Looking for some advice please?

[Battersea]

Check your engine oil level & drain the gas tank & put some fresh fuel in. I'm not entirely sure, but I think they have a higher level of ethanol in their fuel, which won't help the situation when coupled with the high temps we're getting lately. Hope it's OK, Hal.

You're right Rob, their cheaper petrol is E10 - pre-ignition seems a canditate with that kind of noise. I always use higher octain over there.

[Hal]

Well guys, thanks to everyone for all the help and good advice. As a credit card mechanic, I did a good job in getting all the fuel out of the tank. I have put in 5 litres of Shell V-Power and managed to get the bike started after quite a few attempts.

Unfortunately, the wife mentioned that the young children next door were asleep, so had to cut the engine. Hopefully, it will start in the morning and I can take it out for a ride and see how it performs. I did notice that the petrol gauge has not reset, but lets see how it rides. Fingers crossed.

Some of you have mentioned pre-ignition. If this was the problem because of poor quality petrol, would this have caused any problems to the engine that I should be aware of. Thanks again everyone.

[Fast Lane]

would this have caused any problems to the engine that I should be aware of

Not for the short time that you experienced. Long term is a different thing and will destroy big end bearings in no time ...

[Hal]

Not for the short time that you experienced. Long term is a different thing and will destroy big end bearings in no time ...

Thanks Alex - really appreciate that.

[ss2]

What, to fuel problems?

Gearbox went on the Victory on the second day (Apparantly quite common but luckily the motor is still under warranty), still buggered his holiday though as he had to go home. On the third day the Fat Bob went into limp mode and even with the codes pointing us to the problem we couldn't find anything visibly wrong to fix. With the front pot completely shut down poor Meathead had to limp it around for the rest of the week as a reduced power 850 single. Didn't half vibrate a lot

[Hal]

Sorry to hear of the issues with your mates Vinny, even more of a problem when your not in the UK and something goes wrong.

Well I have to say, I am one happy bunny today. Took the bike out today after draining the tank and it ran like a dream. No knocking, fuel gauge reset itself and it was back to its old self. May I offer a BIG THANK YOU to everyone that gave me some good advice on what to do to solve the problem. Lesson learnt for the future - only go to a known branded petrol station and look for the highest octane available. Cheers guys.

[TomG]

Glad it's sorted Hal

[mr. pitts]

Way to go, Alan. Not bad fer a credit card mechanic! We'll coax a spanner into yer hand yet!.