2010 Bonne Ran Out Of Gas, Won't Start. Help!

[Decimal]

Hi guys. Only my 2nd post here so gime some slack XD.

Situation: 2010 bonneville standard won't start after running out of gas.

Problem presented itself less than a mile into the fuel low indicator led. Was going 55~60 with traffic too close behind me to feel comfortable using any engine breaking so I pulled in the clutch and slowly braked over ~1/4 mile. Throttle closed. I would have stopped sooner but there was nowhere but shoulder high grass or sandbars to stop. I eventually had to stop in sand/mud but at a low speed so my chain and underside didn't get all #%(U#% up or dirty. Tried to start 3-5 times as I refused to believe the light would turn on and be out that fast. Manual said 3.6 liters left when indicator turns on. Had the right gas(91+ron) brought to me, and tried to start. Tried 3-4 times. Didn't smell gas in my pipes or hear any definitive sputtering. Called the service dep of the dealership and was told to try rolling the throttle a few times. Seemed odd for an EFI but I did it anyway. Called a buddy of mine that's been riding 30-40 years and he said to turn the ignition switch off and on a few times to prime the fuel lines. I did this, then the engine wouldn't turn over. The fuel light turns on every time I fail to start, then turns all LED's off. Trailed the bike home, tested the battery. <10 volts I was told ECM won't turn on and can't determine fuel/air ratio. Hooked up a car(not running) to see if I could get it to turn over. It turned over just fine, but still no smell of gas in my pipes or around the engine. I went out and baught a tender and a new battery from wall mart. Tried charging the old battery, it charged right up but died within 4 trys to start and a few primes. No way it should have died that fast so I figured it was either damaged from the attempted jump or just it's time to go. The battery came with a charging cable installed to the original battery. Previous owner must not have ridden that frequently.

Installed the new battery, tried to turn her over, still no luck after 4-5 attempts. Still can't smell gas in pipes or hear sputtering. There is a 12v Relay switch behind the battery that I only can hear or feel work when I disconnect it and reconnect it. It clicks on once, or every 6-7 primes. Possible culprit? I can hear my fuel pump turning on and not sounding bad in any way. There is now 2 gallons in the tank, and I must've primed the fucker 30 times by now.

Tried:
Charged old battery.
Installed New battery
Choke in 1st position or all the way in
Jump from a [not running]car
Added gas(obviously)
Checked all fuses to confirm none are toasted.

Possible culprits IMO:
Fuel pump or
Maaaaaaaybe filter?
Relay?(need more info from OBD)
Spark gap(can't imagine how this would have appeared at the same time of the gas problem, but haven't ruled out yet either)

Autozone had the balls to tell me yesterday that I couldn't borrow their OBD2 for 30 minutes without a 200 dollar deposit AND my license. I guess carrying their card for 20 years doesn't matter and I still had to deal with Mrs. Affirmative Action Manager who didn't even know what device I was talking about when I asked for the machine and handed her a license.

I'll be getting a gapper just in case and they are cheap, and asking advanced to borrow theirs for the half an hour I'll need. I am more concerned with not smelling ANY fuel anywhere you normally would. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated and I'll check this thread in a few hours with OBD2 results.

Thanks guys!

 

[Qship]

Not sure if the Bonnie has a fuel petcock with on/off/reserve. If so maybe try turning in different positions. Could have got small piece of dirt lodged in it and turning may dislodge it. Also have you tried giving it throttle when turning over?

 

[harper6t]

I have no experience with EFI, but process should be similar for carb model diagnosis
I'd start at the spark plugs, remove them and crank it over with plugs grounded to see if its sparking.
If you have good spark then its fuel that the problem, put the plugs back in and try spraying some aerostart in the intake, it should fire up, but die when there is no fuel getting through, hopefully doing this a couple of times might prime the fuel, if not start pulling apart the fuel system to see what is not working.

 

[Decimal]

Okay so I pulled the plugs today, didn't try to check for spark but the threads near the bottom were black, with the arm above the gap and the contact being reasonably clean with no obvious damage. I could smell the fuel when I pulled them which made me somewhat happy, as it didn't seem overly strong. The dealership I bought it from told me to turn it over and make sure nothing came out. I cleaned them carefully with a wire brush and ordered some new plugs for good measure. I pick up the plugs tomorrow and if I confirm the spark I'll just keep the new ones in my every growing roadside repair kit. Although I can faintly smell fuel now in my pipes so I guess I'll try the starting fluid and new plugs tomorrow just to knock out 2 birds with 1 stone. Being in colorado springs the one triumph dealer here just dropped them so I can't run any triumph specific diagnostics without taking this bike all the way up to denver. No private shop will touch it . Might be good for it anyway cause it's the original dealership that did all the maintenance up to now on it, and I want them to fill out the maintenance logs which don't have a single entry. I'm kinda big on that. All my crap has receipts taped to everything. Tender, battery, tow straps blah blah blah. I'm just using some of the downtime to clean and oil the chain and clean everywhere that's a pain to reach. Funny to me how the Harley dealer nor the former triumph dealer acts like there are no repair manuals you can buy for these things.

Anyone happen to know if the Fpump can SOUND like it's working but not actually be? I've read that there is no reason to bleed the lines because they are designed to purge air(which I've heard once or twice in the past).

 

[Decimal]

Not sure if the Bonnie has a fuel petcock with on/off/reserve. If so maybe try turning in different positions. Could have got small piece of dirt lodged in it and turning may dislodge it. Also have you tried giving it throttle when turning over?

I have tried it sparingly in a few of my attempts, I was cautioned about overdoing it. The engine sounds more like it's under stress but not the definition of "sputtering".

 

[Decimal]

So I replaced the spark plugs, I can feel vibration in the fuel rail and line leading up to it when the pump primes. I was firing on left with starter fluid, a tiny bit here and there on right with the same. Nothing consistent even with pulsing fluid while starting. There's always the possibility that the plugs are not in at the appropriate level of torque(no I didn't bear down on them I just used 3 finger pressure., but there is a loud clicking coming from the engine when I try to start towards <75% battery power. I sure hope this is a relay or something that is out but I am gona trailor it up to denver tomorrow. Tried increasing and decreasing idle, no success. Tried choke in all 3 positions, it seems to do just a little bit better with the choke engaged than not engaged. To me this would indicate fuel delivery is the culprit but I can't be certain because even with starting fluid liberally given it's not catching for more than 1/4 to 1/2 a second, WITH throttle given ONLY. Not doing much without the trottle being pumped. I did get maybe 2 runs of a second but only with the throttle engaged pretty well. With starting fluid I can hear more of a sputtering sound than before. Was advised to check the injector spray pattern but can't remove the fake carb covers with the tools I have without tanking off the tank, so that's the point I said it, dealership it is.

Sorry if the post is a bit scattered, I'm getting tired of dealing with this for the day.

Edit: Intake to air filter looked a bit dusty so I pulled it and checked the filter. Looked pretty clean to me so tossed it back in. Gota love K&N

 

[Qship]

Sounds like fuel filter is badly plugged. Hopefully it's a easy(read cheap) fix.

 

[Decimal]

Yeah, the tank I used to fill the gas was previously used for regular~85 octane gas so it very well might be a clogged filter. If anything I fucked the plugs and idle up trying to tinker with it. I wish my torque wrench wasn't packed

 

[Rocky]

Yeah, the tank I used to fill the gas was previously used for regular~85 octane gas so it very well might be a clogged filter. If anything I fucked the plugs and idle up trying to tinker with it. I wish my torque wrench wasn't packed

A clogged gas filter might be the problem, but changing to a different octane of gasoline would not cause that.

 

[Decimal]

Well the dealer has had the bike a few days but no terrible calls yet so I guess they haven't goten to it yet.