After 1st service, a little rough going

[Brando]

So I had my first service done on my 2018 PCX over 2 weeks ago. Everything had been fine until I ran out of gas last week. For the record, in my 35 years of driving cars and two-wheelers, I have NEVER run out of gas! On my PCX, I will get gas the second I see the last segment on the fuel gauge start blinking; I don't like to wait.

Anyway, I ran out of gas and had to call for roadside assistance. The fuel gauge was down to the last segment but it was not blinking. The engine started but would die immediately. I opened the fuel compartment and opened the lid. I could not see or hear any gas sloshing around. My tank was dry. Roadside assistance was able to fill the tank to capacity and the engine started and I was on my way.

Since then, I'm noticing the bike struggles when I slowly open the throttle when at a full stop. As I slowly open the throttle, the engine starts to shake and put-put-put and I feel the vibration in my seat too. The quick pick-up-and-go feeling that I love is gone. I notice that I'm having to open the throttle about half way before the shaking/struggling stops and I'm finally moving smoothly. It's not my imagination; something is not right.

I’ve called the service department at my dealer and all they would say was bring it in to have it looked at. Can anyone out there jump in with some suggestions as to the cause? The last thing I wanna hear from the service department is that there is nothing wrong and everything is “normal”. I hate when things like this happen right after it’s been serviced.

[Jge64]

Roadside assist put in lousy gas?

[Brando]

Roadside assist put in lousy gas?

You know, that thought occurred to me right after I posted. Still doesn't explain why I was completely out of gas before the indicator warning even came on.

[fish]

Probably not -- but a concern might be some bottom of the tank crud getting to the injector. More likely funky gas ...but could the ECU need to be rebooted after trying to deal with an engine dieing of fuel starvation?
Kymcos have a reset procedure. ...does the PCX? Or disconnect battery for 10 mins?
Fish

[Mel46]

You might try some kind of fuel stabilizer, if there is still some of that old gas in the tank. Otherwise, put known good gas in, reset the ecu, and fire it up. The ECU learns riding habits, so it needs to "unlearn".

As for the fuel indicator, that is hard to say but it is possible that there was/is water in your fuel.

[Old Grinner]

You might try some kind of fuel stabilizer, if there is still some of that old gas in the tank. Otherwise, put known good gas in, reset the ecu, and fire it up. The ECU learns riding habits, so it needs to "unlearn".

As for the fuel indicator, that is hard to say but it is possible that there was/is water in your fuel.

X2

Good point Mel!

And maybe you remember the "Fuel Gauge" thread from almost 5 years ago?

As an added note I saw this earlier post and thanks to Mel and maddiedog some good information was posted and an additional statement that you can damage the fuel pump if you run it dry too . . ..

Scroll down on the following thread to see the remarks.

https://www.hondapcx.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3099

[Brando]

Probably not -- but a concern might be some bottom of the tank crud getting to the injector. More likely funky gas ...but could the ECU need to be rebooted after trying to deal with an engine dieing of fuel starvation?
Kymcos have a reset procedure. ...does the PCX? Or disconnect battery for 10 mins?
Fish

Thanks, Fish. I always get highest octane rated gas at my stations. Hard to imagine I had crud in my tank at 650 miles. I didn't ride today but I'm going to replace the gas as soon as possible. Not sure how to reboot ECU so I'll look that up.

[Jge64]

Reboot the ECU by disconnecting the negative battery cable from the battery for 30 minutes… That should do it…

[Brando]

You might try some kind of fuel stabilizer, if there is still some of that old gas in the tank. Otherwise, put known good gas in, reset the ecu, and fire it up. The ECU learns riding habits, so it needs to "unlearn".

As for the fuel indicator, that is hard to say but it is possible that there was/is water in your fuel.

Thanks, Mel46. I'm going to replace whatever gas I have in the tank and move on from there. Do you know how to reset ECU? I'm reading this thread right now and it looks like I just have to unplug the battery for a few minutes?
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2439

[Brando]

Reboot the ECU by disconnecting the negative battery cable from the battery for 30 minutes… That should do it…

Thanks, Jge64. Got it!

[Brando]

You might try some kind of fuel stabilizer, if there is still some of that old gas in the tank. Otherwise, put known good gas in, reset the ecu, and fire it up. The ECU learns riding habits, so it needs to "unlearn".

As for the fuel indicator, that is hard to say but it is possible that there was/is water in your fuel.

X2

Good point Mel!

And maybe you remember the "Fuel Gauge" thread from almost 5 years ago?

As an added note I saw this earlier post and thanks to Mel and maddiedog some good information was posted and an additional statement that you can damage the fuel pump if you run it dry too . . ..

Scroll down on the following thread to see the remarks.

https://www.hondapcx.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3099

Thanks for the link, Grinner. Very interesting reading.

[homie]

Reboot the ECU by disconnecting the negative battery cable from the battery for 30 minutes… That should do it…

My mechanic ask me once why I was riding with a fuel can strapped to my saddle and I said... so I can help forum members document how long after the low fuel indicator we could expect to go before empty. He said to never do that on purpose with fuel injection engines. I did not get him to elaborate but promptly gave up the quest.

Do what Jge64 said and hopefully this works itself out. Please follow up so we can all learn more about this issue.

[Old Grinner]

My mechanic ask me once why I was riding with a fuel can strapped to my saddle and I said... so I can help forum members document how long after the low fuel indicator we could expect to go before empty. He said to never do that on purpose with fuel injection engines. I did not get him to elaborate but promptly gave up the quest.

Do what Jge64 said and hopefully this works itself out. Please follow up so we can all learn more about this issue.

Thanks for chiming in Homie. Always good to have a consensus.

Hope things are going well in Florida!

[Brando]

Reboot the ECU by disconnecting the negative battery cable from the battery for 30 minutes… That should do it…

My mechanic ask me once why I was riding with a fuel can strapped to my saddle and I said... so I can help forum members document how long after the low fuel indicator we could expect to go before empty. He said to never do that on purpose with fuel injection engines. I did not get him to elaborate but promptly gave up the quest.

Do what Jge64 said and hopefully this works itself out. Please follow up so we can all learn more about this issue.

Yes, I will follow up with all that happens. My remaining question, is resetting ECU absolutely necessary? Having only driven less than 700 miles.

[Mel46]

I think it is. Imagine a computer that thinks you ride erratic. It will remember that and try to compensate. Better to let the ecu start all over.

[Brando]

I think it is. Imagine a computer that thinks you ride erratic. It will remember that and try to compensate. Better to let the ecu start all over.

Thank you, Mel46. Thanks, everyone!

[Brando]

Just an update -- I've already noticed a BIG improvement after replacing the "roadside assistance" gas with my normal high octane. It WAS the gas! I'm sure of it now. I'll do the ECU reset this weekend when I'll have more time.

Still wondering, though, why the fuel gauge wasn't blinking before I ran out of gas.

[Mel46]

Did you put some fuel stabilizer in yet? It is quite possible that you have some water in your tank. If so, then the fuel will separate from the water, but the fuel indicator float won't know the difference, so it will all be seen as fuel. Put some Seafoam in.... and then don't take a chance until your indicator is working correctly. When mine gets down to a quarter, time to fill it up.

[Brando]

Did you put some fuel stabilizer in yet? It is quite possible that you have some water in your tank. If so, then the fuel will separate from the water, but the fuel indicator float won't know the difference, so it will all be seen as fuel. Put some Seafoam in.... and then don't take a chance until your indicator is working correctly. When mine gets down to a quarter, time to fill it up.

Hey, Mel. No, I haven't used any stabilizer yet. Are you solid on your recommendation of Seafoam? I'm looking online; product can says "Motor Treatment" but description says "fuel additive". Is this the correct product?
https://low.es/2Xdf5Aw

Thank you.

[Mel46]

Yep, that's the one. It will tell you on the container how much toadd per gallon. I have some in my shed. Let me read off what it says:
"One point treats 8-25 gal. Of all types of gas or diesel fuels (use 1 oz. per gal.)"