| Author |
Message |
    
Bigo
| | Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 - 10:11 am: | 
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Hey guys!
My S3T has ran well until a couple days ago, far from home at a bike rally.
It just does not run smoothly at cruising speeds, and around town at steady RPM. It causes the bike to buck and stumble. But on hard acceleration it runs well! There is an intermittant miss. It is almost like there is water in the tank or a mild ground or resistance in some electrical component. It just stopped running smoothly.
The engine stumbles as if a kill switch is being quickly hit repeatedly. It never stalls completely. But it seems it will die at any moment.
There's an occasional backfire at highway speed. It just seems like there is something that is not allowing full,smooth power. Kind of like it is running with a restrictor or a rev limiter, for lack of a better description.
Fuel is good- no water or dirt. Plugs seem to indicate it is running lean. And the engine does seem to run much hotter than normal.It starts okay. And it idles fairly well- though that is affected sometimes too such that it seems to want to stall. It just stumbles at times during idle speed. At highway speed it feels as if the power is restricted. It runs roughly at cruising speed- always with that kind of miss-fire ocassional back fire. It runs, but just not well.
It could be a wire rubbing against something. It could be coil problem, ignition wires, mass air sensor, oxygen sensor, injector(s) or ECM I am thinking. I am just not sure. Or know where to start looking.It seems there are too many things it could be.
I am trying to narrow this down, or get a difinative answer. The dealer is really of no help...
There are just several things it may or may not be. Electrical problem I am thinking. But not sure. Where should i start looking?
Anyone out there have a good idea of what the problem could be? As always-your help and suggestions are greatly appreciated!! |
5liter
| | Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 - 11:18 am: |
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Did you take the tank off and drain it? Mine did the same thing until I removed the tank and drained the gas. There was water in the gas. |
Tdman77
| | Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 - 11:29 am: |
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Bad gas could cause those problems. When was the last time a TPS/AFV reset was done? Also how old is the battery? X1s and S3s like a strong battery, a weak/bad battery will cause all sorts of weird problems. While you are in that area remove to battery cables and clean them. |
Bigo
| | Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 - 07:01 pm: |
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5liter-
I did not drain the tank. Maybe I should to see if there is anything suspect in there. I pulled the fuel filter though. Nothing abnormal came outta there.
Tdman77-
I have a new battery and cables. I am not familiar with a TPS/AFV reset. What's that?
Anymore ideas out there? |
Tdman77
| | Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 - 07:36 pm: |
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TPS = Throttle Position Sensor
AFV = Adaptive Fuel Value
Both of these should be reset at least once a year. I reset mine 3-4 times a year or any time I do any work on the bike. An incorrect value in either one of these will cause all sorts of problems. From bad idle to surging in the mid rpm range. If you don't already have an ECM Spy cable and software I highly recommend getting it. The cable can be had here, ebay or American Sport Bike for cheap and the software is free. It's worth getting since the dealer will charge more than the cable to do the resets and there are no guarantees that they are doing it right. Check out ECMSPY.com |
Tdman77
| | Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 - 07:39 pm: |
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"It could be coil problem, ignition wires, mass air sensor (AIR INTAKE TEMP sensor), oxygen sensor, injector(s) or ECM I am thinking."
ECM Spy has a diagnostic tool that can check all these. |
5liter
| | Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 - 08:31 pm: |
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I went through all the other stuff. I finally said screw it and took the tank off and drained it. I let the stuff settle and there was the water. I now tape up my gas cap when I wash the bike as I think I got a lot of the water that way. It's been 3 years and the problem has never come back. Good luck. |
Bigo
| | Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 - 10:39 pm: |
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Thanks for the feedback guys.
I'l have to go and start looking at all the possibilities. Hopefully starting with the easy ones and finding it fast! problem is, I think, there are a lot of reasons this problem could come from. Coil, cables, fuel, etcetera...
Thanks for the ECM Spy Cable tip Tdman77- I'll look into it. The thing is though- I have had the bike eight years now and never reprogrammed anything. It always ran great, until now.
I'm scratching my head and keeping my fingers crossed. Hoping it won't be a big costly deal to fix this one... |
Bigo
| | Posted on Saturday, May 16, 2009 - 05:18 pm: |
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so far gas is good. Plugs good. Ignition wires good, Battery connections clean and good. guess I need to wait for the manual I ordered then get in to deeper diagnostic things.
I checked out that ECM spy cable and software- I am somewhat hesitant about that. Looks complicated. I know some things can be adjusted through a laptop. But does it identify which parts may need replacement? |
Bigo
| | Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 - 09:44 pm: |
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Got it!!! It was a broken wire at the connector for the front fuel injector... |
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99 S3T Runs rough . Need ideas.