2016 Tiger 800 Will Not Fire

[jlarysz]

The bike is trying hard. This morning, after several pulls with the throttle partly open the bike suddenly rev'd up - and immediately died. The battery is now getting low so I'm leaving it to charge for a while.

[jlarysz]

My bike is running sweetly again! I finally managed to get it running this morning. It felt lumpy and unstable for a while, but after it had run up to warm a couple of times the idle smoothed out and it feels "normal" now.

The problem is a mystery, but it feels like a fuel problem to me. It could be bad fuel, watery fuel or an air lock.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. They kept me going!

[Paulhere]

That's great news. I recall a similar issue with my ST955 many years ago after a 3k Euro tour, it came home in a disgusting state, needing 3 washes to get it looking good again. My mistake, I put it away without running it long enough to totally dry it out. Had a similar job to you, getting it to run again next time out.

[chuckxc]

When you wrote that the bike sat for 2 weeks, then didn't start, my first thought was water in the fuel settling to the bottom and drawn into the fuel pump. It can take plenty of turning over to get it through the system.
Usually comes from gas stations with poor quality undeground tanks.(happened to me) Condensation in a near-empty tank can also be a cause.
It won't do any harm to occasionally add some methylated spirit or commercial fuel treatment to a fresh tank to mix the water and get it through.

[jlarysz]

Thanks for the advice - it's a very valid point. In the last 2 weeks the weather has turned from hot summer to almost snowing and back again a couple of times - it could easily be condensation somewhere in the system. However, the tank was 3/8 full - lots of space above the fuel level, but the fuel lines were full of petrol - how would condensation get into these lines until the bike had run for a while and drawn watery fuel from the tank? There could have been an air lock, a problem in itself, but how much condensation could there be in an air lock in a gas line?

[chuckxc]

Water is heavier than fuel and over time will sink to the lowest point. The first available liquid out of the pump after the 2 weeks will be any residual water. Agree, you would think that at least the fuel in the line from the tank to the injector would be good.
Having lived in Pennsylvania for 35 years I recall how a MC can sit idle during long periods in the winter months. (black ice is not your friend)
That's when it's important to keep a full tank and even use a winter additive in the fuel.
Australia-not such a problem!