My neighbor has a 2007 Softail Custom that possibly has bad gas in the tank. His last fill was from a convenience store gas pump. He put about 20 miles on the bike and it started backfiring and such. The bike has EFI and a quick disconnect fuel line. When disconnected from bottom of tank - no gas comes out. He siphoned the gas out of the tank and put HEET in to mix with the remaining gas / water left in the lines. Bike would not start.

Any ideas as to next steps?

Thanks,
SUP

 

When you disconnect the valve on the bottom on the tank gas is not supposed to come out.
Did he reconnect the valve properly before trying to start it? I ask this because I was fiddling with mine once and, although it looked fine, it was not properly connected.

 

understand that with the bike on the side stand ...any fuel left in tank is on the lower left side ..which is where the pickup for the pump is ...will need to get most of that fuel out and replace with good ...lean bike way over to the right side and use siphon ...but remember ...still alot of fuel left in pump and interal fuel lines to run out ...hook up battery charger and start cranking ...may take awhile if full of water

 

Last time I got a tank of bad gas I just added some fresh gas and some SeaFoam. Didn't drain it. Cleared it right up!

 

You could disconnect the fuel line from the throttle body and remove it completely. Then reconnect it to the tank with the hose pointed into a bucket. Cycle the key and let the fuel pump do the work.

Then fill with fresh gas and take it easy on the fuel additives. A bottle is usually enough to treat a full tank of fuel in a large car.

Now might be a good time to replace the crossover hose and the hose from the fuel tank to throttle body.

 

Thanks for the input. We checked and made sure the quick disconnect line was secure, tried starting with what seemed like an attempt to start and then nothing. Independent bike mechanic is going to check it next week. It may be a fuel pump going out and not bad gas. Bike will not start but does try just a bit but then does not. Fuel pump noise is very low. Bike has 136,000 miles on it.

I will update when we know for sure what it is.

SUP