| Author | Message | ||
     Desotonorsocal |
Hey all, I've been speaking with AL @ American Sport Bike about my bike but I'm still a bit confused. Basically I jumpered the diag to grab codes after having what *seemed* to be a temp sensor issue after a 500 mile ride. I had JUST had that replaced when the CEL starting coming on & off, engine running like crap, fan coming on, etc for about 150 miles of a long ride. Jim @ the Sonoma track (where I was taking the bike to) sure enough found it as a temp sensor failure and replaced it. 500 trouble-free miles home and when I restarted it about 1.5 weeks later, it seemed to be the same symptoms. As mentioned though, I jumpered, and all KINDS of codes were being thrown. I didn't let it read them all out after 5, but reached out to Al. He said grounds, stator or regulator would more than likely be one of the 3 culprits here. (Otherwise dying ECM) That long ride (1100+ total) vibrated my kickstand off so something coming loose wouldn't surprise me. Can anyone confirm that they've had a problem like this before, and/or suggest how I test these things? I'm having problems finding *all* grounding spots from here or buellxb, and I've no idea how to check a stator or regulator (and not sure whether he meant those are separate parts or not).... Little lost atm, so any additional info would be great. Been a month without my commuter now and I miss her! Thanks! -DeSoto | ||
| Desotonorsocal |
Update: So I tried to look for the ground near the 'steering head' as I've read on some posts but no luck there unless it's all tucked behind the windscreen. So for the time-being I put the air/intake/fake tank bits back together and tried to fire it up one more time. This time I get the oil light staying on and no START. I hear the fuel pump kick on then off, CEL turns off, I hit the go button and...nothing. This still strikes me as one or more bad connections, maybe after the earlier temp sensor swap I dunno. Anyone with thoughts? Anyone local to Long Beach that likes money? :P -D | ||
| Greg_e |
Is this an XB-S or an XB-R bike? The R is definitely behind the screen right at the steering head (right hand side as you sit in the seat), T27 torx and probably a black screw. Ground for the ECU and ground for the headlights is under that screw (three wires in two crimped ring connectors. Or at least this follows on my 2003 xb9r, had that entire area apart when I did my headlight mod, very familiar with it. | ||
| Desotonorsocal |
XB9CityX so the R? Is that ground loosening a common occurrence? | ||
| Greg_e |
That would probably be the same as the S for the ecm ground, which is probably under the seat somewhere. Does cityx suffer the broken ecm like some Uly did? The grounds get dirty, and could get corrosion inside the crimped connector. I really need to replace my battery ground cable one of these days. (Message edited by greg_e on September 17, 2015) | ||
| Reepicheep |
The 9sx is prone to misrouting the ECM bundle over the sharp edge of one of the battery terminals. It will make a microscopic nick on a random wire or two, short them out to ground, and cause all sorts of odd symptoms. | ||
| Desotonorsocal |
@Reepicheep, Very good to know, thank you! -DeSoto | ||
| Desotonorsocal |
Quick update: So the bike "runs" again. I finally pulled all of the plastic bits to trace all cables and found nothing wrong. But when I was reconnecting the air/fuel sensor (?) (the sensor on the base of the air filter bottom) I tried to turn it on one more time. Got all the normal lights including the neutral light, and she fired up. I then basically started 'moving/shifting' the harness near the right side of the intake and yep, it would make the bike start and not start, and have the oil & neutral light not come on , etc. So I've got it narrowed down. When it's running it's got the rough idle vibrating, smells like gas 'dead temp sensor' type symptoms I had when it actually WAS the temp sensor a few hundred miles ago. I have the ECMSpy cable now so I'm going to 'see what I can see' over the next few days. Just gotta' learn that d**m program first, heh. -D  | ||
| Greg_e |
O2 and head temp cables are in a bad place, easy to get pinched and easy to vibrate through the insulation. If the 5 volt reference gets shorted to ground, a lot of things stop working. | ||
| Desotonorsocal |
@Greg_e, Thanks, yeah it looks like a bad spot... So I threw on ECMSpy for the first time today and ran the error codes... They seem MUCH more thorough than the CEL idiot light blinking (which just told me that it was *ALL* errors, lol). My ••••••• should have taken a screenshot before clearing the codes though. Basically it was all grounds, shorts, and one open circuit (to the f/i, I think the O2, etc.). I cleared the codes and warmed her up, then blasted her around town to try and see if anything would shake loose/make contact again but nothing. She *seems* to vibrate/run a little rougher and richer than I'm used to but it's been months since riding so I'm not sure. I've decided I'll risk it tomorrow and do my usual 60 mile r/t commute. Then I'll come home and throw it back on ECMSpy and see what comes up. Obviously what I SHOULD be doing is rooting around in that wiring harness to find the problem and correct it, but I can't get my hand in there very well and I'm not quite ready to rip the harness apart. Al @ American Sport Bike has been helping me a lot and pointed me to the $300+ wiring harness that's available, heh. Too rich for my blood at the moment so I'm hoping to get some decent riding out of her until it happens again, then I'll start tearing wiring shit up. | ||
| Desotonorsocal |
Update: So I'm not entirely sure if the portion of the wiring harness near the intake ISN'T also a culprit, but today I tried a few different tests involving my corbin seat. Basically, pressing and moving it around made the bike stutter, die, turn the fan on (even when engine off), etc. I pulled the seat and inspected the wires going to the ecm. They both (both sets on each connector) seemed a bit crushed but that's been the case for awhile. Closer inspection showed an exposed wire which I wrapped in electrical tape. Put the seat back on, and pressed on it (while running) and same thing... Bike went bat-shit. So I pulled the wires in a new direction. So far so good. At the end of the day, I think I need to either clip and re-spring all wires, or figure a way to put the ECM lower in the bike? Input, thoughts, etc are welcome.. | ||
| Greg_e |
You may actually have a damaged ecm, the seat pushes the connector and breaks the solder on the circuit board. You need to mount the ecm in a different way, there are a few threads on this. I would firmly wiggle the actual connectors and see if it goes crazy. | ||
| Desotonorsocal |
@Greg_e, Going to check more thoroughly today, but the bike rode like a dream today with just moving the wires so the impact from the seat is minimal. I'll be riding it home, then doing the seat cut-out mod (It's a Corbin, shame, but whatever, lol) and I'll ride the stink out of it. I was thinking of unscrewing the ECM to take a closer look at it but I'm hesitant that it'll fall apart or something, lol! | ||
| Greg_e |
There has to be a bit of room to mount the ecm lower, it is a shame to cut the seat up. |
