Bad fuel pump?

[SteelTherapy]

Hi,

I've been enjoying my newly acquired Voyager this summer until this past weekend. It's a 1985 with around 6,300 miles. It had been sitting for 13 years before I got it. Anyway, new fuel filter, tank lining, cleaned the petcock/fuel valve before I got it running. So back to this weekend. I was riding it with about 125 miles on the odometer since the last fill up. It was occasionally starting to hesitate on acceleration. At about 130 miles, it died and I coasted to a halt. Note that my fuel sending unit is bad so it always reads as empty. I thought 130 miles was a bit low on the miles to be out of gas but it's a relatively new bike to me. I switch to the reserve and it doesn't help. Occasionally it would start kinda but die as soon as I gave it any throttle. Thinking that there is something wrong with the reserve valve I patiently waited for my wife to bring me a couple gallons gas. When she got there and I added the gas it started up and got be the 1/2 block to the gas station. I filled it up but it was still acting "wonky" when I gave it gas. I limped it home and parked in the garage with a curse. A few hours later I went out to start it up. Started fine, revved up fine. Seemed like it was back to normal. Shut it off and went inside. After a couple rum and cokes there was no way I was going for a test ride that day.

Fast forward to today. Decided to give it a test drive. Started up fine. Accelerated fine out of the neighborhood, got to about 50 in 3rd then it started to bog down. If I let off the throttle, it would eventually go back to normally and I could accelerate again. I turn into a neighborhood and cruise around at about 25 mph and had no issues. Decided to go back out on the bigger roads. Same problem but it just kept getting worse and worse the more I drove it. I eventually limped back home and let it idle in the driveway. It would idle fine but when I gave it throttle it would bog down. I pulled the panel so I could see the fuel pump. I noticed the occasional air bubble entering the fuel filter while running(normal?). I let it cool down for about 10 minutes and tried again. Now I could rev it as much as I wanted in the driveway, no problems for the couple of minutes that I was playing with it.

So, is the fuel pump going bad? Is it just working fine until it warms up or is there something else that I should look at first?

I saw that the Airtex E8445 is supposed to be an acceptable substitute for the OEM pump.


EDIT: I went back out and watched the fuel level in the fuel filter drop as I revved the engine. Shortly after the fuel dropped to a point where it was no longer visible in the filter body the engine started to hesitate/bog down.

So now, bad fuel pump, clogged filter(only has 500 miles on it), or some debris/blockage in the petcock/fuel valve?


Thanks in advance,

ST

[Van Voyager]

That sucks. Have you removed the fuel valve and disassembled for cleaning? The tap is a shitty design - but that's kind of beside the point - there's not much to go wrong in there but it's possible to install the selector cone (for lack of a better expression - you'll recognize it when you take it apart) upside down - although I don't think the bike would run at all if that was the case ???

There's supposed to be a fuel screen, i.e. filter, inside the tank on the tap . A lot of ZN's seem to be missing the tap screen - mine didn't have one but I got lucky and found one for it. If you have a screen, it could be clogged or deformed.

Another thing to check is if the tank cap is venting properly. Should be an easy check. Drive around until you start to experience the problem then drive around with the tank cap open to see if the problem disappears. Seems to me the tank vent is through a hose from under the tank to the cap - might be totally wrong about that - but if that's right, the hose could be pinched.

[SteelTherapy]

I haven't removed anything yet. It's such a pain getting that fuel hose on and off the petcock valve.

The breather tube...hmmmm. I hadn't thought of that. A day or two before the problem started I over-filled the tank and fuel was spilling out the bottom of the bike. I can only assume that it was flowing out the breather tube. I wish I wasn't working today so I could take a look at the bike right away. I will follow-up with the results this afternoon.

Thanks!

[SteelTherapy]

Well it's not the breather tube. I ran it with the cap off and the fuel filter quickly emptied of gasoline. I disconnected the breather tube, hooked up a new one and blew through it and it flowed no problem out the vent.

I removed the tank hooked a new hose to the petcock valve and opened the valve. It flowed in a steady stream in both the on and reserve positions.

There is a kink in the fuel line coming off of the petcock. It's pretty severe. The question is, if this is the cause, why did it suddenly start when I have had the tank on there for a couple of months without moving it?

Could it be heat? The heat allowing the fuel line to become more flexible and therefore bend just a little bit more to create the kink?

[SteelTherapy]

Well good news and bad news.

Good news I replaced the line between the petcock valve and the fuel filter. Flows great now through the fuel filter.

Bad news: That oddball fuel line between the fuel pump and fuel filter cracked. It's toast. Auto parts guys looked at me cross-eyed when I showed it to them.

Any solutions out there?

[ekap1200]

WHATS YOUR HOSE ID. LOOK UP MOTION PRO THEY MAKE METRIC / STANDARD FUEL LINE.


ok, I see now you have a 1200voyager. and ;you need the special molded hose 1/4 on one end and 5/16 on the other.

I have a fairly good used one.

[SteelTherapy]

Hmmm, it looks more like 5/16 on one end to 1/2 on the other to me.

[ekap1200]

Sorry must of had one of those senior moments.... So it is a 6cyl 1300. I don't have anything for that. but do check out Motion/Pro and maybe search online. There has to be a fix . Hope someone here will chime in , that has had this hose replaced
Gene Kap

[SteelTherapy]

Here is my solution:

From the fuel filter a couple inches of 5/16 fuel line to a 3/8" barb- 3/8" male pipe thread(brass) to a 3/8" brass elbow to a 3/8" pipe thread - 1/2 barb to 1/2" fuel line to the fuel pump.

It was a bit of a pain in the a** getting it in there but it's secure.

So far, so good.

[Van Voyager]