive me bat crap crazy to do what he dose to help.
 
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