? any ideas ?

[vman1313]

So I was riding to work today. My stock 2007 Ninja had sat for a few days cause it has been raining around here. She turned on normal and warmed up with half choke as I normally do but for a little longer than usual because it was cooler this morning then it has been (56 degrees). After about 5 miles of riding I stopped at a light. The light turned green and after I got into 6th gear all of a sudden she wouldn't go. She didn't turn off but when I would twist the wrist she would RPM down to 0. When Id let go, the RPMS would raise back up and she would gear brake so the gears seemed to be engaged (if that makes sense). I down shifted all the way down from 6 to 1 making sure each gear was engaging and when I stopped she finally turned off. When I tried to turn her back on she wouldn't crank. After sitting for a minute she would crank but only with choke on like 3/4. If I turned down or off the choke, she died. I coasted down a bit to a lighted church parking lot. I sat there for a minute while I called someone to come get me. After I got off the phone I tried turning her on and she came on with no choke or anything. I quickly jumped on and rode up to the gas station which was another 5 miles up the road. My odometer read 195 and I usually put gas in at 225 but I went ahead and filled her up. After filling up, she turned on just fine again and I made it all the way to work with out any problems. Any ideas of what could have caused it or if I have a problem I need to address.

Any ideas or thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated...THANKS!

[Motofool]

Evidently, the bike just runout of gas.

Did you turn the petcock to reserve when the bike stopped the first time?

Did you use the side stand while making the phone call?

[vman1313]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Evidently, the bike just runout of gas.

Did you turn the petcock to reserve when the bike stopped the first time?

Did you use the side stand while making the phone call?

I am HOPING I was just low or ran out of gas....like I said, I was no where near the mileage that I usually fill up at. I have actually taken her all the way to 250 miles with out running out of gas. I have ran out of gas on her twice and both times I was in the 260's so at 195-200 miles seemed too early to run her out of gas. I did try turning the petcock the first time I stopped but she still didn't turn on BUT once I made it to the church parking lot and while I was on the phone the bike did sit on the side stand.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Did you turn the petcock to reserve when the bike stopped the first time?

This. Do you use the reserve switch regularly when your fuel gets low?

[vman1313]

Originally Posted by Alex

This. Do you use the reserve switch regularly when your fuel gets low?

No...I actually have never used the reserve cause I was out of gas BUT was told by someone to turn it every so often just to flush out old fuel. Is this true or not?

( Both times I ran out of gas it was set on reserve and so I had NO reserve and ended up pushing bike once and once I had a friend bring me gas. )

[Alex]

Yeah, don't do that. Always have the reserve at ON when riding. When it starts to sputter, put it to reserve and you have a another 20 - 30 miles to find some gas. At the gas station, put it back to ON, and fill the tank.

[Motofool]

It has happened to me after the bike has been not working for several days; it seems that there is some important evaporation of the fuel in the tank.
Also, in cold days, the volume inside the tank shrinks.

When leaning the bike on the stand, some gas runs from the right half into the left side of the bottom of the tank, which is divided by a U-shape to make room of the frame.

I may be wrong as well and your fuel feeding system has developed some degree of restriction (down-flow and/or ventilation), and can use some cleaning.

Restriction may be enough to stop flow even after the level of fuel is not as low as used to be when you could ride more miles before refueling.

As Alex pointed out, use your reserve regularly, even before you need it.

[vman1313]

Originally Posted by Motofool

It has happened to me after the bike has been not working for several days; it seems that there is some important evaporation of the fuel in the tank.
Also, in cold days, the volume inside the tank shrinks.

When leaning the bike on the stand, some gas runs from the right half into the left side of the bottom of the tank, which is divided by a U-shape to make room of the frame.

I may be wrong as well and your fuel feeding system has developed some degree of restriction (down-flow and/or ventilation), and can use some cleaning.

Restriction may be enough to stop flow even after the level of fuel is not as low as used to be when you could ride more miles before refueling.

As Alex pointed out, use your reserve regularly, even before you need it.

@Alex & @Motofool - thanks a million you guys! You have made me feel better that its not some major problem BUT its just a "gas" issue.

On a side note: I was one of the "noobs" that put a hole in my gas tank by putting the wrong bolt in the top slot of my pregen fairing when I first got the bike. I patched it and was fine til a few weeks ago where it started leaking just a little bit of gas so I redid it and re-patched it and have had no problems since. Could there be a connection between the two occurrences. Could something have fell in and clogged a line? Its been fine for weeks. Anything I should keep an eye on or look for?

[Motofool]

You are welcome !

Yes, I believe that the vapors having an open path to the atmosphere through that leaky patch could have caused the evaporation of a good amount of fuel.

Inside the tank there are two internal pick up tubes with very fine mesh filters and the one for the normal position is high respect to the bottom of the tank, so it is not likely that material form the patch clogged that one.

If you continue having similar problems even when the fuel level is high, you may need to clean those internal filters, check the vacuum line that feeds the petcock, the vent system of the tank's cap, the petcock itself and any in-line filter (originally, there is little one at the carburetor's nipple).

Dirt and water from rain and condensation tends to accumulate on the bottom of the tank, where the reserve picks the fuel from.
If you never turn the petcock to the reserve position, you may end up allowing all that to flow down the carburetors' bowls, exactly at the worse moment, when you need to reach a gas station.

[vman1313]

@Motofool - thanks Hernan...now I have a project for an upcoming weekend - Ill just go ahead and get in there and make sure all is well with lines and clogging and such. THANKS AGAIN!!