| Author | Message | ||
     Jepann |
I have an- '06 ulysses. One of the main reasons that I got the bike is due to the info about the bike on the CD-ROM. There was Eric Buell with his infectious enthusiasm talking about the how and why the bike was designed. I had been leaning toward getting the bike but after watching the CDROM I said to myself "I just bought another GD motorcycle." The bike I'm riding is the brainchild of head of the company. After 19 thousand miles I'm still glad to have the bike. There have been issues for sure. The bike is tall and I am short. I have dumped it in parking lots a couple of times and I'm still getting used to that next to nothing steering lock. The side stand broke off (warranty) while on a trip to Montana. My riding buddies started calling the bike Eilleen. Chain link fences are a cushy surface to lean the bike up against. The rear wheel bearings went out (warranty) and the swing-arm, disc & wheel had to be replaced. Now the current issue is the fan. It doesn't come on anymore. I rode home last weekend through Eastern Washington and the temp was in the triple digits. At highway speeds the bike didn't have any problems; there was no stop and go riding. Question: Will the bike be okay at highway speeds without the fan untill it gets fixed/replaced? I have one ordered and might consider having an extra one on the shelf. well that's it ... I am thankful for this site and the info that the members have. Sure beats the treatment at the the dealership where I get the feeling Buell is the bastard cousin who owes everybody money showing up at the family reunion. Jep  } | ||
| Svh |
"Sure beats the treatment at the the dealership where I get the feeling Buell is the bastard cousin who owes everybody money showing up at the family reunion" That is damn funny! | ||
| Seanp |
My fan died in Pennsylvania on a trip from FL to CT. It had been dying for a while before, with the rattling noise coming from under the seat all the time the fan was on. I rode it from PA to CT, about five hours, mostly highway, in 85+ degree weather, and it was fine. I would not, however, ride it in stop and go traffic at all. | ||
| Chadhargis |
Welcome to the failed fan club. I had my fan fail about 5000 miles on my '06, but had it replaced under warranty and it's been blowing strong ever since. I now have 16,000 miles on the bike. | ||
| Red_chili |
Curious if any '07s or '08s have had fan failures. Seems like it is the price of being an early adopter... but seems like VERY few repeat failures. As if something might have changed? | ||
| Svh |
Being new here and reading posts for a few months now I have decided to wonder something out loud about this fan issue. I wonder if it is caused by the scoop pushing air into it. If the fan is spinning fast enough to cause lets say 15mph wind and you are going 65mph that would put strain on that fan motor and bearings. Just a theory but am I crazy to think this may be a contributing factor? Someone may be able to take a more educated guess at it than me. | ||
| Red_chili |
Heat, I think, combined with a particular run of fans from the supplier possibly. The fan is downstream from the heat source rather than upstream. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Red_chili- Good question. A year or so ago, somebody here did a detailed tear-down on a fan they acquired off ebay. They figured out the likely root cause of the failures. This guy determined that the grease the factory used in the ball bearings would break down at the temperatures which had actually been measured at the fan (i.e.- fans fail due to bearings failing). He said there was readily available grease that would handle the temperatures. Hopefully, Buell's supplier figured that out too and later fans have been lubed accordingly. (Knocking on wood and crossing fingers) I have an 07 Uly with ~13,000 miles on it and no problems with the original fan. | ||
| Jepann |
I will do the highway this weekend with no fan. What's the job like to replace the fan? I have a shop manuel on order. | ||
| Rwven |
The fans should last a long time on the '08s because they rarely come on when riding. Mine has come on twice in the 6500 miles I have on it. Once after a 100+ mph blast on a high nineties temperature day where I had to stop for a series of traffic lights just afterward and once on a mid to upper eighties day riding in some twisties in first and second gear using high revs. Other than that it only comes on for it's normal shutdown cycle. | ||
| Jlnance |
I will do the highway this weekend with no fan. What's the job like to replace the fan? I have a shop manuel on order. I replaced mine recently. It wasn't a huge deal. You have to remove the rear shock, which requires that you have some sort of jack to support the motor. I've got a floor jack and that worked fine. | ||
| Froggy |
I am also willing to bet a bad batch on the 06, as there are next to no failures on other years and models. Hell my 06 SS sounded horrible for 2 days, then went back to normal. | ||
| Red_chili |
The only thing that would give me pause with running no fan, even on highway, is its absence for the shutdown cycle. That rear head would have no cooling and oil there would cook. I don't know the statistics on warped heads but I'd rather not find out personally. | ||
| Steve046 |
Before you replace the fan, check to see if the ECM is shot. The fan on my 06 stopped running in a very similar way to yours, but when I checked it directly it ran fine (I think the instructions on which two pins to short to make the fan run are in another thread on Badweb somewhere - you can also use ECMSpy to do it). Anyway, even though the bike ran perfect except for the fan, turns out the ECM was the problem, not the fan. | ||
| Florida_lime |
Curious if any '07s or '08s have had fan failures. Seems like it is the price of being an early adopter... but seems like VERY few repeat failures. I'm on my 3rd fan, but think both failures are to be blamed on a rear rocker seal going out - twice. I never had the box of rocks symptoms, just sudden silence.  The first time, the leak was pretty obvious, and I was waiting for my service appointment when the fan died. The 2nd time the fan quit, the leak had BARELY started. (Message edited by Florida_lime on August 21, 2008) | ||
| Bobmcc |
Jepann, +1 on JLnance's experience. I did my '06 last Spring. Wait for the Service Manual. The shock assembly comes out easily. The fan must be rotated during removal and mine kept getting jammed by a big wiring harness inside the left frame rail. I recall cutting a tie wrap or two so that I could make more room. And watch the O2 sensor lead because the fan comes right over the top of it. It helps if you have little monkey hands. | ||
| Arcticktm |
I would not worry about cooking the oil in the rear cylinder w/o the fan. The fan is more to cool the fuel rail, and prevent vapor lock, which could make re-starting the bike hard/impossible. If you are worried about it before you can replace it, and still want to ride, use the old turbo shutdown routine (before the days of more reliable and water cooled turbos): Don't ride it hard and immediately stop and shut it down. Give the bike some low-load cruising before you stop it and shut it off. Your cyl head should not warp due to no cooling fan. Even if the oil left over in the rocker cover area did cook, it would take awhile for that to lead to a problem. The old turbo hot-shutdown thing was due to oil coking and either blocking oil passages (which would be the drain, not the supply), or forming a barrier that slows down heat transfer, and resulted in overheating. The turbo has hot exhaust running through it, and is WAY hotter than the rear cylinder head. My comments on the fuel rail are actually taken from Buell factory information (Abe), not from my overactive imagination (this time!). | ||
| Red_chili |
Thanks! I am illuminated. (not by grabbing a bad extension cord either...) | ||
| Tootal |
My 06 is in the shop getting a new exhaust valve actuator, front rotor, BAS recall and I was hoping for a new front motor mount as mine has the tell tale signs of failure but I was told they would not replace it unless it was broke. I also noticed my fan, when it shuts off, is making a ticking sound as it slows down. Sort of sounds like a motor with bad brushes right before it goes bye bye. Do these fans even have bushes? The grease tip makes good sense, I might pull mine apart when I get it back and take a look. My warranty will be up next week anyway. tootal | ||
| Etennuly |
My fan made sick noises from about 14000 miles and went up in a puff of smoke at 20000 while I was 600 miles from home in mid summer. I rode it with no problems, but I coasted to stops and if I could time it right I shut it off and coasted into gas stations and such. No problems with it running ill or pinging. New fan under warranty and now at 32000 miles. Working fine. |
