| Author | Message | ||
     Riding_tall |
Yesterday I went through downtown atlanta too close to rush hour and got stuck in stop and go traffic for over 45 min ( 20 to 85N ). It was horrible. Temp's were in the mid 80's ( low for here but still hot ) I was getting overheated and near the end I was just waiting for the motor to go into skip-spark. So that raised two questions for me. How long can it idle without overheating ? If it does hit skip-spark and I can start moving is it safe to keep riding if there is airflow or is it that the time to stop and let it cool down ? Was also the only time I've ever noticed the seat getting warm. I've read about that being an issue for some people but that's the first time it's ever bothered me. ( 06 with stock tall seat ) | ||
| Mark_weiss |
I've hit skip-spark a couple of times (it gets pretty hot here in Phoenix Metro. Once, I continued to ride until traffic cleared. After a few miles of clear riding, all was well. The other time I was near my destination and the ULy was still skipping when I stopped. Upon restart, the bike ran rough for a few miles and then settled down. Mark in AZ | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Skip spark is a GOOD thing as a defense mechanism. If the cylinder isn't firing, it isn't generating heat. It is injecting cool fuel into the cylinder. The cool fuel helps to cool the engine. I've never had a bike go into skip spark mode, but I was able to get mine hot enough to ping once. | ||
| Sprintex |
Mine pings almost every time i nail it! | ||
| Riding_tall |
Thanks all. Mark - Were you riding normally or stuck in traffic when you hit skip-spark ? Skip spark is a GOOD thing as a defense mechanism. For sure. It just surprised me that it never kicked in. I was sure overheated. Interesting thing happened to. When we stopped to cool us down and take a rest, the fan was going and the guy I was riding with asked what the noise was. I said it was a fan to keep the oil from cooking in the cylinder head. His reaction was great. He tilted his head in the "hummm" expression and then took a slow turn and looked an his air cool cruiser .. paused while looking at his bike and then said "that sounds like a good idea" - I just smiled. | ||
| Etennuly |
My '06 has done it one time. I was stuck in traffic on a 95F+ day in the city where I had been going slow for some time, then we stopped. The bike felt quite hot and I noticed the fan did not come on, it should have been on for a long time. The red light flashed and it started to miss. It got so incredibly physically hot I could no longer stay on it, so I popped it up on the side walk just to get off from it. Looking around, I did a little maneuver into a parking lot and out the back to a side road to get air moving over it. It cooled down in a short time and started running normal. Then I stopped for gas about fifteen miles later and the fan came on when I shut it down. Then it has worked normally since. I hate to shut down an over heated engine until I can get it cooled as much as possible. When first shut down, as the air/fuel stop passing through it they actually get even hotter. | ||
| Snojet |
Off the subject, but to hopefully help a guy out.... Hey Sprintex, My Uly almost always pinged when I got on it. My fix was to retard the timing by 3 degrees and that solved my problem. And to note; I don't believe that I lost enough power to really notice it. I learned about that from searching and reading the earlier posts on the subject. I think a guy named "Davo" got real involved and with the help of others found out that retarding the timing helped or stopped the pinging. | ||
| Davo |
Glad to hear that it worked for you. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
The first time that I hit skip-spark I was moving, but very slowly (about 10 to 15 mph) for about 20 minutes. Temperatures were in the low 90s. Second time was stop and go traffic. Temps in the upper 90s. Mark in AZ | ||
| Florida_lime |
I was having a problem recently with the Uly going into skip-spark mode while riding at 75-80 mph on the highway, in 95 degree heat (with a heat index of 112). Backing off the throttle gets the light to stop flashing, but getting off the highway doing secondary roads helped it the most. Getting back on the highway just got a duplication of the same problem. I took it to my not-so-local dealer (100 miles), but they couldn't find a problem, or duplicate it in their 10-15 minute rides. No kidding. I took it to NC last week, traveling at night, and didn't have any issues. I was riding my KTM for much of the time there, or cooler weather running on the Buell. Coming home yesterday was a bit different, though. Started skip-spark in Macon, only mid-80s and overcast. Dealt with it for the next 500+ miles.  Had to run near 70, and minimize the load as much as possible. Hills almost always brought on the flashing light, and stumble running. A brief downpour north of Orlando helped for a while, but once things dried out, the results were the same. My patience is wearing thin..... | ||
| Snojet |
Florida Lime, Dude, I feel bad for you. If my memory is correct, you've had many problems with your bike. Maybe it was built on a Monday or Friday.  Hope you can resolve this current issue.  Keep us posted... | ||
| Wbrisett |
I'm finally able to give my '07 Uly a rest (now that my BMW RT has been repaired). For the past seven weeks I've been riding my '07 Uly exclusively in traffic with temperatures (not heat indexes) over 100 nearly every day. I haven't yet hit the skip spark mode. I'm not exactly sure what it takes to kick in, but even with daily temperatures nearing 108 every day, I haven't been able to hit it. Wayne | ||
| Bttrthnwrk |
I've never hit skip spark mode, either, although it's been over 100 for most of the last week here, and I ride my Uly every day except Tuesdays and Thursdays. I use it for commuting during the week and both short and longer rides on the weekday evenings and on weekends (200-300 miles per trip, on weekends). Most of those trips involve both freeway and back road riding. I've banged off the rev limiter a couple or three times, but never hit skip spark mode. This time of hear, the fan usually comes on after about 15 minutes, and shuts off after I turn it off. Rarely during a ride, unless I get up into some elevation where it's a little cooler. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I've never had my Uly go into skip-spark mode either, even commuting in 100 degree+ heat. Florida_lime- I think you have another issue- something making the bike run too hot, or something falsely triggering skip-spark mode. Excessively retarded timing will make an engine run hot; that would be one thing worth checking. BTW- heat index is irrelevant when it comes to this point. Heat index affects how hot you feel, and how well things like cooling towers work (which rely on evaporative cooling), but it has no effect on an air-cooled engine. As far as your Uly is concerned, 95 degrees F is 95 degrees F regardless of the relative humidity. | ||
| Sprintex |
Off the subject, but to hopefully help a guy out.... "Hey Sprintex, My Uly almost always pinged when I got on it. My fix was to retard the timing by 3 degrees and that solved my problem. And to note; I don't believe that I lost enough power to really notice it. I learned about that from searching and reading the earlier posts on the subject. I think a guy named "Davo" got real involved and with the help of others found out that retarding the timing helped or stopped the pinging." YupI know about retarding the timing, it is on my round to it list.  | ||
| Etennuly |
Florida_lime, A couple of others have had the same problem. It took me a year of having it happen randomly for me to find it on my bike. The red light flashes, followed shortly by run-skip, no codes will show. It only happens under load at 70+ mph. Back off the throttle and run slower makes it run normally. It does not quit or run poorly otherwise and idles fine, and no physical signs of over heating. Where the BAS was mounted before being moved to the back, a wire was hanging down and just barely touching the bracket. I stopped on my trip and moved the wires around only to have the problem clear up, but come back in a hundred miles or so. I unplugged the ECM plugs and twisted them a turn to get them from touching in the same spots. The insulation is soft on these wires and even softer when hot. I got it to make it home from my trip and found the wire for the number one coil was the one that was touching and had one tiny sliver of silver wire showing. It had to be hot to hang loose near the bracket and load the engine mounts by going up hill under load, to make it touch. I taped the wire and the problem finally went away. It was making one cylinder cut out and making the light flash, emulating the run-skip. I hope this helps. I was not the only one that had this fix work for this problem. | ||
| Florida_lime |
I realize that my skip spark condition is not normal - something else is causing it to either run hotter than it should, or think it is. Both timing and fuel mapping was checked by the dealer, and found to be OK to the Buell Technical Support. All temperature sensors checked out OK, and definitely runs hot according to "my seat of the pants".  I have run through Georgia with time/temperature signs showing 100+, and not had a problem. Etennuly, I did a similar check after you mentioned it before, but could find anything. I even mentioned it to the dealer, and I could see that they separated all the wires coming out of the ECU in their search as well. At least now, I do have some new clues or possibilities. On this trip, I noticed that sometimes when I stopped for gas, the fan was running before I turned off the key, but did NOT run once I shut it down. Turning the ignition on, then off again always got the fan to run. This happened even after stopping right after the skip spark running, so I know it was hot enough for the fan to come on. At one stop at a closed Buell dealer on the road (Damn Mondays  ), I checked for trouble codes, and had a 21. Also, I've always had BAS problems, even though my '07 has always had the sensor in the tail section. It got so bad at one time that I bought a new one to carry if I needed it on the road. It stopped acting up after that, until a few times in the last few months. Well it was also a problem on the trip home, cutting out at least 8 - 10 times. I changed it out last night to see if that makes any difference at all. | ||
| Arcticktm |
I am still thinking about FB's comment on injecting cool fuel in the cylinder. Does anyone know for sure that skip spark only shuts off the spark, and not the fuel injector? That sounds really bad, if true. All that fuel would wash down the oil film off the cylinder walls, and eventually cause ring issues. That used to happen to us in diesel development if the injector spray angel was too wide. Not to mention this would mean raw fuel coming out the exhaust, making for a wonderfuel smell and a certain emissions violation. For the last reason alone, I would be very surprised if the injector is not shutoff during skip spark. | ||
| Florida_lime |
I didn't expect any difference with the new BAS. Good thing, same problem yesterday when I did a quick highway check in the heat of the day. | ||
| Etennuly |
I took my bike in for warranty on other issues back then and had them check for the "run-skip" when hot up hill thing. They never could duplicate the problem. I don't think they rode it far enough, nor had the engine loaded on an up hill, to make it happen. Damn thing never did in on level or down hills. The first bad episode I had, was when the bike was a year old. I was headed out I40 west towards Nashville Tn. There is about a ten mile long hill where the Tenn Valley meets the Tenn Plateau. I was headed up at about 80mph and it started flashing and skipping. Backing off the throttle made it run normal when it got back down to 55 to 60 mph or less. It really sucked when a Honda CBR1000, two up, cruised right on by me. I turned the throttle to keep up and the light came on and started missing.  Three separate times I had it checked under warranty. The results were always the same, no problem found. Well I found it last year as I was on a four day trip that was stunted because of the problem. Yours may be a different problem in a different place, but man, I feel for you. Such a great bike, such a stupid problem. It never failed to start, nor did it quit, but it ran like shit when ever it got to 70 mph. Very frustrating for sure. It did it for the first time since last year a few weeks ago. Immediately I knew what it was. I took the seat off and sure enough the wire that was taped, had found its way to hang back down and touch the bracket again and wore the tape through. Bastard wire! Re-taped it in a minute, problem gone, again. Mine is fixed now and I am quite happy about it. Here is to hoping you find yours soon!  | ||
| Florida_lime |
I was starting to do an oil change on the Uly - hit 35,000 miles just before I pulled into the garage today. As the oil was draining from the swingarm and primary, I began looking everything over per my usual practice. I saw that when my rear rocker seal was changed for the 3rd time, the shop didn't put a small bracket back properly that supports the oil cooler. I grabbed the cooler to see if it was actually loose, but that's when I noticed that it actually felt COOL. I park the bike in the garage, and always have a fan running, placed so it cools off the bike pulled into that space. I had gone into the house for about 10-15 minutes after I got home, just to let the bike cool a little bit. (Makes it easier to handle the drains and filter when you are doing the oil change) Rest of the bike was still warm or hot -- frame, oil filter, etc, but the oil cooler was cool. Makes me wonder if the shop plugged an oil line when they dropped the motor, and that it why I've been having skip-spark problems ? Can someone check their recently run Uly to see if the cooler cools off that fast before I rip all the lines apart ? | ||
| Jphish |
Florida - I'm going for a 1/2 hour ride in about an our to test suspension settings under load. Will send you message on this thread when I get back. Will check oil cooler temp @ shutdown and then after 15 mins. Let you know. j | ||
| Florida_lime |
Well I pulled the lines off the oil cooler, and nothing was blocked on that end. I ran the bike for quite a while after the oil change, and it seems the oil cooler is heating up, so "no joy" there. Apparently, with the cooler being aluminum, and my garage fan running - it does cool off quicker than anything else.  New NGK iridium plugs and Magnecor wires to replace the ones pitched by the dealer are my next attempt to put everything else back to the way things were before this all started. They should be here Tuesday or so. | ||
| Jphish |
Florida - Well...you have certainly had your fair share of "issues" with your Uly. Hate to hear of the ongoing saga & elusive resolution. Ive had a few myself in the first 5K mi - (Broken Pawl spring that left it stuck in 5th and blown rear shock in Yellowknife - couldn't do the Dempster hwy on a pogo stick!) The last 7K mi have been relatively trouble free, tho I've done alot of the PM stuff (grounds, new front/ rear KBC bearings etc) Anyway - as you already know, yes - the oil cooler is too hot to hold fingers on the fins at operating temp shut down - 15 min later - still warm, but you can hold fingers on fins. I just finished a 3K mi loop from Oly Wa thru ID, MT WY - 105*F coming back thru Lewiston ID in traffic - no skip spark and only used 4oz of oil on trip. She ran well, even at high altitudes. Tho now I'm hearing some rattley, clunky noises coming out of the clutch side of the case. (could just be paranoia) I still have 8 mos on warranty so will see what happens. Commitments have me staying local for the next few months anyway. I put the iridiums and Mag wires on last month - so far so good. Man...I hope you get this sorted out - I can accept fickle / unreliablity in many quarters but I don't like having trust issues with my motorcycles. Good luck with the gremlins. j | ||
| Midnightrider |
Etennuly - I'm having the exact same problem you had - and now I know where to look (kind of). I'm not that familiar with the wiring so I'll have to pull out the shop manual tomorrow and see what's shaking (or shorting) Thanks! | ||
| Midnightrider |
I see no problems with the wires on the BAS - but I pulled the ECM and did see one wire that had some wear marks. I didn't see any metal through the insulation but didn't want to mess with it too much for fear of creating a problem if there wasn't really a problem there. Pulled the shop manual and that wire is - the front coil lead. Coincidence? We'll see! |
