| Author |
Message |
    
Motobear46
| | Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 08:50 pm: | 
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I was posting quite a lot a few months ago when my 06 Uly was having serious problems. I was checking the wire harness, grounds,plugs and wires and all the sensors. I ended up replacing a number of parts but eventually i gave up after replacing the TPS and being unable to get the tps to reset properly.
The Buell dealer had my bike for 9 weeks trying to fix my bike. They replaced all the sensors and swapped out the ecm and ignition module while trouble shooting this bike.For the last two weeks they were being guided by the factory techs.
In the end the culprit was the voltage regulator. It had passed all the steps on the diagnostic flowchart. From one of the data logs they created while riding my bike they saw a spike in the regulator output.
Apparently this was enough to scramble the ecm which would reset to some degree on restart, but not completely, for example it required a flash of the eeprom before the tps would reset.
I've only ridden the bike once since I got her back but she seems to be fine.
I'm explaining all this for one reason; this could be the cause for a number of intermittent , random problems and you may not be able to detect this by a visual inspection or measuring with a standard digital meter.It got past a number of techs at the shop before they discovered it.
Maybe this info will help someone avoid the aggravation I went through.
I give the shop credit for being considerate and fair. With over 30 hrs of shop time and over $400 of parts they installed , the final bill was only for the regulator and one hour labor.
Happy to be riding again
Barry |
Blake
| | Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 - 02:36 pm: |
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Thanks for that excellent report. That is one tough gremlin to uncover. I'm wondering if Bartimus' Uly is suffering from the same issue. |
Blake
| | Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 - 02:39 pm: |
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MotoBear,
What dealership was that? |
Fahren
| | Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 - 09:06 pm: |
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That problem is well documented. In pre-'08 xb's the voltage regulator connector, the infamous "77 connector" goes bad, arc's, fries, and the VR dies. Fortunately, the new connectors are, as I understand it, sent along with the replacement VR, so the cause (the connector) gets fixed along with the symptom (the Voltage Regulator). Unfortunately, it can wreak all sorts of electrical havoc until diagnosed. Good for the dealers - but to all: be sure not only the regulator but the connector also are both replaced. |
Blake
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 10:23 am: |
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So the root cause Fahren is describing is the "77 connector", and it causes an intermittent problem leading to eventual voltage regulator failure.
I'm not sure that agrees with what Motorbear is reporting. His VR was not dead and apparently replacing it solved the problem, all without replacing any connector. So...? |
Fahren
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 05:08 pm: |
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It may have been the VR. And as noted, the connector apparently gets replaced (comes as a part in the box with) the new VR. So if the connector and the VR are both replaced, then the problem will surely be solved. I have just read posts about the 77 connector where the VR is bad; dealer or owner puts in a new VR, and the new one eventually goes bad... still caused by the old, fried connector. So my note was just a caution to be sure the connector gets changed if the VR goes out. Cheap insurance, since it is already included in the VR replacement package. HTH. |
Motobear46
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 09:28 pm: |
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As part of my attempting to fix the original problem I had examined the "77 connector" as well as measured the output of the regulator.Everything looked and measured fine.
When I had taken data logs of the bike on the road I did'nt see any spikes in the battery voltage but maybe that particular ecmspy reading is after the spikes were "absorbed" by the battery and didn't reflect the output spikes from the regulator.
All I know is I've ridden several hundred miles and all seems fine.
The dealership by the way is Mcguire's HD and Buell in Walnut Creek Ca.
Barry |
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