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VF1000F Fuel Pump Failure?


tomk1960

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My Interceptor has suddenly decided not to start any more.  It ran fine the first few times I took it out this year, but early this week it started only briefly and kept dying as soon as I twisted the throttle a bit.  It got worse until it just wouldn’t start at all.  Yes, the petcock was turned on, the tank is full, and the petcock itself is nearly new.  It seems like a fuel starvation issue and I’m suspicious of the fuel pump.  This one is 33 years old, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it died.  At this point, I thought I should test my theory and pull the tank, connect an aux tank, disconnect the fuel line feeding the carbs and see if it pumps fuel when I try to start it.  I read in one of the threads here that there's a fuel pump relay that sometimes fails, so I'll check that as well.  It would surprise me if the fuel filter suddenly became totally clogged, but I guess that should be ruled out too.

 

I heard a rumor that there's a mod that can be done to eliminate the need for an electric fuel pump.  If someone can point me in the right direction, I'd like to read up on this.

 

Thanks to all who have suggestions and advice for troubleshooting, mods, alternatives, etc.

 

Tom

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Make sure your tank is venting properly.  49 state models vent thru the cap.  They can get clogged and prevent fuel from being able to be pumped out of the tank. 

 

Find the starter fuel cut relay and jump it to see how the pump responds.  My experience with Interceptors is that the relay is usually the culprit, but of course pumps can go bad.  I have never had to replace a pump that had been in at least semi-regular use (yet).  I install toggle switches in parallel so I can essentially jump the relay if needed.  Some just jump it and eliminate it.  It is a safety feature, but I also like the ability to have the key on with out the pump wanting to kick in if I am working on something on the fuel system.

 

 

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The first, according to probability theory, suspect should be  the pump relay. Cap'tn 80's switch (i'd suggest a push-button) is a must-have item for quicker starting, especially if the bike's been unridden for awhile.  :comp13:

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10 hours ago, squirrelman said:

The first, according to probability theory, suspect should be  the pump relay. Cap'tn 80's switch (i'd suggest a push-button) is a must-have item for quicker starting, especially if the bike's been unridden for awhile.  :comp13:

 

A push button is a little harder to get home with when the relay fails out on the road.  So if I'm going thru the process of installing one, it will be a toggle.

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I should have time to investigate on Sunday, so I'll report back when I have an update.  Thanks for the replies.

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All good reasoning, some have bypassed the pump and relied on gravity, only drawback is tank needs to be kept on the full side.

Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk

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I finally had a few minutes to check out the relay.  I shorted out the black and white leads and tried starting the bike to no avail.  I drained the left bowl and noticed that after a fair amount of cranking,no new gas had been pumped in.  Next chance I have, I'll pull the tank, disconnect the fuel pump outlet hose and see of fuel comes out when cranking.  If not, then I'll remove it and try the bypass.

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As soon as you eliminated the relay by jumping on the harness side, the pump should have immediately started pumping.  I would try again verifying that you are then getting power to the pump.  If you are getting power to the pump with the relay bypassed, give the pump a good jolt with a rod of wood or a screwdriver handle and see if you get anything.

 

I wouldn't then trust that pump if you get any sign of life, but it could tell you that all everything else is alright.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Today I hooked up my aux fuel tank directly to the carbs and the bike fired right up.  I've already bypassed the pump and it seems to run fine.  I'll take it out for a short ride once the roads dry off and make sure it's all set.  I also want to kill the power to the pump should it ever want to come back to life.

 

Thanks to you all for your help, especially Mike - Captain 80's.

 

Tom

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Killing the power to the pump should be a simple unplug....

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I had a recent issue with mine too, where crystalised old crap in the tank from high-ethanol fuel had led to blockage.

 

Take the seat off, undo the pipe coming from the tank and blow back through it while opening the fuel tap to "on".

 

Then reconnect and see if the fuel pump pumps and sends fuel to the carbs.

 

It sorted mine till I got a chance to remove the shit from the tank.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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The fuel pump turned out to be the issue.  Of course after I bypassed it, the darned thing started working again, so I unplugged it.  I've ridden the bike a fair amount and have pushed it pretty hard with no issues.  So that's one less part to worry about failing now that it's been taken out of the equation.

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another pump fix is to remove the black cap and inspect the points for burning or pitting and then draw some fine sandpaper through the points, being super-careful not to bend anything.

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  • 3 months later...
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Does anyone have specifications on the fuel pump? I've never opened a VF fp, but mechanical ones are pretty similar and maybe this would work. 

 

Coming from KTM 950s (had 3 of them of various types and put 130,000 miles on them) where short fuel pump points life is a fact of life, replacement points were readily available. Even better, a fellow from The Netherlands came up with a solution that eliminated the points and replaced them with a  solid state solution that as far as I was concerned provided a lifetime solution, since I don't think I ever heard of a pump failing except for the points.

 

Here's the thread on Advrider that discusses it.

 

Dr. Bean's 950 fuel pump kits

 

I used 3 of his kits on my bikes and would have no issue contacting him to see if the kit might work with VF fuel pumps. It does on Honda Africa Twins of older vintage. so there's a good chance it would work with VFs.

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