| Author | Message | ||
     Tpehak |
OK, this piece of crap gives me hard time again. 2009 Buell XB 12 Scg. This morning after 40 minutes commute I put my motorcycle on side stand and noticed it started idle low, maybe around 900 RPM, and at the same moment I started noticing gasoline smell, I left it to idle on side stand an in a minute or so the engine stalled. I noticed the Check Engine Light stayed ON. I turned the ignition switch off and then turned ON and tried to start the engine. The engine did not start from the first try, but when it started it spewed black smoke from the exhaust at the moment of start. It idled OK when I held it upright and it worked OK but started lowering RPM when I tilted it on left side, and then it stalled again in a few seconds when I put it on the side stand. I checked the error code and the code is 23 (front injector high or low). What it could be? Considering I felt strong gasoline smell I assume the front injector white/yellow wire is scuffed somewhere and shortened to the ground which causes the injector is constantly open and flooded the front cylinder, flooded the plug caused the engine stall, hard starting and black smoke on initial start after stalling. I'm not sure why RPM at idle is correlated to the motorcycle tilt. Maybe when I tilt the motorcycle the scuffed wire starts touching the frame and shortens it to the ground which keeps the front injector constantly open. Or maybe there is a puddle of gasoline in the intake which goes into the combustion chamber when I tilt the motorcycle. (Message edited by TPEHAK on August 16, 2022) | ||
| Tpehak |
You guess what I found? Exactly what I expected, I found the scuffed and exposed white/yellow wire in the harness goes from the injectors. The harness rubbed against the safety wire I put on the top of the engine rocker box covers and that safety wire sawed the harness and dug into the white/yellow wire from the front injector causing the front injector is shortened to the ground and constantly open causing flooding the front cylinder, gasoline smell and and throwing the check engine code 23. That's might be also the cause of low mileage per gallon it had, it just plumed gasoline into the front cylinder each time it made contact with that safety wire. And it also explains why the engine stalled when I tilted the motorcycle - the engine tilted in the frame under its weight and the safety wire touched the exposed core of the white/yellow wire from the front injector. I guess I have work to do and figure out how to prevent it in the future. Buell did really crappy wiring work on this motorcycle, the wires are routed along the frame and the engine constantly rubbing it. Maybe I will wrap that portion of the wiring harness on the top of the engine into a wiring loom.    (Message edited by TPEHAK on August 16, 2022) | ||
| Tpehak |
OK, as a band aid wrapped the damaged portion of the harness into a piece of kapton tape and plastic spiral wiring loom to offset the harness from the engine. Rode home without issues. I'm not sure if I want to rotate the engine just to repair that wire scuff, that's too much work. I hope it will be OK with this band aid.    | ||
| Tpehak |
I checked that error code with shortening 2 pins on diagnostic plug method because of I did not have Buelltooth dongle with me. Today I checked the historical error with Buelltooth dongle with ECM Droid. Here is how this shortened on the ground front injector white/yellow wire error code looks like in ECM Droid  | ||
| 34nineteen |
Great diagnosis TPEHAK.  Most people would be trying to load a tune or keep doing TPS resets to fix it. Why did you safety wire your cover bolts? | ||
| Tpehak |
I modified the rocker box covers for viton o-ring seals (I milled slots for o-rings in the top portion of the rocker box cover holes) instead of original fiber gaskets seals because of I got tired of oil leaks and necessity and complexity of replacing those fiber gaskets each time I open the rocker box covers. I use shoulder screws to seal the interface with o-rings but since there is no fiber washers anymore there is a chance those screws may get loose due to vibration so I drilled the screws heads and secured them with safety wires. (Message edited by TPEHAK on August 17, 2022) | ||
| Blake |
Nice | ||
| Johnshore |
So, the safety wire poked a whole in the harness? | ||
| 34nineteen |
Why did I know you were going to say that... lol. Its kind of late now, but I used late model Sportster washers on my XB and S1. Instead of the fiber washers (I wasnt a fan either) its a metal washer with a "captured" rubber seal. https://st-paul-harley-davidson-buell.myshopify.co m/products/genuine-buell-1995-2010-xb-blast-tuber- upper-push-rod-cover-o-ring-l6b | ||
| Tpehak |
Yes, it rubbed through the automotive tape and the wire insulation due to vibration. The hole looked more like a very small slit, I just opened it up bigger for inspection. It was pretty hard to spot and not noticeable, I guessed the hole can be there because of the wires from the injectors go in that area and I noticed that area of the harness touched the safety wire and I found the exposed wire core only when I pulled the harness out for inspection completely. (Message edited by TPEHAK on August 17, 2022) | ||
| 34nineteen |
You may want to consider wrapping a portion or all of the safety wire with something like small piece of clear vinyl tubing. Or maybe re-doing the safety wire and covering the middle piece of heat shrink, so it doesnt (or has a harder time) sawing through the insulation. My $0.02... but looks good. (Message edited by 34nineteen on August 18, 2022) |
