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Having a little trouble here. My current Phantom is my 4th bike, and I drove it off the lot at 0 miles just a few months ago. The other morning (It was a cold morning relative to the surrounding days, maybe about 45-50F) I tried to go for a ride and the bike suddenly would not start. Again, this is a brand new bike- so I can't imagine any troubles. However, it was a cold morning and I was starting to run low on gas. (I had driven 99 miles on the current tank. I usually do 130 before filling up, and my low gas light usually turns on somewhere between 140 and 150. Furthest I've gone on 1 tank is 160, but I've never run out of gas.) So I figured it was just some trouble, and while I was disappointed, I wasn't too worried about it.

Now come today as I'm trying to leave for work; the temperature is 60F, I go out and try give it a go. No luck. Starter cranks, lights do not fade, everything looks and sounds good, except there is no ignition and the engine does not start.

Luckily, I'm less than a block from the nearest gas station so I pushed it over there to fill up. Full tank of gas, battery appears to be in good health, good weather, all seems good. Still no luck. Tried push starting. Almost sounded like it was about to turn over, but still didn't quite make it.

I recently took it in for its "first break-in service" at 600 miles and all was good with it at that point.

Any ideas on what the troubles might be? Fuel is good, engine temp should be fine. I don't imagine it's a problem with airflow, but I couldn't find the air-intake (My next attempt is going to involve spraying some starter fluid into the intake.) Also wanted to try the Choke/fuel-enricher, but no luck finding that either- I read online it doesn't have one?

Any and all ideas on what I can try next for diagnosing and/or fixing the problem are welcome. Going to try give it another go after work, and if I still have no luck, I'll call in and see if Honda has any ideas tomorrow.

EDIT: No luck starting- called Honda, they suspect a fuel pump issue. Luckily it's completely covered by warranty.

EDIT 2: Turned out to be a manufacturing issue with the Fuel pump. Honda picked my bike up, replaced the part, and brought it back to my house- all free of charge thanks to the warranty. Haven't had any issues since.

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    kill switch, in neutral, kick stand up, fuel valve in on position... check the simple things first
    – cory
    Sep 20, 2016 at 19:24
  • Did all the simple things first. Then the more adept things, then started taking things apart, then called for help when I couldn't find anything that was wrong. :(
    – Rockster160
    Sep 20, 2016 at 22:23
  • @Rockster160 Did it turn out to be the fuel pump?
    – DucatiKiller
    Sep 27, 2016 at 23:48
  • @Rockster160 Yes, your bike has an automatic choke and is fuel injected.
    – DucatiKiller
    Sep 27, 2016 at 23:52

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If the starter isn't cranking the bike the problem isn't fuel related. I'm not clear if this is the case.

If the starter is cranking but the engine won't start firing that's a different problem.

Is the kill switch off?

Take out a sparkplug and lay it on the head. Do you have spark? If so your problem may be fuel related.

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  • Starter IS cranking, engine is not firing. - Haven't tried the Spark plugs yet, but I'll give those a shot tonight. Kill switch is on (meaning it is in the state that allows the bike to be started)
    – Rockster160
    Sep 19, 2016 at 17:13
  • That's an easy test to see if you have spark at all. It could pass and you have weak spark. The same voltage that will jump a .25" inch or so in normal air will only jump .025" or so inside a combustion chamber. Is this bike under warranty? If so, you might want to do a few simple tests like this so you know enough to keep the Honda from totally BSing you, but I'd let them figure it out.
    – Eric
    Sep 20, 2016 at 3:21

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