I have a 2005 Vulcan 800 Classic. One sunday I took my bike out cruising down the highway around 60 mph. Out of nowhere my bike cuts off. It had plenty of fuel. I pulled over and noticed that the fuel tap was in reserve. so I flipped it to on position. Three miles later it did the same thing. Started it back up and another three miles later same thing. This kept happining repeatively twice. I ended up parking it. About five days prior, I laid the bike down in somebody's driveway on soft ground. There was no obvious damage. Could this be operater error? I read the manual and the only thing I can suspect is the fuel tank air vent is clogged. Have any of you ever experienced this kind of problem before? My bike is under warrenty but I figure I could use alternate resourses and solve and simple problem verses hauling my bike to a dealership. That's my last resort because them people can be annoying and a bunch of ******. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Some of the newer bikes have a tip sensor, or so I have heard. Check the manual for it. To test for the clogged vent tube run the bike, idling is fine, for about 10 to fifteen minuets. After turn her off slowly open the gas cap, does it suck in a lot of air? If so you my be clogged.

BTW the tip sensor that I know little about cuts the fuel if the bike lays down, so maybe the sensor is failing.

 

Does your bike have a tank switch/petcock with "run, prime, & reserve"? If so the stupid thing is dependent on vacuum to work. In the "run" and "reserve" settings vaccum is necessary for the gas to go through the switch/petcock. I have a 500 Vulcan, giving me fits. Here is my posting:

I am having chronic problems with my 2006 Vulcan 500. I fill it up and at 163 miles (2.7 gal to fill)and later 133 miles (2.2 gal to fill) it runs out of gas and has to be switched to reserve. It is getting 60 mpg, which is great, but it is HELL to restart after it runs out. It has taken 15-20 minutes to start. This could get you killed on the highway. The tank is supposed to hold 4 gal with .8 gal. reserve, so there should be 3.2 gal. available, which would give me 180+ miles to fill. Only in my dreams. Kawasaki customer service had no solution or help, but admitted getting calls about this problem. ****UPDATE***My latest "run-out" was at 50 miles - hit the choke first and switched to reserve and didn't have to stop. Vacuum controls the flow of gas through the tank switch/petcock.

 

did you ever figure this out? Im having a similar problem but my bike is new to me and i dont know if it was ever tipped.

 

Welcome to KF Robbie. I am curious to the answer as well.

 

Welcome to KF Robbie
The tip sensor shouldnt be an issue for you. If your making it down the road for a bit then the engine dies my guess is that it cannot maintain adequate fuel flow over time. Check for proper ventilation, availible fuel, fuel filter, and bowls/floats and let us know what you find.

 

I just bought a 2003 kawasaki Vulcan 800 classic, with 12,000 plus miles on it, i have put a little over 2k miles on it in 2 months, i was on the freeway last week when it started to spit and spudder i thought i was running out of fuel and seeing i have no gas gauge and i was following my millage i assumed i was running out of fuel so i switched to my reserve tank and it slowed and stopped running, after after checking to see if i was out of fuel which i was not and i switch back to the main tank i got it startedgot a mile maybe 2 and it stalled again, i ran my switch on my petcock from reserve to main a few times and after a couple of miles it fired right up and dint have an issue until today, here i thought maybe i forgot to change from my reserve to my main and just ran my reserve drybut i no i was in my main and i just again redid my petcock and got it home... Help i no this is a fuel issue any help out there?