| Author | Message | ||
     Nateba |
Hey all. I apologize for only contributing to this board with questions, but I'm not very mechanical and I rarely have much in the way of answers. Here's the most recent round of questions: I started the Uly at the airport after a long flight yesterday and started my short trip home. A mile in, the bike stutters and dies. I check the fuse box, and the ignition fuse is blown. I throw the spare in, try and start the bike, and the fuse pops instantly. I walk the bike home. Every other ignition fuse I throw in the bike blows upon hitting the ignition button. When the bike does start, only the front cylinder fires for about 10 seconds, and then the ignition fuse blows. I've researched the forums and I've gathered these possible explanations: -Fuel pump (can't get to it; no jack at the moment to loosen the swing arm) -Grounds -Spark plugs/cables -Random short I checked the grounds, spark plugs/cables and all look good. Has anyone experienced this? I've owned the bike for 14 months, and it has been out of commission at least once during 8 of those months. I'm just looking for some opinions here, although I think I might end up just towing the damn bike in and trading it on something new. | ||
| Uly_man |
No, and do not quote me on any of this as it is hard to do over the net, but I have looked at the wiring diagrams for this as best I can without printing them out. And I only have the 06 and 10 bikes diagrams not a 08 as well but most of it is the same anyway. A blowing fuse is a dead short to Earth. In this case if it does not blow before you hit the starter then the cables from the fuse to the relay are ok. After that it is either in the starter switch or one of the injector wires more or less. What happens it that the ignition relay energizes and sends power to various places but, long story short, I would check the wiring on the sub loom that runs over the rear of the engine as that holds the wires to the injectors and are fed from the ignition relay (switched via the ECM) and if they have rubbed through (a common fault) they can go to Earth which would blow the fuse. Given what you say about one cylinder working and not the other that is what it may be. As I say this is not 100% as is way to hard to figure without being there. | ||
| Ourdee |
Fix it. Get a second bike as a beater for short runs. I suggest a TW200 unless you are trading it in on an RX. | ||
| Etennuly |
I have fixed this symptom on a Uly and on a XB9R. Both were from a wire rubbing through on a muffler bracket. They both had a positive wire worn bare. I found them between the muffler and bottom of the engine near the center of the muffler as the wire passed over a sharp edge on a bracket. This can be inspected by removing the chin faring and looking closely with a flash light into the gap between the muffler and engine. Move the wires a little and look at the wire's insulation for any spot that it touches any part. I had the cam sensor wire do the same, only in rain, on my Uly. That wire rubbed through due to being pinched by the chin faring. Same symptom, just needed water to conduct the ground on the plastic part. There is also a plug in the space behind the front drive belt pulley that can melt down. I think it is the "57" connector in the service manual, someone will correct me if I am wrong about the number. It can be fixed by simply removing it and soldering the wires directly, doing one at a time, because they are both black. The fuel pump would blow the fuse when the key is on and the right side kill switch is on. This would happen before pushing the start button. I would plan on installing new spark plugs. They will likely have fouled by running badly when cold. This part would be a result of the problem, not the cause. So you have to fix the problem before installing new plugs. There can certainly be other causes, but these are cost free easy things to look for. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
I had the same problem on my Uly just prior to the 2009 Homecoming, Found out it was the front spark plug wire was rubbing and burned the insulation off, A new plug wire approx, $9.95 fixed the issue and allowed me to make the Buell Homecoming, | ||
| Nateba |
Thanks for all the input guys. I went out tonight and checked the wiring that runs above the engine. I didnt see any wires coming in contact with the engine, or anything that had obviously burned through. I have my chin fairing removed already, and I checked in between the exhaust and engine and didnt see any wires that had any obvious damage to the insulation. I saw one connector to next to the left of the rear cylinder near the top (looking from the rear of the bike) that had had some frayed heat wrap, but didn't look like the wire was exposed. I checked behind the windscreen and didnt see anything obvious. I'll check the spark plug cable tomorrow. I was able to pull the bottom of the cable off the plug, and it looked fine. Maybe the top is damaged? I swapped the relays around when the bike started blowing the fuses to see if it made a difference. I'm not good with electrical, but a bad relay wouldn't blow fuses, right? | ||
| Arry |
Nate, your profile says that your XB12X is an "06 or 08?"? Do you have a service manual? Do the fuses blow when you turn on the kill switch or when you press the starter switch? I'm looking at my 07 manual and wondering if it could be a bad start relay or ignition relay. I think those 4 relays are the same, so you could use the AUX relay (not needed to run), to replace (test) the start relay or ignition relay. | ||
| Nateba |
It's an '08. The ignition fuse blows after hitting the starter button. Occasionally the engine would start briefly (just the rear cylinder) and then the ignition fuse would blow and the engine would stop. Ulyman mentioned that because the fuse doesn't blow until after hitting the button, the cables from the fuse to relay are okay. I just wanted to rule out the relay as a culprit. I did swap the relays around to no avail. | ||
| Uly_man |
"Ulyman mentioned that because the fuse doesn't blow until after hitting the button, the cables from the fuse to relay are okay". That is because the line/s from the fuse to the relay do not feed anything else. One of the problems with bikes, and a big one with the XB, is that wires can move with vibration, etc so they maybe ok one time but not another. This is a wiring fault caused by a positive wire going to Earth, at some point, from the output of the relay to the things it feeds. It has nothing to with anything else like plug wires, ECM, conn 77, Stator/VR, etc. Only those that feed power from the ignition relay. A wiring diagram is a help and I can send you one if you need it. (Message edited by uly_man on January 02, 2014) | ||
| Nateba |
Ulyman: If you could PM me that diagram it would be much appreciated. | ||
| Uly_man |
You will need to PM me your E-Mail address. | ||
| Arry |
Nate, You might have two separate problems. Something grounded/shorted that is blowing the fuse when you try to start, and possibly something else causing it to run on one cylinder. Did it sit out in the weather at the airport very long? | ||
| Nateba |
About a week. Under a covered building though, out of the rain. The problem with this bike is just that- there's always another problem. In a little over a year Ive spent as much fixing this bike as I spent on it. That's another thread topic, but I don't know how much longer I'm going to take the pain. | ||
| Arry |
You've got mail | ||
| Nateba |
After a few days of checking out the wiring, connectors, plugs and etc, I was still unable to narrow down the problem(s). The bike is on its way to the shop. Thanks for all the replies. I do what I can with my ability, but at a certain point I need some help. I'm either going to have to add a commuter bike to the stable as someone mentioned earlier, or trade this bad-boy in. I keep waiting for the point when I get all the kinks out and it's smooth sailing, but all I know for sure is that this is the least reliable machine I've owned in my short 27 year existence, hah. | ||
| Arry |
Nate, Did you get fixed up at the shop? What was the problem? | ||
| Nateba |
It isn't fixed yet. but I was told that the ignition coil was bad, and that there was a wire in the wiring harness connector that was rubbed through "due to my ECM re-location." I did re-locate the ECM, because of the usual seat-pressing-down on the ECM problem. I'm assuming the wire has been an issue the whole time, and was made worse by the re-location. The shop told me they re-located the ECM again when I talked to them. I asked them where and was told they would need to look into it. I'm hoping they didn't put it back where it was originally. |
