I have a 10yr old Kawasaki Versys 650. It has had a life of living outdoors under a cover and has only done 4000 miles.
As you can see it gets used infrequently. I took it for MOT earlier this month. It hadnt been ridden since last MOT, but had been started and warmed up a few times. It had also had a smart charger connected a few times.

It had about 1/4 tank of fuel, thats at least a yr old. It started and ran fine, it passed its MOT with no issues and on the way home i filled the tank and parked it up.

Today i come to use it and all is well. I went round the llanberis pass and was about w0 miles into my ride. With no warning it just stopped. It was like the throttle was shut and there was no power. I pulled the clutch and coasted to a halt.

When i tried to restart, the starter turned the engine over strongly for ages. There wasnt the slightest hint of it firing. The ‘fi’ on the dash was flickering. I tried it several times until i was worried it would be entirely flat. I ooened the fuel filler. There was no obvious vacuum that could be preventing fuel being drawn by the pump. I tried it again, but no joy. There was no smell of unburnt fuel.

I arranged mrs B to bring the van and waited about 45 mins. On her arrival i tried the bike and it started straight away.

What is going on and what can i do to fix it?

Ian

Not well up on these but ignition module failure sounds possible

or water /dirt in the fuel

In my experience any of my vehicles that restarted after cooling down were ignition pack/module.

Possibly the regulator rectifier? Mileage is low for that to fail but after 10 years? Maybe.

Also…

or water /dirt in the fuel

this. Two factors here. Old fuel – the ethanol in modern fuel attracts moisture over time. ¼ full tank – lots of room for condensation to form, especially in a bike stored outside in all weather. There is probably a surprising amount of water at the bottom of your tank! Drain the tank and put some fresh fuel as a first try.

Kawasaki are known for sticky cut off switches on the side stand but usually a problem when starting off rather than mid-ride.Might be worth giving it a squirt of wd40

It started after being left which for me doesnt sound like fuel contamination, the ‘fi’light has the ability to store error codes when its activated, so my research tells me.

I genuinely expected there to ve a vacuum in the tank the way the problem manifested its self. It was like when you have forgotren to turn the fuel on on a carb bike and it just dies after its used everything in the floatbowl…

Side stand switch is a very likely candidate.

You could try asking this question on the Versys forum – https://www.versys.co.uk/index.php

I had similar on my bike after being stood for 5yrs, ran for mot & a few rides then died as you describe mid ride, turned out to be a slightly corroded connection to the ecu.

Side stand switch is a very likely candidate.

Good shout, first place to look, maybe check battery leads are tight to.

Ok…slight update. It started fine this morning so i thoughtbid give it another try.

I did the exact same route today and it stoppèd about 100m from where it did it yesterday. It wouldnt start and was flashing the ‘FI’ light as ibturned it over.

I waited until the radiator had gone cold and then it started on the button and drove the last 8ish miles home….

My guesses would be still water or dirt (a particular gradient causing it to slash up to the tank outlet at that point?).

Or the side stand switch, bump in the road causing it to flap?

Coils etc IME tend to give some warning as they fail, getting worse and more obtrusive at lower and lower revs untill it’s not rideable.

I presume its fuel injected?

I would be guessing something like a crank sensor shorting out when hot, but ok when cold.

However I would do some diagnostics rather than parts cannon.

If the bike does fault codes or blinks them I would start with that, then work through exactly what is not working (eg fuel, spark, caused by ecu not seeing X signal etc). Or if its a mechanical fault like blocked fuel etc.

+1 for side stand switch. Have a good look at it.

Yeah, I don’t know Verysyses specifically but it definitely sounds more like electrical/sensor/signal/brain than it does fuel. Fuel’s rarely so on/off, you get weakness and surging and coughing as it tries to start and suchlike. And the fact that it happily restarts after cooling (ie, with teh exact same fuel in the hoses and injectors) suggests against it too. Sidestand switch is a good tip, or something of that ilk.

Don’t know if teh FI light flickering is indicative at all or if that’s just something these bikes do.

I’d say rectifyer or ignition module still.

Have a read up on them. Common to break down when hot. Vfrs are prone.

If it was fuel it wouldn’t run when cool perfectly in my opinion.

Fuel pump?

Sounds like a vacuum problem. If you ask for more throttle than usual on the same trip does it do it earlier?
Check breather hole in the cap. Check for any kinks in a fuel line. Did u have the tank lifted lately? Next time it cuts out pop the fuel cap open and see if it makes any difference.

This is common on early hinckley triumphs and is always the ignition pick up sensor which fails when hot but is fine again when it’s cooled down

Possibly the regulator rectifier?

Not if its turning over, as that implies the battery is fine.

My old VFR750 kept melting rectifiers, got stranded twice in the middle of nowhere with a completely flat battery. In the end I fitted a Pentium CPU fan to the rectifier and that fixed the problem.

If it stops when it gets hot then runs fine once its cooled down that classic symptoms of a failing crankshaft position sensor. Can that bike be plugged and fault codes read?

Can you hear the fuel pump prime when you turn the ignition on?

Had an intermittent fault with similar symptoms. It was the fuel pump. Resisted for ages, cleaned the filters, use fuel additive etc.

Turns out fuel pump is a service part with bikes that sit around for ages.

I have found details of how to read the fault codes, so i will get on it and report my findings!

Ian

Ok, i have made up a lead so that i can read the fault codes on the ecu.

When i first did it, it didnt reveal any codes. I had assumed i had done the proceedure wrong. So, i unplugged the coolant temp sensor and it gave a warming light and when i interogated that light, it had stored a fault code for coolant sensor. So the ecu is recording faults and i know how toread and clear them. But none were stored from my two impromptu stops.

However the tech manual says that it wont record faults for the following…
Things the ECU cannot detect:
FI light
Fuel Pump
Fuel Pump Relay
DFI Main Relay
ECU Power and Ground
Fuel Injectors

So now im a little stuck with an intermittent cut out that seems to disappear when it cools.

The reset for the ecu codes is pulling the clutch in for 5 seconds, so i may have inadvertently done that prior to code reading. I will have another ride out and see if it turns anything up

A fault code is generated by the ECU seeing something out of spec.

I’ve had faults on stuff with no codes.

Start at the basics.

When I dies can you pull a lead off and check for a spark or is it cool per plug?

When it dies and its spinning over are you seeing a rev count on your diagnostic tool or rev counter moving

Does it spluter or just turn off.

Ps my diagnosis dice guess is still ignition module😀

OP needs to kill the suspense and update us, this is keeping me awake at night! Whodunit? The crank sensor? The reg/rectifier? Dodgy fuel….?

First thing I’d check is the fuel pump.
Can you hear the fuel pump prime when you try to start it after it’s stopped?