MOT and 1st ride out

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D-Rider · #16 Post by **D-Rider** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:13 pm

Falco9 wrote:So the saga continues..............went out for a ride today and within a couple of miles once again I lost the right hand side of the dash display again with "diag 1" now showing. But once again the bike ran fine and the next set of lights I turned the ignition off & on and it reset to normal

As per my last post ..... YOUR DIAGNOSTIC WIRES ARE CONNECTED TOGETHER (or touching occasionally). Make sure that connector is disconnected.
Diag 1 refers to the setting of the TPS (which when properly set reads zero - but that's with the fast idle completely off - not as in how you have it set up on the road. If you ever do fiddle with this, the workshop manual explains it all - mind you, Hishy has told you most of this)

I'm pretty sure your problems are electrical but hard to say exactly what.
Kill switches and sidestand switches have caused people problems - as has dodgy wiring.

Falco9 · #17 Post by **Falco9** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:25 pm

D-Rider wrote:
Falco9 wrote:So the saga continues..............went out for a ride today and within a couple of miles once again I lost the right hand side of the dash display again with "diag 1" now showing. But once again the bike ran fine and the next set of lights I turned the ignition off & on and it reset to normal

As per my last post ..... YOUR DIAGNOSTIC WIRES ARE CONNECTED TOGETHER (or touching occasionally). Make sure that connector is disconnected.

No the diagnostic wires are separated and are not touching. I have them on opposite sides of the ECU connector blocks. I now think the display is randomly coming up with this message due to the wierd electrical issues or earthing problems I'm having.
I do have the side stand switch "fixed" in the "up" position as I haven't got round to having the gixer side stand adpated yet. I fixed it this way using cable ties and hid it up behind the frame rails.
I've had no issues and not seen the the warning light come on though. Never the less I'll double check it again to be sure

F9

D-Rider · #18 Post by **D-Rider** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:47 pm

Ah OK ..... I withdraw my capital letters

Things are sounding decidedly "iffy" then ..... wiring .... the ecu itself .....

Samray · #19 Post by **Samray** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:51 pm

D-Rider wrote: .... the ecu itself .....

That was my thought, but didn't like to ......

Falcopops · #20 Post by **Falcopops** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:59 pm

Most of my guesses are already covered, but a long shot is the fall sensor.

IIRC if it is going south it can cause similar issues. The work around is to use a high value resistor 62K is the number I recall, but AF1 has a write up on it. Maplins or the like should have something suitable for less than a quid.

Falco9 · #21 Post by **Falco9** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:36 am

Once again many thanks for all your replies and suggestions, believe me they are all very much appreciated.

I have spent many hours now trawling throiugh the UK forums and AF1 sourcing info and looking at similar issues.

Plan of attack now is to check / disable / repair / clean the side stand switch, the Fall Sensor, and check the fuel pump relay to see if I can get to the bottom of the problem

I'm an electrical gimp so forgive the probably basic question. But can a relay have an intermittent fault or is a relay a simple it either "works or not" item?

I went back through the process of how I got the bike re-started yesterday, and it was turning over fine with no warnings or "EFI" flashing on the dash. I then checked and waggled all the wires under the seat and she started. I'm now thinking could it be the connector or the relay for the fuel pump??? With all the traffic passing at the time I couln't tell you if the pump was priming or not to be honest. ( I have of course checked this now and used some dielectric grease on the 3 pins. The connector looked fine and was fastened.

This doesn't / wont explain the dash going out of course but I have to start somewhere

F9

Hishy · #22 Post by **Hishy** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:49 pm

yup you can certainly have intermittant faults with relays, if it is a relay problem it'll get worse before they pack up completely, unless of the coil goes ofc then it wont work at all or blow a fuse when it tries to, dependiong on wether the coil is open or short circuit.

Willopotomas · #23 Post by **Willopotomas** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:56 pm

Depends it they're mechanical or digital relays. Digital one's tend to just let go, where as mechanical ones like to try to cling to life just that little bit longer.

The mechanical or 'electromagnetic' type will have contact points that over time will wear out.. I'm not familiar with the Falco wiring, but some European marques like to stack or 'cascade' relays.. Meaning they can use more than one relay in the same circuit.. I can't see much call for it on the Falcos though.

Digital or 'contact less' relays are a simple logic controller. They're free from mechanical movement, so don't wear out. If an incorrect load is applied due to a short or incorrect fitment, they will fail.

In my experience, EM relays tend to be more forgiving and durable than their digital counterparts.

Falcopops · #24 Post by **Falcopops** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:15 pm

Falco9 wrote:I do have the side stand switch "fixed" in the "up" position as I haven't got round to having the gixer side stand adpated yet. I fixed it this way using cable ties and hid it up behind the frame rails.
I've had no issues and not seen the the warning light come on though. Never the less I'll double check it again to be sure

F9

This rang a little warning bell, I've made a good sidestand switch out of two bad ones and have good idea whats in them.

If you don't have the turning ring in the switch held tight in the housing it could lose contact and the ecu would think the stand was down, it wouldn't show on the dash as the ring needs to rotate to make the connection to light the dash.

Take the switch out altogether and make a jumper between the outside two wires to bypass it.

Good luck

PS you could make sure the switch is in the correct position and use a couple of zip ties to make sure it's well together, but I'd still have my doubts.

Falco9 · #25 Post by **Falco9** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:45 pm

OK, a quick update on todays developments. I removed the fall sensor and opened it up to make sure it was clean and working, which it was (absolutely spotless to be honest)

I then double checked the side stand switch was working OK but I moved it from behind the frame rails as I noticed it was sat on the engine casing. It is still firmly cable tied in the "up" position but I straightened out the cable, double checked the connector and placed it up at the side of the ECU.

Went out for a ride (just locally of course) and so far so good. I varied the speed and aimed at as many bumps as I could (not too hard to do given the state of the roads around here) did some fast starts, a couple of little wheelies and some hard braking and nothing amiss to report. She's running perfectly right through the rev range with no misfires etc.. and the dash remained perfect all the time. I must have done about 20 miles or so but so far so good

Probably a little to early to say I'm 100% confident its completely fixed but I'll go for another ride tomorrow and see what happens

Once again many thanks for all your replies and suggestions. Its only when you have a difficult problem to resolve you appreciate the input and combined knowledge this forum has to offer

F9

HowardQ · #26 Post by **HowardQ** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 12:01 pm

Hope it is now sorted Rich, otherwise I would be thinking the same as Dale, look at the side stand switch first.
Mine was one of the early plastic pin ones and it broke quite a while ago.
It's a bit vague now but I seem to remember I took it apart and wedged the switch as it would be in the stand up position so it would not move and cut off when I used the stand.
It worked like this for many months and I got used to not having the light or the cut out and forgot about it.
Then suddenly it died on me, and I thought Ooops never did fix that right.
Sur enough I took it apart and found it had become lose again and was now in shut off postion when stand was up.
Spun it around again to get home, bought a new switch with the metal pin and fixed properly.
I also agree with everything mentioned on relays, the older mechanical ones can get a bit iffy over time and are then hit and miss.
Used to have all the main ones doubled (or trippled) up side by side on my old rally car, so could do instant swaps if heat or vibration got to them.
Then again it used to have doubled up fuel pumps and a few other things as well!

Good luck.

Falco9 · #27 Post by **Falco9** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 5:13 pm

Well a good 150 miles out today with no problems at all, hopefully this suggests the problem is now fully resolved.

My money is still on a dodgy sidestand switch (which I still have connected but it now sits nicely cushioned within a latex glove and resting on the back of the battery) as I cannot find anything else it could have been.

So had a great ride out today, The bike was superb, still a bit of work to do on the handling and the setting up. IMHO the Mazzorchis (or however you spell it) are nowhere near as good as the showas on my old Falco and the jury is still out on the 2006 RSVR shock & linkages (it just doesn't " feel" right) It drinks fuel like an old V8, wheelies off the throttle in 3rd, goes like a train and made feel a good 30yrs younger than I actually am

All the whe winter work getting the bike back to a decent standard was definately well worth it. My visor tells the story of how good today was

F9

D-Rider · #28 Post by **D-Rider** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 6:12 pm

Falco9 wrote: IMHO the Mazzorchis (or however you spell it) are nowhere near as good as the showas on my old Falco

Hmm, interesting. When I fitted the Ohlins there was only a marginal improvement over the Marzocchis.

There again I did ride a bike with Showas not that long back and I didn't think they were as good as the Ohlins.

k1w1boy · #29 Post by **k1w1boy** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 5:42 pm

...alas, I seem to have rediscovered Rich's glitch.

Had stopped at the supermarket after a 10 mile tootle home from the gym through the verdant Essex countryside. Bike 'parked' normally - alarm engaged etc. I returned 15 mins later, disarmed the alarm, engaged the fast idle, pulled in the clutch and hit the starter ... 'Fzzzzt!' and diag 1 appears on the clocks. Went through the motions of turning the ignition on and off etc and trying to start the thing again to same result. The third time I tried, the clocks reset (they hadn't on the first couple of goes), and I'm not sure but I don't think the EFI made it's usual noise. Grumpily pushed the thing home and tried to start it again but to no avail, and now I'm here

Aladinsaneuk · #30 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 5:55 pm

check battery connections

voltmeter on battery as well - and charge it up.....