Surging / hesitating

[poli]

First time posting on the RT section, just joined when I got my Ryker last year so all posts have been over there. Anyway, got on my '14 RTS today to run into town and about three miles into the ride it started acting like it was running out of gas. Turned around and returned home. Didn't do it all the time just ever so often. Tank is full but this is the first time I've ridden it in maybe 4 months, just been sitting with a battery maintainer on it and full of gas. Hadn't planned on not riding it that long but other things kept popping up. So, anyone have any ideas? Never had any problems with it before. Think it could be the gas? Open for suggestions on where to start looking.

[CopperSpyder]

Gas 4 months it picked up some water. The ethanol in the gas will pull the moisture out of the air and build up a little water if you let it sit that long. If its just a little rough try and run it out and put fresh gas in.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Gas 4 months it picked up some water. The ethanol in the gas will pull the moisture out of the air and build up a little water if you let it sit that long. If its just a little rough try and run it out and put fresh gas in.

... I would try some Star Tron or Sea Foam in the tank and see if it will absorb the water …. draining it isn't all that difficult … good luck … Mike

[RICZ]

+1 for Star Tron. Looks like you didn't put stabilizer in the fuel. Gas loses volatility in less time than most think. Four months will definitely do what CopperSpyder wrote.

[BajaRon]

Putting straight, non-ethanol fuel in your Spyder (especially if you aren't riding it much) will go a long way towards grief control. A dose of fuel treatment every 3,000 miles or so can also improve things. You might look into changing your fuel filter if things do not improve. Even with short mileage. Old gas (especially ethanol fuel) can crud-up your fuel filter and give you the symptoms you describe.

A clogged air filter can also give similar results. It has to be pretty bad though.

[poli]

Thanks to everyone who replied. Dosed it with Star Tron, helped some. Then dosed it with injector cleaner and seems to be back to normal. Not sure which it was or a combination of the two but again, thanks everyone.

[BajaRon]

Thanks to everyone who replied. Dosed it with Star Tron, helped some. Then dosed it with injector cleaner and seems to be back to normal. Not sure which it was or a combination of the two but again, thanks everyone.

I would definitely change out your fuel filter. Might not need it. But cheap insurance. Sometimes fuel cleaners can move enough crud out of a fuel filter to get things working smoothly again. But if this is the case, it really means your fuel filter needs to be changed.