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Old 1 Jul 2010
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wierd fuel problem
Just back from a trip from Holland to Kazakhstan. In Turkey my bike (kle 500) developed the following problem.

With normal driving, round about 220 kilometres my bike runs out of fuel on the main tank, so when I come near that number, say around 180 I put it on “RES” an keep driving but every time around 220 kilometres (when the normal tank should be empty) the following thing happens:

The bike will suddenly lose power and behave like there is no fuel flow, any chancing of the fuel positions at that moment (on, res, pri, trust me I tried it all) have no influence on it dying down. So the engine shuts of and I put in next to the road. When I then put it on PRI and wait a couple of minutes it starts normally again, I drive away and put it on RES again. Than it keeps running normally.

But what causes this? It should be able to run dry on RES. And even when riden on ON and let the main tank run dry you should be able to go, still riding , to PRI and than RES without the bike dying down. But this doesn’t work.

Obviously it has something to do with the fuel flow round about the moment the main tank is empty. It can’t be a clogged res fuel line because after resting a few minutes it works fine, it just dies down one time. I had the bike for years and this is a new problem.

Anyone?
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Old 1 Jul 2010
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I think you should pull the tap off and clean it all out.. check for any problems. Check all the hoses etc.

You could just ride it on reserve from a full tank for now.
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Old 1 Jul 2010
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" You could just ride it on reserve from a full tank for now."

ed, thats exactly what i want to do, but that doesn't work. if i run it from reserve from a full tank (ic always keep it one reserve) the mentioned problem will happen around the 2200-220 (main tank limit) kilometer mark.
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Old 1 Jul 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Luuk View Post
" You could just ride it on reserve from a full tank for now."

ed, thats exactly what i want to do, but that doesn't work. if i run it from reserve from a full tank (ic always keep it one reserve) the mentioned problem will happen around the 2200-220 (main tank limit) kilometer mark.
ahh right.. i was confused..

From a full tank, can you start the bike on prime then switch to reserve and have no problems ??

Or do you HAVE to run from "ON", then let it die, switch to prime then reserve to keep it going ??

Sounds like you need to pull the tap out of the tank and clean/check it all. Maybe your getting an airlock from a faulty seal or a part blockage from some crap on the tank filter.
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Old 1 Jul 2010
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Q:From a full tank, can you start the bike on prime then switch to reserve and have no problems ??

A:Nope, same thing happens, around 200-220 it dies. bike one Pri for some minuts and it works again.

Q:Or do you HAVE to run from "ON", then let it die, switch to prime then reserve to keep it going ??

A: i tryed that since that is the normal procedure acourding to Kawasaki to switch from ON to RES. BUt still the engine totaly dies. normaly it just sputers a bit when ON is empty en than picks up again at RES. But in my case the engine dies comlpletly every time.

i will clean the entire system but still this is a wierd problem.
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