| Author | Message | ||
     Zane |
Had something weird happen to the XT yesterday. I went out to get some torque therapy yesterday afternoon and the yellow check engine light kept coming on. I was in 5th gear going between 75 and 80 mph, in the neighborhood of 4000 - 42000 rpm. This was the sequence of events: Check engine light came on at speed. I backed down to 55mph and the light went out. Traveled that way for 10 minutes and everything seemed fine. Gently accelerated back to 80mph. In about 15 minutes the light came back on. Slowed down and the light goes out again after 20 seconds or so. Did these 5 more times, each time taking the check engine light a little longer to turn off. Other that the light, it was running fine. Steady at idle, accelerated from a standing stop just fine. No problem with lights. I've been riding to and from work for the last month with no hint of a problem. It's been running strong. The only issue I've noted was in the first 2 minutes of the ride, I heard the engine make a singe "POP" sound, like a back fire. I'm guessing it's the ECM which is less than a year old, or partly clogged fuel or air filters. Also the battery is less than a year old and seems to crank the engine fine. Anyone want to make an informed guess? | ||
| Rayycc1 |
might want to use a little compressed air and blow out the oil cooler...just to be sure its doing ts job and not all blocked up. | ||
| Zane |
Good thought Rauucc1. I just pulled to duct off of the oil cooler and inspected. It's clean and clear. It has the comfort kit on it so I checked the air ducts on both sides and they are also clean and clear. | ||
| Froggy |
You need to connect to it and see what the codes are, so you can figure out where to begin troubleshooting. There is nothing with the oil cooler that can possibly throw a CEL. (Message edited by Froggy on November 09, 2014) | ||
| Zane |
I was thinking that a clocked oil cooler might make it over heat. I don't have the software or the cable to do the diagnostics of it's off to the local HD dealer tomorrow morning. Hate giving them the money but NEED this bike to run right. | ||
| Etennuly |
If the oil cooler fins plug up with grit and shit it can cause overheating that will light the CEL before it would hit skip spark and not throw a code. Having a bike that used to frequently hit skip spark I can varify that the CEL will light up for a bit before skip spark begins. Cooling it down by going slower will put the light out and it will come back on by accelerating again just as Zane has described. The other thing I would look at is oil. Is is low? Is it foaming at speed? Could there be a blockage in the lines to the cooler? ET sensor failure or wire shorting out? Is the fan coming on as it should? With the comfort kit I would think at this time of year the fan would hardly even be necessary, but who knows? | ||
| Froggy |
You can check the codes without software, follow directions in this link http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=142838&post=2360318#POST2360318 If the bike was overheating, you would know as it will intentionally misfire the rear cylinder. My wild ass guess is the codes will be voltage related, possibly an intermittent issue with the charging system. | ||
| Timbobuell |
Mine has done that for years. Get one of those cheap code readers and it will most likely show bad O2 sensor. They are cheap and available at all car parts stores. It is not so easy to get out. Waiting for other reasons to go in there. And thats the reason I live with it. Has not caused any problems in 25000 miles. I say ride on. | ||
| Ryanco |
Very similar issue for me, and it is an O2 sensor code. Also waiting until I dig in for other reasons to try replacing sensor. | ||
| Zane |
I had not thought of the O2 sensor. Froggy is right about getting a reader and get hard data points instead of my guessing method. Oil change was about 3 weeks ago and I checked levels this weekend. Everything is good there. We'll just have to see what the codes say. Man I hope it's something inexpensive like the O2 sensor. We'll we will see... thanks to all for the ideas | ||
| Zane |
I had not thought of the O2 sensor. Froggy is right about getting a reader and get hard data points instead of my guessing method. Oil change was about 3 weeks ago Using Syn 3 and I checked levels this weekend. Everything is good there. We'll just have to see what the codes say. Man I hope it's something inexpensive like the O2 sensor. We'll we will see... thanks to all for the ideas | ||
| Teeps |
I've had the same thing happen to my '06 Ulysses. O2 sensor code. (this has been going on for a few years now, off and on.) I replaced the O2 sensor a several weeks ago, while replacing the fan. (O2 sensor is "RIGHT THERE") Still does it but not as frequently. If not for the fan replacement; the original O2 sensor would probably still be installed.... | ||
| Zane |
So is it safe to assume that even though the CEL light is on, it's safe to ride the bike for a couple hundred miles going 75 or 80mph? | ||
| Ryanco |
I would say it is most likely fine, but make sure that's the code you are getting first, just in case you have a different issue. | ||
| Portero72 |
Mine did this. Threw the code for the o2 sensor. Replaced it, still had the issue. I wound up bypassing the wiring loom and spliced the sensor directly to the ecm. Runs like a champ. Was NOT willing to trace that one wire all the way through the loom to locate the worn out insulation. Good luck. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I see that others have already guessed the O2 sensor. Mine went and you can get one a your local car parts dealer for around 20 bucks. You'll have to rotate the fan out of the way and use a 7/8" crows foot wrench to then easily remove the sensor. The original sensor lasted I believe about 35K miles. Al from American Sportbike says they begin to degrade at about 15K miles. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
If it is the O2 sensor it will get worse as time goes by until it is completely unrideable and on mine it made the engine very hot and my seat feel like an ass torch. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
I had similar CEL experience and it turned out to be the exhaust servo that had failed. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Seems like failed exhaust servo is by far the most common cause of check engine lights. Easy to check: - Remove outer air box cover - Servo sits on top of inner air box. - Flick kill switch to "off" position - Rotate and hold throttle fully open - Turn ignition switch on (do not crank bike) - While watching the quadrant on top of the servo, flick the kill switch to run. Quadrant should smoothly cycle fully open, pause, then go fully closed. - If motion is jerky or quadrant doesn't fully open or doesn't move at all, servo is bad. Replacement is available from American Sport Bike. Latest version has metal gears vs. plastic gears of the earlier units and is much more durable. (Message edited by Hughlysses on November 11, 2014) | ||
| Buewulf |
Had the same issue. I taped up a wire with worn insulation (could barely tell that it was worn through) near the ECU plugs which cured it right up. I wish I could recall which wire. Anyway, check the wire insulation on the wires going into the ECM plugs... might get lucky with an easy fix. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Hugh, My exhaust servo failed and I was able to jury rig it for free and it still works just fine. That replacement servo is pretty expensive especially for something that might be able to be fixed. I'd sure like to see photos of what actually fails on other Uly's exhaust servo. Mine was an easy fix. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Craig- I took mine apart and tried to jury-rig it without any luck. It appeared that the part that turns the metal quadrant was flexing under the load of a spring and allowing the gear teeth to slip. Somebody actually sent me an old one for free which lasted another year or so until I finally replaced it with the updated unit with metal gears. | ||
| Zane |
Ok. So the XT went to the local HD dealership and the after them reading the error codes and they've decided that it's the O2 sensor. So good call to all you who said that was what it was. Since HD did the troubleshooting, I guess I have to let them do the fix. Not that expensive really... | ||
| Rapuckett55 |
This is funny because my 2006 X did almost the exact same thing Monday morning on the way to work. The only difference is I couldn't hold speed and it cut out a few times. Once I slowed down to about 40mph it seemed to run fine. It was about 50F out and I could hear the fan running. Seemed odd that it was running, maybe over heated? I pulled into a gas station to call my wife to let her know I was headed home and that I might need a ride. It sat for maybe 5 minutes. It ran perfectly back home, but I did keep it to below 70mph. I had plenty of power and acceleration. I wasn't able to check the code until tonight. I fully expected to find an O2 sensor error. Using ECMSpy I had: "Engine Temperature too low/broken wire 14 1 1" The numbers at the end are as follows: DTC = 14 Byte = 1 Bit = 1 Can anyone explain what this is? I don't know if it matters for reading codes, but I have the EBR race ECM. I use TunerPro for TPS reset and tuning. But it's easier to use ECMSpy for reading codes. Thanks in advance. Sorry, Zane. I don't mean to hijack your thread. But I thought the similarities were too close. Ralph | ||
| Zane |
Rapuckett55, Don't sweat the hijack. If you question get answered then it's all good. God knows the Badweb collective has helped me more than once. Hope your question gets answered too. | ||
| Zane |
Got the XT back from the dealership last night. I was able to put about 35 miles on the biek so it wasn't a full test but the weekend is coming. So far it seem to be running fine with the CEL never coming on. | ||
| Ryanco |
So just to be sure..nothing was changed other than putting in a new O2 sensor? | ||
| Zane |
Yes, then only change was installing a new O2 sensor. | ||
| Ryanco |
Nice. I hope that does it for me as well. |
