Ticking before I start the bike.

[ChristoT]

You said it speeds up? Oh dear. That's not the fuel pump.

A friend of mine had that on his bike, ignored. Next thing he knew, the bike blew up. The ignition sends a high current pulse of voltage through the full system as a self diagnostic. The ticking you heard is a danger sign.

What isn't publicised (it's pretty rare) is that all fuel sensors have a nasty fault which means they can fail castastrophically. The ticking is the first symptom is the ticking. The fuel pump and fuel sensor are on similar circuits, and the pump runs BACKWARDS for a tad. This can mess up the fuel sensor. If you're riding, and it seems like the fuel indicator is jumping around abnormally, bail out! It means the sensor is about to fail completely, and fall out of the tank, dumping petrol onto the cylinder block, and the airbox. And if the adiabatic atmospheric sensor is faulty - boom.

You have been warned.

[spoonlamp]

... adiabatic...

Ooooh!  Good word!   

[simonm]

You said it speeds up? Oh dear. That's not the fuel pump.

A friend of mine had that on his bike, ignored. Next thing he knew, the bike blew up. The ignition sends a high current pulse of voltage through the full system as a self diagnostic. The ticking you heard is a danger sign.

What isn't publicised (it's pretty rare) is that all fuel sensors have a nasty fault which means they can fail castastrophically. The ticking is the first symptom is the ticking. The fuel pump and fuel sensor are on similar circuits, and the pump runs BACKWARDS for a tad. This can mess up the fuel sensor. If you're riding, and it seems like the fuel indicator is jumping around abnormally, bail out! It means the sensor is about to fail completely, and fall out of the tank, dumping petrol onto the cylinder block, and the airbox. And if the adiabatic atmospheric sensor is faulty - boom.

You have been warned.

Are pulling our legs? This seems incredibly unlikely. Can you provide some evidence to back up your statement?

[John Silva]

This link explains it a lot better than I ever could.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/adiab.html

[simonm]

This link explains it a lot better than I ever could.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/adiab.html

Maybe it's just me but a formula explaining no heat is gained or lost in a system doesn't explain why a fuel sender would be an explosion risk, or why this wouldn't have been figured in the design of the system, why google shows nothing I can find on fuel sender explosions.


Like I say, must just be me.  I did find this interesting link though http://forums.iboats.com/non-repair-outboard-discussions/why-doesnt-fuel-tank-sender-cause-explosion-410584.html.  I see no reason why a fuel sender in a car would be any different to a fuel sender in a Bike from a danger perspective (they perform the same function in the same way).

This is a good one too:
http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/topic/225477-fuel-sender-safety-question/

I also don't understand why a sensor failing would result in it falling out of the fuel tank.


Please forgive me, I'm a critic.

[Lawrence]

I think it might be a wind up

[Foxwood]

You said it speeds up? Oh dear. That's not the fuel pump.

A friend of mine had that on his bike, ignored. Next thing he knew, the bike blew up. The ignition sends a high current pulse of voltage through the full system as a self diagnostic. The ticking you heard is a danger sign.

What isn't publicised (it's pretty rare) is that all fuel sensors have a nasty fault which means they can fail castastrophically. The ticking is the first symptom is the ticking. The fuel pump and fuel sensor are on similar circuits, and the pump runs BACKWARDS for a tad. This can mess up the fuel sensor. If you're riding, and it seems like the fuel indicator is jumping around abnormally, bail out! It means the sensor is about to fail completely, and fall out of the tank, dumping petrol onto the cylinder block, and the airbox. And if the adiabatic atmospheric sensor is faulty - boom.

You have been warned.

My fuel indicator does go abnormally sensitive at times. But I've accounted that for some kind of resistor heating issue, since it only does it occasionally during long rides. I've taken the fuel level sensor out of the tank and had a look at it, but it's a pretty simple and sound piece of engineering. Mine didn't have any mechanical or electrical component failures that I could see. Plus when I changed the original lights of the dashboard to LED lights, the malfunction has become increasingly rarer, warranting me to believe that there really are resistors on the circuit board before the dial, which may heat up and hence change resistance.
 
How can the sensor fail completely and just fall out? It's a pretty tight squeeze to even get it in. I will however acknowledge that the o-rings on the cover may fail, but that still wouldn't amount to full catastrophe. You'd easily smell the leak, before it got so bad that it would ignite.
 
And what is an adiabatic atmospheric sensor? Never heard of that.

[simonm]

I think it might be a wind up

ha ha.  Hilarious.