| Author | Message | ||
     Barryt |
My Bike: 06 Uly P&A Exhaust and ECU K&N Airfilter 31,700 miles bought with 26,000 miles The CEL will randomly come on for a moment and the bike will lose power. Soon as the CEL goes out the bike runs like a champ. This randomly happens before and after plugs and before and after the breather re route. Any ideas? Thanks, Barry | ||
| Froggy |
Damaged ECM. | ||
| Barryt |
Well that stinks. Would a reflash fix it or is it most likely a electronic failure? | ||
| Froggy |
Pop off your seat and check the connections on the ECM, you will probably see rub marks from the seat hitting the ECM. This is physical damage, there is little you can do, but some have had some success in moving the ECM and repairing it, but you are likely to need to replace the ECM. | ||
| Barryt |
My ECU has the protective plastic block that has rub marks on it but the ECU looks to be undamaged. I will remove the ecu tonight and look over it. WOuld the need for a TPS reset be a potential cause? It has 31,700m on it and I havent done a TPS reset my self and have no idea when the last reset was done. Thanks Barry | ||
| Etennuly |
It could be getting too hot, going into run/skip then cooling enough to go back to normal operation. Does it do it on hot days on a long up hill run? This is what mine did for a couple of years keeping me(and some others) in an animated state of pissed. I cured mine with a manual switching for the fan. I turn it on and leave it on for the duration of the ride. I changed out my ECM for a known good one with no change. A new one may have done it. The fan is controlled by it's ground through the ECM. | ||
| Barryt |
It has done it randomly on cold and hot days. It did it this winter in below freezing temps. This morning was in the 60's and it did it twice and I was riding in 5th at freeway speeds. | ||
| Froggy |
TPS wouldn't be the cause. Pull the trouble codes from the ECM to see if it will tell you anything, but odds are there will be nothing. What happens is the ECM momentary loses power, and can't tell the rest of the fuel system to work. After a second it gets the power back, and runs its normal startup checks (CEL on for a few seconds), then runs as normal. | ||
| Barryt |
Thats sounds about right. Thanks for the help. Its a shame its a fairly expensive fix. At least on my budget. I guess its time to save up for an EBR ecm. Thanks, Barry | ||
| Arry |
The plastic block was supposed to fix the problem, but the seat is still very close and usualy contacts the ECM connector(s). Lots of ideas, if you search ECM relocate, to solve this problem. | ||
| Etennuly |
Sounds like Froggy may be correct. | ||
| Djohnk |
When my ECM went bad (at about 30,000 miles) I had the same symptoms. Sometimes I got many several wacky trouble codes at once. Sometimes I got none. Symptoms worsened over time. Simply relocating the ECM to avoid further stress might help. Under bright light look for hairline cracks where the gray connector meets the body of the ECM. Sometime you have to flex the connector it a little for them to show. | ||
| Buewulf |
+1 to the bad ECM. Went through it myself. My ECM even ran perfectly on another guys Uly, so I wasted a lot of time chasing snipe figuring the ECM couldn't be the problem. It was. FWIW, the problem started like yours (except I never saw a CEL) and got progressively worse over time. I also didn't experience any symptoms until the bike was at full operating temp. | ||
| 7873jake |
Do you get gauge sweep on the instrument cluster when it happens? Mine started out with CEL but quickly progressed to CEL + gauge sweep (plus running crappy, like you described). Skip spark doesn't cause gauge sweep, that I'm aware of. ECM behaving badly will. | ||
| Froggy |
The ECM does not have anything to do with the gauge sweep, the only thing that will cause that is a power issue to the cluster | ||
| Closetbueller |
I got a gauge sweep with the loss of power when my ECM went bad from a cracked connector, also had a quick flash of the CEL but no stored codes. | ||
| Barryt |
No gauge sweep. Just the light and engine power. | ||
| Gamdh |
Sounds kind of familiar... http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/683041.html?1340032421 | ||
| Barryt |
I think I'm going to pull the ecu tomorrow after work and inspect it and the connections. Maybe relocate it as well. I want a ebr ecm anyway so I guess I'll just save up till I can buy one. | ||
| Buewulf |
I could not replicate my symptoms at first when trying to diagnose the issue to save my life. But after a few months the problems got worse and worse, and I finally get some results. I could duplicate the misfires, backfires and coughing by pressing / bending on the connectors once the bike was fully warmed up. (I would have to ride it until it began misbehaving, get back to the house and then start trying to diagnose.) My pins looked good. I suspect the problem was related to the solder points for the pins inside the ECM. Just mentioning this to inform that you may not see any issues or even be able to duplicate your problems during your inspection. | ||
| Teeps |
Barryt Posted on Friday, June 29, 2012 I think I'm going to pull the ecu tomorrow after work and inspect it and the connections. Maybe relocate it as well. I want a ebr ecm anyway so I guess I'll just save up till I can buy one. I doubt you will see any obvious damage. My '06 Ulysses had various symptoms because of cracked solder joints. There was no evidence of damage externally. see photos in this thread. (not my ecm) http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/673617.html?1333122196 On my bike just removing it from the solid mount made for more consistent operation. End of the day; replacement or repair the ECM. | ||
| Arcticktm |
Same symptoms my 06 had occasionally. I lived with it for a while, then finally jumpered the pins an flashed out the codes. One of them was an "ECM failure" code. No fix for that, I think. I had already made a rear spacer to keep the seat from pressing on the ECM or connector. I got a EBR ECM for (I think) $250, which is a very good deal for a new ECM. No more problem, but I kept the OEM ECM as a backup just in case. | ||
| Pons |
Same here, my ECM and connectors didn't have a scratch on them. I'll carry it for an emergency back up. | ||
| Barryt |
After work yesterday I cut open the ECU and re did the solder points on the bottom. I re-sealed the unit with silicone and relocated the ECU to a hopefully safer location. A 30 minute test ride went trouble free, but we will see how it does when I take it to work monday. | ||
| Barryt |
2 days of commuting and not one hiccup. I guess the soldering and ecu relocation solved my problems.. for now. I will still be saving up for a EBR ecu. Thanks for the help, Barry | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Where were you able to relocate the ECU to? Thanks | ||
| Barryt |
I made a custom bracket out of one of my wife's left over curtain rod hanger. Here ya go.   | ||
| Imaposer |
Barryt - did you verify the seat pan isn't resting on the ecm mounted like that? That close to the edge, there is a ridge on the bottom of my seat pan that extends down along the inner side of the frame there. It was something like a 1/2" below the top of the frame the seat rides on. I had to refit mine twice to make sure there was enough clearance. I posted pictures and an explanation a few weeks ago when I did it. | ||
| Imaposer |
visual explanation - pan ridge -  mounting depth  | ||
| Barryt |
I will bend the mount a little more and drop its depth | ||
| Barryt |
Made a new mount. It looks to be in about the same position as yours is. I also used some tool box drawer bottom liner and made a pad on the bottom of the ecu just in case. | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Thanks for the update. Relocating ours today | ||
| Motorbike |
Here is what I did to check the ECM - Seat clearance. Just make a ball of Play-Doh and set it on the highest point of the ECM. Install the seat and go for a ride. ( Any excuse to go for a ride! ) Pull the seat when you get home and cut the ball of Play-Doh in half and measure the thickness. Mine ended up with about 1/4 to 3/8 inch, which is plenty. Ball of Play-Doh after ride:  Cross section of Play-Doh after ride:  |
