guzzimeister

Hi, almost certainly a TPS failure. Fuel pressure would have to be very low to give the symptoms you describe, and crank phase sensor failure is on/off ie won't run at all. Weak battery is unlikely but not unknown, but bear in mind the TPS operates at 4.8v so again unlikely. You will need to check voltages at idle (around 150mv) and full throttle (around 4.8v)

Hi Brent, most likely and easiest to check - faulty barke light switch. The rear brake cylinder is fitted with e pressure switch on the top with two wires connecting to it. Simply short these out with the ignition on and if the light shows, there is your problem. Next problem will be to get a replacement. If you can't leave the brake cylinder as it is (it will work fine), but you'll have to connect a brake switch via a spring to the rear brake pedal as per old British bikes or your R90S, and run the wires to that instead - very cheap and effective. You may find a FIAT or similar Italian pressure switch (oil pressure) to fit, looks very similar to a FIAT engine pressure sender to me. Hope this helps and enjoy the bike Cheers Guzz

Hi JB the later ones can screw straight in. Re the washer, it's not shown there but it's a standard feature unfortunately on the big blocks. I would draw the spindle straight out, and check if you can see a washer there - almost impossible. If in doubt, put some grease on the end of the spindle, push it in again and withdraw slowly and the washer should come out. If not maybe it was not fitted. V11s, especially early ones were a bit variable and they certainly had a series of largely undocumented changes throughout their lives. So maybe they deleted it on later models. Hope I haven't worried you unnecessarily. Cheers Guzz

Hi be very careful if you are lifting the drive shaft with the worm gear up out of the gearbox. There is a thrust washer underneath it which can (will) fall into the gearbox. The angle drive is not essential. Later V11s had a drive cable screwing directly into the gear box with out the angled drive. Angled drive virtually unobtainable now. I would check the lubrication of the drive cable itself. I greased mine after two drive failures and never had another one. They are poxy weak little things anyway. Cheers Guzz

Hi if it's running continuously, definitely a failure in the pressure reg in the return line, rare but not unknown. That would explain all the above plus non starting, as it gradually failed. Standard fuel injection part, available at a good FI specialist, needs to be set to 3.2 Bar. hope this helps Guzz

Hi speaking as one who eventually changed 3 TPSs over 90000 miles, it has all the symptoms of TPS, or a lambda sensor failure. I had the latter problem with pretty much the same symptoms on a V7. As the TPS (marelli PF3) is now almost unobtainable and was 300 Euros when I last bought one, I would suggest doing a lambda sensor check first. This consists of measuring cold resistance as a start, but it might just be easier to buy a new one as it's a standard Marelli part and about £40 if you shop around. Try also just unplugging it and starting the engine - it won't damage anything, and if it runs ok you've found the problem. That's how I fixed the V7. The TPS can be replaced with a Marelli PF4, as used on MY2000 H-D Evolution engines, about $50 in 2009 when I bought one.

Hi one other pointer. On mine the prop shaft coupling to the bevel box was loose on the shaft despite tightening the pinch bolts as hard as I dared. I cured this by disconnecting the shaft from the bevel box, smearing Quicksteel (metal loaded epoxy) over the shaft and reassembling. The bevel box pivot bearing is the most likely culprit, it's an unsealed very cheap roller bearing which rusts to nothing in 2 years if not regularly greased. This allows the box to wobble on the wheel spindle producing the clunk as play is taken up under load. Cheers Guzz

Hi Denis give me a call on 07912 540160, so I can understand wht the nature of the problem is and how I can help Cheers Jon

Hi the nut is a bog standard nut, as is the washer. I bought a stainless version with nyloc for around £3. Quite sure you will find an engineering supplier who can help. Cheers Guzz

Hi the ECU uses a basic table of TPS position i.e. fuelling against rpm. This basic table is modified a few per cent either way depending on what the oil and air temperatures are, the air pressure, and what the lambda sensor is saying about the combustion, The Power Commander simply alters those values for each box in the table depending on what you enter into it. The values given are per centage changes in the original fuelling values for each of the TPS % vs RPM boxes It just adds its values (a tiny voltage correction) to any values in the original ECU map. My advice: don't worry about any of this, just get out there and use it. The beauty of the PC is that if you put in a fuel map that doesn't suit the bike, you can immediately plug it into the laptop and go back to any other mad you like, it takes 30 seconds. You don't need a dyno to optimise the settings although it's easier. I set mine up by trial and error (just like we used to do with carbs), noting the rpm/throttle opening every time I found a flat spot, and then adjusted the value for the combination (and say the two either side of it) by 2%. If it made it better I kept it, if it didn't I deleted it. It took me a year to get it right, but it's very satisfying when you do. And a lot easier than carbs. Any further advice, I would be happy to help. Cheers Guzz

Hi Guy not had an injector leak but I did have a nasty incident where the supply pipe to the regulator slit and sprayed petrol vapour everywhere. Couldn't understand why everybody got out of my way as I pulled into the local bike caff......... might be worth checking for split pipes too rather than the injectors. As these are the same as used on various cars in Europe, and I have never seen a leaking injector, it would seem more likely. The leak didn't affect the running of my bike either.... certainly made me run once I realised what was happening. Cheers Guzz

Hi just a word of warning based on my own experiences. My V11 has around 75K miles on it and up to 60K miles, it was eating wheel bearings quite regularly, 3 times at the front and 4 at the rear. Being a suspicious sort, I then checked the bearing spacer length and compared it to the distance between the bearing mounting faces, and found the front was 0.2mm undersize and the rear 0.5mm(!). I then reassembled new bearings with bearing shims to correct the problem and have had no problems since. The bearings incidentally are very common sizes, and are available anywhere. Two frustrations for me are the lack of any weather protection, just the rubber seals on the bearings, and those bloody different sizes at the front....... Cheers Guzz

Hi fellow masochists just a postscript to this discussion, but alu porosity is a well-known curse of the casting industry, especially die castings. I used to be involved in such stuff, and porosity usually occurs where there is a sharp change of cross-sectional area, or in very thick pieces. Standard cure is to avoid such features if possible, but where it is not, foundries use vacuum impregnation to fill it (like the sound of that). Basically the casting is put into a vacuum chamber filled with resin which fills the holes. Guzzi at one time even sold a two pack resin to fix such issues, I think there is a number for it in the V11 spares list. I also have Royal Enfields, and the standard procedure was to paint the inside of all crankcases with a paint called Glyptol, which did much the same thing at a surface level. Thanks for letting me empty my over-crowded brain of a little useless trivia; now to fill it with some more..... Cheers Guzz

Hi lights that should come on when the ignition is turned on are: Neutral, Battery, Oil pressure. There are no electronics on this bike except for the ECU, so don't expect any dinky pre-fireup test routine. If the batt light is not lighting, I would check the wires of the regulator, especially the single wire on its own (white on my bike). If this is not connected there is no voltage sensing and the reg may fry your battery. You can check if all is well by starting the bike up with a voltmeter across the batt terminals. If at 1000 rpm it's showing around 12.8 - 13.5v, and at 3000RPM it's showing between 13.5 and 15v all is well. Above 15v indicated either voltage sensing fault (broken wire usually), poor earth to the reg (see various posts in this forum), or a reg that is dying. Sorry for that blast of negativity but a reg is £60 and a battery is £100. Ask me how I know..... If the neutral light doesn't light, this could be the neutral switch itself or the connection to it. Easy check: earth the neutral switch lead to the gearbox case and the light should shine. If it doesn't, you have a break somewhere. Quite rare, the neutral switch is poorly specified, and fails about every 20k miles. Hope that's brightened your day, lol All the best Guzz