First I want to say thanks as this forum has been extremely helpful even though this is my first post here. Both my son and I have studied and learned from the collected knowledge. I will give you an interesting saga if you want to bother to read it all... I shared this first with some friends at work since it so happens I work with a filter company. I'll add some additional comments in italics as you read. Last Christmas (2017) when home my son bought a Husqvarna TR650 motorcycle that was in like new condition as the ‘better’ but lower cost version of the BMW G650 family. BMW owned Husky at the time it was built in 2014 and the Husky had a great reputation and following. My son maybe made too quick a buying decision because he wanted something to take back to Texas with him while on Military Orders and be able to go ride on evenings and weekends. This bike had apparently already been a ‘problem child’ and the previous owner had installed both a Wuka King temp spoofer and a Power Commander module to trick the ECM into running things a bit richer to cure a lean stumble and stalling these bikes were sometimes known for. I’d guess that guy easily spent an extra $600 or more if someone else installed it but it ran reasonably well although never really right and now as time went on it seemed to be getting worse and worse. In retrospect I think the PO was getting rid of a lemon and he knew it. Finally after a couple more months it is running badly enough my son is fed up with it and parked it on the trailer until he came back home with it late spring. My son is now working and living in Nashville on new Military Orders so I am trying to figure it out for him. I fooled with the Power Commander programming and got it to run acceptable and used it a little but it was still not right. The most significant improvement from the PCV was using the accelerator pump option that would add fuel anytime the throttle position changed but it certainly didn't fix it. I also found it ran better with the O2 sensor plugged in which I thought weird. We learned that the ‘Red Headed Huskies’ had become everyone’s red headed stepchild because there was this stalling issue and while thousands of BMW and other bikes were getting recalled and fixed no one would address the Husky because BMW no longer owned the brand and other politics involved after sale to KTM. Most owners dealt with the stalling and lean midrange issues with either the Wuka King or Power Commander to fix that. This one already had both of those. Salvation finally comes due to owners petitioning the government, and governments now force KTM (new owner of Husky) and Magneti Marelli (built the ECM) to fix these bikes due to the safety concerns over stalling in traffic just like BMW was forced to do with their own machines. Finally in about April the recall went out and I inquired of the local Husqvarna dealer who was willing to send the ECM to M-M in Michigan to flash the thing and apply the fix. I’m thinking this is it and my son is thinking he just wants to get it running good enough to sell this lemon. ECM comes back and I put it back in the bike but as instructed with all the add-on devices removed. The bike starts but not so good and after a few minutes idling seems to adapt and idle OK but off idle still no good, not at all. Sometimes at WOT it would pick up and go nicely but it just wasn’t right. Unfortunately the local Husqvarna dealer can’t help us any further as they were not a dealer for ‘Red Headed Huskies’ and don’t have any of the necessary tools to talk to the computer clear codes and have the ECM re-learn adaptations. So I went online and purchased the GS911 tool that lets you talk to the ECM of BMW’s, Huskies and a few others. Probably an essential tool if you plan to own any of these bikes with the BMW/MM engine management but another $400. Using the tool makes no progress. We can clear codes and rest adaptations like the throttle position or mixture and even watch the real time values in the computer. A very cool tool but no real improvement in the way it runs. I can see the O2 sensor go lean as I had with my meter and know for sure it is a lack of fuel. At steady state it will eventually adapt but 1 second is forever while you are waiting for it to dial up fuel and you can’t even get out of your own way. And it still stalls a lot. Now I start thinking why is everyone else on forums loving the ‘fix’ and this one is still junk. So I begin to think about systems and testing and what would I do if it were my car. I had already checked electrical signals and O2 function and my next thought is to try to test fuel pressure but it appears to be very difficult as everything is both tightly packaged and crimped together from the tank module to the injector. No provision for diagnostic so I pulled the whole tank module to have a look at the pump assembly. Now I think you can see the point of my story… My first thought is I need to start a personal crusade to give Sogefi a really big black eye. This part was bad from the factory and quite obvious and should have never gone into the assembly, even if hidden inside the gas tank. I suppose the plastic halves were pushed together and more-or-less sealed originally and it ran OK when new, but plastics creep and I guess the gap opened more and more with the fuel pressure going lower and lower over time the longer the bike was used. And I’m sure 0 fuel pressure on every start-up which is why it never started right up. The part number FT5714 is still barely visible on this filter but guess what, you can’t find or buy this part from Sogefi or anyone else. You can however buy a whole new fuel pump module for about $300. This next picture is a Fleetguard FF149 (sorry I did not get the part number in the picture) which happened to fit very nicely in place of the Sogefi with same diameter hose barbs and only slightly longer. It still had just a little wiggle room for the pinch fit between the plastic holder and the head and the original o-ring and clip sealed perfectly. I verified in our catalogue it should be typical gasoline media in the 10-11 um range. Once back in the bike it took a little cranking to purge the air out of the high pressure line… but then it came to life like it never has. Idle control, even cold, was perfect immediately on start-up and now this bike will pull away with just a tiny flick of the throttle and has the torque a 650 thumper is supposed to have. This bike is now wonderful to ride and still is like new because nobody has really been able to enjoy it and ride it very much. Consider all the aggravation, time and money spent to try to apply various fixes to the wrong thing that was not the real problem. Yes there were other minor issues I hope the recall has solved but all of this is really because of a poorly made filter that should have been obvious to anyone of a few people involved in the assembly process before it ever got to the customer. I fixed it for $1 (employee price) which will be deducted from my paycheck after I turn in my form. So there it is and I had been planning to share this but waiting for my account to be approved. After several weeks since I wrote this the bike still starts and runs perfectly. Coldest start was in the low 50's and it would set off immediately without a hiccup. It has not stalled for me unless it was my fault and will even pull away fine in 2nd gear. My son says it will spin the back tire a higher revs even in higher gears. I haven't experienced that because I don't ride it much and I hope it's not the clutch really slipping. He says not. My wife doesn't like that my son rides and comes close to forbidding that I ride at all. Well I can still enjoy problem solving and working on bikes with my son. Son first had a Suzuki SV650 and I've helped him a lot with that and did some tuning and exhaust work and that bike ran incredible and sounded even better but he never liked the suspension and neither did I. He now rides a Triumph Street Triple R with Remus exhaust that handles and sounds amazing. The TR was purchased as I said above but I'm not sure he will hang on to it or maybe consider a real off road bike instead of the adventure bike. in any case the TR is now a darn near perfect machine showing little wear and tear and ready to go, probably super reliable now. How many are finding they still use the Wuka or PCV on these bikes even after the recall? My small amount of testing seems to indicate it's totally unnecessary now and if you plug it in the ECM simply adapts it back out? Anyone interested in a slightly used one of either? Also, how many of you are using the GS911 tool? I think it's a little pricey but seems it should stay with the bike for future diagnostic when you don't have dealer support. Finally, if anyone is interested in changing their fuel filter I can tell you there are some aftermarket filter sized identical to the one I used that our company has in the catalogue. We actually do not make it but source it from one of the many other manufacturer's out there and I can't even say who. Thanks for reading if you got this far.
Well sorry everyone I guess pictures didn't show. I'll work on that. The first picture was the OE Sogefi plastic filter where the two halves were put together but with an overlap where the seam was supposed to be sealed and so it had a crack in it so-to-speak. I think the leak was big enough it could never develop full fuel pressure which I read should be about 50psi. I never did test fuel pressure since after replacing the filter the bike runs great.
Welcome TN Terra! Thanks for the info. May have to get a couple filters for the future. There are some other brand bikes that have filter failures from the factory.
Hi TN_TERRA. Looks like you found the solution to a largely discussed issue on this bike, hope you can upload some photos. If I get it right the problem is in the gas filter, but the problem is the component itself or it's installation. Thanks
Maybe I have the images now figured out... Not sure I can edit the original post... Faulty Sogefi filter... And the metal cased filter I replaced it with and the only hard part was to re-use the Otiker clamp on the short hose from the pump... Thanks
great info, thanks! So now we know how to get cheap spare fuel filters and fuel pumps. The Sogefi is supposed to be a 10 micron filter and the FF149 seems to be a 20 micron from what i can find online. Does that matter?
The 10 micron filter is better, but 20 micron's will not clog up as fast and should be fine for our fuel injection system. There was an issue with early fuel injected KTM 450's using a 10 micron filter. The inline filter is extremely small and at 10 micron's, it plugged up easily. They updated it and put out a service bulletin to upgrade to a 20 micron filter and it cured the problem.
Does anyone else have tried to change the filter?, what´s the micron rating in the original plastic filter?
Hmm... I have the old OE filter and ours... I could cut them both open and measure the mean pore size on the respective media.
A leak that has become this big causes low fuel pressure and hard everything... Difficult starting hot or cold because the fuel pressure drops to zero (probably as soon as the pump is off) and it has to crank several seconds to build any pressure again. Difficulty with any change in throttle position. IF the computer adapts and increases fuel enough to overcome the low pressure it is probably far enough outside the fuel map that it doesn't deal with any change in throttle or acceleration well at all. It would stumble/stall setting off even very gently. The bike would idle OK after a few seconds and would run down the road OK after it picked up but it took seconds to adapt. It was more or less unusable and unsafe.
Many TRs experience starting probs only when cold. Once even warm there is no problem. I think this is what Bog is meaning/asking.. 2 years ago I had the firmware updated to 8543015, for what ever reason this caused horrendous cold start issues only. The change was overnight, literally so to speak. No amount of gs911ing would help and had to reinstall the spoofer to assist. With the recall update I can gladly say all that drama has gone. But for a few TR owners this update has brought on the cold start issue. Perhaps the correct procedure wasn't followed?. I have had the pump out but couldn't see a reason to tamper with it. Can't remember where I read it. (here years ago) Someone tested the "in and out " of the fuel pump. (blocked and opened) Said, In both cases the ECU shut down the pump in under 5 seconds. Anyways thanks for posting the info
