My Goldwing misbehaved occasionally ever since spring of 2007. One early ride last year the bike felt as though it ran out of fuel. While it was still coasting I downshifted and popped the clutch and it started up and ran fine after that. That was it until my brother and I were leaving the Minneapolis area and intending on an extended road trip. The morning was a bit cool, hinting at fall’s nearness. We were on the western edge of the cities and it seemed to run out of gas again but didn’t completely stop so I explained what happened and we decided to continue on our way. What the heck, probably wouldn’t be able to diagnose the problem until the bike quit and refused to start anyway.
During the balance of that trip the bike misbehaved perhaps six to eight more times but always kept running and seemed to get it’s wind back. The fuel filter got replaced at one Honda dealership in Oklahoma. The owner claimed to know next to nothing about Goldwings because this was such a poor area and nobody could afford them around there. Turns out he sold lots of ATV’s but few motorcycles. Hmmmm, seems to me those ATV’s cost money too. Well the fuel filter didn’t fix it and we stopped at another dealership. The service manager took the bike out on the toll way and found nothing wrong with it up to 115 MPH. He suggested it could be the battery wasn’t able to keep up because of the extra load from the trailer lights (all LED lights on the trailer ) which sounded a little far fetched. But we hit a “Wallow World” and I replaced the battery. There was one more episode shortly after replacing the battery and all was good the rest of the trip, a thousand miles or more. I was thinking maybe the battery was the culprit.
The bike had been running like a champ this year and we took off with trailer in tow to attend the wedding of my nephew. Likewise it ran like a champ with mileage up to almost 42 MPG for part of the trip. Then came Saturday, on our way to the wedding and wouldn’t you know. I limped the bike into the country club parking lot and scurried in so as to not delay things any longer. Later it fired up and ran normal. The next day we returned home and there wasn’t a hiccup.
Now this is one of those things that really makes me go HMMMMM?
I spent some quality time searching my favorite online Goldwing resource and found a link to this well written “How To” detailing a reasonably inexpensive fix for what is regarded as one of the common causes of this problem. I found there could have been about a $10 saving on the pump ordering it on line but opted for having the pump right away and bought it and the filter screen locally along with a one foot piece of submersible 5/16” fuel line. My grand total came to just over $80 and I scurried home anxious to get the project underway.
The how to instructions were quite explicit and indeed as the article said the job could have been done in about 30 minutes. That is except I decided not to trust crimped on terminals and soldered them for the sake of having no unwanted surprises on the road. One other consideration is the submersible fuel line which some posted they were having trouble locating. If that proves to be a problem for you I recommend getting a 5/16” double barbed brass connector between two and three inches long, then cutting the original fuel line on the original fuel pump and simply adding in the brass to provide enough length so you can use the original fuel line. Along with the two extra clamps the problem should be very nicely solved.
Did this replacement fix my problem? I don’t know and for that matter hope I never know. A couple things I have noticed since completing the replacement:
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On cold start up I can bring the choke to full off position much sooner than before. A possible indication there was fuel starvation which doesn’t seem to exist now.
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Start up after the bike has been ridden and shut down for even 2 to 3 hours is quicker and no longer requires using the choke. Once again possible indication of a fuel starvation condition which no long exists.
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At highway cruising speeds the bike seems to run quieter. This could be my imagination but I don’t think so.
Like I say, I hope to never know if this fixed the problem simply because the problem will not have recurred. I can sure live with that.
