Let's talk stalling...

So I have a question about stalling. Does your bike do it? Mine does, for the first few minutes I ride it. It idles fine but often when taking off from a stop it will stall for the first few minutes. The only way to avoid this is to let it run for a minute or two before taking off. Am I alone, or does yours do this too? I am trying to get a feel if this is a normal thing or an issue. The idle is about 1100/1200 when cold. It doesn't matter if the bike is hot or cold, it will be touchy and sometimes stall when I give it throttle from a stop, until its been ridden a bit. Mine has 400 miles on it. Thanks for your input!

You don't have a choice for me to pick. Mine might stall on cold start if I don't give it some throttle input until it warms up a little. I need to adjust the cable on the fast idle lever.

OK I can add that one. Mine stalls when I give it throttle before it warms up. Weird!

TN_twowheeladdict said:

You don't have a choice for me to pick. Mine might stall on cold start if I don't give it some throttle input until it warms up a little. I need to adjust the cable on the fast idle lever.

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Is that a thing, you can adjust the lever? Honestly not sure mine even works, it doesnt seem to have an effect.

Every internal combustion motor vehicle I've had requires fuel enrichment or will tend to low tickover/stalling. Basmati my Himmie is no exception. If the day is cold I'll give a bit of choke. If not, I'll tickle it with my right hand so as not to stall. Almost zero hassle. I guess they could have incorporated cold ambient/cold motor fuel enrichment into the EFI map but decided to err on the side of economy, because India is not a rich country.

Well, as long as I've got good fuel in it, I'll say my bike never stalls although it sometimes takes 2 or 3 tries to start it because it catches but then dies almost immediately. But once it is started, it's fine and I always let it idle and warm up for several minutes before attempting to ride it.

I think thats the key. Always let it warm up, even if you have just ridden it. It doesnt like to be fired up and ridden right away. I am going to drain my current tank to see if there is any junk in there, and then start using top tier gas regularly. Also changing to an iridium plug.

My experience so far has been pretty similar to most others with the stalling issue.

I had that issue since new and it kind of got worse recently (I am currently at approximately 6000miles). The bike would usually stall at the initial start (won't idle) and would have to start it a couple of times, give it some gas and it would stay on. Then it would usually die coming to a stop, and when taking off from a stop sign, red light.

What made improvements on mine?

I took AZ Mtn Girl ' s advice and drained my tank, found some 1" paint chips, some smaller ones, a little piece of aluminum foil, and some tiny traces of sand. I went ahead and got fresh high-grade gas, Startron, refilled the tank, installed a new OEM spark plug and it is leaps and bounds better already. Instead of dying 3-4 times, it down to dying only when I go to start the bike.

Another fellow rider on adv-rider forum shared a picture of his/her fuel pump filter assembly and it seemed pretty gunked up, they had only 7miles on the bike.

A lot of people have noted big improvements with an iridium spark plug. Some have commented on the battery and the side stand switch.

I will be going with an iridium spark plug myself and hopefully, it further improves the situation. As of right now the bike is running really good, and I would consider stalling to be an issue only 5% of the riding time. I can easily live with how it is right now!

Your plan sounds like a good starting point and add an iridium spark plug as others have noted improvements. Check for loose clamps on the intake boots as well..

It is interesting that in all of Noraly's videos that I have watched, I have not heard her mention this at all. Granted, that is not her focus, but I bet that if it was a problem for her, she would mention it. Note that in one of her videos, they show the condition of basanti's fuel filter at the fuel pump and it was disconcerting, how bad it was. I believe I have seen one other owner reporting a similar condition of the filter after just a few miles on his bike. The presumption here is that the filter was like that from the factory in the case of that other user. I have yet to experience this myself. The manual also suggests the use of the lever on the left grip during startup to allow for the engine to come up to operating condition before taking off. Some suggest that approach here and it seems to me that this may be a normal behavior of this bike.

I think it is normal for this bike too. Maybe people don't mention it because they expect it? The filter isnt really self service is it, its built into the fuel pump? I guess adding an inline one is smart.

BigCanoe said:

I think it is normal for this bike too. Maybe people don't mention it because they expect it? The filter isnt really self service is it, its built into the fuel pump? I guess adding an inline one is smart.

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I agree. Unfortunately, the filter is in the tank along with the fuel pump. An inline filter would not help in that case. I have seen cases where there are paint chips inside the tank amongst other things. This is more of a QC problem at the factory than the bike itself. It is unclear if this has helped cause the problem.
Like, you, I'd expect any engine to behave this way. Even my Hayabusa had a fast idle lever to help during cold starts. While I admit, I had a similar stalling issue with my bigger bikes in the past, I have yet to see it with this one. Then again, my bike has barely 100 miles on the ODO. Maybe this problem will manifest later.

You know whats weird...alot of people report it happening after the first valve inspection. When you remove the tank. I almost wonder if that stirs up some gunk in there!

BigCanoe said:

You know whats weird...alot of people report it happening after the first valve inspection. When you remove the tank. I almost wonder if that stirs up some gunk in there!

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Good point. I intend to do the first service myself. I will have to document everything but it would save me a 200+ mile roundtrip plus some $$$ anyways. If my bike does not start doing this before the service and then starts after, it maybe an indication. If I end up doing it myself, I intend to remove the fuel pump to check the filter mesh. I will post pictures once I do that

I did mine too but I didnt really know about this issue then. I ended up pinching a vent tube under the tank and it wouldn't run because of that. Live and learn!

BigCanoe said:

I did mine too but I didnt really know about this issue then. I ended up pinching a vent tube under the tank and it wouldn't run because of that. Live and learn!

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Yeah, I have read about those little hoses. I was just reading the Himmie thread at advrider and wow, it really seems to be getting out of hand. I think it is a simple solution. We will see. I have my bike at work, it has been parked since Tuesday (indoors). I was curious and just went to start it. It started right up albeit a bit on the low RPM. Used the throttle advance thingy for about 30 secs and it began idling fine. Definitely something I expected it to do. Good deal . Some of these threads lead a reader to think that the stalling is happening while riding, which maybe true for someone approaching a stop light or the like but I have think that if it is due to the bike not being warmed up, I wonder how close to their take off point that stop light or stop sign was. Anyways, hoping for the weather to be good tomorrow so that I can take the bike to be inspected and hopefully put some more miles on it.

For example: Last week I took off without warming up. It stalled at the first stop sign, maybe a mile from home. Ran fine after. I stopped and ran an errand. Came back out maybe 20 minutes later. Jumped on (bike was not cold, it was 90 out), and it stalled a few more times, at stop signs. After about 2 miles and 5 minutes it was fine.

BigCanoe said:

For example: Last week I took off without warming up. It stalled at the first stop sign, maybe a mile from home. Ran fine after. I stopped and ran an errand. Came back out maybe 20 minutes later. Jumped on (bike was not cold, it was 90 out), and it stalled a few more times, at stop signs. After about 2 miles and 5 minutes it was fine.

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Interesting, I noticed the other day that my clutch has very little if any free play. Worth checking out. Also, maybe something to do with the filthy fuel pump screen filter

I also noticed that immediately after I start it, it will stall if i try and give it throttle, but after idling a few seconds its ok to get gas. I just have to baby it

New plug on the way, plus I bought a siphon, gonna clean out the tank!

BigCanoe said:

I also noticed that immediately after I start it, it will stall if i try and give it throttle, but after idling a few seconds its ok to get gas. I just have to baby it

New plug on the way, plus I bought a siphon, gonna clean out the tank!

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Yeah, good idea. Again, none of this sounds too out of the ordinary to me. It is one of those things. I will have an opportunity to check it out with my own once I get to do the first service. I hope to check all those suspect areas such as the tank and the fuel pump screen while the bike is fully stock.

It takes 2 minutes for the heater on the O2 sensor to heat it up to respond properly, and then it lets the exhaust heat keep it hot from then on. This is normal EFI behavior. Letting the bike warm up is a good idea.