OK this has happened twice now, exactly the same scenario:

~ 60F ambient temperature.
ride 5 miles or so through town, stop and go traffic.
hit the highway, and at about 1/2 mile, the bike just shuts down, like someone hit the kill switch. wait a minute, the bike fires right back up. ride it a bit further, it'll do the same thing again. tried to open the fuel tank to look at the gas level, and the cap is held down by quite a bit of suction.

Ideas? This is getting annoying. Seems to be fine if the weather is a bit warmer, but is the bike going to die on the way home from work?

Hi

I know that this sounds very basic, but it sounds very like a blocker breather pipe from the tank. Stop and go traffic will not use enough petrol to cause a problem, but as soon as you open it up the juice is prevented from flowing by the vaccuum caused by the inability of the air to get in to replace it.

As I said, I know it is basic but that is all I can think of. Try it without sealing the filler cap, rather just resting it in place.

My 907 had a fuel pump go and once it stopped, that was it. So I am assuming that is not the problem.

Hope you find the answer soon.

Bryn

yeah, the vacuum in the tank was leading me in that direction too. unfortunately i cant fix this in the parking lot at work so I'll have to ride home with the cap loose. wish me luck.

If the loose cap fixes it then you know where to look to fix it permanently. Other than that I would be looking at the fuel filter to see if it's clogged up.

Good luck!

my 1st paso was an 87 which has the old simple style venting system. the 88 has the charcoal canister and whatnot. has anyone here bypassed all that crap and set up a traditional vent to air setup on an 88? if so, info?

Did you identify the tank breather as the problem, Mike? If so, I'd say just leave the pipe disconnected. It may be that in certain atmospheric conditions, the charcoal becomes damp and won't pass enough air.

I once had a similar problem to the one Jon describes, with a fuel filter which was just not passing enough fuel for my Velocette Venom, with a big main jet, at 100mph-plus in a flying quarter.

well, the problem has been identified. after the conversations here in this thread, i went out to the bike after work, loosened the gas cap and FWOOOOOSH!!!

so i left the lever lifted so that the cap was rattly loose, and rode her home, taking the LONG way on the freeway to see what happens.

this has been a problem for awhile I believe, because she ran strong strong strong.

now, to figure out how to remove all that junk once and for all...