| Author | Message | ||
     Rwven |
I thought the problem was my fan going bad and drawing too much current when cold so I swapped the fan out last night. The problem still exists. When started up cold, after about 2 minutes riding, the CEL lights up and the Aux. power circuit (the cig. lighter plugs) shuts down. This will continue for the next 10 minutes or so and then clear up. If I ride it into work it does this in the morning when temps. are cooler but it does not occur on the ride home. I checked the running voltage, it's 13+ at idle increasing to 14 volts at about 2500 rpm. I've not caught it yet while the CEL was lit and the aux. circuit dropped out so I don't know what the volt reading is while the fault is occurring, I can only assume that it's below the value that triggers the ECM to drop out the aux. circuit. I disconnected the leads to and from the VR and they looked clean, I applied some di-electric grease just to be safe but I haven't had a chance to test ride it yet. Any thoughts anyone? | ||
| Uly_man |
The charge rate sounds about right. Check the ECM history for CEL fault codes if you can. "the CEL lights up and the Aux. power circuit (the cig. lighter plugs) shuts down." The aux runs through a relay so check the output from the relay with the ignition on (its ignition switched) and then with the bike running. It could anything and NEVER assume anything with the electrics on this bike. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
"It could anything and NEVER assume anything with the electrics on this bike." Correction: Assume it's a grounding fault until proven otherwise. My 2008 has 35,000 on it and I have had three ground-related issues. | ||
| Rwven |
I assumed that "it" was a grounding problem about 3 months after I got the bike. I belt and suspendered the ground system on the bike. I've got an extra ground strap designed to carry about 400 amps coming off the battery attached securely to the frame. I cleaned up and star washered the original ground. I've a #8 pigtail soldered to the ground wires at the steering head with a large ring terminal soldered to that star washered and securely bolted down to the lug on the steering head. I also checked all the battery connections for tightness as soon as this problem surfaced. I've had VR's fault on other bikes due to overheating, can thy act up when cold but work fine after they warm up a bit also? | ||
| Rwven |
OK, I disconnected, dielectric greased and reassembled the connections on the VR and I pulled the connectors off of the ECM, checked the pins for corrosion or arcing and reassembled that. This morning I headed out and for the first time in 2 months the problem didn't occur. Assuming it's cured I now don't know which fix fixed it! | ||
| Griffmeister |
Could be intermittent, you really need to check for stored codes to see where to concentrate your efforts. I just replaced my VR last week. When I would test the output I was getting good readings just like you. Then when riding a couple of times the CEL lit up. The code it stored was for high/low voltage so I knew then that I had a charging problem. See what your code is and start there. If you don't have a code list just post it here, I have the list as well as quite a few others and we can tell you what the number says. | ||
| Swampy |
You are cleaning the ground to the frame, but did you clean the ground from the frame to the engine? | ||
| Rwven |
Yup, checked that out last winter when I rotated the engine to replace the rocker box gaskets. I'm hoping I got it with reseating the connections to and from the VR and on the ECM. | ||
| Uly_man |
"It could anything and NEVER assume anything with the electrics on this bike. Correction: Assume it's a grounding fault until proven otherwise. My 2008 has 35,000 on it and I have had three ground-related issues." Sorry it should read "It could be anything and NEVER assume anything with the electrics on this bike" A Star washer is fine as long as it has no paint under it otherwise, once it goes flat it just sits on the paint. If the aux socket is working again then it looks like you fixed it. |
