Cutting out

2011 WRR, completely stock, no engine/airbox/pipe mods. I've had an intermittent problem lately with the bike cutting out. It will lose power just like I had hit the kill switch, then come back on within a second or two. It is very regular, just like thumbing the kill switch on and off at a regular interval. It seems to happen in spells, doing it for a few minutes, and then will run normally again. Giving it throttle seems to trigger the cutting out symptom; it's as if twisting the throttle cuts power to the ignition and/or fuel injection system.  If I try to hold the throttle steady, it will run OK. I've had the problem happen now with three different tankfuls of gas, and it has happened with a nearly-full tank as well as almost empty. If I let off the throttle it will idle just fine. Today it happened a few times, and each time I stopped, shut it off, and let it sit for a couple of minutes. It restarted right away every time and ran fine for a bit and then acted up again. On my way home I filled up with gas and rode to the house at WOT for several miles on the highway with no problems. Thoughts?

It may be that connection behind the radiator. There are some threads here devoted to that issue, may want to look into it.

Try cleaning the air filter. I've had the same experience with mine. I thought the fuel pump was going out, but after I cleaned the air filter it was fine again. After the filter got dirty again the symptoms returned. My filter was not that dirty, and no dirt got through, but I think it was enough to mess with the fueling on the bike (or something).

Thanks for the replies. I have read about the connector behind the radiator, and I checked that tonight. There are actually four connectors there. I made sure they were all connected securely, and wiggled/cleaned them in case there was a bad connection. I also ran the self diagnostics and found no problem there. I'll do a test ride tomorrow.
I had just cleaned my air filter today before riding, so I think that rules out a dirty air filter.

Still acting up. Road test today:
Rode 20 miles on highway, 45-75 mph, no problems.
3 miles on dirt road, 25-40 mph, no problems.
Shut off for 20 minutes.
Returned on same dirt road, started cutting out just like before. It's like hitting the kill switch and then back on right away, ranging from 1/2 to 2 seconds. It did this for about two miles.
When I got back to the highway I turned it off and sat for 1 minute.
Fired it up, rode 8 miles on highway 55-65 mph, no problems.
Started cutting out again on highway @ 45 mph, did it for a couple of miles.
Parked bike for 45 minutes.
Six miles on highway @ 65-70 mph, no problems.
2 miles on dirt, cutting out again.

When it is having the spells of cutting out, I can let off the throttle and it idles fine, never dies.
During the spells, if I make a conscious effort to NOT give it any throttle, it will run smoothly for the most part and cut out very little.
Tank was nearly full today. Ambient temp in the 70s.

???????

I'm not terribly familiar with the WR yet, but it sure sounds electrical to me.  I'd start looking for maybe chafing wiring somewhere that is shorting when the bike hits uneven terrain.  Is there a main ground to the engine casing somewhere?  It may be loose or corroded.  How about a FI relay going bad?

I may be off base with any of this, but these are things I've seen on FI bikes in the past that can cause symptoms similar to what you are describing.  HTH some.

A couple of easy things to check/replace.

Try putting in a new spark plug. Have heard issues with this in the past.

No mods? Not even an FMF programmer?

Check battery connections to make sure they are tight. A buddy of mine who I did the COBDR with this year had issues with his bike cutting out on some of the climbs.. everything dead would not restart for a bit. Found the positive battery connection was loose.

Possible that the fuel pump is going out.

Do you still have electrical power to everything else while this is going on?

What about the side stand switch and try opening up the kill switch !

Thanks for the ideas; keep 'em coming.
I've checked the battery connections and main ground. Also inspected every connector I can think of.
No other electrical components seem to be affected; I still have instruments & lights when this happens.
This morning I looked over the wiring & connectors, dumped the gas out of the tank and refilled with fresh gas, inspected & cleaned the spark plug, disconnected/reconnected the injector plug & coil plug, and took the start switch/kill switch housing apart and looked for any problems there. Found nothing.
My sidestand switch is bypassed, and I double checked that connection.
I'll try a new spark plug this weekend.
After looking at it this morning, I did a short hopeful road test. Rode 2 miles dirt, then 6 miles highway, then 3 more miles dirt, then 6 miles highway, then 2 miles dirt. It ran flawlessly except for one instance of cutting out on the highway stretch back home. It lost power, died, but then restarted right away and made it home with no more issues. The problem never seems to happen right away on a ride, it is always 10+ miles into a ride. Maybe something failing after heating up? Still no fault codes.

mollycbr123 wrote:

How about a FI relay going bad?

You've got me thinking there. I've been studying the wiring schematic. No FI relay per se, but there is a "relay assembly" that contains two relays and several diodes. One relay is the starting circuit cut-out relay (to which the sidestand switch, neutral switch, and clutch switch are connected), and the other is the fuel pump relay which also sends power to the injector. If the contacts were intermittently going bad in that relay, it could cause the exact symptoms I'm experiencing.

Man that sures sounds like the issue I had with my FMF programmer. The bike would cut out for a couple of seconds and come back on. Had to change one of the settings since during cruise mode and a slight throttle roll would cause the mixture to be too rich and the engine would die....

Sure you don't have a programmer on the bike?

Yep, I'm sure, no programmer.
Another road test today:
Rode about 10 miles on an easy dirt road w/ no issues. Jumped on the highway, and the problem reappeared. Worse this time, and competely died several times. If I stopped and let it sit for a minute it would restart just fine, but would only go about 100 yards before acting up again. The longer I would stop and let it sit, the longer it would run afer a restart. It was getting dark, and so I never had the chance to let it sit/cool down for very long. I called a friend, and we loaded the bike in his pickup. When we unloaded it 15 minutes later, I started the bike and could rev it without any hint of a problem. I didn't ride it any more afer that. I'm thinking it has to be temperature related--maybe the coil or a relay failing after getting competely warmed up? Of course it works fine when cold, so it's difficult to pinpoint the problem.

grw800 wrote:

Yep, I'm sure, no programmer.
Another road test today:
Rode about 10 miles on an easy dirt road w/ no issues. Jumped on the highway, and the problem reappeared. Worse this time, and competely died several times. If I stopped and let it sit for a minute it would restart just fine, but would only go about 100 yards before acting up again. The longer I would stop and let it sit, the longer it would run afer a restart. It was getting dark, and so I never had the chance to let it sit/cool down for very long. I called a friend, and we loaded the bike in his pickup. When we unloaded it 15 minutes later, I started the bike and could rev it without any hint of a problem. I didn't ride it any more afer that. I'm thinking it has to be temperature related--maybe the coil or a relay failing after getting competely warmed up? Of course it works fine when cold, so it's difficult to pinpoint the problem.

Almost sounds like the fuel pump issues that guys were seeing on the some of the 2008. Bike would get warm and the fuel pump would stop working then you would let things cool down and it would be fine again. Generally would get worse over time.

Do you know a friend nearby that you could swap fuel pumps with? I think have one myself but I broke the barb off the end when removing the tank (bone head maneuver) but the rest of the pump assy was working well.

Thanks for staying with me on this. I've just about decided that it has to be the coil; it's beginning to all make sense. I've ordered a new coil and will post results after I install it.

My '09 has had the same problem you describe since August. 26k miles, stock intake, exhaust, and EFI. Troubleshooting has been frustrating; here's what I've done so far.

- unplug all wiring connectors (big job), spray with contact cleaner, reinstall
- clean contacts on kill switch
- spray contact cleaner in ignition switch (no way to take it apart, really)
- kickstand and clutch safety switches are disconnected on my bike and have been for awhile
- measure battery voltage
- measure battery voltage under load
- clean / tighten battery connections
- measure stator resistance and charging voltage
- replace fuel pump motor with CA Cycleworks pump
- new spark plug
- new ignition coil
- perform all electrical diagnostics in the service manual (all pass)
- no fault codes displayed
- 1 fault code in memory, this was from a stator failure a year ago
- max spark gap test as described in service manual (it was marginal, thus the new ignition coil)

None of this made any difference whatsoever. In the process of testing these changes, I did notice that  a) if the bike was cutting out, filling the tank full seemed to cure it  b) the problem seemed to happen when the tank was less than 2/3 full, and much more often when near empty. 90% of the time, I could just cycle the key off and back on, and the bike would restart, but sometimes I'd have to wait a few minutes.

Because the issue seemed to be related to fuel level, I considered these causes:

- gas tank vent is plugged. I ran the bike until it started cutting out, opened the cas cap, that did not solve it.
- fuel pump overheats when fuel level drops. This seems unlikely, since the pump motor was replaced.
- bottom half of fuel filter is plugged. Fuel pump could get gas with full tank, but struggle as the fuel level drops.

To test the plugged filter theory, I swapped pump assemblies (and filters) with another bike. During the first test ride of 50 miles, with starting gas level < 1/2 tank, the bike did not cut out. But I don't think that's a long enough test to prove the issue is resolved, so bottom line is I still don't know if fuel filter was the issue. It will be a while before I can do a longer test ride.

George,

Steve in Galveston here.

I was talking to Bob Ganzer Friday and he mentioned you had issues with your WR.
If your bike is doing this only when it gets hot it sounds like a possible fuel pump issue to me. The fuel filter could also be suspect considering you live in the desert and have ridden the WR in Mexico. It is possible the fuel filter is also letting some dirt get past and stopping the pump rotation when the plastic disk in the pump expands when hot. The fuel filter is not very serviceable but when I bought my bike (a 2008 with 2200 miles) this summer I changed my fuel pump with a ca cycleworks one and I cleaned the filter by spraying carb cleaner through it and it seemed surprisingly dirty for a bike with low miles. You also may be onto something with the coil idea. I have the oem fuel pump, (pump only not the assembly) and you can have it if you want it. It worked fine but being my bike is an early 2008 I did not want to risk having a problem riding alone in the middle of nowhere. You could put it in and see if it fixes your problem and if it does then spend the $129 + 10 shipping for a new one from ca cycleworks one. If you are carful swaping it out is no big deal especially for a person with your skill sets.

Jim,
What a bummer; I'm hoping that mine isn't that bad. Good luck with yours, and let us know what happens.

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the info and the offer. I'm going to try the new coil and hope that fixes it. If not, I'll take you up on the fuel pump.
Either way I'll post my results here & hopefully the info can help someone in the future.

Update:  I replaced the coil on Tuesday, and did a 110 mile ride on Wednesday with no problems whatsoever. It was colder that day though (high 56°), so I wasn't convinced. The next day it warmed up (high 76°), and the problem returned. Did it again today (70s again). So it definitely seems to be temperature related. I read 20+ pages of fuel pump threads last night, and my symptoms seem to be different than most of the others who have had fuel pump problems. I have never once had the fuel pump fail to prime when turning on the key, and when/if the engine dies it will restart in seconds with little waiting period. I guess I'll try the fuel pump because I don't know what else to do at this point.

How about a possible brake in a cable in the wiring loom around the head stock !

grw800 wrote:

Update:  I replaced the coil on Tuesday, and did a 110 mile ride on Wednesday with no problems whatsoever. It was colder that day though (high 56°), so I wasn't convinced. The next day it warmed up (high 76°), and the problem returned. Did it again today (70s again). So it definitely seems to be temperature related. I read 20+ pages of fuel pump threads last night, and my symptoms seem to be different than most of the others who have had fuel pump problems. I have never once had to fuel pump fail to prime when turning on the key, and when/if the engine dies it will restart in seconds with little waiting period. I guess I'll try the fuel pump because I don't know what else to do at this point.

If you have a good dealer, it might be time to take it down there and let the techs take a look at it. If they have a smart guy, he may be able to fix it with little time or expense to you.

George,

I PMed you my phone #
Give me a call or text me your address and I will send you that fuel pump.

Steve

I've been away from home with family issues, so the bike problem has been on hold until now.
I had ordered a new OEM fuel pump which was waiting for me when I got home. I installed it Wednesday night and have ridden about 150 miles since then with absolutely no problems. Temps have been in the low 80s which is warmer than it was when the problem first appeared. Chalk up one more fuel pump failure! Mine didn't exhibit the usual symptoms, for example, mine NEVER failed to prime when I turned on the key. And when it did finally get to the point where the engine would die, it would restart in just a few seconds. I have read every fuel pump post here, and didn't find any description that sounded like the problem mine had.
The pump I got is Yamaha P/N 3D7-13907-10. I paid $250.47 at Service Honda.