Hi all,

New member but a longtime visitor to the forum.

I have a 500 TRV that I've put about 110 miles on so far this Spring. Every so often it begins to lose power and within a few seconds, quits running completely. This has happened several times but it wasn't until my last ride that I think I figured out why...

First, the symptoms: it always happened a couple of hours into the ride; it always happened while coasting downhill with the engine at idle speed; and once the engine quit running it would not restart until it had sat for about 5 minutes. I've been riding at about 9,500 to 10,00 feet elevation.

Now, the weekend before last I had it happen again, but later in the ride than usual. Although my fuel gauge was reading about 1/2 tank, I unscrewed the tank cap just to have a peek. "whoosh" the tank depressurized the moment the seal was compromised (didn't spray any fuel, thankfully). Ahhah! I screwed the cap back on, tried the ignition switch and she fired right up. Last weekend I periodically unscrewed the tank cap just enough to break the seal and each time it depressurized. Didn't have a lick of trouble at all for the whole day.

So, the question is - why is my fuel tank not venting properly and how do I go about verifying the problem and the fix?

Any help would really be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

if the trv's have the hose coming out the top of the tank like my 500, i would check to see if the hose is kinked or pinched anywhere. and also pull the hose of at the tank a slide a piece of wire or nail in the whole to see that it is not obstructed by anything

 

Petey,

will do. Also, what is the otehr end attached to? It goes into the speedo housing and seems to be connected to something on that end, but have no idea what. Do these machines have some kind of an emissions control system? Also, is the fuel system gravity fed or is there a fuel pump?

Thanks for the reply.

 

on my 500 it just goes into the speedo housing then it is hanging down under the front plastic not hooked to anything. This may infact be your problem, maybe it is wedged between something and is being pinched off, take a look under there. My old honda 110 3 wheeler was having venting problems last summer, about 10 miles out on a trail it started acting up, took about 3 times of it dieing on us to figure out what was going on. Was ticking me off cause i just re-did the whole thing, should be more reliable now than the day it rolled out of the Honda factory, then it comes down to one of the very few parts that were not replaced, figures, lol

 

Petey,

I'll bet it is pinched off under there, cuz there is resistance when I try to pull it back from where it enters the speedo housing. I'll check that first.

Yeah, kinda frustrating to troubleshoot. Acts like it's either flooded or not getting any fuel at all - which of course it wouldn't be if back-pressure in the tank is stopping fuel flow. Like you, it took me several times to figure out "what" was happening, now perhaps I have an idea "why" it is happening.

Thanks a bunch!

 

Just loosen the gas cap. If it's a venting problem, this will cure it.

 

I had a similar problem after I first got my TRV. The vent dose does come out of the tank and through the speedo housing and then down through the front plastic along the wires that go into your speedo housing. I would expect the if you looked up under the front plastic following the hose down you will find a place where that hose and the wires pass through a clamp (too keep then from flopping around). I believe mine was pinched there because I moved the wires around to free up the hose and have never had a problem with it since.

I had the AC 2500 warn winch installed and near as I can figure when they ran the rocker switch for that up along those wires they pinched the hose. As was stated before the end of the hose is not attached to anything.

If it doesn't appear to be pinched then I would check to see if it was clogged somehow.

 

You could always pull the vent line off of the nipple on the tank and blow through it.
That should be informative.

 

rust dont ride with the hose off, bad stuff happens, lol. when it started getting cold last fall mine kept popping of while i was riding becasue it hs stiffened up, what a mess

 

OK,

First, thanks for all the input.

I looked at the Cat tonight and the vent tube did appear to be pinched right at the bottom of the speedo housing channel where it passes through. Swampy, you may be onto something with the accessory installation. I had the Hot Grips installed at the dealer and the wiring for the left grip had also been squeazed through that channel and there just wasn't enough room for the both of them. I rerouted the vent tube. We'll see if that has fixed the problem nest time I ride. I'll keep ya posted.