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Jackelfox
| Posted on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 08:58 am: |
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Hoping someone on here can help. My Bro-in-law recently picked up a 06 Uly. Bike seems well enough, lots of mileage but loved. In any regard last weekend we set off on a 7 hour trek to the tail of the Dragon and about 30-45 min into the ride he pulls off because the check engine light came on. The bike seems to be running fine so we decide we will continue and hit a harley shop when they open (it was still quite early). Continuing on about 5-10 min he pulls off again with the engine shutting off. We fuss around stuff, battery terminals, sniffing around pretending we know what we are doing... any case after a few minutes of sitting we attempt to restart it again (first attempts didnt work) it fires right up. No CEL anymore, back to riding. 5-7 more minutes, CEL then shut off. This time we notice the the pressurizing that comes with fliping the switch isn't noticable anymore, and the bike wont start. Waiting some time, the bike pressurizes and starts not issues. At this point we realize getting anywhere like this will take an enternity and he bails on the trip and heads back home (Richmond VA) The way back was 10 riding, 10 waiting, that hour or so back home. Ideas? we were left with feeling the problem was fuel pump related because of the lack of pressurization but clearly it does its job until a certain amount of heat or time comes, so maybe a connector that gets pissy about heat? The previous owner suggested the Bank Angle Sensor, which sound plausible but not sure why its getting triggered or how to resolve this. We have the ecmspy cable, and maybe able to find the software if that could be of assistance. I'm reasonably capable with tools and instructions. Kinda crap at diagnosis. Helps please? |
Froggy
| Posted on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 09:09 am: |
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It most likely is the fuel pump, it is a problem spot on the 06 models. The issue is the wires on the fuel pump rub and eventually chaff, resulting in a short once it is wears through. Good news is you can likely repair the wiring without replacing the fuel pump. Bad news is that it is a bit of a job to get the fuel pump out. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/442427.html?1236781570 |
Reepicheep
| Posted on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 09:57 am: |
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Given the age, I would recommend doing an inspection of the ECM (to make sure the connectors aren't hitting the seat). I would also disect the cable bundle around the steering head where it goes under the frame, and run each wire through my fingers feeling for internal breaks. It sounds like Froggy is on the right track with the fuel pump, which was also a problem that year, but these other two are "easy to avoid" and "fairly common" problems also. |
Vwsean66
| Posted on Saturday, September 20, 2014 - 07:45 pm: |
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most likely cam sensor ran into the same problem with my xb12r , drops out when hot hope this helps |
Jackelfox
| Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 03:26 pm: |
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UPDATE... So took the bike into a independent mechanic that claims a good understanding of electrical systems and has worked for HD in the past (i try not to hold that against him). He found a loose wire someone around the battery and charges $50 and says he thinks its fine. For about a hour ride it is fine, then the return trip, after about a 2-3 hour rest it cuts out about 30 min in. This time its restarting after 10 min but wont stay running but for a few miles maybe 2. Leave the bike in a home depot parking lot. Come back and get it two days later, rides 45min home no issues. Clearly this is gonna be a hell of a thing for a mechanic to diagnose because of the time involved riding with no issues whatsoever, then stranding said mechanic somewhere. A CEL comes on shortly before cutout and i suppose someone with ECMspy could read that code and add a clue the issue... But that software is hard to find these days. So does anyone have it or a link to it? Or is anyone in the Richmond VA area that would be willing to assist in reading a code? |
Jackelfox
| Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 03:27 pm: |
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Of course any silver bullet solutions would also be cool |
Jackelfox
| Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 03:41 pm: |
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Clearly not hard at all to find. Someone else had looked with the wrong info. That said... those who are terrible at this (like us) are still very welcome to help. |
Froggy
| Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 03:55 pm: |
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You can get the code without using any software http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=142838&post=2360318#POST2360318 |
Jackelfox
| Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 06:11 pm: |
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Awesome, thanks froggy. That being said i did ultimately get ecmspy to work from a non-registered side. It doesnt show any historic codes, which maybe it wont do unless ECMspy is registered. Dont really want to cough up $71 or Pounds sterling (I don't recall) To find out that it has no historic codes. The CEL isnt currently showing but does throw as the bike is dieing, It no longer appears upon restart. But clearly something is wrong and i assume the computer is recording it somewhere. Does an unregistered ECMspy show historic codes and im just too dumb to find them? Does a registered ECMspy show historic codes that and unregistered copy will not? Does that shorting trick show historic codes? (this last one i will try now anyway) |
Jackelfox
| Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 06:30 pm: |
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Followed froggy's advice. We pulled two codes Code 27 and Code 35. first is neutral switch voltage too high second is Tach output voltage too high I doubt the instrument panel is killing the bike so i guess the issue isnt creating a CEL that can be pulled in this manner? |
Froggy
| Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 07:16 pm: |
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There are two versions of ECMspy, the old free one and the new paid one. The old free one works on bikes from 99-07, since this is an 06, you can find that version elsewhere online (we can't link it here). The paid one works good on the newer bikes. Regarding your codes, it is sounding like the ECM is failing. It can cause all kinds of wonky errors when it starts to fail, due to pressure from the seat pressing on the connectors. That would also cause symptoms similar to the fuel pump, as the ECM is what controls that. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/747295.html?1411481202 |
Jackelfox
| Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 09:45 pm: |
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Ecu seems like it would be an easy part to throw at it. Buy one, swap it in, reset tps, works then cool. Otherwise you pull it back out and resell for the price you paid. Am I missing anything here? Anyone have one we are in the market |
Reepicheep
| Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - 08:25 am: |
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Electrical problems just take patience to track down. The good news is that you can generally diagnose them without major teardowns. For ECM Spy, I'm loving ECMDroid with a bluetooth modem and Nexus 7 tablet. If you already have an Android smart phone or tablet, then for under $50 you can have a nice wireless connection to your ECM with a nice user interface any time you want. You don't even have to take off the seat. I've not seen those error codes before, nor experienced a failing ECM, but based on what they are, a fried ECM would be plausible. I'm assuming the regulated outputs to bias the sensors are regulated by the ECM itself to 5v. So either that regulator isn't regulating reliably, or some short is injecting 13.8V into that circuit outside the ECM. Actually, the latter sounds more plausible to me. If the regulator was going, it would generally (but not necessarily) go all at once. But like you say, if you can get a used ECM that you can sell as a used ECM, you are either getting the ECM you need or getting an ECM you can sell for about what you paid for it. And it is easy to get too and swap. Have you checked the bike system voltage to make sure the main bike voltage regulator is working? Are you eating headlights or tail lights? |
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