| Author | Message | ||
     Griffmeister |
This may be a little premature since I don't have all my parts yet, but I thought I'd try and get some ideas to work on. First a little background, put on 580 miles this past weekend. Began with 3hr ride to destination, 2 of which was through torrential rain. Engine did not like this, started cutting out at higher speeds, had to slow down and baby it the rest of the way. Luckily the next day was dry and the bike started on both cyls. Went out for riding and sightseeing, ran pretty good most of the day, then started bucking with moderate application of throttle. Won't do it 100% of the time, seems to have plenty of power, cruises fine. I'm thinking because of the rain maybe bad plug wires? That's what I'm waiting for before I start taking thing apart. Any other ideas on what to check? Thanks. | ||
| Big_island_rider |
That is how I found my ECM was cracked. Ran some rain and it started cutting out. See my post: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/738790.html?1399860655 Hope it is not this for you. | ||
| Streakbot97 |
I think the plug wires would be a good place to start. I knew someone who had a small hole burned through the insulation of one, and it produced similar symptoms. Cheap/easy fix, if it turns out to be the culprit. | ||
| Hughlysses |
+1 on checking plug wires. My Uly did this when barely a year old. They're hard to get to, but it's worthwhile to remove the wires and coat the inside of the boots, particularly at the ignition coil ends, with silicone grease to help keep water out. | ||
| Uly_man |
I once had a big water splash to the right hand side of my 06 bike while riding it. This caused the bike to "miss fire" until it dried out. It would also do this on damp mornings. I could not find any faults to plugs/ wires but after spraying every thing with WD-40 all was fine afterwards. WD-40 "drives out" moister and works well for that. The HT side to the plug is about 11,000 volts and WILL track to Earth VERY easily. Check all your plugs and wires for damage/ chaffing as it is the cause of 90% of the problems on these bikes engine running issues. The main ones to look at are in the sub-loom that run over the top of the rear cylinder. They feed most of the engine systems and is very hard to see any damage. | ||
| Etennuly |
My '06 had a similar problem a while back. Every time I rode in rain it would sputter and die five minutes into the ride. Pull over to the side of the road and it would fire back up. Sometimes it would run normally sometimes it would miss a bit, then five minutes and it would quit again. I finally found the culprit, it was the wire bundle to the cam sensor. It was pinched under the chin faring to the engine cover where it wore the wire's insulation through on the plastic edge. Water would be the conductor to short it out. That one took a while to find. | ||
| Uly_man |
"That one took a while to find". I have had a few myself. The last one was on the 10 bike from a bad install at the factory of the sub loom over the rear cylinder. And while, as any bike, you may have other issues the NUMBER ONE THING TO DO is to check that ALL wiring is good first. | ||
| Pagprivat |
+1 on plug wire too. My '07 was identical, ran worse and worse the wetter it got, until the point she was a solid blast (running on one cyl). Showed up to be fwd plug wire slightly worn insulation after having chafed towards the ribs on the head. Good enough dry, but not wet. Pay attention while changing so they're not twisted in a way that makes the cable touch anything that vibrates! | ||
| Griffmeister |
Well there's something I didn't think about, the harness itself. I guess once I have my new plug wires in hand I will be checking every other wire too. What's weird is that today the bike would only buck in third gear. I have no idea what that would have to do with anything. Was thinking of tying a grounded wire to a screwdriver and trying to "force" a ground short along the wires with the engine running. Used to work in the old days. | ||
| Rbuck53 |
Caution: When using silicone grease use it sparingly. Too much of this good stuff can create a problem all it's own. The proper way to use silicone grease for spark plug boots is to apply a very light film to the inside of the boot, avoiding application to the actual wire terminal. Then slide the boot over the spark plug. The silicone will do it's job of helping the boot slide over the plug easily and it will also create a moisture barrier to ward off corrosion. | ||
| Griffmeister |
Well this was certainly a disappointment. Finished today with new plugs and wires, inspected the harness, cleaned each connector and coated seals with dielectric grease and before anything had added Seafoam to the tank and given it a good run. Took it out after all that and it still bucks when I'm in third gear. What I'm really worried about is maybe it's not the engine cutting out. It runs very strong in all the other gears, I can give it any amount of throttle under any kind of load, yet in third gear almost any application of throttle will make the bike start jumping. What it really feels like is a worn out chain and sprocket jumping teeth. At the start of all this I had checked my belt and sprockets thinking something like this could be happening. The sprockets look real good and the belt has no missing teeth. It's a little on the loose side, I can actually lift it off the idler pulley, but I find it hard to believe it could take that abuse without breaking. And why only in third gear? This really has me stumped, any other thoughts? | ||
| Buewulf |
Any RPM in 3rd gear? | ||
| Teeps |
Griffmeister What it really feels like is a worn out chain and sprocket jumping teeth. Have you drained the primary fluid? Could be shedding teeth on C/S or M/S 3rd gears. | ||
| Griffmeister |
Well crap, went on the BBQ run last Sat. and third gear just got worse. Drained the oil but no chunks. Definitely feeling mechanical now. Brought it to the dealer today and had a Buell tech take it for a ride. Verdict was what I had suspected but didn't want to hear, transmission issue. Most likely the sliding dog and third gear have rounded the edges and won't stay engaged under load. What really hurts is that the tech said the XB transmissions are usually pretty bullet proof. Mine just wanted to stray from the norm, at 22K yet. Looks like I'll be down for a while, and just when we're getting some good riding weather, too.  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Bummer. The XB trannies are usually pretty bullet proof. Sorry to hear it Griff. You have a 2008, so you already have the bigger crank, so at least you won't have to buy a new crank and machine the cases while you have it split. | ||
| Scottykrein |
Do you have ECM Spy or something similar? My TPS went bad and caused very similar symptoms. When I looked at it on ECM Spy the throttle voltage was erratic and far from smooth. Then again a cracked ECM will cause it to act similar. | ||
| Tootal |
Since it's only happening in third gear I would suspect the tranny also. An engine has no clue what gear you're using so unfortunately I think the dealer is right. Sounds like a bent or misaligned shift fork caused the problem. I had a Harley do this when shifting into forth at high rpm, it always found neutral. At lower rpm it was ok. The dealer adjusted the shift fork but it still did it. I finally pulled the lid on the tranny and adjusted it myself and cured the problem. Yours sounds like it damaged a gear which is unfortunate. Sorry to hear that.  | ||
| Griffmeister |
What's worse is that the CEL was on the whole way home. Pulled out codes 11 and 16. Well, did a TPS reset and checked voltage at the battery. A steady 14.1 VDC but the light's still on. Can only guess some kind of wiring issue giving wrong feedback to ECM, or bad TPS. Really don't want to back probe the plug, maybe I'll make up some jumpers. |
