[z33tec]

Recently, my engine has been cutting out shortly after I start the bike up. I start it up, RPM's settle down to idle level, idles fine for a little bit, then the engine shuts off. It doesn't sputter or do anything funny; it just shuts off as if I hit the kill switch. After it shuts off, the fuel pump goes through it's cycle again just like when you first turn the key on (gauges don't cycle again though, so it's not like it lost electrical power.) When I fire it back up, it runs just fine. Doesn't happen every time, but it has happened a handful of times in the past month now and I remember it happened a couple times earlier in the year. It's summer now, so I can't contribute it to normal cold start up issues.

Not sure if this is related to the other sporadic issues I have noticed. All seem to be related to idle/low RPM's. Bike runs completely fine otherwise.

http://www.stromtrooper.com/general-v-strom-discussion/65073-signs-i-need-throttle-body-sync.html

http://www.stromtrooper.com/dl650-s...-problem-when-blipping-throttle-off-idle.html

On a related note, I haven't done the 7.5k mile service yet, but am just about there. Checked the air filter last weekend and cleaned the bugs out. Should have checked the plugs while I was there but forgot.

Thanks for any feedback! I love this bike, but I hate having these minor annoyances that I can't seem to pin down.

Bike is 2008 DL650 with about 7.3k miles on it. It sat around and was barely ridden before I bought it last year.

 

[Improperly Torqued]

That is bizarre behavior. I would be suspicious of a dubious modification by the previous owner ...

 

[jar3316]

Idle should be just a touch above 1300 If you set it at 1400 ish you will know if it is the idle or not. My bet is the idle if you have a battery that is getting a litlle old, corroded, connections getting week in connectors the bike will die at 1250 for no reason just like someone hit the kill switch. if you bump up the idle and it still happens then move to TPS and the like.

When I fist got mine it would do it, kicked up the idle a tiny bit fixed it all. I was told that at idle the bike barely puts out enough power to keep its self running and if anything is not working at optimal then it dies.

 

[greywolf]

The OP has a 2008 650. The idle is not adjustable. It's an odd problem. When it shuts off, does any message override the clock?

 

[z33tec]

I don't believe there is any special message on the clock. I will have to check for that next time it does it.

I actually recently replaced the battery because I started running a heated jacket liner this spring. The startup was sounding a little weak when it was cold out and I was unsure of how well the previous owner had taken care of keeping it charged with such little miles. I replaced it just to be cautious.

The previous owner was 50+ year old woman. I've been known to be wrong about people before, but I don't think she had any secret performance mods she didn't tell me about.

Only thing I thought of was possibly the plugs were getting fouled. My first bike I bought only had 350 miles on it but it was a 5 year old bike. The previous owner managed to foul the plugs up just from all of the starting, revving, and then turning off without actually riding.

I'm hoping it's just something simple like that that is causing these quirky issues. Not sure what else it could be as the bike runs completely fine otherwise and I ride it daily.

 

[z33tec]

Just a quick update as I hate doing searches, finding an exact issue I am having, only to find that the resolution was never posted.

The stalling after starting issue happened a bunch within the span of a few days when I originally posted. I remembered seeing a post from Greywolf somewhere regarding a TPS issue. It said to open the throttle a couple times before starting to see if that helped. I did that for a few days and didn't have an issue. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just coincidence so I kept doing it for about a week. Had no issue with the stalling after starting. I stopped doing it to see if the issue would return in hopes that I had narrowed down the problem. Still had no more stalling issue even after that.

It has been almost a month now with no issue so I'm not quite sure what was causing it. Bad gas that somehow persisted over the span of a couple months? Water in the tank that wouldn't go away? I would think any bad gas/water would go away after 1 or 2 fillups. Maybe the tank is shaped in a way that it was able to sit around for a while. Who knows. Maybe it was something else.