Last year I had big problems with the fuel pump on my 2018 SDR, detailed pretty exhaustively in this thread - In the end it was all due to me having fitted a Lithium battery after the original one gave up the fight. I went round in circles trying to find the cause of the "Fuel Pump Failure" messages and engine cutting out before finally fitting a conventional battery and seeing the back of the problem.
This year I started getting the same message flash up on the dash, only the bike continued fine and the message would clear itself. Wisely (ha!) I decided to ignore it as it never amounted to anything. On Saturday just gone I led a few friends on a ride up country from Hampshire to my old playground in the midlands (not saying where), and from the start I was getting the same message with irritating frequency, but no effect on the bike.. until between Daventry and Banbury I pulled over so we could let the last rider in the group catch up, and the bike wasn't idling cleanly, almost like the choke was still on slightly. 8 miles further on it's now running a lot worse, and continues to deteriorate, eventually feeling like a restricted 125. The rider following could smell a really rich mixture, and it was dangerous, needing a fair bit of throttle in 2nd to hold 30mph - had it suddenly cleared it would have been flip city
, so I called it and sent the rest of them on their way while I got recovered home in a van.
After last year's story, and buying a Quantum fuel pump to try and fix the issue I still had the original pump so on Sunday I repeated the procedure and swapped the Quantum for the original, put it all back together and.... nada, same scenario; fires up ok but rough as buggery, popping and banging... time for dealer diagnostics.
I rang Premier Bikes yesterday (Monday) and the earliest they could get the bike in the workshop was 12th August FFS - apparently so many dealers have closed, they're now the only KTM dealer between Portsmouth and Bristol. Fortunately they have a wee slot on the afternoon of 3rd July when I can get the diagnostic check, which will hopefully tell me more than "Fuel Pump Failure".
Watch this space... 🤞
This year I started getting the same message flash up on the dash, only the bike continued fine and the message would clear itself. Wisely (ha!) I decided to ignore it as it never amounted to anything. On Saturday just gone I led a few friends on a ride up country from Hampshire to my old playground in the midlands (not saying where), and from the start I was getting the same message with irritating frequency, but no effect on the bike.. until between Daventry and Banbury I pulled over so we could let the last rider in the group catch up, and the bike wasn't idling cleanly, almost like the choke was still on slightly. 8 miles further on it's now running a lot worse, and continues to deteriorate, eventually feeling like a restricted 125. The rider following could smell a really rich mixture, and it was dangerous, needing a fair bit of throttle in 2nd to hold 30mph - had it suddenly cleared it would have been flip city
, so I called it and sent the rest of them on their way while I got recovered home in a van. After last year's story, and buying a Quantum fuel pump to try and fix the issue I still had the original pump so on Sunday I repeated the procedure and swapped the Quantum for the original, put it all back together and.... nada, same scenario; fires up ok but rough as buggery, popping and banging... time for dealer diagnostics.
I rang Premier Bikes yesterday (Monday) and the earliest they could get the bike in the workshop was 12th August FFS - apparently so many dealers have closed, they're now the only KTM dealer between Portsmouth and Bristol. Fortunately they have a wee slot on the afternoon of 3rd July when I can get the diagnostic check, which will hopefully tell me more than "Fuel Pump Failure".
Watch this space... 🤞
