Routine maintenance, and now she won't run...

[fnjeep314]

Ok I was riding to work one day and I could hear the fuel pump whining while at idle, but it was quiet under throttle. I was thinking a clogged fuel filter. I found a Wix filter at my local Oreillys parts store. While I was in there I figured I should replace the air filter and spark plugs, since I had no idea when they were replaced last. It is an 01 with 21K on it.

I get ready to take the tank off and the PO had replaced the plastic tank fittings with AN aluminum fitting. It was an odd concoction. I wanted to swap over to the proper metal fuel fittings. I ordered them up. I went ahead and swapped in the new filter and I noted the little rubber lines were looking old and dried, so I replaced those too.

I cleaned everything up and replaced the spark plugs and ordered up a K&N filter. I made sure that I got the exact spark plugs and ensured that they were properly gapped to 0.9mm(as per the maintenance manual). I also replaced all the little plastic 90 degree elbows on the coolant tank and in the air box with brass 90 degree elbows. I also removed the instrument cluster to clean that thing out. I removed the gauges and replaced bulbs and am up to par now. I reinstalled everything but the tank and all that goes with it i.e. the side panels, the battery and battery box etc. The bike sat for just shy of a month without any battery power to it at all.

I got the fuel fittings installed properly with thread seal and all and put everything back together and tried to fire up the bike. No luck. I have been going over everything that I can think of and can not come up with where there could be an issue. I replaced the battery today and the bike really cranked much better than it ever had and it would start, but not stay running. It will fired up and the RPM's will be below 1000 and then die. I can catch it before it dies by revving the throttle and it will last a bit longer, but the RPM's will still drop and the bike will die.

The only think that I can think of is:
-bad TPS or it needs to be reset
-corrupt tune. Its the original from 01.  

I hope that someone might be able to help me out here. I need to ready to roll over the 4th of July for a few days on the road.

Please help!!

[pineygroveshop]

Is there gas in the tank?  I know it might sound foolish; but, I've done it once.  Only once.

[fnjeep314]

You know, that is a valid question, but in this case, yes there is gas in the tank. Not a lot, but there is some. I can also hear the fuel pump prime when I turn the key when my ear is next to the tank, so I can only assume that it is working too.

[Bixxer Bob]

Could be that the fuel map is corrupt, these girls don't like low volts, but I'd check the tubes from the IACV to the throttle bodies first. You are looking for air leaks. Did you have the MIL light on as well?

Make sure the airbox is properly seated on the throttle body inlets and seals to the the gasket on top of the IACV. That gasket is in place eh?

If that's all ok you'll need to lay your hands on a laptop, a Tune ECU cable and download the software. Read on this forum how. You can then reload your tune in case it's corrupt.

Good luck

[iansoady]

I'd have thought air leaks would have made it idle high rather than stalling as it would have the same effect as the IACV working.

Although I'm still learning about fuel injection.....

[yamaha6]

If you have had the fule pipes off,are they back on the right way for the feed and return from the fule rail.Dont know if it makes any differance but might be worth a look.

[iansoady]

It doesn't. (make any difference that is)

[fnjeep314]

Thank you all for the responses. I made sure that I have good seating of the air box on the I have triple checked that and made sure all the connections are made. I do not have a MIL. To be honest I will have to go back and look at the gasket for the throttle bodies to the block. I am not too sure how it looks. The bike was running just fine before I torn it down, and I live in a pretty dry area in California. I can say that when I can get it to run, I can hold the throttle a tiny bit and the RPM's will hold around the 2k mark, but will bounce 100-200RPM's. There is also pretty bad lack in throttle response starting at idle level RPM's.

I already have a windows laptop that I use strictly for VAGCOM stuff that I already loaded Tune ECU on, but a spare generic USB/OBD2 cable I had didn't work on the Tiger, so I have already ordered the specific cable that I need to make Tune ECU work. I am hoping that I can load one of the slightly modified tunes for improved fuel/performance. I still have stock exhaust, so I will be sticking with those profiles for tunes.

[Chris Canning]

I don't normally get into this stuff,Bixxer/Ian and Metal do it all,but this is operator error it ain't mapping and trying to keep the motor going will do it no good what so ever.

Strip it and start again you have obviously missed something and the real bummer,the squawking you could hear which is the fuel pump mine has done it for last 11 years it normal,will disappear when things warm up.

[Robbie]

Chris is right
it was OK before
unlikely the map is corupt
you do not have a fault light

start simple
it is running after a sort

up to the injectors there is one fuel circuit so pump is running, fuel leval is OK now? you have at least a gallon in there?
revs jump around, is it firing on all 3? check exhaust temp by a little squit of wd40 the cold one or two will be obvious and help pinpoint the trouble

the only thing that you have changed that could cause what you discribe is the plugs. I can not remember if the 955 needs the screw on sleeves on the top of the plugs or not. did you check?
the coils need to have a good earth ( ground) on the cam cover this area need a good clean when refitting
the wires to the coils shouldnt get mixed up but they do need a good push home

go back and check what you have done you will find it

[fnjeep314]

Ok so I found the problem. Everything outside the tank was all good to go. Everything was connected and in its place. I even removed the gauge cluster to make sure I didn't miss anything behind there. I did have a spare 2 slot female and a 3 slot female plugs. I checked everywhere and there was no mate anywhere. Also on the top of the throttle bodies there is a main wire loom and I had a set of 3 wires that were cut. No idea why, and once again no missing mate to those wires. So I have no idea where they are from or go.

The problem was in the tank. When I replaced all the little fuel lines between the pump and filter I had apparently forgotten to put the clamp over one of the lines. It was the line right out of the pump and into the metal 90 degree curve piece. So I can see the fuel getting blown right out of that connection and not supplying enough fuel to keep the bike running. It makes sense that at idle the fuel was just leaking out and back into the tank.

I can remember having to beat the weather to put the tank back together and to get the bike and tools back into my cramped garage before the rain came. So Chris and Robbie, you guys were right. To be honest if it weren't for your mentioning to go back through everything from the start I wouldn't have gone back into the tank and found the problem. I could have sworn that everything in the tank was good to go. I was wrong.

Thanks again for the help guys!!

[iansoady]

Good to know what the problem was.

[Robbie]

Amazing it ran at all

when I had my filter go it wound not make a sound

thats why I thought it was plugs

Glad yo have fixed it

[fnjeep314]

I am so excited to ride to work in the morning for the first time in 7 weeks!!!