Coughin and Sputtering

[bennynomad]

Hey folks, I have a 07 Nomad, 51,000 miles, never had one problem with it, until this mornin. Started her up, got out of the driveway, began coughing, sputtering, and I had no power. When I shut her down last night, everything was normal. I just got back from a 6500 mile trip out west, and no problems. Is there anything to look for right off the bat? Thanks in advance for any help.

[Cajunrider]

Maybe a dose of bad fuel?

[macmac]

All stock bike or modded?

What if any service was done last?

Where you bought fuel last, was that a place unknown to you and so not common?

[kenb]

Got fuel? I Had similar symptoms when fuel was pretty low. Bike ran fine when parked. After a few hours, started it up and ran poor and stalled. Fuel finally got to the pickup after bike was not leaned on kickstand a couple minutes. Rode straight to the fuel dispensing facility.

[bennynomad]

Stock bike, just changed oil last week, thats been it. I have a half tank in it. I thought about bad gas too. I'll look at that when I get home tonight. If its bad gas, and I have a half a tank of it, whats the best way to take care of that problem?

[kenb]

If you filled (4+ gals) with bad gas, you would likely have known before now. Owners manual recommends spark plug change every 12k. You have 50k. Some here have gone a lot further than whats recommended. Just tossing ideas. The more info you can give, the better help you can get.

[bennynomad]

I changed sparkplugs right before my long trip, air cleaner also. She started up fine this morning as usual, got into the street, she started coughing sputtering and popping. then no power. It was like she wasn't getting enough gas. Its never done it before. 50,000 problem free miles. I ride it to work everyday, last night she ran perfect. Seems a gremlin got in there over night.

[dank]

One possibility would be that the last tank of gas had some water in it. It was mixed up when you pumped it and stayed that way while you rode. Then over night with the bike sitting still it settled to the bottom around the intake. When you started it, it still had fuel from last night initially, then as you hit the street it had sucked up the high water concentration fuel and sputtered.

I had this happen on a lawn mower, but not my bike. I'd try adding some dry gas, shake it up, and see if that cures it after it sputters for a minute using up the fuel/water mix it has already pumped into the system.

[macmac]

If I suspected bad gas I would dump the tank into a container and inspect the container. In this type tank not to much water will remain with the fuel you can't use. You can't use all the fuel either. If then water came to be at the fuel pick up, you could with ease suffer this problem.

Water will lay under fuel and collect until this sort of thing happens.

When the tank is all dumped out so much as you can work at getting the rest out. Take care of fumes well. No sparks no gas water heaters near by, no flames.

A full tank is much safer than a empty tank.

If you find water the top gas is still good. Just take care to not put any water back in the tank.

If this is the real problem I might expect better than 1 cup measured as water. With the miles you have i do suspect water. The time that has past is plenty for simple condensation to occur and build this much water.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

I think Dank may have hit on the what happened. With the water separating and going to the bottom of the tank overnight. Disconnect the gas line hose and let the gas run out into some type of container. Check it to see if there is water in it.

[bennynomad]

Thanks guys, I'm thinking water too, I filled up on Tuesday morning. I'll work on it tonight and up date ya'll.

[flightdoc]

Water falls(separates) to the bottom of a tank as soon as you pour it in. If you got "bad" gas you'd have noticed it almost immediately, not after you ran half the tank.

vin

[Cajunrider]

If the tanks at his last fuel stop were just replenished just before he fueled up, the water could be suspended in the gasoline until given time to settle. How long it takes depends on how much water is suspended. High concentrations of water will settle quickly while lower concentrations will take longer. Several years ago, my wife filled up the car at a local full service station and we began having problems 2 days later. The dealer found quite a bit of water at the bottom of our fuel tank. We reported it to the gas station and the owner told me that he had over 50 complaints at the time. He had a leaking tank which was allowing ground water to infiltrate into the gasoline. A transport truck had offloaded into his tanks that morning my wife fueled up. Long story short, it took 2 days for that water to settle out in our tank and give us problems.

[macmac]

Condensation can't be ruled out. Any times in early morning you see it on the tank above the fuel line level there is the same thing inside the tank. The 1600 will be particular with the un availbable protion of the tank colloecting water which will build in time untill the fuel pick can suck it.

[ringadingh]

If you have water in the gas you can usually add methyl hydrate or gas line anti freeze to the tank. About 5-6 ozs should be enough to allow the gas and water to mix and fix the problem. then you dont have to siphon the tank.