| Author | Message | ||
     Harleywern |
Hi folks, just found out that my ecm seems to be cracked. In my case, it is the rear (black) connector. When I wiggle at the connector I can see a small gap. No problems with the bike so far, no cut out's or any other running problem. Is there a fix or shall I just let it go. Time is short and I don't want to go through the hassle moving the ECM. The bike is a 07 with the tall seat. I don't think Harley will give me some Good Will for the age of the bike. A new ECM runs @ € 500,- which is @ $ 350,-. I can not order parts in the US anymore. I could get a good used one for € 100,-. I'm not sure if this is plug and play. I would leave the old one in place and place the new one between the battery and the fuse box. I have ECM spy , but never used it. I'm not into computers so I think it is better to stay away. The Uly is my only bike at the moment. The nearest halfway decent dealer is 120 kilometers away from me. Any suggestions? | ||
| Froggy |
It is easier to relocate the ECM than to push the bike because it won't run. | ||
| Etennuly |
Just put a bead of RTV or silicon sealer across the crack. See if you have the seat blocks that keeps the seat pan off from the plugs. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I don't know if anyone tried to repair one. You could argue that it's an emissions control component, that might help you in the states. Not sure about the UK. If somebody wants to send me a cracked one, I could take a try. I'm no stranger to repairing PCB (printed circuit boards). It will probably depend on how they have it potted, how thick the traces are, and where it broke. | ||
| Djohnk |
I taped mine closed with this stretchy silicon tape: http://www.rescuetape.com/. I wrapped it around the whole ecm and gray connector to force the crack back together (I wish I would have taken a picture to show you, but I think you can figure out what I mean). Think of the silicon tape as a big rubber band holding the crack closed. I also relocated the ECM to prevent further damage. Anyway, my bike was doing some intermittent stuff and that kept me going until I got lucky and found a nice used replacement ECM for $50. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
When mine cracked, I zip tied it back together and made it down off the mountain, back to civilization, but I didn't trust it much until it was replaced. | ||
| Nobuell |
Put a bead of epoxy around it. If the internal electrical connections have not been compromised, you may luck out and not have to replace it. The epoxy will provide a rigid connection unlike RTV or tape. | ||
| Harleywern |
Thank's fore the quick response. These are a lot of suggestions. I will go for the used one and put it next to the battery. Then I will try to do a TPS reset. As long as my old ECM is not total screwed up, it has the date stored and I think I will be safe. Due to German laws I can't install a race ECM. In case of an accident I would be in trouble. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I like the rescue tape idea! Maybe combine that with Epoxy. | ||
| Tootal |
Duct tape? Sorry, I'm thinking dirt bike! I agree with Reepicheep, put some epoxy on it and pull it back together with tape or a nylon wire tie. The tape might look better though. | ||
| Reepicheep |
That rescue tape is cool stuff. It's like a silicon epoxy in tape form. Stretch it to twice it's length while wrapping it over itself, and it "activates", then fuses the layers as it cures (in a few minutes). Stores a long time, and ends up a strong flexible silicone coating. I got a roll on a whim from a local place when I saw it, and am jonesing for an excuse to play with it. So a pool of JBWeld to anchor everything loose, then the rescue tape to keep all that JBWeld in the right places and all the other parts nice and tight while it cures, and the whole mess stays forever installed (and waterproofed). It gets good reviews... http://www.amazon.com/RESCUE-Self-Fusing-Silicone- Tape-BLACK/product-reviews/B000ZTK6CI/ref=cm_cr_pr _btm_link_2?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&pageNumber=2 | ||
| Djohnk |
I carry a roll with me on my emergency tool kit on the Uly. Its great stuff. A bit hard to remove sometimes, but that's one of the properties that makes it really useful. | ||
| Billy_bee |
I don't think any external fixes are worthwhile unless you are sure you are getting good connections after you JBTape the thing shut. Mine is cracked in the exact same way. I ran zip ties around the harness connector and ECM. Runs perfectly 99% of the time. When it acts up, I can re-zip it and I'm good to go. bb | ||
| Hughlysses |
I suspect my 07/09 Uly may have succumbed to this. After the first long (~250 mile) ride I took on it following the engine swap, I noticed the potting material was cracked around the forward connector and I could see where the seat had been rubbing on the connector. I rigged up a brace from ~1/16" steel to hold the seat up off the connector which appeared to work well and gave a good 1/4" of clearance over the connector. Everything seemed fine until today (~6 months later). I hadn't ridden the bike in a couple of weeks and rode it to work this morning. The bike had run perfectly the last time I rode it. It was coolish here (mid-50's) and everything seemed normal until I got up to speed on the interstate. At 3000-3500 RPM, the bike developed an intermittent miss at steady throttle. Under acceleration or outside of this RPM range it runs perfectly. At lunch today, I went out and inspected my brace and it seems to be still working well. The grounds were all tight and the connectors on the ECM looked fine. I let it idle for about 5 minutes and then did a forced TPS reset. When I headed home this afternoon, the miss was more noticeable than this morning. The bike would steadily miss and buck at 3000-3500 RPM in high gear. I finally downshifted to 4th which put it around 4000 RPM and it'd run perfectly. I got home without a problem. As I got closer to home and off the interstate, it finally seemed to clear up. I could maintain 3000-3500 RPM in lower gears with no miss. I plan on riding again tomorrow; if the problem recurs, I'll try putting a zip tie around the forward connector to pull it into the ECM and see if that helps. Otherwise, I guess I'll be shopping for another ECM.  (Message edited by Hughlysses on October 06, 2011) | ||
| Pdento |
Best way to fix it is to buy a new one | ||
| Hughlysses |
Not sure if my ECM is a problem or not. Rode to work again this morning. For the first ~20 miles, no sign of the miss at 3000-3500 RPM. For the last ~5 miles, it seemed to be occasionally missing at 3000-3200 RPM but not nearly as bad as yesterday and no miss above 3200 RPM which is definitely different from yesterday. I guess I'll hold off on the final verdict until my ride home this afternoon. | ||
| Reepicheep |
My 07 12X is getting odd misses as well, that seem temperature related. A cold engine will cough 4 or 5 times in the first 5 miles at around 2800 RPM if its cool out. And it was doing it even after warmed occasionally last weekend. Just a little miss and it picks right back up. I have the ECM protective block installed (by previous owner). No signs of connector contact. I'll replace the plugs and check the wires over the winter. For now I'm just riding. | ||
| Nobuell |
Hughlysses When my ECM was cracked it did all sorts of weird things intermediately. It drove the dealer nuts trying to find the problem. With mine, we found that we could get make the tone and speed of the engine change when pushing on the connectors. That may be a way to tell if the ECM is damaged. Secondly, my bike would intermittently mis and buck with bad plug wires when dry and really ran bad when wet.. Replaced them 8.5mm Magnecor wires/ NGK iridium plugs and have had no problems since. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Nobuell- thanks for the tips. It's just odd that my bike was running fine 2 weeks ago when I parked it, and then starts cutting up out of the blue. If it's still acting up this afternoon, I'll try zip-tying the ECM connector, then new plugs, then new wires, then new Erik Buell Racing ECM I guess. | ||
| Nobuell |
Hughlysses, I remember I was out for a ride and I hit a rough section of road. Next thing I know I had a check engine light come on. I stopped to check things over but could not find a obvious issues so I restarted the bike. The CEL was off. A week later the bike would intermediately start idling at 2,000 rpm when hot. Then it ran fine for a couple weeks. I was out on a local ride with my wife and it started running like it was on one cylinder. I limped to the bike shop and dropped it off. They checked it out and replaced the IAC. Got it home and it ran fine for about two weeks and then started the high idle thing again. Back to the dealer, they had it over the winter playing with it. Finally in the spring, they called and said that the wiring harness needed to be replaced. Got it back after the harness replacement and 20 miles later the idle problem started again. The mechanic looked at the bike like it was a demon when I returned it. Come to find out that he determined the harness needed to be replaced when he was wiggling wires and noticed engine speed changes. It never occurred to him that wiggling the wires was moving the ECM connectors. He stole an ECM from a new stock bike and presto. No problems with the ECM since. When installing the comfort kit, I removed the stock ECM bracket and made a silicone sponge nest for the ECM to sit in. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Nobuell- Man, I feel for your mechanic. It must be an all-day job to swap out the wiring harness. I did it as part of my engine swap with the engine out of the frame and it took a LONG time. All that when he could have replaced the ECM in 10 minutes and had it fixed! My Uly was still intermittently missing on the way home today. I'll swear, it seems like it only misses between 3000 and maybe 3300 RPM and it's only noticeable in 5th gear and at steady throttle. Under the slightest acceleration, it clears right up. I put a zip tie around the ECM and the forward connector this afternoon (no signs of cracking around the rear one) but I haven't test-ridden it yet. I guess I'll devote the weekend to trying to diagnose this thing. OF COURSE I have to be out of town for work next week, get back at midnight on Thursday, and then I'm supposed to ride ~320 miles to Suches, GA for Buelltoberfest on Friday.  I REALLY hope the zip tie fixed it or it turns out to be something like a bad spark plug. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I think I've accidentally found the cause of my Uly's miss and fixed it. After the ECM zip tie made no difference (and because I was pretty convinced the ECM wasn't the problem) I ran most of the gas out of it and re-filled with ethanol-free premium. No change in behavior, and the bike actually seemed to miss-fire more at lower RPMs than before. I figured I'd replace the plugs and I had the old NGK iridium plugs out of my 07 engine which were in fine condition, so I figured I'd use those. Got the front plug out and it looked normal. Got the rear plug out and it was pure white. Hmmm- that would seem to indicate lack of fuel. I wondered if I had an injector problem. I installed the "new" plugs and started buttoning everything up. Since I'd replaced the wiring harness as part of my engine swap a few months back, I checked to make sure the injector connectors were pushed on properly. I just happened to notice a faint glimmer of copper where the wires split out of the loom to go to the two injectors. The IAT sensor wires also come out here. One of the injector wires had just barely rubbed through in a small spot; it was rubbing on an unused boss off of the right side top of the frame under the air box. I gave it a few wraps of electrical tape and split a short length of gas hose and put over the boss on the frame so it wouldn't dig into the wires. I've got my fingers crossed that that was the problem. It certainly seems to fit the symptoms. I can imagine it was RPM related because of the rubber engine isolators. The engine probably moves just the right amount in that RPM range to cause the wire to short on the frame. The problem definitely got worse when the bike was warm, probably because the wires became more flexible as they warmed up making it easier for the bare spot to ground out. It'll probably be tomorrow before I can do a test ride- I'll post up the results. | ||
| Metra6924 |
I would like to thank everyone who posted in this topic. I've been experiencing intermittent problems like some of you have described. At first I thought it was the voltage regulator as I was getting trouble codes related to low voltage and and Idle Air Control malfunction. The VR failed and was replaced thanks to Joanne and Al at American Sport Bike. But the troubles did not end there. The Check Engine Light would still come on after an hour or so of riding. I began to think it was the IAC. Further inspection showed contact between the seat and the grey connector and some cracking in the potting material on the ECM. The quick fix in the field was zip ties, and when I got home I relocated the ECM as suggested. My best guess is the seat would deform slightly as everything warmed up and contact the connector causing a low voltage condition to the IAC. Wiggling the wires would cause the CEL to turn off. After a test ride today, there was no CEL and the bike ran just fine. You folks are great! Thanks for the help. Tim | ||
| Buellerxt |
Where did you relocate it to, Metra? No where to go beneath the 'stock' spot and moving it to the space between the battery and fuse box, after bending the battery bracket, just doesn't seem right. Just let it dangle? Unsupported? | ||
| Metra6924 |
I moved it between the battery and fuse box as suggested in another post. It fits snug without anything supporting it, but I'm thinking about some sort of bracket or padding to keep it in place. |
