Hitchcocks Forum

Hi everyone,

I've owned Harriet - a 2012 Bullet 500 EFI - for just under a year. She's my first bike, and we've already had some brilliant adventures together (not all positive, of course... But still adventures!).

However, late last year, she started misfiring. Having read numerous topics on this brilliant forum, I tried a few solutions - replacing exhaust gasket, and resealing at the header; replacing sparkplug; replacing the old battery...
Both these things combined seemed to sort the issue, most of the time, until one morning, when she started misfiring terribly - to the point that there was zero throttle response, I was stranded on a dual carriageway, the AA was called etc...

She started and idled fine, but under any kind of throttle, it seemed like she was choking out.



Fast forward a few months, and I've finally had a chance to look her over.

My gut was telling me that there was an issue with fueling, so started at the 'top' - the fuel tank. Despite reading numerous messages insisting that peeling paint in a tank wouldn't affect the running that much, I decided to have a look inside to see what the situation was...



An enormous piece of masking tape! Which I'm sure must've been wrapping itself around the filter, choking off the feed etc...

Fingers crossed that removing that will have sorted the issue.

----------------

Moving on to a few questions I have...

While under the tank, I took the opportunity to blank off the O2 sensor etc, and spotted this empty connector. I've looked at Scalyback's amazing wiring diagram, but can't for the life of me figure out what it's for... Any help?




And finally, the exhaust. I've gone through so many gaskets here - constantly being burned away, leaving me with leaking exhaust (Tried the 'proper' exhaust cement - useless. Have now made the jump to bathroom silicone recommended by so many), and am just wondering whether the 'lip' around the exhaust should be sitting flush against the head, or if this 1cm gap is normal...




Any thoughts and advice much appreciated!

PART No.:582638
EXHAUST GASKET will fix your gasket problems, this one is made of copper.
Not recognising the connector though. The only things connected around that area on mine are the O2 sensor, ignition coil and the horn.??

The first question is whether or not the MIL stays lit after starting the engine. If it does then you need to run the diagnostic test to establish why. I’ll explain this if needed. If it doesn’t then all the sensors feeding into the ECU are working. The wiring diagram I have in my workshop manual is next to useless as it appears to be a smudgy black and white photocopy. However, based on what I can ascertain my question is whether or not the sidestand switch works? A lot of us disconnect this troublesome item and this could be the connector to the relay. The only other option is that your model has the optional
discombobulator widget..... Re the engine dying above tickover, if the tape wasn’t the cause try the connector to the TPS and also check the thin wire connected to the negative terminal of the battery. Good luck.

Hi guys-----------OWS, looks like good old Photobucket has dumed your Harriet images ( because they want ££££££ from you I suspect !!)...........Try this}-----https://imgbb.com/

Haggis - thanks for the part number. I've just put in my last cement gasket thing, and sealed with silicone. If it doesn't work out, I'll make sure to order that part!

Rattlebattle - MIL lights when checking system, then goes off. Does not relight when starting, nor when the misfiring issue occurred.

Side stand switch was disconnected by previous owner - and I think I've identified that connector, and am considering using it as a hidden immobiliser, as mentioned by someone else on here... So this spare one has me stumped!

Alan R - thanks for pointing that out, and for the alternative. Is there a way of editing my original post? In the meantime, here are the pictures which should be visible above:

Hi Ows---- the only way that I'm aware of to edit your posting is to contact our hosts by phone and explain what you would like to do.........A few years ago we had a character on here who was using "Inappropriate language" and after a call to Mr H's the offending material was removed...