| Author | Message | ||
     Highlander51 |
I picked up my new 08 1125r today from the dealer and drove about 35 miles home. Runs great and I'm bonding. Shut it off pulled into the garage and the fuel smell was so strong I thought that there was a fuel leak. I checked under the bike and I don't see anything. Go to start it and dose not want to start. All flash's have been done and recalls. I call the dealer and ask about the vent recall issue and they say that did not apply to California bikes. The bike will start now and runs fine, but still a lot of fuel smell in the garage. I'm real new here so I'm just trying to understand and any help is appreciated. | ||
| Ccryder |
Welcome to the group! Mine is a 48 state model but it will sometimes emit some fuel smell. Some are worse than others but no one has experienced any "thermal incidents". RIde it and have fun, they do get a lot better with the miles. Later Neil S. | ||
| Highlander51 |
Thanks Neil, I think that I read here somewhere that the vent tube just needs to be re-routed so it's not on top of the muffler. I don't know what the deal was with the starting thing. I have got to say I really like this bike. Looking forward to putting some miles on it here in SoCal. Mike | ||
| Krassh |
Unless someone rerouted your vent tube it is not venting on the muffler. It should be connected to the charcoal canister in the tail. Of course they could have removed it. Is the bike new or used? Some people outside of California have actually installed the charcoal canister to minimize the smell. | ||
| Highlander51 |
Yeah Krassh, it's a new 08 and that makes sense about the canister in California. I've never had a bike that had this bad of a fuel smell and no leak, but good to know that it's sorta normal. Mike | ||
| Unibear12r |
That dosen't sound right Mike. A Cali bike should have almost no fuel smell to it after a ride. Hard starting is pretty much a thing of the past too. Did you notice what your coolant temp was running? If you are not getting an engine warning light on the console I wouldn't be worried. You've got a lot of break in miles yet before the bike settles in. You might want to trace out the lines to the charcoal cannister though. Easy to get to by removing the torx screw under each back corner of the rider's seat. Front of the seat hooks into the frame so pull back then up. Be sure to NOT drop the screws in side the bike as that can be a real pain to find. Cannister is an obvious cylinder laying next to the battery with two tubes connected to the left side. If one of those have become disconnected the bike will stink plenty. Happened to me. If you don't have the service manual yet, get it. It's worth every cent to you. About 65 bucks if I remember right. Welcome to the club! | ||
| Highlander51 |
Good info Unibear I'll check out the canister. The bike did not seem hot and the temps were 180-190 but I was just driving on the freeway. The fan ran quite a bit after I shut the bike down. The last flash was supposedly 03z and the dealer had a long list of all the things that were updated. Thanks again, Mike | ||
| Unibear12r |
Sounds good except I believe the current flash is now 05z. I still haven't got it yet. (Message edited by unibear12r on May 14, 2009) | ||
| Unibear12r |
There's a lot of good Badweb 1125 people down in your neck of the woods so you'll likely be hearing from them soon. I doubt you'll ever be hurting for help if you need it anyway.  | ||
| Highlander51 |
Thats good to know, I looking forward to it. I had a great time riding with a Buell guy up on the Angeles Crest Hwy a couple of weeks ago that got me into buying this bike. I drove to San Diego yesterday and delivered a Kawi that I sold to buy the 1125. Man there is some great riding down there still. Later Mike | ||
| Krassh |
Mine is hard to start when it is hot and I still get boiling fuel. Even with the evap canister installed I still get a strong fuel smell but not overwhelming. | ||
| Krassh |
It is easy for the lines to come unplugged as suggested above. Look to make sure they did not re-route the vent and disconnect it from the canister. | ||
| Stevasaurus |
Mike, I am almost certain that I was listening to Amanda on the phone with you while picking up my 1125 at Simi Valley HD yesterday afternoon. Since they've had my bike over 75% of the time that I have owned it, I can only say that I smelled the fuel too when it was new. I got it home last night and maybe either due to the additional break-in miles they put on it while trying to fix it, or the 05Z flash they just put on it, but the garage didn't smell "gassy" last night. FWIW . . . | ||
| Cobradave93 |
I installed the Cali canister on mine and it built up a lot of pressure in the tank after a ride on a 75 degree day. Has this happened to anyone else along with the hard starting or gas smell? | ||
| Unibear12r |
It can build up pressure. Very little now for me sense the re-flash has cooled down the operating temp. Lately I've rode in 95 degree temps with nary a poof from the cap. Sunday it's supposed to be 105+ so we'll see. With pressure at 75 degrees I'd double check for pinched lines or the like as even back during the first flash when the bike ran so hot I didn't get pressure until the mid/upper 80s. You did connect the second line to the front intake right? (Message edited by unibear12r on May 15, 2009) | ||
| Cobradave93 |
Yeah, I have it connected to the fitting on the left side of the front throttle body. I'll keep it on for a few more days in the heat to see if it works better this time. Maybe it could have been a pinched line before. Thanks | ||
| Unibear12r |
Pressure in the tank doesn't hurt operation but a vacuum does. The cannister works on building some tank pressure but it shouldn't get too high. I think there's a check valve in the cannister so it matters which cannister nipple the lines go to also. But it's marked so I'm sure you got that. You can check the line to the tank by just pulling it from the cannister and blowing through it with the fuel cap off. That way you'll know if the tank check valve is stuck closed too. Should move air fairly easy. If you are getting a lot of vapor through the cannister you'll notice your front AFV dropping if you keep track of ODIS. As it gets hotter here that's what mine does. Using fuel that would normally be waisted out the vent tube. (Message edited by unibear12r on May 18, 2009) | ||
| Cobradave93 |
After a couple of days I'll check the AFV. They have been steady at 100 after my exhaust mod. | ||
| Highlander51 |
Stevasaurus, I just got home from a camping trip so had not seen these last posts. I'm sure you were there when I called Amanda. I feel like they didn't even bother to do anything to get this bike ready after the sale. I had asked if all updates, re-flash's, re-routes whatever had been done. So after I get home the bike smells of fuel and would'nt start so Tuesday the bike is going back and Amanda and I will hopefully get this all sorted out. I just thought that I would go more than 35 miles before it goes back. (Message edited by highlander51 on May 17, 2009) | ||
| Unibear12r |
Well todays ride was interesting. Official temp was 104 but it felt plenty hotter in many spots. Mixed bag of riding with some good twisties with 100 mph+ straights here and there, followed by some slow cruising through parks and ending with city driving and caught in a traffic jam that I purposely didn't lane split. During the twisties and short speed runs I had a max coolant temp of 200 and intake from 105 to 110. The slow speed part saw coolant up to 205 and intake up to 115. Stuck in traffic saw an intake of 125 with a coolant temp of 212 (and still very slowly rising) after idling about five minutes. The bike was never that hot on me and compares well to other bikes I've ridden under like conditions. Lots of hot restarts during and after the ride while I played with the bike and ODIS. Only one start took a second and longer than normal time on the starter and that was the one I forgot to let the bike time out before starting. A substantial amount of pressure built up in the tank, but that was expected. It was far less than what happened a few times last summer under similar conditions, but still enough for the rider to need to take care in opening the fuel cap. When riding hard in hot weather I've learned to slowly crack the gas cap away from me to slowly vent the pressure. Sense the amount of additives in fuel are supposed to increase I expect this to get worse over time and with other vehicles, not better. I've never owned a vehicle that didn't warn the operator about pressure in the fuel tank in it's owners manual so it's not an unknown thing. Coming out of the park I finally got the CEL. I was just sure that when I got home the error would be the same P1047 (Feedback fuel cylinder difference too great) that I had gotten last summer. I've noticed that as the temps go up my front AFV will drop. I am supposing that this is from the extra fuel vapor coming from the carbon cannister. It sets most of the year at 100 but over the last couple of months it's dropped through 90 to end up today at 81. Last summer when I got a P1047 my AFVs were 83F, 105R so I figure it's set to go off at a 20 point difference. I know I'm assuming a lot here. Oddly today I ended at 81F, 99.5R and I don't know why the ECM would want to reduce fuel to the rear cylinder on a day like today. Instead I got a P0132 (front oxygen sensor circuit high/engine rich) only. I did get this early last summer and the dealer checked it out back then and said the sensor was fine. Still falls in line with my pet theory of extra fuel to the front intake from the carbon cannister. I remember some of the Cali bikes getting their front O2 sensors changed by dealers last summer "just in case" as they had error codes but couldn't find anything wrong. Makes me wonder how many were really bad and how much that cost BMC. I wonder if my dealer will soon be replacing my O2 sensor "just in case". The bike ran flawless otherwise and just great fun even in the heat BTW. I think it's possible that the only thing wrong is that the trip settings for a CEL indication in the ECM were not set with a bike equipped with a carbon cannister in mind. Just another re-flash is all.  And on future motorcycle models a system to safely vent fuel tank pressure as part of opening the cap might be good. (And add to the bike's cost of course  ) | ||
| Stevasaurus |
Mike, I may see you there Tuesday as well since I am due for the 620 mile service and the charging problem for which they have had it so long (and will be the topic of a new posting very soon) is still present. In addition, I have now gotten a bucking / surging situation present below 4K that wasn't there before 05Z and is the topic of another thread on the board right now. I KNOW this is going to be an awesome bike once the rough edges get smoothed out. When I am not watching my voltage level like a hawk and praying for no idiot lights to come on, the grin factor on this thing is just as much as everyone says it is. | ||
| Highlander51 |
Steve, I plan on riding the bike Monday to put a few more miles on it. I'm a little freaked out here, what should I be looking for with the charging and overheating? Have you been happy with the service from Simi or is that why it's been there so long. I guess I'm a little shocked by all this after getting from Paul the owner that there were no issues with these 08's because all the updates brought them up to the 09's. Maybe we should team up here. Mike | ||
| Stevasaurus |
Mike, I have NOT been impressed with the service from Simi Valley H-D so far and I was in there today to order the electrical diagnostic manual and a new voltage regulator so I can take things into my own hands. I swore never to let them touch my bike again, but now that I see I am so close to 620 miles, I may give them another chance. Right now I am pretty spun up about this whole experience and don't know which way to turn. I've got the battery on the charger tonight and am going to ride it to work again tomorrow. Based upon what happens, I'm going to post my voltage question to the board for a reality check and go from there. I've sent you a PM, so if you want to compare notes on Simi Valley H-D, let's do that offline. Steven | ||
| Highlander51 |
I just pulled the seat to look at the canister and saw 2 small hose's connected to the can and no larger hose at the other end. Should'nt there be a larger hose that vents down below the bike? Maybe this is where my fuel smell is coming from. | ||
| Unibear12r |
There was not anything on the other side of the cannister on either my 12R or 1125. Just an opening you can feel with your finger. The S, X, XT, etc. models have the cannister mounted on the left side of the engine with the opening pointed forward so they have a 90 degree fitting there to keep out small rocks and such. You'll get a wiff of fuel smell once in a while but NOTHING like it would be if the tank was open vented. Get the bike good and warm on a ride and then park it in a closed garage and unplug the tube to the tank. Leave and come back in half an hour and then you'll understand. Warning, the tube will dribble some fuel if you do this so route it over the side of the bike. I've gotten to trust the charging system now days and I doubt I'll be looking to change out to the 09 alternator now. I pretty much ride, play with ODIS, or park the bike for days or even a couple of weeks with out worry. Seems the 03Z flash solved those issues. I throw the tender on every once in a while now more as a test and it always shows charged in 15 to 30 minutes. The temp./carbon cannister related CEL/tank pressure problems I related above happened in the low to mid 90s last summer pre 03Z and now moved up to low 100s and still seemed less severe. People seem to think that the new 05Z flash lowers coolant temps a bit more so I doubt many Californians will notice these issues. I'll get the 05Z flash when I have the O2 CEL looked at. I think the cannister should be ported to both intakes somehow or else the CEL settings should be changed. I can see where either of those solutions might have their own issues though. Then again someone more understanding of the subject may post and explain why I'm full of hot air. If you don't like the dealer you've been using you might try Glendale as I've heard some good things about them service wise. As far as low speed surging after a re-flash I've seen posts where people have stated they've gone many hundreds of miles before the bikes suddenly decided to smooth out. These things seem to have a mind of their own at times, especially if you are still close to break in miles. | ||
| Highlander51 |
Again great info, I'll have to digest this for awhile. I went on a 130 mile shake down ride today and the bike ran great. This is quite a nice bike, hope I don't have any more gremlens. | ||
| Doerman |
Hi Highlander.. Fellow Bueller here from San Dimas. I can attest to the solid service you get from Glendale. I won't try to switch your allegiance. Suffice it to say I bought a very early 1125 (Dec 19th 2007) from Glendale and it has been a partnership with them to get the bike through the issues. I had all the historical issues resolved by them, and by 5,700 miles, that was all behind me. At 18,000 miles I am enjoying the bike immensely. If I can be of help,let me know through a PM. | ||
| Highlander51 |
Doerman, I'm glad to hear such good things about Glendale. At least there's a choice if things go bad with the present dealer. I know that Ernie the sales manager is into 1125's and is very helpful. Mike | ||
| Stevasaurus |
So is there a particular contact in the Glendale service department for whom I should ask? |
