| Author | Message | ||
     Mke |
Sorry in advance for the super long post Let me preface this post by saying I have a love/hate relationship with my Uly. It's a 2008 and I understand that it's a fickle beast, but in the last 4 months I've had a lot of problems. I've had to rebuild/modify the primary case due to a failure of the clutch ramp lip (pretty typical from the posts I found. And thanks to some brilliant direction from other BadWeb peeps, I built a steel plate that bolts to the primary cover to replace the "clutch ramp lip") My rear head gasket slowly blew which had me buying a new fan ($150) and had me pay to drop the engine and replace the gaskets ($600). THEN... the battery started to go bad, and I was left stranded, embarrassingly looking for a jump on a couple occasions. So I got a battery from a harley guy who had an extra. I put it in, and WHAMMO....reverse polarity problem! ••••••• The fan kicked on, the 30amp fuse blew and I thought I was out an ECM or more. Lucky for me, some praying, inspecting and a new fuse had me up and running again. Thank F'n god. So here's the issue. Now I can't get a CEL or error code to go on no matter what. AND the fan only works about 20% of the time. I've been working with ECMSpy and TunerPro RT quite a bit, and am pretty well versed as to how they work and the tweaks I can do. The problem is that in the Diagnostic tab of ECMSpy I can get the fan diagnostic test to function 100% of the time as long as the engine is completely cooled off. But I can't get any error codes to turn on the CEL and I can't get the fan to kick on if I just came back from a ride and it's up to operating temps (160-200). The funny thing is that no matter what, when I read the error codes in EcmSpy, I get 'no errors', even if I just burned a error core using the Diagnostics tab. I've even gone so far as to change the Fan Key On-On Temp in TunerPro to a much lower setting (110) in hopes that the fan will kick on earlier in my ride. Which it does...about 20% of the time. I'm at a total loss, and although it works some of the time, I'm worried about the excessive heat buildup without a fully functional fan. The CEL error code problem just makes me think that I may have done some circuit damage to the ECM when I had my 'reverse polarity' incident. So.... anybody have a similar issue with either the fan, or the CEL? Especially after some sort of electronic or electrical problem? I'm just super frustrated, and hoping I don't have to buy another ECM. | ||
| Ratbuell |
If I may be so bold...I think blaming a motorcycle for having issues after a battery is installed backwards, and after someone has been poking around the ECM code...well, it's not really fair to blame the bike at this point. Truth is you had a casting issue, a gasket leak, and a dead battery. That said - I would check the light bulb in the CEL (if I remember correctly the only warning light that is an LED from the factory is the low fuel light). I would also borrow a stock, unmolested, un-tinkered-with ECM, plug it in (properly!), and see how the bike behaves. Don't "reset" the one that is in the bike - if it does have a problem, that reset could be unclean as well. Get a different, working ECM to try. | ||
| Griffmeister |
Wow, that does not sound good. I wish I knew more about the Buell ECM but I don't. However, I have dealt with numerous system controllers in heavy equipment and can say that they are a fickle beast most of the time. The basic knowledge is the same with various revisions throughout the years. Many times they don't just fail outright, instead they will keep doing their function to some extent with some glitches. You may or may not be experiencing that now. On a positive note, do you have the electrical diagnostic manual for the bike? The ECM should have a list of inputs and outputs. I would unplug the ECM and start testing the harness and sensors with a digital multimeter. With any luck, the cross connection affected something on the bike and not the ECM. Maybe someone else here knows if the ECM has any protection circuits. Good luck. | ||
| Mke |
Anyone got an extra stock xb12 ECM they're willing to part with? Griff: I don't have an electric diagnostic manual, but I'll see if I can dig one up. That might help. Thanks. Rat: It's not the CEL as much as it never throws a fault code in EcmSpy OR turns on the CEL. And yes, I get it, the whole fan/electronic thing is my fault, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. Personally, I expect that the primary case issue is more of an engineering problem, then manufacturing one. (Not a Buell issue per se, but a Harley problem) The head gaskets were either low quality or installed improperly at the factory, which wouldn't surprise me in the least. (A Harley Issue as a bike with 8000 easy miles shouldn't be blowing head gaskets.) The battery issue was just plain stupidity on my part, but oh well. So now I'm trying to deal with what's in front of me. No looking back now. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Actually I saw a lot of aircooled engines with low miles and popped gaskets. 95% of those were due to improper warmup cycles - going immediately from the start button to the throttle is a great way to get these things to leak and blow gaskets. The fact that there are far more people without a case issue, than there are with a case issue, tells me it was the proverbial "bad batch" of covers. Just like the early '07 crank failure situation. Not a global problem, but one that is traced to a certain timeframe / supplier / production run. The joys of machines that are assembled by human hands, from components made by human hands  If I had an '08 ECM, I'd send it to you - but my two Uly's are 06 and 07. Sorry. | ||
| Mke |
That's a +1 to warming up your bike correctly. Well, if that 07' ECM is just sitting around not being used, I'd gladly pay shipping to and from to test it out. Is there a significant difference between 07 and 08 that would limit it's use on my bike? | ||
| 1313 |
Is there a significant difference between 07 and 08 that would limit it's use on my bike? MANY significant differences. '07 was last year of DDFI2, '08 first year of DDFI3. Plain and simple an '08 ECM will NOT work on an '07 bike/engine, 1313 |
