Falco stopped again!

[moggyvan]

Well it's happened once again, the bike refused to fire up last night at work. After a couple of minutes trying it eventually fired up but felt like it was trying to stall.
I held the revs at 2500-3000 rpm to get it up to temperature as i suspected the heavy rain may have had something to do with it as happened when i first bought the bike (from new) two weeks into ownership.
There was an awful smell however which turned out to be the fibreglass belly pan cooking! The exhausts appeared to be getting really hot although the water was only showing 70 deg.
The bike then stalled and has not fired up since.
Diagnostic code only shows 1, there is no EFI flashing as happened occasionally the last time it broke down and the bike has been running really well recently.
It now sits in the garage with all 4 spark plugs out and the throttle open and plugged into an optimiser awaiting some 'forum knowledge'.
I've also cleaned and checked the sidestand switch but i would have expected the light to be on in any case but as stated earlier there are no indications of a fault at all but the bugger will just not fire up!
The bike was booked in to Avalonia for its 9400 mile service this morning as well so that's that stuffed too- the service light came on a few miles ago.
When ignition switched on the EFI light comes on,fuel pump whirrs and stops and then EFI light out as normal.
Any ideas on what to check next?.....

[hornetrider]

Dumb question but the idle adjuster knob is set correctly? I had a problem when I first had mine with occasional stalling and a tiny tweak on the idle control sorted it out.

[Falcopops]

If it doesn't start the normal way (and that varies from person to person and bike to bike) the universally accepted starting method is to hold the throttle wide open and press the go button. Allows the beast to cough up all the crap and breathe a bit.

What condition were the plugs in?

Since you've got them out replace them with irridium ones (fit and forget)

Was it running rough?

Thinking it might only be firing on one or misfiring on one. The unburnt gas would get into the exhaust and burn there raising the temp, but I'm sure that would make a noticeable noise (backfire)

The Diag 1 merely indicates that the TPS is a bit off and can beremedied with the idle control knob, but it's better to get it set after a synch and balance. Unlikely to be the source of the problem.

Make sure the coils, leads and caps are OK.

If you've got a mulimeter there's a section in the manual you can use to check all the sensors and injectors, but I'd be surprised if any were out. It's fiddly, but free (if you can do it yourself).

WD40 on the temp sensor can be a help, spesh in the wet.

That's about it for me, good luck.

[moggyvan]

Cheers Falcopops,
Yep, tried holding the throttle wide open after it stalled to no effect- suspect no fuel or ignition.
Took the plugs out and they were fine, hard to believe they'd done 9'500 miles as the electrodes were still square. Either way they were due a change and will be replaced with iridium plugs i'd bought about 4 months ago!
The bike wasn't running rough until i'd finally got it started after work, when i felt it kicking back through the throttle and knew it would stall after a while.It was however firing on both cylinders and there was no flashing EFI as had happened a couple of years ago.
Whilst it's in bits i've just checked all the valve clearances and they are all within spec. so tommorrow will replace the ECU and disconnect the Power commander............. Will also remove and check the O2 sensor.

[Falcomille]

Shoot me down in flames.. but have you checked the fuel? Could be contaminated.. might be worth draining off and checking.

[Samray]

Shoot me down in flames.. but have you checked the fuel? Could be contaminated.. might be worth draining off and checking.

My thought exactly.
Had you refuelled recently? Surprising how much crap fuel there is about.

[D-Rider]

... or in a similar vein, is the fuel filter blocked?

[fastasfcuk]

sounds like the temp sensor giving an incorrect reading to the ecu and causeing it to over fuel, hence haveing to hold the revs at 2500.
unless you've got a doner to swap over,you need to test it's resistance if you know the limits.

[moggyvan]

The beast is running again.
Not sure what's fixed it but i've replaced lots of parts including the fuel thanks Samray.
I'd very recently filled up with super unleaded at Tescos, luckily only £9.00 worth as it's due a service so i didn't want to fill it.
Replacement plugs, ECU with Ti chip, lots of cleaning and disconnected the power commander.
It fired up as soon as i pressed the starter button.
The bike seems to rev up really quickly too!!
Didn't check any sensors prior to the engine firing up but any water may have dried up due to dehumidifier in the garage.
The header/ exhaust pipes were definitely running very hot as the small panel in front of the front down pipe has bubbled with heat as had the belly pan adjacent the right hand side pipe.

[Viking]

The header/ exhaust pipes were definitely running very hot as the small panel in front of the front down pipe has bubbled with heat as had the belly pan adjacent the right hand side pipe.

Sounds like it was running _very_ lean, to get exhaust temperatures up like that.

[fastasfcuk]

i'd reconnect the power commander and see if the problem returns.

[moggyvan]

i'd reconnect the power commander and see if the problem returns.

That's the plan but i want to check what sort of mileage i get out of this replacement ECU and chip.

[Firestarter]

i'd reconnect the power commander and see if the problem returns.

That's the plan but i want to check what sort of mileage i get out of this replacement ECU and chip.

Shouldn't be a problem - connect the PC3, try and start the bike, if it won't start then you've discovered your problem. You don't need to run with the PC3, just try and start it.

[moggyvan]

After changing all those parts and servicing the bike post breakdown, i'd been running the Falco with an RSV ECU with Ti chip.
I wanted to compare mileage and got 134 miles from full until the fuel light started flashing and 140 to be on steady.
This compares to between 164 to 174 miles to a flashing light i had with the power commander fitted to a standard ECU and copied Ti chip.

The Dynanometer run today showed the RSV ECU and Ti chip to be putting out 111.58 BHP with 69.74 max torque.
Pretty seamless it was too.
With the Power Commander plugged in it kicked out around the same figures to be honest (2001 European RSV 1000
ECE approved Shark Double Silencers Open Airbox with air intake rubber from 99 Model Pin 16 disconnected at ECU RP 58 (stock for 2001 model) EPROM) and was a little spikey at the top end, before the custom map was made.

With custom map it now puts out 113.37 BHP with 70.90 max torque. I was told i probably wouldn't feel the difference and that had the Power Commander not been fitted to the bike already, that it would not be worth fitting as the RSV/Ti combo was so good!..........It is now running slightly richer throughout the rev range compared to RSV/Ti.

E-bay can therefore be your friend and save you lots of money in the long run eh?
First impressions after a wet ride back home are that i can't really feel the difference but pulling away from a standstill it does feel smoother.
I'll report further with more mileage.

[D-Rider]

That sounds like good news then .... enjoy your long-term data-gathering