Sudden loss of power, bike just dies briefly.

[rfulcher]

I have a 2013 with 40,000 miles. It has been very reliable. Over the last 3 weeks/700 miles it has abruptly died and then quickly regained power three times. Three weeks ago it happened twice within 5 minutes. Both times I think I was ending or gradually decelerating from a high speed pass. The bike was well into reserve so I thought it might have been fuel starvation from the gas sloshing forward on deceleration. It happened again tonight at around 35-40 mph at either steady throttle or slight deceleration. About a half tank of gas. Power died completely and I thought I was going to coast to a stop. Fortunately the engine caught after just a second or two. The dash stayed illuminated, I think the engine light came on, and the lights did not die.

It has only happened 3 times. Twice 2 weeks ago at the end of a 500 mile ride in the mountains. Since then (until today) there was no sign of a problem. This includes around 100 miles of local rides and yesterday a 450 mile round trip to the mountains for around 100 miles to spirited mountain road riding. It ran great for the whole 450 miles. The power loss today was while casually riding around town.

Over the last 3 weeks it has been hard to start twice. One of these hard starts required pulling the fuel pump fuse.

I have not checked for fault codes yet but will try to do this over the next day or so.

Any suggestions or experience with this issue?

 

[EricV]

Hard starts are more a result of circumstances prior to shut down. Failure to allow full warm up being prime among them.

The loss of power, then regaining it seems more like secondary issues. Clogged fuel filter in the tank, (sock type), or coil issues, (corrosion on #1 plug from water intrusion). Air, Fuel, Spark. One of these is the issue, but which one? There have been some issues with electrical harnesses, but that is relatively rare.

 

[WJBertrand]

I had this problem with a different bike and it turned out to be a dirty kill switch. Try blasting it out with some plastic safe contact cleaner. Check the side stand switch too.


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[Cdutch]

Also check battery cables are clean and tight.

 

[OldRider]

I had similar issues and a new battery fixed the problem.

 

[Squibb]

Most bases covered in the above replies, but there could be water absorbed by the fuel, if you have been using E10. If so a dose of Seafoam or similar may help, or better still remove the tank & clean it out when you check the fuel filter.

 

[2daMax]

Sounds like it occurs during off throttle. If this is true, then I believe it is your air screws/TB sync needing some attention.

I would clean the air screws barbs with carb cleaner, and also the throttle plates. Then do a TB sync, and make sure the Reference screw (which is normally fully closed in at factory) is set 1/2 or 3/4 turns out.

Had a couple of times my engine died while decelerating and clutched out. After a TB sync and 1/2 out turn on the Ref screw, never did it occur again.