| Author | Message | ||
     Epynom |
Hello All, First post here and I'm doing this from my phone so please be kind. I'm not sure I'm posting in the right place or if this has been addressed before, but it's all new to me. About 2 months ago I picked up a 08 1125r at 12.5k miles in solid condition. I got it for 3.5k and was very excited. This would be my first Sports bike coming off a Honda Shadow Spirit 06. I got the bike and brought it home. First day taking it out I noticed the idle was fluttery and the bike gave me the "IAC System error" code. I had no idea what this meant. Asked a couple people. They said that the bike had probably been sitting and to and to give it a full tank of premium and take it out for a good run. I did. The error cleared and the bike seemed to run better after that. Fast forward a couple of weeks and the error is back. I now have to start the bike multiple times for it to stay started long enough to get through the "CT Cold" message and take it out. I would say 3 times and it would stay started. The bike Hates having its throttle blipped at any time and would die if I did so. Once I get it warmed up and running it would behave fine, though I could not ignore the strong smell of gasoline everytime I would ride. I'd get home and reek of it. Last week I went to start my bike like any other morning and had to start it more than 10 times to even get it to stay long enough to warm up. By this point I had been doing research on what the problem may be. Calling friends, surfing the net, reading forums, coming here etc. I drive the bike to my friends this last Sunday. When I arrive he notices my front forks are leaking. Great. Add that to the list. I took the bike to him because he also has an 1125r 08 at 46k miles minus all of the problems I'm having with mine. My disclaimer is that I did not grow up a mechanic but am not incompetent so I decided to open her up yesterday and start eliminating possibilities: Battery- Fine Spark plugs- Guy I bought the bike from. Said he changed at 12k, so I verified. Throttle Body - Cleaned IAC Sensor- I had found a post on here with a tutorial on how to remove said sensor and clean it off. That was my plan. Unfortunately I got hosed. His bike was an 09 and has the Sensor conveniently placed on the easily accessible RIGHT side of his throttle body. Mine is on the LEFT in an unreachable place. So thats up in the air for the moment. Air filter- Total garbage. I have a new K&N ordered and on the way. I even disconnected the ECM for a few hours and plugged it back in followed by a TPS reset hoping that would help. It only took 4 tries to keep the bike started this morning to take it in for the forks. I keep the bike on a battery tender at all times. The bike shop that's doing the forks specializes in tuning and says that anything mechanical is "Buell problems" and since the company closed that I'm SOL and they refuse to help (Thanks) I have some photos I took yesterday that I can upload if needed. So the only 2 things that have been suggested to me that I've been unable to do at this point is get that IAC sensor cleaned which means taking it in somewhere, and the other is getting the Racing ECM which is currently priced at $335. I don't want to drop that in and make the problem worse. I realize this is a really long read and not composed the best and for that I apologize. I just wanted to get out all the details before I forgot anything important. I am open to all help and suggestions. Please! | ||
| Dannybuell |
have the valves been adjusted? | ||
| Epynom |
The guy I bought the bike from said he took it in but I doubt it. That's $500+ Right there. | ||
| Froggy |
It sounds like you are off to a good start with troubleshooting. Like you said, I'd be aiming at the IAC system. One thing you can try is feeding a cleaner like Seafoam down the IAC tube and see if that helps. The IAC is what controls your idle, and if it isn't working right it can produce your symptoms. I see you made it here from Reddit, the story sounded familiar  | ||
| Epynom |
I did Froggy haha thanks for noticing! Its just in a location beyond my skill to get at. If you really think it's worth it I'll take it in for that next. Definitely cheaper than shooting in the dark with the valves. | ||
| Chuchor19 |
I had a very similar problem when I got my 2008 1125r with 9.5k miles. I'm definitely no mechanic, but I followed the seafoam suggestion and got a smoother start. I also bought a 50$ buelltooth to remap it since it has a barkers exhaust which it was never mapped to (probably not a real term). The problem went away and it runs very smoothly without any starting issues. I pump only at my local shell station. Their gas really seemed to help a lot too. | ||
| Froggy |
It is worth a shot at least. The IAC tube is sticking up in the air box, if your bike is idling and you stick your finger in the tube, it will stall. | ||
| Epynom |
Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. The exhaust is stock on thus bike which in grateful for since it's on less thing that could be a problem. Froggy, I think I saw that tube when I had it all apart the other day. It's a black tube that sticks up like a periscope on the right hand side of the throttle body? I didn't know where the other end went. | ||
| Froggy |
Yep that is it. The other end is your IAC. | ||
| Ebmachine |
The bike must have sat around a lot. When gasoline goes bad, it turns to varnish/gum. That can give your fuel injectors a problem. Putting fresh premium in the bike is not enough to clean the injectors. You might try a proven fuel injector additive like Red Line (60103) Complete SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner. Be careful not to overdue it, but follow the recommendations on the bottle. You need to run through a full tank of fuel with the additive to clean out your fuel system. | ||
| Epynom |
Thank you Ebmachine. I was recommended that by a friend but had not researched if it was ok to run through my bike as well. It's a pretty good guess though that the bike did indeed sit around. I'm guessing that caused a lot of problems. | ||
| Ebmachine |
Epynom, I did not realize Redline makes a fuel system cleaner for motocycles. https://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=116&pc id=13 If you use this, it could solve your problem. I would try this before spending any money on sensors or computer work. | ||
| Epynom |
Thanks Ebmachine. I'm all over it as soon as I get it back from having the forks done. | ||
| Epynom |
Update: Forks done for a grand total of $207. Guy calls me and tells me now he can't get it started. I told them to leave it on a Tender. NOW they want to work on it. I told him I already gave him that opportunity. I'm heading over there now. Wish me luck.... | ||
| Epynom |
Update: So after getting the forks rebuilt, they could not get my engine to turn over. It almost gets there but will not start all the way. So there it sits at the shop that hates Buells while he goes over the shop manual I sent him hoping to get it at least started so I can drive it home and work on it. *Heavy Sigh* | ||
| Froggy |
I don't get how rebuilding the forks involves anything that would affect starting the bike. Sounds like time for a different shop. | ||
| Epynom |
Right Froggy? All I know is it started to get it over to the shop and now it doesnt. I think he realizes this and is doing free work to get it started at the moment, however I have not heard from him in 2 days. Recommended "best in town" my plan was to only have them do the forks and bring it home to start everything else you guys had recommended. I didn't believe him when he said he couldn't get it started, so I went over there. Sure enough it won't turn over. So now I'm at their mercy kind of | ||
| Nuts4mc |
need to charge the battery ...overnight... if you can't find the red line oil fuel stuff...might want to try Seafoam...I use it on old 1500 goldwings with tiny tiny pilot jets...works wonders...auto parts store should carry it. https://seafoamsales.com/ HTH | ||
| Froggy |
Can you describe what the bike was doing? Any clicking noises or other unusual sounds? Any messages on the screen or check engine light? Might be something as simple as a blown fuel pump fuse. | ||
| Epynom |
Well, he told me that they didn't keep it on the tender like I asked them too. He said they started it to move it out of their back room once they finished the forks but had to let it idle for like 10 mins as he said to move it anywhere. I'm sure he was exaggerating as we all know they need to warm a little with a stock ecm to get them to move and mine has problems already. He said once they tried to move it into the pick up area before he called me that it wouldn't turn over. When you turn the key all sounds are normal but the one thing I noticed was the low fuel light stays on and dosent go out. When you try and start it, it revs and revs but never catches to fully turn over, if that makes sense. Codes that I can recall are IAC System error Fuel pump system Communication error I think the fuel pump one Is new? I was already going to do all the stuff you guys had suggested. I even ordered the Redline fuel system cleaner from California online. The bike shop is all the way across town so I haven't seen her for a couple days now. I just need to get it to turn over so I can get her home. I'm certain I can make things better from there. | ||
| Epynom |
I feel that it's also worth noting that all the times we tried to turn it over, there were no gasoline fumes. Normally it stinks | ||
| Froggy |
I got a feeling it is fuel pump related, normally when you turn the key on, you will hear it make a whirring noise for a second while it primes. Enter diagnostic mode by holding down Mode and Toggle on the dashboard, then turning the key to on. You can then tab through the screens, it will show you the fuel pressure in kPa. It should be around 517 kPa at key on, and 380-415 kPa with the engine running idle and 4000 RPM (if you ever get to that point) | ||
| Epynom |
I think I'm going to call him here in a bit and head over there later today. If the pump is bad, is there a replacement you recommend? And where is the best place to fine one? | ||
| Epynom |
Update: Called the shop. He hasn't done anything and doesn't want to work on it even if I pay him. Now I'm finding a trailer to get it out of there. If it is indeed the fuel pump, is that something I can look into myself fairly easy? Or should I take it to a different shop? | ||
| Nuts4mc |
google at the top of the page is your friend...here are a couple of threads that google found that may help...the pump is in the frame/gastank...not easy to get at. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/290 431/617310.html?1298264857 http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/290 431/721842.html?1380506753 in the above string...the connector that supplies power to the pump was the culprit good luck...hth | ||
| Epynom |
Thanks Nuts. Those are good threads. I did do some googling and now swe that getting to the pump will be beyond my equipment/Skill. I definitely want to try and hone in on that being the culprit for sure first. | ||
| Epynom |
Update: Froggy, you were correct. I went down. To the shop to check on her. I couldn't mess with the wire harness for the pump or any wires as they already had her put back together. I WAS able to get the diagnostics you mentioned. KPA at key on only reads 40. | ||
| Epynom |
Update: I've gotten the bike home and have been checking things out. I can't seem to find any wires stripped/chaffed or blown fuses. I do think it's worth to mention that while running the diagnostics to check the low kPa on the pump, the battery voltage also only reads 11.7 currently. The guy at the shop said that fully charged it was at 13. My question is, is this enough to cause the fuel pressure problem and keep the bike from starting or should I be assuming the problem lies with the pump or elsewhere? A new battery is around $140 and I'd rather not spend it, if it's not necessary . I've been poking around for days though, and threads with similar problems were traced back to a bad battery so I don't want to be ignorant to the problem. | ||
| Bubba_ |
boy, sure seems like your battery is suspect. and a bad battery can trip several code faults if i'm not mistaken. this is stolen from another thread: This is straight out of the service manual. DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION Battery condition can be determined by a voltage test, a conductance test, or a load test. A battery may be tested, whether fully charged or not, using the conductance test. However, the battery must be fully charged to perform a load test. VOLTMETER TEST The voltmeter test provides a general indication of battery state of charge or condition. Check the voltage of the battery to make sure it is in a 100% fully charged condition. Refer to Table 3-5. If the open circuit (disconnected) voltage reading is below 12.6V, charge the battery and then recheck the voltage after the battery has set for one to two hours. If the voltage reading is 12.7V or above, perform the 3.4 BATTERY TESTING, Load Test. Table 3-5.Voltmeter Test For Battery Charge Conditions VOLTAGE STATE OF CHARGE 12.7 100% 12.6 75% 12.3 50% 12.0 25% 11.8 0% Think I'd start at the battery; confirm its good/ bad then proceed w/ the other stuff fuel pump? stator? btw, i'm no expert; not even close.. what i know - i picked up from the folks here | ||
| Epynom |
Thanks Bubba Update: Went and bought a new battery, thought it would help. Still no dice. Flashed the fuel system error again. So she's just not getting any juice. Thinking about grabbing some carb cleaner and forcing her to start tomorrow in the hopes that it gets everything going again. Clogged injectors? Or am I just going to assume that the pump has gone to heaven? |
