2010 R1200RT engine cough

krazyhank · Feb 21, 2023

Today I was riding the interstate about 80mph under steady throttle and the engine did a cough, about .5 seconds of no power. The info screen lit up with the big yellow triangle for a split second. Engine caught back and I road home, another 30 miles, without incident. I’m going to plug up my GS911 tonight to see if it threw a code. Never had this happen before. A little unnerving since I do a fair amount of distance riding. Any thoughts.

pglaves · Feb 21, 2023

I think a poor electrical contact somewhere. Hopefully something threw a code. Intermittent issues are sometimes hard to trace. But check as many electrical connectors as is easy, as a first step. It could have killed the ignition momentarily, or the injectors momentarily. Or everything momentarily. I would start at the battery connections unless a code told me otherwise.

52184 · Feb 21, 2023

New gas or old, as in have you recently refueled and picked up some water? If one side drops a beat or two from water it might cause that sort of hiccup.

Best,
DeVern

krazyhank · Feb 21, 2023

Thanks Paul and GTR. I’m going to check all the electrical connections I can reach. My old FJR had the classic ignition switch failure but it stayed dead. GTR interesting comments. I did fill up about 20 minutes before this happened. Odd because the pump I started with ran out of gas and I had to drive across the street to another store to fill up. Wonder if I picked up water or trash. I’ll run a can of Seafoam or like through it. Going to check for codes shortly.

krazyhank · Feb 21, 2023

No fault codes. Wiring is tight. So maybe water trash in the fuel. We will see.

pglaves · Feb 21, 2023

krazyhank said:
Thanks Paul and GTR. I’m going to check all the electrical connections I can reach. My old FJR had the classic ignition switch failure but it stayed dead. GTR interesting comments. I did fill up about 20 minutes before this happened. Odd because the pump I started with ran out of gas and I had to drive across the street to another store to fill up. Wonder if I picked up water or trash. I’ll run a can of Seafoam or like through it. Going to check for codes shortly.

Now, knowing that I would almost bet on a dose of bad gas with a dollop of water. I would get a bottle of IsoHeet in the red bottle. That is, as far as I'm concerned, the absolute best gas dryer available. Do that ASAP in my opinion.

If there is water in a tank at a station it is in the bottom. And if the pickup gets some of that the filters are supposed to trap it. But that scheme fails too often. When we travel any distance from home I carry a bottle of IsoHeet, always, unless I use it and forget to get another one.

ramble · Feb 21, 2023

Is there any type of sump drain on our bikes, that was a built-in basic design of older fuel systems?

bicyclenut · Feb 21, 2023

My 2010 RT developed a bit of an intermittent miss/surge on highway, very infrequent, but concerning when it happened. Rode it that way for a number of weeks and it would happen intermittently. Bike had 65K at the time. No codes and no hard data but after some research it seemed to be maybe a coil. Ended up replacing the ignition coils and that resolved it. May not be same issue you have, but keep that in mind if nothing else is found or resolves it. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a solid and definitive way to test the coils.

krazyhank · Feb 22, 2023

PGlaves said:
Now, knowing that I would almost bet on a dose of bad gas with a dollop of water. I would get a bottle of IsoHeet in the red bottle. That is, as far as I'm concerned, the absolute best gas dryer available. Do that ASAP in my opinion.

If there is water in a tank at a station it is in the bottom. And if the pickup gets some of that the filters are supposed to trap it. But that scheme fails too often. When we travel any distance from home I carry a bottle of IsoHeet, always, unless I use it and forget to get another one.

Thanks Paul. I’ll grab a bottle of IsoHeet today. I’m wondering if I should go as far as dismounting the tank, removing the pump assembly and doing the old upside shake and drain.

Omega Man · Feb 22, 2023

How many miles on this bike?

I would go slow on taking a 12 year old bike apart until I had a definitive direction to go. Disturbing in place parts may hide the initial problem.

Be wary that it may happen again and ride it a bit more knowing that you can pull in the clutch and coast to safety. Have the code reader and a cell phone with you and have a contact number for a rescue tow/trailer, just in case.

Good luck.

OM

krazyhank · Feb 22, 2023

Omega Man said:
How many miles on this bike?

I would go slow on taking a 12 year old bike apart until I had a definitive direction to go. Disturbing in place parts may hide the initial problem.

Be wary that it may happen again and ride it a bit more knowing that you can pull in the clutch and coast to safety. Have the code reader and a cell phone with you and have a contact number for a rescue tow/trailer, just in case.

Good luck.

OM

Just over 54k on this one. I’m quite familiar with taking it apart. I did an overhaul of the ABS unit two years ago. Tank the tank off is no biggie when empty but it’s a beast when near full. It didn’t throw a code but I’ve never had it do this before. I’m going to try fuel additive first. If it does it again I’m think a plug coil is failing. Somewhere I read there is a resistance check you can do on coils, I’ve just got to find it to get the resistance variables.

mikegalbicka · Feb 22, 2023

I think Paul is right. If you were sucking gas out of the bottom of an empty tank and the problem started right after that you have your cause and effect. Easy solution as he outlined.

bicyclenut · Feb 22, 2023

krazyhank said:
Just over 54k on this one. I’m quite familiar with taking it apart. I did an overhaul of the ABS unit two years ago. Tank the tank off is no biggie when empty but it’s a beast when near full. It didn’t throw a code but I’ve never had it do this before. I’m going to try fuel additive first. If it does it again I’m think a plug coil is failing. Somewhere I read there is a resistance check you can do on coils, I’ve just got to find it to get the resistance variables.

John Painter at Tinderbox Arts had a method he used to test coils. This was after I replaced mine so never did test. Here is his video:

Omega Man · Feb 22, 2023

That is a great, easy to understand video.

OM

krazyhank · Feb 22, 2023

bicyclenut said:
John Painter at Tinderbox Arts had a method he used to test coils. This was after I replaced mine so never did test. Here is his video:

Excellent thanks for posting

ahd43 · Feb 23, 2023

I had a bad coil once on a 2012. I had engine cough as you describe but it was present all the time and the yellow triangle never showed his ugly face. So, I'd try the dry gas Glaves suggested and ride on.

M

krazyhank · Mar 7, 2023

UPDATE ran 2 tanks of new gas along with IsoHeat treatment. Today ran up to the NC mountains for a couple hundred miles and back home on the Interstate. No engine issues. So far it looks like bad gas. In a couple weeks I’m replacing the alternator belt and a set of new plugs. I’ll do a diagnostic on the coil packs while I have them handy. All looks good. Thanks for the responses.

Omega Man · Mar 7, 2023

Always good to hear how you made out.

OM

pglaves · Mar 7, 2023

Glad to hear that!

2010 R1200RT engine cough

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