• Ciao Guest - You’ve landed at the ultimate Guzzi site. NEW FORUM REGISTRATIONS REQUIRE EMAIL ACTIVATION - CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER - Use the CONTACT above if you need help. New to the forum? For all new members, we require ONE post in the Introductions section at the bottom, in order to post in most of the other sections. ALWAYS TRY A SEARCH BEFORE STARTING A NEW TOPIC - Most questions you may have, have likely been already answered. DON'T BE A DRIVE-BY POSTER: As a common courtesy, check back in and reply within 24 hours, or your post will be deleted. Note there's decades of heavily experienced Guzzi professionals on this site, all whom happily give endless amounts of their VALUABLE time for free; BE COURTEOUS AND RESPECTFUL!
  • Be sure to see the GTM STORE link also above for our 700+ product inventory, including OEM parts and many of our 100% Made-in-SoCal-USA GTM products and engine kits. In SoCal? Click the SERVICE tab above for the best in service, tires, tuning and installation of our products or custom work, and don't miss our GT MotoCycles® (not) art on the BUILDS tab above. WE'RE HERE ONLINE ONLY - NO PHONE CALLS MADE OR RECEIVED - DO NOT EMAIL AND ASK QUESTIONS OR ASK TO CALL YOU.
  • There is ZERO tolerance on personal attacks and ANY HYPERLINKS to PRODUCT(S) or other competing website(s), including personal pages, social media or other Forums. This ALSO INCLUDES ECU DIAGnostic software, questions and mapping. We work very hard to offer commercially supported products and to keep info relevant here. First offense is a note, second is a warning, third time will get you banned from the site. We don't have the time to chase repeat (and ignorant) offenders. This is NOT a social media platform; It's an ad-free, privately funded website, in small help with user donations. Be sure to see the GTM STORE link above; ALL product purchases help support the site, or you can upgrade your Forum profile or DONATE via the link above.

Griso suddenly wont start (will try, stumbles, but dies)

A

archercc

Cruisin' Guzzisti
Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
100
Reaction score
5
Location
Atlanta, GA
So Griso was flawless up in the blue ridge mountains last week other than the neutral sensor acting up despite being replaced (new design with the regular connector, slathered in grease).

Over the weekend the hurricane moved in so bike sat outside the cabin for a couple of days in the rain and then got loaded up on the trailer and towed back. Fired up just fine to pull into garage after unloading trailer, just a few dozen yards.

Went to ride it tonight and it wouldn't start. It will try, it stumbles, occasionally it will run like crap for 10 seconds and die.

No active codes in ECU or dash. Just the oil sensor history one that comes up once a year and it didnt return after clearing it.

Looking in the fuel tank I see some small bubbles when turning ignition on (every time) but dont see anything obvious like a loose hose churning a lot of gas around when trying to start. Could the bubbles be an indicator or is it doing some sort of line clearing procedure?
 
If the fuel line (or pump) has a small hole , it could very well be bleeding off fuel pressure . That's never good for running :).
Peter
 
Do you have the infamous plastic/metal fuel filter still? It could have started to split open causing lose of pressure and making the bubbles.
 
So most everything in the bike is OG. The only thing I think Ive changed is the line from the tank to the injectors, which got abused once trying to take the tank off. Everything inside is original as best I can tell.

Pulled the covers and checked plug wires, etc. No sign of any intrusion on them. Lifted the tank (not removed, that is such a PITA for me for some reason) and checked those plugs as well with no sign of any issues there. No standing water anywhere.

Guess Ill be attacking the fuel system. One other suggestion I got was if the drain for the well AROUND the filler opening is pinched/clogged it can cause water to build up and then seep into the tank, settling to the bottom, and displacing the fuel. If that were the case there would have been plenty of opportunity for that to happen, couldnt get the bike under cover and we got hit with some sustained rain.

Step one will be to try and swap the fuel and clear the lines. If that doesn't work then Ill pull the tank and probably just start swapping stuff out (probably not a bad idea anyway, sounds like a good deal needs to be updated).
 
archercc said:
...Went to ride it tonight and it wouldn't start. It will try, it stumbles, occasionally it will run like crap for 10 seconds and die...

No active codes in ECU or dash. Just the oil sensor history one that comes up once a year and it didnt return after clearing it.

Looking in the fuel tank I see some small bubbles when turning ignition on (every time)...
Click to expand...

This is PRECISELY the symptom when the fuel line or hybrid plastic/metal filter ruptures in the tank. Often times the bike will actually still run until you try to open the throttle, which is when the pressure rises in the fuel pump and the rupture opens wider and pressure in the line goes down, hence the coughing, sputtering and dying.

Pull the fuel pump assembly from the tank. Bet you will find a ruptured fuel line connector or filter.

I had this exact same thing on my Piaggio X9 scooter. Ruptured 2" fuel line from pump to the filter. No codes, no warning, just started, idled unusual, died when throttle turned.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
So it looks like it must have been the water issue. I siphoned all but the last few drops out and dumped in a gallon of fresh 93, cleared the lines and she fired back up. Holds an idle well, feels like MAYBE its vibrating a little more than usual but it could just be because its on the work stand.

I will still likely be shopping fuel system parts to just refresh the hoses and filter just in case since i want this bad boy bulletproof for road trips.

Now just to figure out why this damned neutral light is flaky again. Got the new sensor installed and the new clip on it slathered in grease to keep water out and it started being unreliable again (the day prior to this rainstorm).

Edit for Scott: she does seem to rev without issue. But will probably replace lines and filter sooner than later just to be sure.
 
Archer, this exact same scenario happened with my 2000 Buell Thunderbolt this year (start for second after energizing pump, bubbles swirling a bit). It was the fuel pump. Drained tank, swapped what was the original pump for a new one, and now all is fine. Good luck.
 
Mine was def the water in fuel. Drained tank and out in fresh gas and was fine. Siphoned out the good gas and saved the last gallon to keep the funk out.
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20201213_205805015.webp
    PXL_20201213_205805015.webp
    47.5 KB · Views: 21
That is a LOT of water. Wow. No wonder it wouldn't run right.
Did you make sure the drain at the fuel filler was clear?
 
Yeah. I blew some compressed air and it popped the hose off. :)

We were up in blue ridge for a week and had to park the bike outside. That hurricane shifted our way and we got the torrential rain from it so I wouldnt doubt that was just hours and hours of rain so heavy the drain couldnt keep up. Hadnt had an issue because trailered up knowing the storm could turn our way, just pushed the bike on the trailer when we realized we werent gonna get another clear day.

Girlfriend argues never to park it outside again (I think she is more attached to this bike than I am) but I think next time Ill just take some tape or something and tape over the filler cap if I have to leave it outside (she otherwise lives in a semi-climated garage).
 
Last edited:
Good discussion here. I just changed my Griso fuel filter at 100K km. It is a Mahle KL 145 with a mfdate of 10.02.06 I have to assume it is not original, but I bought the bike with 80K, and know nothing about the maintenance history.
The filter had enough wearmarks on the outside (from vibration/rubbing) that I think it must have been in there for a long time
When I had drained most of the tank, I turned it upside down and dumped out the rest. There were signs of water in the bottom, but I thought nothing of it till I read this.
When the cap is being closed I can feel no spring pressure where the seal is mating with the rim of the filler hole. Time to investigate more and blow out the drains and maybe spring for a zip-lock bag ;-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top