Another fuel system
set.
[ Monday - July 26,
2010 ]
It's surprising as heck. The 8GS has been having hard start
problems again and guess what the Brown Motor Work service manager
found out? My fuel injectors and fuel pump needs to be swapped
out again. Wait a minute. I've only got about 800-900 miles
on the current set. You mean to tell me it's bad again
already? Yes, it's bad again already. The good news is,
this
time around BMW NA didn't even hesitate to tell the Brown service
manager to swap out the set. This means two more fuel injectors
and one more fuel pump. However, the one thing that BMW NA did
mention, that I will definitely do, is to change gas stations. It
looks like the Shell gas station that I regularly use is subject to bad
fuel. Now what in the world does bad fuel mean? It means
the fuel has been sitting in the big underground tank for a while and
the alcohol and gasoline is separating. Not only that, the
alcohol has also absorbed moisture. Considering that water is
heavier than gasoline, you can figure out what happens when you go to
fill up your tank. Now how am I suppose to know the gas station
has bad fuel? I don't. But at least I agree with BMW
NA. The only constant with the hard start problem I've been
having is that one gas station that I fill up with 90% of the
time. Now
why is the R12R not effected by this? Well, as I was told, the
fuel injector on the 8GS and 650gs twin is smaller than other injectors
on other models. I'm sure the smaller injector hole size doesn't
help in the clogging and
corrosion department.
My 8GS is currently sitting at Brown pending the completion of the
second fuel system set swap out. I'll get to find tomorrow
whether the new
parts have been installed and the 8GS is ready for the road once
more. In the
meanwhile, the 12R is kicking arshe on the commute.
Many thanks to Joel Wisman on www.advrider.com
for pointing out the use of Chevron's Techron as an additive to prevent
fuel pump and fuel injector failures. If I have to use additives
to prevent the 8GS from dying once more, I'm all for it. An extra
$ here and there to prevent my favorite bike from bunking in the shop
is a no hesitation and brainer for me. Now that I'm in the habit
of maintaining the 8GS with utmost care, I'm going to spread the love
to the 12R also. This also means I'm going to ride around with a
bottle of Chevron Techron in my bag. Fuel additive on the
go! Now that's a concept people.
As a side note... I had been wondering why my buddy, the Sgt, hasn't
been seeing hard start
problems with his bike, F800ST. It looks like the
clogged fuel injectors and corroded fuel pump is an anomaly for the
F800GS and F650GS twin only. As non-luck has it, the Sgt is
finally confronted with hard start problem today. He only has 6K
miles on his bike and it's starting to exhibit problems that I've been
having with my 8GS. Unfortunately, I know this problem all too
well. It looks like he's off to the dealer for a set of fuel
injector and possibly fuel pump swap out. This also means that
the
other F800 models are not immune to the problem.
Written on: July 26, 2010
Last modified: July 26, 2010
