Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum

Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet with the UCE engine => Topic started by: thefieldworker on March 13, 2010, 11:20:30 pm

Title: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: thefieldworker on March 13, 2010, 11:20:30 pm
Gentlemen of vast knowledge and experience of Bullets:

After riding about 220 miles of a 270 mile trip to Atlanta (on my G5), I pulled off to fill up the tank, and had problems re-starting the bike. The de-compressor would run, the light would go off, and then I tried using the starter to get it going. Nothing would catch, and the red light would come back on after a try. I would turn the bike on/off to get the de-compressor to kick in again and turn off the light, and still nothing. After about 20 minutes of this, sitting on my bike in wet clothes, in the middle of rural somewhere, Georgiia, it finally kicked in and I dared not stop until I got to my destination.

Any ideas what's going on? When I checked into the hotel after turning it off for the first time, the G5 started right up, no problems.

Thanks for the help.
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: motomataya on March 13, 2010, 11:27:46 pm
Describe " nothing would catch" Dose the motor turn over, Dose the starter spin and the motor dosn't turn over, or dose the starter not even spin?
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: singhg5 on March 14, 2010, 12:46:09 am
After riding about 220 miles of a 270 mile trip to Atlanta (on my G5), I pulled off to fill up the tank, and had problems re-starting the bike. The de-compressor would run, the light would go off, and then I tried using the starter to get it going. Nothing would catch, and the red light would come back on after a try. I would turn the bike on/off to get the de-compressor to kick in again and turn off the light, and still nothing. After about 20 minutes of this, sitting on my bike in wet clothes, in the middle of rural somewhere, Georgiia, it finally kicked in and I dared not stop until I got to my destination.

Any ideas what's going on? When I checked into the hotel after turning it off for the first time, the G5 started right up, no problem.
Thefieldworker:

Hello.  Welcome to forum.

I had a similar experience when I first went out on my G5 about 11 months ago.  Later I found that the reason was THE NEUTRAL LIGHT WAS NOT ON, even though I could move the bike forward and backward.  I was ABLE TO KICK START my G5 and got home ok.

Electric starter does not work until electric circuit for Neutral is complete.  Slightly moving the gear lever up/down cures the problem.  Or just moving the bike might establish the contact.

The Second possible reason is that the side-stand automatic cut off  switch gets stuck and the bike does not start.  I have permanently disconnected that line because that is the MOST common cause of G5 not starting.

singhg5
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: thefieldworker on March 14, 2010, 02:36:09 am
Describe " nothing would catch" Dose the motor turn over, Dose the starter spin and the motor dosn't turn over, or dose the starter not even spin?

Sorry for the unclear description. The starter spins, I think the motor is turning over, but no ignition. I tried kicking as well - the red light would come on shortly after a kick, but with no ignition.
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: thefieldworker on March 14, 2010, 02:41:40 am
The Second possible reason is that the side-stand automatic cut off  switch gets stuck and the bike does not start.  I have permanently disconnected that line because that is the MOST common cause of G5 not starting.
It's not a false-neutral problem -  the green light is on. I thought it may have been the side-stand cut-off (after reading so many complaints from people on the forum), but when the side-stand switch was off in the past, it wouldn't go through the auto decompress sequence (the whirr, and then the red light goes off). Could the side-stand switch be stuck and still go through that sequence?
I'm going to try it tomorrow when I leave Atlanta to return home, and see if I can tell if it's the side-stand switch.

Thanks for the suggestion.
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: r80rt on March 14, 2010, 02:58:39 am
I think the whirr and red light going out you describe is the fuel pump pressuring up. the decompresser shouldn't do anything until the engine is spinning over.
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: thefieldworker on March 14, 2010, 03:05:23 am
r80rt-
OK, that's the fuel pump I hear; thanks for letting me know. What are the steps I should listen for, for proper ignition?
I didn't bring the manual with me, so didn't get a chance to look it up. What does it mean when the red light shines? I tried kick-starting it as well - I would turn the key, wait for the whirr to stop and the red light turn off, then kick it. The red light would then come on.

When I get back home, I am going to re-read the manual, and try to dig through more of the Snidal manual that I bought (though I am waiting for the UCE version to come out).

Thanks for letting me know about the fuel pump pressuring up sound.
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: r80rt on March 14, 2010, 03:08:31 am
I'm not positive but I believe the red light goes out to let you know the system is ready to go, I'll go find my owners manual and see if I can get more detail.
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: r80rt on March 14, 2010, 03:17:10 am
According to the owners manual "The light will glow for a few seconds and go off, this indicates that all the functions of electronic controll unit (ECU) and other sensors are working perfectly and the motorcycle can be used." if the light dosen't go out it means there is a malfunction.  Good luck with it.
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: motomataya on March 14, 2010, 01:53:59 pm
Try a new spark plug as the first thing to eliminate as the cause.
Title: Re: problems re-starting a hot engine?
Post by: chinoy on March 18, 2010, 07:04:29 am
so your MIL lap is glowing.
Which indicates something has malfunctioned on your bike.
To figure out what.
Open the side cover you will find a short wire with a female bullet conector with nothing connected to it.
Take a wire and short this to the frame.
Cycle Ign. the MIL lamp will now blink a code.
Look up the code Kevin has posted about it on this site.
i.e. number of blinks will tell you what the problem is.

Always carry a spare plug in your tool box. Any Plug. Hook it up to the HT coil lead. Place Plug against the cylinder and see if you have spark.
Then take out your plug and see if its wet that will tell you if you have fuell going in.
If you have fuel and spark bike should run. Even if some critical sensor is kaput.