[synseer]

Fortunately I did not get burned! So this little incident this morning kind of freaked me out...caught me completely by surprise. I was on my way to work and got about a mile away from my apt. The bike started losing power sporadically creating this surging motion. After about 20 seconds of that there was this loud pop...like a mini explosion almost...and the bike lost power completely and the engine died. I coasted to a stop off the side of the road and when I looked back over my right shoulder, I saw the tail pipes on fire!!! So immediately my mind starts playing all these worse case scenarios. For the next five seconds I'm fumbling to find the engine kill and the ignition to make sure everything is off. Longest five seconds ever...(kind of funny thinking back on it). Turn off the ignition and get off the bike and notice the flames do not appear to be spreading but rather are slow burning. I'm able to put out the flames.
After several minutes, which I make use of to call my boss and let him know I'll be late getting to work this morning, I attempt to restart the bike. It starts up but then dies out after about a minute. Subsequent attempts resulted in the same thing but with shorter time spans. Ended up parking the bike in a parking lot nearby.
With my limited knowledge on internal combustion engines and exhaust systems I am at a loss to deduce a reason for this occurrence. Prior to this morning, the bike had been sitting under my car port for the weekend while I was in NC. I'm running the Tab slash cuts, high flow air filter, and the Tab fueler; prior to this the bike had performed superbly.
Any insight to this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Forgot to mention, the were no error codes generated when this happened. Each time I attempted to restart the engine, the indicators behaved normally.

 

[CUPCAKE]

Yikes Ed. Glad you are alright....and of course I have no advice to diagnose the problem, but I do see Max lurking

 

[Max]

It sounds as though you may be holding an injector open. If you can unplug the tab fueler and try to run the bike without it to see if it continues to run. My guess is the fire was raw fuel dumped in the third volume and burning off.

 

[parkus]

Would it still be able to run on one cylinder? Is it possible that both injectors could be stuck open at the same time, unless it was an electrical malfunction? It will be interesting to hear what happens when he removes the fueler.

 

[lakedrunk]

that would scare the :stac: out of me! Hopefully your problem will be solved quickly and with no real headache :thumb:

 

[krodwi]

Wow. Glad you are ok. Never heard of that before.

 

[vroder]

I'm with Max here; most likely your fueler has failed and is holding one of the injectors open; maybe both, accounting for the engine actually stopping. I've seen this happen when a fueler is incorrectly wired, completely filling the combustion chambers until the engine would no longer turn. Others have reported problems with the Tab fuelers.

 

[Troy]

opcorn Glad you are ok.

 

[myneed4speed]

Glad your ok Ed. Check that fueler.

 

[violet]

I've had that sporadic power loss on occasion....like the idle slows to a crawl and almost cuts the engine out- and also a stall....but not flames...whew...that would freak me out. I'd like to know if my slow idle/power surge issue is related somehow? Doesn't seem to happen too often.

 

[estets]

i was thinking of installing flame throwers on my DX but was unsure how to do it! Seriously glad it didnt turn out worse, things can get out of hand quickly when in a panic.

 

[smharris605]

the exact same thing happened to me last week (minus the fire) and max talked me thru the fix (thanks max)... my TAB fueler went bad and i had to get a new one... the engine was firing on only one cylinder but i killed it before all that extra gas ignighted.... call Todd at TAB and he will replace the fueler with a new one... he sent me mine for free because i had only had it for two months... good luck man!!!!

scott

ps how long have you had the fueler for???

 

[synseer]

the exact same thing happened to me last week (minus the fire) and max talked me thru the fix (thanks max)... my TAB fueler went bad and i had to get a new one... the engine was firing on only one cylinder but i killed it before all that extra gas ignighted.... call Todd at TAB and he will replace the fueler with a new one... he sent me mine for free because i had only had it for two months... good luck man!!!!

Yeah...I already spoke with Todd today. He said he hadn't heard of pipes catching on fire before but he did say he'd replace the fueler if that turns out to be the problem. Which is appearing to be the center piece of this whole thing. Attached some pics of the "fire damage" from this morning. Lot of black soot on those pipes and the swingarm.

 

[mikep]

If we ever meet up for a ride... remind me NEVER to ride behind you!

 

[o2man98]

WOW!!!

That gives a new meaning to "Pig Rich". Definitely some extra fuel in there.

 

[stomper]

Glad to hear there is no major damage to the bike .. :angelwin:

 

[Bill]

Damn Ed. Louise and I glad your OK! Hope it's just the fueler.

 

[rjrivero]

If it is the fueler, would you really want to put another one back on? Just food for thought.

 

[PD87]

Hey Ed, glad your ok. Are they going to replace your exhaust, from the damage?

Mike
(always in front of you)

 

[synseer]

Hey Ed, glad your ok. Are they going to replace your exhaust, from the damage?

Outside of some significant smoke damage, the pipes are fine. Need a good cleaning but other than that they are not damaged. Keep your fingers crossed!