Bike Dead, Please help.

[dangtienanh]

I live in Wisconsin and don't have a garage to store the bike for the winter, so it was covered in a college parking lot for almost 3 months.

Just a couple of days ago when the sun was out, I decided to take her out for a ride. Fired right up, no problem.

Just yesterday night when I had to ride to a gas station to get cigarettes, the bike took a little longer to turn over -> weak battery, I knew because it had happen before. I thought it was a short ride, so doesn't matter, I would charge it when I got back. When I was riding back from the gas station, a friend of mine called me up for a poker game, I was like yeah why not. We played overnight as I left the bike outside in the parking lot. In the morning when I was about to ride back home, the bike wouldn't start: I knew it was the battery, so I asked a friend to help me push it start. I have done this before so it didn't take more than 2 mins.

As I was riding out, I low-sided low speed on a strip of black ice. Nothing was broken at all, even my jeans. I parked the bike at another friend's house (I'm in college and we're having spring break) to stay over for the day. As I was trying to install a pair of bar end mirrors, I opened up the Kill-Switch assembly to move it in with the grip a little to make room for the mirror, and then I went ahead to charge the battery for a couple of hours, just to get enough juice for a start then I would charge it when I get back home.

Now here's the problem: after being charged for two 2hrs, the battery had no problem starting the bike up. Everything worked. I rode back home (5 mins away) and noticed the bike sounded slightly different than normal. I had one bar of fuel left as indicated on the gauge. The bike took me home fine, but as I was coasting along the parking lot trying to find a spot, it stalled, and never turns back on again.

Here are the symptoms:
- Gauge doesn't do its dance anymore when key switches to ON. All I see is the clock. The backlight is gone too. No signal indicators, no neutral green light.
- NO fuel injecting prime, the whirring sound, I switch the key to ON, kill switch in ON position, the bike is in Neutral (I know cuz the rear wheel rotates freely without clutching in), kickstand up. When I press the Starter, nothing happens at all.
- Tail light works, horn works.
- Charged the battery for 12 hours, no dice.
- Bought a brand new battery and installed it, still nothing.

Now I've read around a lot and had almost concluded that there have been a couple of cases similar to mine:

- One of them had fuel gone bad and the Ethanol produced a coating on the electrical contacts of the fuel pump. (My fuel is, yes, 4 months old, went through a negative 10 degree winter outside). He wiped them off and his bike revived. -> He had the exact same symptoms: no gauge, no whirring.

- Several of them had failed kill switch, but here's the thing. I've used the switch a couple of times before and even though the fuel pump doesn't prime when the switch is OFF, the gauge still did its dance.

- Also suspicious is the lean-angle cutoff switch and maybe blown fuses. I don't have a multimeter with me to check, but by the look of them, they're all fine. All connectors are tightly in place.


No I haven't try remove the fuel pump to give it a clean. I decided to post here instead to see if someone can point me to the right direction. I'd appreciate it very much.

Thanks!

 

[fazil]

It can't be lean angle or kill switch.
Bad fuel might be the cause.
Did you try to fill the tank with fresh fuel and fully charged battery and give it a full throttle while cranking?

 

[dangtienanh]

Fazil thank you for replying! I'm trying to remove the fuel bump to see if is there any residual crap in it and got stuck at the little plastic catch, but from the look of things (pump, hoses, electric contact) everything seems to be fine. I also hot wired the kill switch but it did nothing. Bike still dead. Therefore you could be right that it's the bad fuel (removing the tank made me realize there was more fuel in it than I thought, like 1/3 tank).

Now what puzzles me is why even the tach doesn't light up anymore. I put a brand new battery in and does the full throttle cranking thing yesterday, but that didn't work either. Now I need to find a way to get some fresh fuel.

 

[lawlberg]

My only guess is loose connections somewhere, but I'm sure that you've checked that over and over. If you're lifting the tank up and moving it around much it's pretty easy to pinch a wire.

 

[dangtienanh]

Thank you Lawlberg, I have checked all the connections again and again already, still nothing wrong. Pulled the fuel bump out, cleaned it over, checked both Fuel Level Sensor connection and Bump connection, all intact. Kill switch/starter contacts are all clean and solid. Again, brand new battery.

The bike is an 06, 8k miles on it. So new and well kept that there were pretty much no dust anywhere under the tank or inside the bunch of wires, all the bolts and nuts are still shiny lol

When I lift the tank I made sure all cables and hoses are solidly attached and not pinched. Here is what I just found: the bike doesn't even go to DIAG mode. I suspect the ECU is fried, can anyone please confirm that?

 

[david323]

Don't some new batteries need to be charged longer than ~2 hours? It could also be bad (although not DOA). I'd check the battery for power with a multimeter before determining the ECU is fried...

 

[dangtienanh]

Thanks David, when I bought the battery, I tried to pry info out of the salesman about it. I asked him how long should I charge it before plug it in and he said it's already fully charged. I really doubt that so I made him pull out a meter right at the store and sure it reads 12.8V, still in doubt, I brought the battery back to my place and charge it again for 2 hours before actually pop it in.

Now that should be about all I know about batteries. I made another guess that since the old battery was so dead it couldn't even hold much charge so its resistance drop down to very little, and when I wack the throttle to high RPMs the bike's charger fried the ECU. However this is a very uneducated guess, and since all the lights and horn are still working fine, I ruled out the chance that something might have been fried. Reading through the Service manual right now at the wiring diagrams and have yet found out what's wrong.

 

[dangtienanh]

Ok, first problem found: I went through the fuse box (on the right side, under the right seat pod) again and found out my Ignition Fuse has blown! Now I haven't gotten around to change the fuse yet, but it got me thinking: 1st: what blew it in the first place? 2nd: anyone who knows FZ6 electric forward and backward can give me a pointer why a blown ignition fuse can kill the gauge as well? Thank you guys very much for the help so far!

 

[DavesFZ]

I would change that fuse out and see what happens. If I were home I would take out my ignition fuse and see if I got the same symptoms as you. You may find some diagnosing ideas in this thread: http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-...en-you-turn-key-blows-ign-fuse-everytime.html

 

[dangtienanh]

Hi DavesFZ, thanks for the response. When I found out about the blown fuse I actually did a Google search and found the exact same thread, bookmarked it right away. Will follow along tomorrow morning and I'll update here if come up with anything.

Thank you all people for your help!

 

[DavesFZ]

Well I'm off work now so I tested it on my 09 and every single thing you said happened to my bike when I pulled the ignition fuse. Horn, indicators and clock are all unaffected, while everything else is "dead". Hopefully it doesn't blow the new one you put in!

Edit: check out our wiring diagram, it might help you track down the culprit. http://www.sportbikes.net/forums/at...ed-turn-signal-wiring-help-fz6-electrical.pdf

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Just as an FYI, regular (not lithium) batteries usually come 80% charged. They can be used right out of the box HOWEVER, their life will be shorter if NOT CHARGED.

An automamtic Battery Tender, etc, should be put on the battery before use.

After replacing my old FJR battery twice (every three years) and FZ6 battery once, the charger ran up to 6 hours before getting the fully charged "GREEN LIGHT".

The battery will have a longer life if fully charged initially..

 

[dangtienanh]

Bike revived, just changed out the fuse! Thanks guys!

 

[Motogiro]

Fuses don't wear out so it blew for a good reason. Maybe when the bike went over the fork went to full lock and pinched a wire? Check your harness by the forks carefully. Your key on switch and run/kill switch are on that circuit and they pass through the fork harness.

 

[dangtienanh]

Spot on Motogiro! Mine Fizzer's naked so I did do some re-wiring, and also recalled just minutes before it went dead, one of the wires binded and prevented me from doing a full lock in the parking lot, so I just pull it out of the way, and just minutes after that while I was doing the full lock again (pardon me, just fooling around in the parking lot) the bike stalled with forks and handlebar all the way left. So I believe it was a pinched wire somewhere in that area that blew the fuse. However since I switched the fuse, I moved the cables around a little bit so that there was no binding, bike started and ran fine without problems.

 

[Motogiro]

Spot on Motogiro! Mine Fizzer's naked so I did do some re-wiring, and also recalled just minutes before it went dead, one of the wires binded and prevented me from doing a full lock in the parking lot, so I just pull it out of the way, and just minutes after that while I was doing the full lock again (pardon me, just fooling around in the parking lot) the bike stalled with forks and handlebar all the way left. So I believe it was a pinched wire somewhere in that area that blew the fuse. However since I switched the fuse, I moved the cables around a little bit so that there was no binding, bike started and ran fine without problems.

Okay! Good find!. Now you have to open that area on the harness because if you did in fact pinch the wires hard enough to blow a fuse that means there is damaged insulation and possibly cut strands. You'll want to repair these ASAP.

 

[dangtienanh]

OK, didn't get to ride a lot since the incident, and as it got up to the 60's yesterday, I rode it out and bam! same problem. I thought I knew for sure it was the fuse again, so went ahead and checked it, and all other fuses on the bike (dramatic pause) ALL INTACT. Being paranoid, switched them all with spare brandnew fuses, the bike's still dead. Now I full understand why Motogiro warned me to repair the wire section that goes through the forks asap. I think it's messed up badly this time so the whole circuit is wide open.

Now to the question: how do I get access to the inner wires? Should I just open the whole section up by cutting through the outer insulation to repair the wire and heat shrink it when I'm done? Or do I have to remove the whole harness under the battery to do it? I have limited tool and time.

Should I just bring it to a shop and have it looked at? How do I convince the mechanic to dive right ahead and open up that said wire section without coming off as snobbish? And what if I open it up myself just to find everything is intact?

Hope the experts can help me out on this one. Trust me I'd buy all of you a round if we can actually meet.

 

[KingY]

I would cut open the outer protection being careful not to cut a wire then inspect do any repairs you can and re-protect with heat shrink when all work is done

 

[CavDoc]

I would cut open the outer protection being careful not to cut a wire then inspect do any repairs you can and re-protect with heat shrink when all work is done

I agree, take a look!

 

[Motogiro]

There's also a main 30 amp fuse that usually sits in an assembly atop the battery. There should be the starter interrupt relay attached. Lift and prop the tank. Look to see this is attached properly(insulated etc) and that the fuse is good. Pull the 30 amp fuse or disconnect the battery! Fuses are meant to protect circuits and prevent fires. The fuse is the highest warning, other than a fire or burned components, you'll receive to tell you, you have a problem that must be fixed properly. Do not replace any fuses at this point! Inspect the wires exiting the frame and make sure they are insulated. If you're pulling wires lock to lock with the steering you need to fix that.If you don't find a problem in the this area proceed on the concept we discussed before about a problem with a pinched wire at the steering.

I would cut the sheath longwise where you think it may have been pinched.
You'll find a heavy red wire a heavy brown with blue tracer wire. A lighter gauge white with blue tracer and a lighter gauge blue with black tracer wire. These are the wires to and from the ignition switch that are powered off that 30 amp main fuse. Take your time! (I sound like yer dad huh!) Well son....Good luck with your mission!