[Charles K. Rusher]

Last week i bought my first Vstrom, a 2007 DL650. I bought it used with about 20k miles on it. Was out riding the bike around (about 200 miles), then when i was climbing a hill the engine died. I still had power and the dash was on. Initially i tried to restart the engine, but to no avail. I can hear the starter, but the bike would not turn over.

When i got back home i started going through the threads to see the potential cause. Based on other posts i assumed it was a clogged filter. I tested this theory by removing the fuel line and trying to start the bike, no fuel came out. I installed a new pre-filter on the pump and put the tank back on my bike. With the fuel line off i tried to start the bike again but nothing.

At this point i decided to test the voltage of everything. I checked the fuses and all were good, checked the voltage at the battery pump relay and fuses and all were at 12v. When i checked the voltage at the fuel pump i was only getting 5v with the key on. Based on other post shouldn't i be getting 12v here?

What could be causing this drop in voltage? Im thinking the wire harness might be corroded some where. but really hope it is something simpler. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[BC Rider]

Check that you are on the correct wire out of the relay. It goes to the pump motor and the injectors. Y/R on the diagram I'm looking at. The R/W feeds into the relay and the coil wires are Y/B and O/W. The coil wires start and end at the ECM so might be a different voltage.

 

[Gert]

It sounds like your battery may not have enough amps to run the fuel pump. You could try jump starting to eliminate the battery as a possible cause. Not sure if you have ABS or not, but if you are in need of a wiring diagram, one was previously posted on https://www.stromtrooper.com/3279401-post15.html.

 

[Rolex]

You need to be getting more than 12v to start with, you want to see a minimum of 12.5 and should be more than 12.8

With the ignition on the headlights are on too so you volts will drop, 11.2 would not be uncommon.

If you are performing your test correctly you should not get 5v, this can be caused by a bad battery, a failed wire or a poor connection.

Ensure your battery connections are clean and tight, they work loose on bikes.

Go to your battery, fit your volt meter, take note, turn the ignition on and take note, after 3 minutes turn off the ignition, wait 5 minutes and take note of the reading again.

Post us your results.

 

[OydnaR]

my Vee had a similar problem that the dealer initially blamed low pressure on the aftermarket fuel pump. But I asked them to double check electrical, before ordering a genuine suzuki pump. Turned out to be a bad fuel pump relay AND tip over sensor, and now, it's alive

 

[MAZ4ME]

" When i checked the voltage at the fuel pump i was only getting 5v with the key on."
What was the voltage during cranking?

 

[BackPacker]

Also, now that you've got the wires out anyway, disconnect the battery negative (to eliminate any running-current effects) and measure the resistance between the negative terminal on the fuel pump and the negative terminal on the battery (the one that you disconnected). This should be essentially zero (at the very least well below one ohm) in all cases. Do the same for the pump positive and the battery positive - although you will have to bridge the ignition relay for this.

It's very weird to get a 12V or thereabouts reading on the battery and at the same time get a 5V or thereabouts reading on the fuel pump. That only happens when there's a major issue with the wiring, like a loose ground cable or heavily corroded connectors somewhere.

The other thing to try is to apply 12V directly to the fuel pump using some alligator clip wires, and measuring the fuel flow. You may have a the internal filter clogged up, so you may need to do the fuel filter bypass. Be extremely careful with this though: An unprotected stream of fuel in combination with sparks from an unprotected alligator clip against the battery terminals can be a very bad combination.

 

[Charles K. Rusher]

First of I would like to thank everyone for the replies and help in figuring this issue out.

As many of you suggested, I was testing the pump voltage at the wrong lead. When i tested the correct lead it did read 12V when i turned the key (for a few seconds and then it turned off). With that i isolated the issue to the fuel pump/filter itself.

I removed the whole pump assembly and using an extra battery checked the operation of everything. What i found was that the fuel pump itself was not responding. Hooking it directly to the battery would only give weak intermittent running. So i ordered a new pump only and just installed it. Before putting it in the bike i tested it out and the sound of the pump is night and day. Back on the bike with fuel it pumped out a great flow of gas when the key was turned.

While i had the pump out I also did the fuel bypass modification and installed an exterior fuel filter. everything is back together and the bike is running and sounds great. Sadly it has been snowing here so have yet to take it for a ride.

Thanks again for everyone's input on my issue, it really helped me narrow down my problem and get my bike running again.