My F4i will only start if I open the throttle. If I don't give any gas I could sit there for 5 minutes and crank it over without it starting. As soon as I give about an 8th of throttle it starts.

This just started midway through this summer. I originally thought it may be the FPR, but I am not experiencing any bogging or jerking issues while riding and I am getting close to 42 mpg, so I have ruled that out. I put in new spark plugs at the end of the riding season last year, and at the first part of the riding season this year I had no issues.

Anybody have any ideas?

 

Hmmm, that's a strange one. My first thought is a TPS related problem.
Does it do this every time, or only cold?

FYI, when you twist the throttle, you're not giving the engine fuel. The throttle plates only control air flow. The TPS sends a signal to the ECM so it can compute how long to open the fuel injectors.

 

How about the wax idle control valve thing that's below the FPR? Isn't it controlled via vacuum lines for start up?

 

Nope. Those are coolant controlled only. As the warm coolant heats up the wax, it pulls the idle down to set idle. If coolant gets low enough or it malfunctions, the bike gets a really high idle and never comes down.

 

It is worse when it's cold - as it won't start at all unless I open the throttle. When the bike is hot it's hit or miss - sometimes it won't start at all unless I open the throttle whereas sometimes it will crank over quite a few times then finally start without any throttle manipulation.

 

Took me about 6yrs and almost 70,000 miles to figure this one out as I had it happen to me at least 6-7 times over the years. Its your battery, its low. I know I know, the bike will crank forever. Trust me. Hook up a charger or jump starter and try starting without throttle to confirm.

 

The battery does appear to have been the culprit. I threw it on a 2 amp charge for 2.5 hours on Monday evening. I took it to work today and it cranked over about 4 or 5 times and fired up without any throttle. I never would have guessed that it was my battery causing the issue.

Thank you boredandstroked