| Author | Message | ||
     Svmotoman |
Ok, so the dealer replaced my 'starter' (apparently bad) at 252 miles.... bummer....but at least the bike starts now. But now sometimes when it starts it appears to lose power to the instrument cluster and all my digital settings get reset to defaults (trip mileage goes to 0, clock resets to 1:00). Any theories before I head back to dealer and lose the bike for another 2 weeks? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Check the battery cables where they connect to the battery under the seat. Also look CLOSELY at the ECM wire bundle that goes right by the "clutch side of the bike" battery terminal, and make sure it did not get pinched against the sharp edge of that terminal, and is occassionally shorting out. Tighten down the battery terminals to factory spec, use cable ties to keep that bundle pinned out of harms way, and maybe some of that split loom wire armor to protect the wire bundle. I would bet $$ it's just a loose battery terminal. | ||
| Svmotoman |
Wouldn't a loose battery terminal show itself at other times too, besides just starting? I mean wouldn't instrument cluster reset itself randomly when connection broke? That doesn't happen, it's only at startup and so far only in the morning (not ride home). So that almost sounds like there isn't enough juice overnight - so all the juice goes to starting and the instruments take a nap. But I ride over 1hr everytime I'm out, so it should be charging just fine. | ||
| Sandblast |
Clock? I need a CityX. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Check your battery terminals and that bundle, really! A sloppy connection could show up as high resistance. Low current through high resistance is a low voltage drop. High current through a high resistance connection is a high voltage drop. So basically, when you thumb the starter, the voltage drop across your bad battery terminal goes from .5 volts (1 millamp to run the clock) to 5 volts (25 amps to run the starter). The clock runs fine with a .5 volt drop, but goes into coma mode at a 5 volt drop. The starter will still turn though. Next you will be telling us the tach is sticky on cold starts as well  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Sandblast... Not only that, but an instant tripmeter from the moment your low fuel light comes on (no fumbling for the reserve switch either). And it took me a week to stop fussing around trying to find the enricher every time I fired it up in the morning. This new fangled technology is pretty cool! | ||
| Cruisin |
Might be a bad battery? Not quite enough juice to start it. If the voltage during starting drops enough the clock/trip meters will reset themselves. The nice thing is it's an easier fix... | ||
| Buellj79 |
IF THE BATTERY CABLE WAS LOOSE, YOU MAY WANT TO GET YOUR ECM CHECKED OUT, MINE APPARENTLY FRIED BECAUSE OF THE VOLTAGE SPIKES CREATED BY THE BAD CONNECTION. JUST MY 2 CENTS LATER J | ||
| Tomzweifel |
Is anybody thinking bad relay? | ||
| Jedwele |
Mine did the same thing during the winter from sitting and short rides. Once I took a good ride the battery charged up enough and hasn't happened since. | ||
| Cataract2 |
Any updates man? | ||
| Thansesxb9rs |
Mine did that same thing, it was a bad battery. | ||
| Midknyte |
Battery. Mine did the same thing - had been sitting in the showroom for the winter. Did not replace the battery. Did get a battery tender though. Hasn't let me down or acted up since I recognized what it was and let it charge up good again. | ||
| Midknyte |
And it's not a "problem" [with the bike]. It's just symptomatic of a low battery... | ||
| Svmotoman |
Going to dealership Monday (they were cool and said come in any time, will check it over - they seem to be sympathetic considering this is second problem on 1 month old bike - probably related) Tech claims he's never seen this particular problem before(oh goody)... sounded like he was going to check over connections (though you'd hoped he did that when he replaced my starter.. grrr). If they sent me home with a •••••• battery after replacing my starter, that would just be stupid (so I can't imagine it's just that). It's intermittent, but the other morning it happened when I started the bike to head into work, rode for 1hr 15 min (plenty time to charge), when I left work 8 hours later it happened again. Bike starts fine. p.s. In between I passed 500 mile breakin and opened her up a little, she certainly does growl... love the bike so much I will continue to forgive :-)... up to a point. | ||
| Cataract2 |
It's possible that when your stator was going it caused the battery to kill itself. Lack of charge causing the battery to be used to keep the bike going. | ||
| Fl_billy |
SVmotoman, I had the EXACT same thing happen on my XB12R. I changed the battery thinking it was a bad battery (original battery was fine), then moved on to the main fuse on the left of the battery (I had a similar problem on a 97 TLS) and found that when I fumbled with that, it would correct itself, but it ended up simply being a case of a loose pos. battery connection. When I messed with the holder for the main fuse, it would shift the connecting wire to the positive terminal just enough to get a good connection again. It got progressively worse until I changed the battery back to the original and noticed the loose connection. **DOH!!** No problems at all since then. Anyway, I would BET it's a loose connection. Let us know what it is. Billy (Message edited by fl_billy on May 09, 2005) | ||
| Svmotoman |
Well get this.... A different tech looked at it and said it was the battery (it had the right voltage but low amps? whatever that means). They put in a new battery. Bike definitely seems to start more assuredly and no sign of the reset clock. Tech implied the battery may have been the problem all along and that the first tech probably screwed up. So they may have torn my bike apart and replaced my starter for no reason!!! (for which I lost 10 good days of riding). But no way to know for certain I guess. So all of you who guessed "battery" on my first description of the problem, get a blue ribbon. And all who guessed "battery" on my second description of problem, get... well... a blue ribbon too :-) Anyway.... just got home.... I'll keep ya posted if things go bad again. p.s. Got a free buell backpack and a free 1000 mile service for my troubles... nuthin great, but at least I feel like they tried (and the people I dealt with today seemed to actually care) This is at Manchester HD in Machester, NH for the record. | ||
| Cataract2 |
So long as they treated you good there and got the problem solved then it's all good. Now, take that machine out and use it. | ||
| Svmotoman |
Will do. | ||
| Brad_buell |
RIDE, RIDE, RIDE Svmotoman!!!  Ride it like there's no tomorrow. |
