GS running baddle with Mexican fuel - looking for ideas.
 

I´m i´m in Creel, Mexico, and my bike is running pretty bad.

It´s a 2003 GS 1150.

It dies almost every time it goes to idle. It looks like a bike w/o fuel injection, like the old carb bikes, when the altitude makes difference on the performance. (I´m at about 7.000)
Very odd for a fuel injection bike and since I dont understant much of mechanics I would like to ask for help on this forum.

This is the full report:
Was running fine when using gas 91, first gas was in USA, second was Premium, in Mexico
Then the third gas the 91 was not available, so I have to use the normal one, from a Pemex source (not those that they seel near the roard)
I had about 4 gallons of good stuff, then I fill the not so good stuff (5 more gallons of mixed) (11gallon tank)
After about 70 miles the bike start running baddly.
at every ´tope´ (the mexican speed bumper), the bike almost die when I resume accelaration.

If I resuem gas on any gear, it ´coffs´ baddly and ask for a lower gear.
I have to keep it over 1500rpm or it will die.

I tought I had a bad gas, so I stop after 130 miles and filled up with the good stuff again (91) with about 3.4 more gallons.
Still the same.
I noticed that if I stop the bike for few minutes, then turn on again, it will run fine for about 5 minutes then will start acting funny again.
It has new spark plugs (BMW) and I changed the fuel filter just before this trip.
Any advise?
I´m not sure when I will be able to check it again, but I will try tomorrow.

There is no internet here on my room, so I´using this cafe, that will be closed tomorrow (sunday)

If you happen to be here in Creel, I´m on the Magaritas Hotel, the one on the Cruzeiro street (yes... there are 2 Margaritas Hotel) :)

Thank you for any ideas.

Oh I really miss the 'tope's- not!

Well I'd be quite sure it's not the fuel quality as I put any old crap in my 2001 GS1150 on my trip and never had problems like that. The altitude should not affect it much either so I'd suggest getting it looked at. Trouble is you would need to find a Beemer place to plug it in to their machine which would hopefully tell you whats wrong.

When was the last time you synchronised the throttle bodlies as they can go out over time and cause poor running? Also is your idle speed correct, ie around 1100 or so rpm? The dealer in Quito had stupidly set mine at around 800rpm and it always wanted to stall before I took it back and got them to do it right, even though they insisted it was ok.

This site seems to have a list of about 12 BMW places in Mexico:
BMW Motorrad México

good luck!

I'll second what Mike says. R11xx can pretty much eat bad fuel, down to 80 octan leaded, like I did in Iran. Mine only did some valve noise that was noticable if very hard acceleration at low-RPMs.

Maybe start with a throttle sync as said, make sure the both throttle cables are properly seated in on the throttle bodies, reset Motronic. Check the spark pugs colour for some signs of carbon build up and fuel mixture. If this doesn't help then just in case you can check if the Hall sensor plate is fully fixed under the alternator belt's bottom pulley. Just guessing...

Keep us posted how it goes.

I've done some reading for you and all I can say is pull over empty your tank completely check your fileter, and then refill with the good stuff. Might be water in the mixture, might be blocked filter, but start with the fuel and then work from that point.

Hope that can be of help.

It might be fuel starvation , check your filter for crud , the hose routing for kinks and the tank vent .
Always look for the simple stuff when ,an otherwise reliable bike, begins to play up .

Filter. Filter. Filter.
 

gotta be the filter or water as others have noted. good idea to drain and start over with good stuff. in remote areas use some STP or other octane booster when you fill up. it worked wonders on my FI Dakar in Bolivia.

As typed before....filter.

How much air do you feel coming out of the exhaust baffle?
Is it like normal?

And also check that the Air filter is ok, apart from that like I said eariler Fuel Filter.

I use a Mr. Funnel when I top up, we had some bad gas in the UK at hundreds of petrol stations, so I use mine all the time.

Mr. Funnel


Let us know what you find out.

Lee
What size do you use and does it slow down the refueling much?
Stephan

bad running GS
 

Glad to see you made it to Creel already.Now this problem ." Bad gas " is a common claim but highly unlikely. My GS 1100 has never suffered from Mexican gasoline, run it on Magna Sin all the time with an occasional tank of Premium.
I agree with the suggestion that the cause is probably filter related , sounds like fuel starvation.No pinched fuel line after filter change ?
Another point to check is the overflow drain from the filler neckThis can get blocked with dust, dead bugs and prevents overfill gas and rainwater from draining away and affect tank venting.If bike is left out in the rain or heavydew a puddle of water collects around the cap and will get into the tank when you open up for a refill, contaminate your supply.It can be a real long job with wire pokers and compressed air to get that labyrinthine setup cleaned out.
Also check that the throttle cables are properly seating in the nipple ends at the throttle bodies.It is possible to get some dirt, weed stubble ( ran over some tumbleweed lately?) or cleaning rag bit stuck under the throttle cable and pulley at the throttle body end and this will throw them really out of synch. It can be so bad that the computer totally gets confused and runs fuel to only one cylinder.
How is the condition of your battery? If weak it may not have sufficient power for running injection pump at capacity.How is condition of ignition coil? This may be okay on checking at idle but again deteriorating once bike warms up and changes electrical characteristics of the system.. Although one might think that power would come from the alternator , a healthy battery is always required for running the systems on these computer bikes.Bad battery telltale is in the dash display when the ABS system constantly refuses to go into functional mode and leaves red light flashing.
Wish you luck in rectifying the problem so you can enjoy the trip. By the way, which route to Creel did you finally wind up taking?

I´m back here at the forum. Well, tomorrow I will check all the advices

Double check the cables and the vents first thing tomorrow morning

Limited internet access here, so I will print all this and check it tomorrow. :)

thank you all and I will be back here with the results from my check
:)

Well, the current situation:
Short version. Nothing got better. I did all but the removing the gas filter.
I will cut short my off-road segment of my trip and will ride home one day earlier.

Long version:
I start checking the throttle cables. They are both fine. They move together as the slide turn on the gas. both are seating on the grove.

The vents I double check the color code for both and the are fine. I blow air from the bottom and the wife help check it goes out just fine on the top. so no clog vent.
As well there is no gas pressure when opening the tank after about 45 minutes riding.

I could not find any product to put inside the tank as a winter parking... they don't have it here... :), so, not sure on that option.

The battery cables are pretty firm and the bike start at the first contact, even after 1 day w/o any ridding. (yesterday)

I try the bypass screws... to every direction I move it, the bike runs worst. Immediately noticeable, so I'm sure it's fine the way it is. I put back on the same point.

It's a 2 spark plugs only GS (2003), not 4, so that option on the secondary plug being bad is not the case.

I talked with a couple GS riders here that seams to know more then I (not that difficult :) ) and they both agree that I have something on the gas filter.

That would be my first experience with gravel/dip gravel roads, but now the bike is very hard to control in first or second gear at low speed and two up, so I decided to cut short my vacation and I'm heading home tomorrow.

Seams like it's getting a little worst because now I can fell the 'surge' again. I had it months ago when I bought the bike. Following some directions from this forum I thought I had it eliminated, but today it is back. At around 3K RPM, steady gas, the bike 'spurs' regularly. I want to believe that it's related with a bad gas filter...

We had a really good time here in Mexico, but I'm kind of frustrated with this since I had a pretty good maintenance service before the trip (not right before, but at least 200 miles before the trip, so all was working fine) I was really expecting to get a real gravel roads experience here... :(
Next time.

BTW: I will move the filter to outside the first thing after get home.

I want to tank you all here for your personal affords in helping me and I'm sure I could not get it because my inability to fix, not for your help.
Thank you ALL!! :)

Replace the filter .. it cannot be that difficult ... even if you can only get the cheap plastic ones for carbys that will do .. they are not rated for teh pressure but most of the time they will work. And then you can continue on your tirp.

Alternative filters ... Triumph use the same fuel filters on their injected bikes.. after that one form a EFI car would do .. as long as you can get the hoses to fit don't worry too much about the size of the filter.. but as an emergency fix the cheap plastic ones for carby cars would do .. buy one - check it fixes the problem then buy another two - just in case.

1100gs fuel filter
 

Too bad about all this problem.Still , if it surges but otherwise runs sort of okay at 3000rpm + , can you maybe " ride around " the problem zone.
Sounds now like you had the same problem earlier after buying the bike used. . As for fitting an external fuel filter- good luck.It will take a lot of engineering, cutting, welding and pipefitting
The filter on these bikes is inside the fuel tank with no external fuel lines . Instead of being a simple five minute roadside filter swap the job requires all kinds of extra plumbing and wiring to be removed, as well as starting with an empty tank if you do not have access to a clean drainpan to catch all the gasoline you may release when you remove the pump/filter access plate from the underside of the tank.And then you need to worry about not damaging the bits like the sealing o-ring.
What were they thinking! Couldn't they have put a filter outside the tank under an inspection cover?

Errr .. how does the fuel then reach the motor?

Fuel paths -

1) tank, pump, filter, injector, motor
2) tank, pump, filter, pressure regulator, tank

The fuel filter has been mounted externally by several people ..

---- There are other possible causes of this problem - the TPS for instance. But most of the time it is the fuel filter .. and replacing it before the trip is a good step. Carrying a new spare is better.