Hitchcocks Forum

Hi there.
I have a very annoying problem with my 2011 500 EFI.

It wouldn't start this morning when I wanted to get it and the sidecar on the trailer to start our holidays.

I eventually twigged that the Fuel pump wasn't working. I checked all the usual suspects like the side stand switch etc and all checked out and the engine service light does its winking on and then off as it should. So I am as certain as I can be that the ECU and circuitry to the pump is ok and I get a spark.
I'm in a bit of a limb here as my local enfield dealer won't look at the bike because it has a sidecar attached, and Watsonians from qwhom I purchased the outfit in October are over 200 miles away, I may get some financial redress for the cost of a spare from them if the pump has failed.
The bike has only done 954 miles from new, 500 odd of them by me. So I am more than a bit gutted and unimpressed with the situation.
I don't know if anyone here has had a similar problem, I was told by Watsonians that they'd never had a fuel pump fail.
Any help would be appreciated greatly and if anyone reads this and lives near Stokesley in N Yorkshire and has knowledge of the EFI system and can help me I would be very grateful indeed.
I could just buy a pump and swap it over but if I have missed something fundamental it would be an expensive thing.
Can I test the pump in situ by applying a voltage to the terminals?

I'm away for a week from today so no real urgency for a reply.

Thanks gents.

Andy.

The fuel pump unut costs an absolute fortune... perhaps irs more worthwhile checking power to ut and also checking the rollover sensor under the seat- that would override the fuel pump. Can you hear the pump priming when you switch thr ignition on?

I have a chair on one of my bikes, since 2007 in fact. It probably therefore uses more petrol, of course, but how can it affect the Flow? I'd be interested to hear the local guy's reason for not wanting to look at it? ATB Chris

I would check there is current going to it with a volt metre first hope you find its just an electrical problem as I have never known a modern fuel pump to fail there usually very reliable.

I think it is cheaper to fit a MrH carby kit than replace the fuel pump

I posted this on the O2 sensor thread. May be useful here..

You will see the pump is powered by a relay, so check this is receiving power and working..

Hope its this as less than a tenner to replace…

I am somewhat annoyed even dumbfounded as to why your local enfield walla won't look at the bike..

What the heck has a sidecar got to do with the price of eggs...

Go straight to the top and demand/ask politely if this is normal practice from a dealer...

They may be interested and may well get it sorted for you in the interest of good relations and harmony.

Whats to lose??....... http://royalenfield.com/support/contact-us/........

As an aside i Got ripped off by an Alfa dealer who charged me hundreds replacing parts and fixed nothing..

I complained to head office in Italy.. wow the car was taken away and repaired, all monies were refunded, a cheque for £200 with an apology and a bunch of flowers for the good lady...
The dealer got his ass kicked... This car was 4 years old!!! Guess what the new car will be when i change....

What Enfield have failed to grasp is that we have all tolerated poor quality because we could keep them going reasonably economically but there still seems to be a degree of problems with them and it is expensive to replace these parts and difficult to diagnose. I spent yesterday working on a KLR that a mate is riding back to the UK leaving in a couple of weeks and going up through Russia for a few weeks and he was thinking about fitting a new spark plug before leaving and probably fit a new chain in Perth after riding from Melb up to northern Aus, Darwin then down to Perth, which is probably 10,000ks and he is only thinking about a chain and plug, before shipping it to Korea to continue. You couldn't contemplate anything like this on a new Enfield

Hi guys.
We came back home for night before starting the holiday proper in case you wondered....

Thanks so far. I'll do a full wiring check and will have a look at the rollover sensor too but it wioud be a rum do if that had triggered on a sidecar! Still as they say, until you have eliminated everything....

The bike functioned perfectly well on Friday, and it refused to start yesterday morning which is the weird thing. I did check behind the battery as I'd had the Optimate on it but it's never caused an issue in the past. I did discover that the wire into the 3pin plug (Which has only got the red and black wires on it going to the pump) on the neg (Black) side was a completely bare piece of stranded copper........... yuck nasty! but the continuity checked on the meter. I metered the pump and it showed a lowish around 2 ohm resistance which could well be ok, motor resistances can be a bit low until they start to rotate. I shall endeavour to locate the relay for the pump, theres a couple like the picture inside and I seem to remember only one "clicking" which I assume is the Ignition relay? The wiring in the side panel/fuse box is, to be blunt shocking, I have never seen a modern bike wired in such a shoddy manner and a suspicion is forming in my mind as last year I had a mystery starting fault which I assumed was a sticky sidestand switch, which the bike does suffer from at times and I may remove the useless reduintant item eventually. But I remember niow rthat if I waggled the harness and multiway block it would bring the engine light back on. But its not easy to trace the wires. my other hobby is building and renovating old Valve audio so I am no stranger to complicated wiring but this stuff is in another league!
I shall try and trace the wiring from the ecu and see where I get. I think it's a job for the Avo9 analogue meter as the digital meter doesn't respond fast enough to transient voltages and I suspect the volts to the pump will be "pulsed" in time with the need to inject fuel?

Norm I get you entirely, in this day and age this sort of quality of build is unacceptable even if the bikes are cheap (ish).

The dealers reasons were first that he didn't have a lift to raise the outfit, then that he had no storage space if the bike needed a non stock spare,. I could live with the wait for an appointment until 2nd may earliest due to them being booked solid but an electrical fault at or just below fuel tank level should be accessible without raising the outfit. The present importers would be perfectly within their rights to wash their hands as the bike is one from the previous importers days so it wouldn't be right to contact them and the complain if they couldn't/wouldn't help.

Wish me luck gentlemen and many thanks for the practical help and support so far.

Andy.

Rollover switch might be faulty, rather than triggered. Also, it may be loose in its rubber mount - not suggesting you actually rolled over Side stand cut out is dead eady to disengage, just trace the wiring a few inches back from the switch behind the standband unplug the block connector. As for the responsibility... surely motogb take on warranty from watsonians?