| Author | Message | ||
     Deucelightning |
Howdy all, First time posting here. I've been enjoying this forum and have gotten some great info. I have had an '04 XB12S for about a month now and love riding it. At about 700 miles one cylinder quit firing. I went about a half a mile further to where I could pull of the road and shut her down. A lot of white smoke was coming from the exhaust and you could smell the raw fuel. Unbelievably I was within a couple of blocks of my house, usually this type of thing happens when you are farthest away. So I pushed her home. This happened after I rode about 60 miles, then got stuck behind a bunch of slow moving traffic for a few miles. She was not in any danger of overheating. The next day she started OK and ran great for about 30 miles. As I started through some twisties after getting off the highway, I noticed a miss. Seemed to happen as I got on the throttle. The service guy said that these bikes are temperamental and that they get too much fuel if you don't start them right. He informed me that if you start it then shut it off then start it back up you can cause this to happen. I told him that I have never done any such thing, I turn the key, flip the switch, wait for the pump to stop then start her up. I let her idle for about 30 seconds then get on down the road. She has been in the shop for five days now. I hope to get her back soon. Anybody have any thoughts? Can anybody recommend a good Buell wrench in the Indianapolis Indiana (or North of Indy) area? Thanks. | ||
| Freyke |
I had a similar problem on my XB9S... turned out to be a cracked sparkplug (rear cylinder)...took a while to figure out as it was intermittent... | ||
| Boulderbiker |
whoever told you these things are tempermental and said that they'll do that if you don't start them right is up to his neck in it. Something's wrong. I'm sure someone on here knows a good shop somewhat close by, but whatever you dont have that shop work on it. | ||
| Sammigs |
Is it possible that the engine has to much oil in it? Or maybe a breather hose is blocked or kinked? Was the engine knocking when the white smoke was present? White smoke does not indicate fuel unless the injector was wide open.(lots of engine noise) | ||
| Deucelightning |
Sammigs: No, the oil level is fine and the breather was not blocked or kinked. I assume the white smoke was caused by unburnt fuel that came from the cylinder that wasn't firing. | ||
| Deucelightning |
UPDATE: I just got off of the phone with the dealer and it turns out that the front injector was faulty. Back on the road again! Woo Hoo!!  The dealer swiped an injecter off of a bike they had on the floor. I thought that was pretty cool. The wrench seems to know his stuff as well. He was not the guy who said the bikes are temperamental. (Message edited by deucelightning on September 02, 2004) | ||
| Deucelightning |
Update to the Update: So here I am sitting at work, my bike is done and it's a bee-yoo-tee-ful day. I haven't ridden the Buell in a week now. There ain't no way in hell I'm gonna make it till 4:00 P.M., and no self respecting Buell rider should be expected to. I ask the highest in command if I will face any dire consequences if I leave at noon. The answer is no, so humming some Steppenwolf, I head to The Dealer, I am as excited as a two peckered billy goat. After signing some papers I go out side and there she is! Woo Hoo!  I put my leather on, don my helmet and leather gloves. After a close inspection I see nothing visually wrong so I turn the key, flip the switch and wait for the pump to stop. I thumb the starter and she fires right up. I sit there for a minute, letting the motor warm up and feeling the revolutions of the motor with every part of my body. A big grin instantly appears on my face. I plot my course for the quickest way out of the city. When I hit the two lane blacktop north of town, I twist the wick a little bit, oooohhh that feels good. She is running smooth, perfect. I swoon over the sound as I roll on the throttle. I love this bike. I happily buzz along for about 20 miles or so, through some long lazy turns. Life is good. As I enter a small town I get stuck behind a slow moving semi. No problem, I think to myself, I'll pass 'im once the double yellow disappears. I twist the throttle and the engine responds and....WTF? Was that a miss. Nah. Must have been me. Wait, there it is again, very subtle, a slight miss or maybe hesitation would be more accurate. Then again maybe not. It's kinda hard to tell. Up ahead is the turn to on of the twistier little roads here, all part of my plan. As I near the turn the miss is becoming more pronounced. There's no doubt about it now, she is really stumblin. When I twist the throttle...nothin', and she's runnin' really rough.  So I limp through some great twisties focusing on just trying to get her back to the shop. In the meantime she is bucking and choking and the check engine light comes on, goes off, comes on again and then goes off. This happens in the space of about three miles. When I get to the stop sign at the end of the road, she dies. I have twenty miles to go to get to The Dealer.  As I sit on the side of the road pondering, a biker passes me, a bunch of other vehicles pass including a white van. The white van is inhabited by a couple guys, one yells something, nobody offered any help. So I get out my cell phone and call The Dealer and they send a truck out to get me. Cool. I find a shade tree and sit under it, wishing I had a cigar and a nice cold beer. Note to self: Pack a cigar in the tool pack. Eventually The Dude shows up and we head back to The Dealer. At The Dealer, The Manager immediately plugs in The Scanalyzer and we have two trouble codes this time: #33 (Fuel Pump) is new and #23 (front fuel injector). That's the one I got the first time and is what led to the front fuel injector being replaced. So in one fluid motion The Manager reaches under the counter snatches the service manual and plops down on the counter and begins studying the wiring diagram. Turns out the fuel pump and the front injector have a common wire, so he thinks its shorting out somewhere. That makes perfect logical sense, but I don't think that is the problem. Just a hunch. They will get right on it and hopefully have it ready tomorrow. I love this bike and I am sure we will work this out, every once in a while these things happen. It still pisses a guy off! Is it possible that my other bike does not appreciate this new Buell and has sabotaged it? Have any of you out there with multiple bikes experienced anything like this? This is my first time with two bikes, just wondering. Tune in tomorrow for more info...or not. Ride safe everyone. | ||
| Deucelightning |
Updated Update to the Update - The Solution Sorry for all the posts, but I just thought I would post one more followup cuz I thought this was interesting. The Dealer got right on my bike just like they said they would. The Manager said he talked to The MoFoMoCo and asked if they had any problems such as the one I detailed above. Turns out they have, and it has to do with the wiring that runs to the ECM being routed so close to the battery. Apparently static electricity was causing some interference and thats what caused the bike to run poorly and throw up the two error codes. You could see a shiny spot on the negative battery terminal where the wires were rubbing. That bunch of wires that goes to the ECM that was rubbing also happened to be the one that contained the grey wire that has the front injector and the fuel pump in common. They put some plastic conduit around said bunch of wires and re wrapped them. They also put a small rubber "mat" on the side of the battery to help insulate. In the attached pic you can see the rubber on the right side of the battery and the conduit. I have ridden over 300 miles without any hint of a miss. Prior to this I couldn't go 30. It looks like that this has fixed the problem. Why some bikes have a problem and others don't is beyond me. Maybe that grey wire has to be situated in just the right place to cause a problem. I hope this may help someone in the future.  |
