06 R1200RT: Bike won't idle

Ongoing project to get this bike to run.

• Bought the bike in 2016 with 14k miles. Rode it fine until it stranded me on my way to work.
• Bike sat for almost a year due to an electrical problem that I thought was going to strand me (turned out to be a bad ignition switch).
• After I discovered this, I rode the bike for a couple months before I took the gas tank and body panels off to bypass the servo brakes over winter break (the rears had failed).
• I have replaced the fuel pump and basically the whole fuel pump assembly due to suspect rust (I now own 4 fuel pump controllers, one of which is brand new). I also tried replacing the battery.
• Based on suggestions from my previous post, I just cleaned the fuel injectors.
• The bike still won't turn over, but I found that I can hold the throttle and it will run, but dies as soon as I let it idle.

I posted a video on reddit of it basically not turning over and starting fluid, but after I did the fuel injectors, I tried holding the throttle and it does run. It just dies if I let go of the throttle. https://www.reddit.com/r/Fixxit/comments/fqubm0/2006_r1200rt_starting_issues/

How are the spark plugs? Intake boots? How's the air filter look - did a mouse find a new home? Coils on the spark plug tight, and the electrical connectors?

(Sorry, I didn't search to find your previous post)

Injectors

I watched the video and it sounds like a fuel issue to me (injectors). I have a Kawasaki Turbo that did the same thing when I tried to start it. I put Sea Foam (like you did) in the tank and bumped the starter a few times. I let it sit for a day and it started right up after that. Have you taken the injectors out of the bike to do an electrical test to make sure there is fuel flowing through?

Cable not seated?

Any chance you snagged a throttle cable and pulled it out of its holder at the top or bottom ? Fairly easy to do during tank removal and hard to spot. Left side has the TPS, so CPU thinks the throttle is open when only one side is.

beemerchuck said:

Any chance you snagged a throttle cable and pulled it out of its holder at the top or bottom ? Fairly easy to do during tank removal and hard to spot. Left side has the TPS, so CPU thinks the throttle is open when only one side is.

Click to expand...

That doesn't look like it is cable related from the video. I had an RT and when you hit the starter, it would fire right away unless it was super cold in the morning. This is a fueling issue.

Different bike, but on my F800 the throttle cable was adjust just a little bit too tight - I'm talking like just a hair, and the bike wouldn't idle. No hurt in trying!

Do you have the spare key near the ignition?

My bike would not idle today until I realized that I had both keys on the same key ring in the ignition.

I'm putting the bike for sale and I put both key together on the same ring.

After separating the keys the bike started running normally.

YMMV

May be a long shot, but I figured it's worth a try...
Over the winter, I installed on my bike a device similar to a booster plug (I choose the re-cyclizer).
It involves disconnecting the air intake sensor on the front left of the airbox and installing the device. The plug is a square one with a spring loaded clip.
By mistake, I installed the device on an exact identical connector located a few inches lower, on the left hand side intake body.
The symptoms were the same as the ones you describe.
The only way I could get the engine to fire was to give it lots of throttle while holding the starter button and once it (barely) fired, it would run super rough and couldn't hold idle.
So maybe when you did some maintenance over the winter you made a mistake with the air intake connector or the other identical connector (I can't locate it on parts diagram but it's there!).
I hope this helps!