| Author | Message | ||
     Francesco |
Last Saturday I went to a friend on my bike, the uly started and the engine ran as good as always, but I noticed the turn signals didn't function most of the time. During the ride they sometimes blinked, but most of the time they were not present. Coming back in my garage I noticed when I wiggled/pushed to the wire loom on the left to the steering neck the turn signals were working now and then, They stop when turning the steer to the right. This must be a broken wire into the harness I thought, within badweb I found multiple topics on wire loom failure at the steering neck (http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142838/487941.html) I pulled off the windscreen and checked for voltage on the signal relais, wiggling the loom towards caused alternating voltage on the relais. Because I've had planned a ride-out next day I decided not to unwrap the loom at this moment. Next day, dressed up in my leather outfit  I jumped on the bike and hit the starter button... turned a few times, some coughs.. but no growl from the remus exhaust  Wire the battery to my car, jumped started it (battery was a little low due the research of the day before). Within quite a few spins and the trotle opened a bit it came to life but only half, It seems the engine is running on one cylinder. Aaahhhh... Hate this. Because the rideout wasn't an option with my Uly thumper I started my research. windscreen off, lights off, unwrapped the loom from below the location of the lights towards the left side airscoop but couldn't see a stripped wire over here. Partly stripped the brown 3-1 solder connection but seemed okay.  Did a check of the ground screw terminals at the steering neck, YEAH! one terminal seem to be a little to flexible, I discovered a broken wire within the isolation here. Stripped it and soldered a new terminal to it. Cleaned the contacts and torqued the grounds. I thought this could be it, but no. Turn signals still malfunction when moving the loom towards the dashboard, it seem to be less sensitive to movement but still not o.k.. Engine still a thumper. Dam. The strange thing to me is that this al started with the turn signals and now the engine is running poorly too. Because I already ordered new spark plugs for the 10k service maintenance I replaced the plugs the make sure it wasn't a fouled plug which cause the thumpering. It wasn't, still running miserable. Any good suggestions before I tearing apart the loom any further? Oh yeah, sorry for my English, not my mother tongue  (Message edited by francesco on April 03, 2012) | ||
| Hughlysses |
I would guess you have a short circuit or broken wire in another location to cause the engine issues. Check the wiring to the Engine Control Module (ECM) under the seat for worn or broken wires. Also remove the airbox baseplate (above the engine) and check the wires going to the two fuel injectors. I had a problem with my Uly occasionally running on one cylinder when one of the fuel injector wires rubbed through and would short out to the frame at certain RPMs. Good luck! | ||
| Etennuly |
There are two 3 into 1 connectors in that wire loom. A bad place for them. One set of wires is the red power supply for the stuff in the dash and fly screen. The other is I believe the white wire for the right turn signals. On my Uly the broken splicer looked good, but when wiggling the wires it would loose contact. I cut them to do a single splice in the wire loom where it bends in the steering neck area, then did the three wire splice behind the fly screen. It has worked out well. For your "new" engine miss I would check the spark plug wires at the coil. Moving the wire harness around may have un plugged it part way. Start the engine for a minute to see which cylinder's exhaust pipe is not getting hot. Having an '06 Uly you have a cable for adjusting the idle that will eat through the front plug wire by rubbing on it. A very common problem that can arise from moving stuff around. | ||
| Francesco |
I've already checked the 3-in-1 connectors, the thing is when I wiggle these this doesn't affect the loose contact/signal indicators. When I wiggle/bend the loom above towards the dash this will cause a malfunction within the headlight, indicators and fuell pump (buzzing stops/starts). The suggestion of the front spark plug wire is a nice one, I'll check this. thanks! Seems like I have 2 separate problems to solve. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
There is a wire that supplies power to the turn signals, orange with black tracer, I believe. A few have found this wire to be broken inside the insulation. The wire also supplies power to the parking lights. | ||
| Etennuly |
Yes on the wiggle the loom near the dash for still being the 3 to 1 connectors. I had mine out twice before I changed it because it just did not look or prove to be bad. After I had it cut out I could see where one of the wires had broken inside the wax filled connector. | ||
| Francesco |
Etennuly, did you only have indicator/light problems? Or also a bad running engine? did the repair also solve this? I checked the voltage output yesterday, also with "running" engine and this was okay (max 14,4V) so it's not a regulator issue I think. Checked headers after this, both were hot! not a thumper? only poor running. Spark plugs were black and wet when I replaced them. | ||
| Etennuly |
The plugs will easily become black and wet if you start and shut the engine off several times during testing. These things will kill plugs if you do not let it come fully up to 'warmed up' each time it starts. Sounds like it is just flooded and needs to be run. Even new plugs, when they have been wet fouled will not run correctly. Put the next set in when you are ready to ride, fire up the engine, let it idle for a couple of minutes, then ride it for at least ten to fifteen miles to heat it up and burn out the excess fuel in the cylinder heads. My Uly never gets started unless I intend to ride it, even if I am testing something, I ride it to fully warmed up if possible. With my steering head wire problem my low fuel light was coming on at the wrong time, and the gages were randomly sweeping, and it kept loosing the tripometer and clock settings. I caught the turn signal problem before it became an issue. | ||
| Firemanjim |
Black and wet,have you looked at your AFV to see how bike is running? You may be so rich you have fouled a plug,that will sound like a thumper. | ||
| Francesco |
I normally try to avoid to start and do not warm up the engine, but I think Etennuly can be right: After I wiggled with the loom (with my HID light one) quite some time, the morning after the battery was to much exhausted that it couldn't start the engine but I kept it cranking a while and this may caused my fouled/ wet plugs. Only thing is that I replaced the plugs with new ones after that and this did't improve the thumper -like engine running. Maybe the ecessive fuel was stil in the cylinders??? Good thing is that I have located a broken wire which solves my signal malfuntion. next weekend I'm gonna repair the loom in a decent way and improve the grounds on the steering neck. Than I'll make the bike ready for a ride and try to burn the engine/plugs clean. Hopefully this is it... And yes, the bike is running richer because of the dynomapping from twin motorcycles. But this is only making it run much better than the standard (euro) mapping which was to lean. (Message edited by francesco on April 04, 2012) | ||
| Uly_man |
"try to burn the engine/plugs clean." For the love of G*D no. Take out the plugs, clean them and set the gap. "And yes, the bike is running richer because of the dynomapping from twin motorcycles. But this is only making it run much better than the standard (euro) mapping which was to lean." I had a 06 EU bike with a Remus can and a K&N air filter. It run great with the OEM can and better with the Remus/K&N set up. It also run better in the low/mid range with a Remus Powerizer. | ||
| Francesco |
So I repaired a broken wire in the front loom, replaced one ground terminal at the front steering neck and cleaned and retorqed the grounds on the subframe: The bike is running great again! And headlight and signal indicators are working as they should. Thanks for the help! Happy me  (Message edited by francesco on April 09, 2012) | ||
| Etennuly |
Excellent! To hear your Uly is back in service to you is great. Now you just have to ride that thing!  |
