FIRE!!!!!

[twiz28]

stuck solenoid

On my second day out on my new 05 LE shorty I had a stuck solenoid on the starter and didn't realize, got about 5 miles into my ride, the guages went out then started to missfire then died completely, turn the key not even a click. Popped the hood and you could smell the acrid smell of burnt wiring. Had to pull her out of the trail and back to the dealer. Bad solenoid, jammed starter. Starter turned until it totally melted itself. My dealer raped a sled in the showroom and got me back out right away. He told me they had seen this once befor e on an 04.

As for trailering without shut offs I've been hauling my wifes 03 RX-1 shorty and my 01 SRX the past 2 years and never had either flood. It makes sense though to add the shut off. It is cheap and easy to do and the piece of mind is worth it. It will be the next upgrade to the wife's 03 and my 05.

Later

 

[smokeless1]

I don't know much about shutoffs but I will be installing them regardless just in case. Dealer said he thinks it had nothing to do with it.

Now just think about this for a moment.

You trailered the sled, and once you got to where you were going, which was considerable distance, then the fuel was "loose" and after attempting to start it, you had a fire.

Had you installed the fuel shut-offs, how would the fuel have gotten into everywhere with no source?

Carborators have floats. And the floats are connected to a fuel supply.

If the floats are "floating" in the bowl, and able to jiggle around, this could easily have allowed fuel to continue to flow into everything. Even with only 2 or 3 gallons of fuel.

Of course it could have just been a stuck float, but stuck floats are rare because unless you neglected to run the fuel from them in the spring, there should be little reason for them to stick.

All speculation, granted, but conversely, had there been fuel shut-offs cutting the fuel supply, in all likelyhood, there would not have been fuel all over to cause the fire.

You decide how important fuel shut-offs are, and why they are put on by many other manufactures, and why Yamaha simply stopped putting them on.

Obviously, if you trailer short distances, your likelyhood of having a melt down is less, but for the majority here, trailer long distances means plenty of time to have a significant fuel spill.

And please don't tell me that you have trailered a million miles and never had fuel leakage, because that is like saying I have smoked millions of cigs and I don't have cancer. It proves absolutely nothing other than maybe you were just lucky.

 

[Blue Me]

Well Smokeless thanks for the reprimand ... ..I think. I guess I have just been lucky. But if I remember correctly you said in an earlier post that the fuel could get past the rings into the oil :shock: Now that I'd like to see. How is that supposed to happen? Let's just get on the same page here though... I don't have fuel shutoffs but I soon will so lighten up please as I feel bad enough right now.

 

[race24x]

OK i dont mean to beat a dead horse on this but your carbs are full of fuel when you shut off so unless you run the carbs dry before you trailer it that can still leak in from bouncing around. Am I to understand that fuel can still flow from the fuel pump even if it is not pumping? I will still install them its cheap insurance and the look cool but I have trailered my rice rocket to Daytona and NH alot of times the fuel tank sits right above the carbs and never seen a problem. It doesnt take much fuel to start some wiring on fire and if you dont notice it it can burn up.

 

[Blue Me]

OK i dont mean to beat a dead horse on this but your carbs are full of fuel when you shut off so unless you run the carbs dry before you trailer it that can still leak in from bouncing around. Am I to understand that fuel can still flow from the fuel pump even if it is not pumping? I will still install them its cheap insurance and the look cool but I have trailered my rice rocket to Daytona and NH alot of times the fuel tank sits right above the carbs and never seen a problem. It doesnt take much fuel to start some wiring on fire and if you dont notice it it can burn up.

Man that's what I thought. But I don't know so cheap insurance it is I guess!!

 

[smokeless1]

Well Smokeless thanks for the reprimand ... ..I think. I guess I have just been lucky. But if I remember correctly you said in an earlier post that the fuel could get past the rings into the oil :shock: Now that I'd like to see. How is that supposed to happen? Let's just get on the same page here though... I don't have fuel shutoffs but I soon will so lighten up please as I feel bad enough right now.

Blue-

This is not meant to be reprimand. Life is nothing if it doesn't teach hard lessons. But some on here are skeptical, and tho I am not self anoited to learn them better, perhaps some logic will bring them around, and one can save another rice rocket from an early demise. Besides perhaps yours was caused by something other than the float bypass.

 

[Blue Me]

Smokeless I sure hope so. I am pretty down right now especially with the amount of snow in Michigan

 

[smokeless1]

It was a terrific ride and by the looks of things, it is only getting better. Buck up tho, you'll get things go'n soon.

 

[Pinball Wizzard]

First Question - What work did the dealer do.
Second -Fuel shut-offs are more for keeping the fuel from filling the cyl. with gas and causing a hydroloc.
Third -I've had my sled upside down and flooded and gas did not go into air filters.
Fourth- If you pulled the plugs and cranked it over how much gas did it spit out the cyls. If it didn't keep pumping gas while you cranked I doubt it could have filled the filters.

Wich brings me back to the original Question - WHAT WAS DONE TO YOUR SLED BEFORE YOU TRIED TO START IT !?!?

 

[Mikey]

yamabluerx1 the rings arent seated untill the combustion happens and seals them if you went to your sled and poured gas on top of the piston it would flow past the rings thats how all the fuel from a car thats flooded and wont start ends up in the oil pan. I would be willing to bet the starter caught fire first and then the fuel/vapours from it being flooded and not starting was in the filters and it ignighted causing the rest of the fire...



Oh and btw I have fuel shutoffs and always will for the float jiggle thing bent valves wouldnt be fun for 20$ in valves.

 

[Blue Me]

Mikey that is exactly what the dealer thinks happened he told me today. Pinball the sled was in to have the Jackshaft bearing looked at and to have the ice block of a speedo redone. As for what was done to it before the first major problem 2 years ago was that I had to have a carb switch replaced and I have NO idea what that even is???/

 

[smokeless1]

Yma-
I think that those are the electric heaters in each carb, which go on when you first start the engine. Each one is electric, and might have been the ignition source for you fire. Stay with that one, if you need to go further under the warrantee issue.

 

[buddah]

Let's re-open this discussion..................cause the same sorta thing happened to me yesterday. Going out riding with a group. Rode 4 mi. (at fairly good speed) to meet them. Started sled up........off we go. A mile or so later coming up to a turn, sled backfires once (a small one) sputters, guage pod is dead, and I coast to a stop. Engine won't turn over. Just a single click from the starter relay.

A trip to the shop in Christmas (25 mi. each way) and a new battery later, same results........a click when turning the key. When clicked battery voltage drops from 12.68 to 5.86 on multimeter. Drug it up to shop on trailer last night. Haven't heard anything as yet.

 

[Blue Me]

Hey Buddah sorry about your deal. I heard it from Yooper today. I am willing to bet it was either your solenoid or starter. This seems to be happening more often now from what I've heard. make sure nothing is cut and grounding out first of all. And more importantly did you have the smell of burning wires? Review my pictures and let me know. FYI you have to PM me since my email for this is down from Yahoo....They stink!!

 

[buddah]

Yep............I heard from Scott (mechanic at local shop).........it was the starter froze up......don't know if solenoid caused it or not (likely, eh?). So $400 or so later, I should have it back tomorrow.

Good thing because I've got company coming for the weekend from home (OH). I DID NOT smell anything hot or burning, it just locked up. Weird, huh?