My 1996 M900 has begun to be difficult to start if left for 2 or 3 days, once it starts (after 4 or 5 10 second goes on the starter button) it will then fire up instantly for the rest of the day, hot or cold , the next morning it will fire straight up but leave it a few days and the above issue reappears. So I’m thinking that the fuel is evaporating out of the bowls and it’s taking a while for them to fill up and hence the difficulty in starting. But why hasn’t it done this for the last few years?, I’ve checked the vacuum line to the pump and it’s fine, sealed at each end and no splits, so I’m thinking maybe the diaphragm in the pump needs replacing?, before I do that though I wondered if anyone else has had this issue?, cheers Mark.
It's odd that it's only 2 or 3 days - if you'd said 2 or 3 weeks I'd be suspicious of fuel deteriorating in the bowls, especially with modern 95 octane products, as discussed elsewhere. See what others say, but it would be easy to fill up with fresh Esso Supreme or similar, just in case that has anything to do with it.
Thinking about it it’s more like a week but even so not that long and the issue has only been there for the last 4 or 5 weeks, I use Esso supreme in all my bikes, however the latest info is that they only guarantee it being ethanol free in the south of England, come further north (I’m in the East Midlands) and it’s pot luck whether the batch your drawing from has ethanol in it or not.
I was experiencing the same problem with my S4 and started hunting Google for information, stumbled across a post from Mark Brewin of BSD performance, can't remember what it was in reference to, but he said to open the throttle fully for between five to ten seconds before you attempt to start from cold. Then release the throttle and start as normal, I gave it a try and it worked a treat. Not sure why it made a difference but it did and I have had no issues ever since when starting my bike . Give it a try and see if it makes a difference.
Sorry but I can't help you with the bike starting issue. Hows the battery? AFAIK Esso Synergy say no ethanol unless you are in the following areas: Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland
Opening the throttle prior to starting helps on my CB750 SOHC because it has an accelerator pump, so you get a squirt of fuel into the intakes, but on the M900 it’s CV carbs so it would just open the butterfly’s so I don’t think it could make any difference. Thanks for the suggestion though.
It’s a new battery Jez, I’m pretty sure it’s linked to fuel evaporation, I might use the bike tomorrow cos it’s probably going to rain (I don’t mind getting the M900 dirty it’s basically my winter hack), in preparation I started the bike earlier, loads of cranking finally fired up, ran it for 30 seconds, I guarantee it’ll fire up first touch of the button in the morning. Edit: could also be the bowl drains leaking?, no smell of petrol in the garage but I’ll check them in the morning.
Back in the day spraying easy start into the airbox always made my blue strokes fire instantly! Have you posted on the UKMOC site - one of those lads will know what the problem is for sure.
Hmmm... The guy doesn't say where he is? I think Esso would be unlikely to make the claim & charge more for the Synergy if it wasn't largely true. Hugely bad publicity and its easy to check. In fact I'm going to test some this weekend and find out! On a test tube or olive bottle six or seven inches long, make a permanent line about two inches from the bottom. Fill with water to this line, then fill the tube to the top with gasoline. Cover the tube, agitate it, and let it stand. The ethanol and water will mix and separate out together. If the water level appears to have increased, the fuel contains ethanol
They do have an E5 symbol on all of their pumps though Jez , I will do the test you’ve mentioned though next time I get a gallon of fuel in a can for one of my fathers bikes, I think the VJMC guy is correct tbh, he’s only quoting what Esso told him, as an aside I just taxed a Daewoo Matiz 796cc for my father, £210 !!!!!, as I did so I thought how unfair it is that people with older cars have to pay more for their car tax, ie people on low incomes or retired can’t afford a modern low emissions cheap tax car and can ill afford £200/300+ tax, I thought why have they never just abolished road tax and put it on fuel, then it dawned on me, they knew electric was coming didn’t they!, tossers.
Just started the bike, as expected it fired up instantaneously, I mean instantly, the second the button is touched it’s running, you can’t hear any cranking, just press and boom it’s off, this is because I fired it up yesterday and left it with full float bowls is my current theory, now if I leave it several days it will go back to not wanting to start and needing lots of cranking to fire it up, it’s nothing to do with the battery it’s almost new, also in the last couple of weeks I’ve made a point of charging it prior to attempting to start to eliminate low battery as a cause, but the bike doesn’t want to start and it’s definitely linked to how long it left unstarted.
Possibly Jez, although I want to see if the improvement lasts, I found several of the clamps on the fuel lines had slackened off, particularly one on an inline filter I had fitted, I tightened them all and left it a week, it started well, it’s now been another week so I’ll see how it starts tomorrow, I’m dubious that this is the fix but if it starts well tomorrow then all well and good.
Yeah, I recon they are missing a great marketing opportunity by doing that, I mean given the demand for zero ethanol fuel if I was selling it I’d put a huge great sign on the pump stating “ZERO ETHANOL!”, weird isn’t it that such a big company has missed such a great opportunity, of course if they can’t guarantee that the fuel you’ll be getting is in fact zero ethanol because as they have stated the fuel can be mixed with ethanol by their 2nd tier refinerys away from the south then they’d be stupid to put a zero ethanol sign on the pump.
Probably Kingsbury, AFAIK they must blend it as they fill the the tankers there as that fuel depot is shared with other fuel providers. Unless they use the dedicated Esso facility in Birmingham to supply your area, I would assume anything outside the Home Counties is ‘North’.
Just tried to start the M900 after leaving it for a week, reluctant again Time to strip the carbs and clean all the jets I think + service the fuel pump.
