Air in fuel system? Bright Ideas?
 

So for various reasons I've had the tank, fuel hose, injector rail, and injector off the Tenere. Back together now, but it won't run for more than a few seconds at a time before cutting out.

Can hear the fuel pump running when I turn the key on, so I've managed to plug that in properly.

Only explanation I can come up with is there's still air in the injection system, but I can't really think of a sensible way of getting it out other than to keep trying to start it (or generally rattling the bike around in the hope it finds its way back up through the pump).

Any suggestions? Or any other ideas for what might be the problem?


Something has also set the engine warning light flashing. I think there's a reasonable chance it's just objecting to the battery having got a bit flat with all the cranking over, although it's not gone away this morning with a freshly charged battery. Maybe it needs the engine to run for a while to reset it?

Just in case it is something else, can you actually get at the fault codes through the dash on the Tenere? I can only find instructions for the R/X on here.

Cheers
Dave

I'd first try to find out why the warning light is on. To get at the fault code turn of the key, turn it on again and start counting the flashes of the warning light. Long flashes are tens, short flashes are units.

So 2 long flashes and 3 short flashes make 23.

Cheers for that.

Turns out my guess was right though, coming up with code 46, which is 'low voltage' according to Kev.

The fuel pump is self bleeding, the injector will bleed the air out of the fuel rail & injector.

Why did you strip everything, was there a problem?

Is the fuel pump connect fitted correctly, pins not bent, free of corrosion?

Is the injector connector fitted correctly, is the injector fitted correctly in the fuel rail?

Is the fuel pipe connected to the tank correctly.

Did you strip down the fuel pump, one of of the fuel pump hose may be not connect within the fuel tank or leaking?

Confession of idiocy:

Taken apart because I managed to drop the tank while still connected to the bike by the fuel hose. Had to replace both hose and injector rail. Had unplugged electrical connections to the tank at that point, so shouldn't be any issue with broken wires, etc.



Mechanically, it's all put back together properly, everything plugged back in.

If you reckon it ought to self-bleed, then my suspicion starts to fall on the fuel pump, expecially since the manual basically says "don't drop it". Will get the tank back off and check the pump as suggested in the manual.

What hoses in the tank? Nothing shown on the diagrams in the manual.

Next question, how on earth do you get the fuel pump out? Something doesn't fit through the hole in the tank, and I don't want to pull too hard on it.

It should just pull straight out with a little bit of wiggling. It only just fits through the hole mind you, by a mm or two, but it does fit. Maybe something got broken or came loose in the drop which is catching?

Starting to wonder that. It only seems to be catching by a mm or two as well, but I can't tell what the thing it is catching on is.

How far out can you get it before it gets stuck?

It's catching on the stop for the fuel gauge float arm. Can't see how that might be displaced from where it should be though.