belfastguzzi

I have never heard of any of those places that you mention, therefore in the flying over the head spirit of V11 Quizzes, I am awarding you 3 points for those excellent answers. I can tell that you want them. Just let De Ben try to take them away. Just let him try. Oh, you're just sucking up. It's not like you posted a 1953 Quintax Rotary to win a stump point. Well you're only saying that because you know that no one on here can possibly remember back to then, so you can claim anything. All I remember is that there were dirty deeds done. Dirty deeds wot denied rightful pointers their rightful points and stumpers their stumps.

I have never heard of any of those places that you mention, therefore in the flying over the head spirit of V11 Quizzes, I am awarding you 3 points for those excellent answers. Please accept them above. I can tell that you want them. Just let De Ben try to take them away. Just let him try.

Actually, I kinda like it. A far superior alternative to the selling of craptastic Brit bikes under the Indian brand back in the 50's that spelled doom for the marque due to the execrable QC on the imports. And, lest we forget, Indian does have a history of making longitudinal air-cooled shaft drive V-twins [under a WWII US military test contract; Do you think it's maybe true??? What you're saying could make a sort of sense, Skeeve. I've no idea if Piaggio/Guzzi would do such a thing. The funny thing is that contrarily, people have said the Guzzi badge should be slapped on other makes of bike e.g. a 'Guzzi' branded Aprilia sports bike, or a scooter....

Good call. Is the gauge accurate ? Thanks. Yep. It's not connected to anything so that reading would be about right.

Well, it was a designer's pitch for new Indian branding – but why didn't he use an Indian or did he not know what he was designing for? Anyway, it's a bit bizarre.

Indian Scout:

Great, thanks for that.

Aye, but I bet you've got sunshine. Weather forecast here is on just now: rain, showery rain, windy rain and showers. I don't understand my bike. Anyway, you shoulda been at home watching Hairy Bikers tonight. They've been riding on floppy rears too, but they're swapping the pies for lettuce and whatnot. Piaggio doesn't love me. "Overtaken by Vespa. Right angle adapters just ordered on Ebay." Weird: there's folks on here will never understand you. I've got an inkling.

Hi Jaap, would you post this for me on the Dutch Forum please? > ----------------------------------------------------- Re: Op V11lemans.com heeft David Boyd uit Belfast het volgende probleem. Aangezien er geen goede dealers in zijn buurt zijn heeft ie de vraag online gesteld. Hello friends thanks to Jaap for posting my query and I want to thank you for taking time to give responses. To let you know what has happened: I went through all the wiring, checked connectors etc and I added a direct feed from the battery to the start relay. I found an intermittent fault and fixed it. • The ECU error warning stayed on the display, even after working on the bike and putting it back together. • However it went away once the bike was moving on the road. The 56 error code also went away. That is a relief! The wiring fault that I found, was in the rear left indicator light. The wire was broken at the spade connector, but must have been touching enough to keep the connection good most of the time. I have been bothered for a long time by the indicator fault icon and the red triangle light appearing intermittently in the dash display, but I did not believe what it said and thought there must be another strange problem, maybe in the display unit itself (the display has the bad condensation issue). I did not believe the warning was due to the indicator lamp unit, because the indicator bulb always worked when I switched it on. I have never once had the indicator bulb not work during the long time when the warning has been appearing, so I thought obviously it is ok. Now I know that I should believe the ECU! The wiring problem suddenly become worse at the start of my recent holiday trip when I was on the way to meet with other Guzzis in the South of Ireland. The wire must have moved, shorted and for the first time a fuse blew. This coincided with the bike stalling and not restarting when I stopped at a motorway toll booth. Because I have also had the bad 'non-start' problem (push the start button and nothing happens) I immediately assumed that was what was happening again. I certainly did not think of the indicator. Eventually I started the bike by putting a wire from the battery directly to the starter solenoid and I returned home without stopping. After 2 days checking through everything, at last I looked in the rear indicator unit – and found the broken connection! That is why the fuse kept blowing after the toll-booth incident and that must be the reason that the bike would not start. It also must be the reason for the serious ECU error message and 'might' possibly also be what caused the 56 code alert. So remember: the ECU knows best! Thank you again for your advice and interest. Best wishes from Belfast.

Exactly. That's what's controlling my motorbike. I don't need to post any more photos now.

It's very interesting to see those figures Roy, thanks. I've now done a direct (fused) wire modification on my Griso and the first time I started the motor afterwards, I thought that it started quicker. (Of course it's just fractions... but that's how it seemed.) In a way the latest non-start incident on my bike has been a good thing. I certainly know the wiring a lot better now and am understanding the ECU (the mighty Piaggio Aprilia Moto Guzzi super brain) better. This mighty Piaggio Aprilia Moto Guzzi super brain could just be more clever than I thought– and I'm coming to see that it has sensitive and demanding sides to its nature. I've discovered a couple of unsuspected, minor electro-mechanical faults that I think have been contributing to my long-term woes, partly because they've been upsetting to the ECU super brain. It looks like the modern ECU likes everything to be very close to perfect. OK, that's rather cryptic and I will explain a bit more when I get some photos posted.

Hi Trev ust wondering if you've had any progress with this? I was going to ask have you tried the simple things yet, i.e. checked the fuse? However I see that Roy has added more detail and posted very interesting/useful diagrams and notes. When posting earlier I should have said, 'if your V11 is wired like the modern bikes and the older ones that gave the same problems.... then it would be beneficial to put in the direct wire to the relay'. I assumed that as the current 8V motor is started (or sometimes not started) by a wire that runs all over the place and through the handlebar switch, that Guzzi is just continuing an unbroken tradition. However I see that they did actually wire the V11 differently. I didn't have a no-start problem with the V11 so it's not something that I ever looked into. Roy, are all the V11s wired with a direct feed to the relay and do you know if Guzzi's wiring layouts have changed back and forwards over the years, through various models, or is it just the V11 that was treated 'normally'? If they did the V11 like that, it seems odd that the design has moved 'backwards' again for the current models. David

G, If you mean the look of the rod in my photo, it's not goo, that's the metal surface: it's corrosion. That's an old part that I replaced. If you also mean the top picture: that is a black finish on the part - it's not silver. Ben, I'll measure how my lever works, for comparison. It used to operate at one extreme, either when the lever was almost out or only when it was almost right in. Don't remember which: itwas probably when right out. After adjustment it's now operates in a better range and is better for feel and comfort.

Yes, good notes Gene. It needs proper setting, which is why I put a bit of a warning that the operation could be made worse. As Ben indicates that the lever operation doesn't seem to be right, I was just wondering if the whole adjustment was off due to something that happened in previous ownership. It could be worth setting it all up correctly, from scratch (as you describe). I think that I did mine after it was damaged in a fall. In the normal course of events, it's not meant to be used as a casual adjuster.

I've been tempted by the other levers too, but haven't got any yet. The much cheaper Chinese versions also get good reports. Pete Roper put a pair on his Griso, as I remember, and he also thought that they were good.

Paul you were right: the !SERVICE ECU error alert disappeared when I got the bike on the road again. Hooray! Also no error codes are showing now. The 56 ECU error has gone and and a (less important) dash error is not reappearing. I now have my problems sorted (apart from the neutral sensor) I hope, though as the non-start problem was intermittent I will need some time to be sure. Interesting findings and I know what was causing that 56 code and the blowing fuses. I'll report back in a while. Thanks for the advice.

Yep, that was the same with me. The air temperature would not have been so high but was after a very long stretch, many miles, of unusually slow and packed traffic. There wasn't airflow to cool the bike. It might not be relevant, but I said, it's the only common factor that we could pinpoint at the time.

It looks fairly irrelevant to me. Yes, ensure that your ground connection is good, but replacing the cable is not the primary means of addressing the issue. Same with the live cable to the starter. It's not the problem. The best thing is to put in a direct wire to the start relay. For that you need a 20 amp fuse and a short piece of 15 amp cable or something similar as takes your fancy.

Above, you can see the pushrod screw end. Below are pictures of the parts. Take care: the rod may be set in with some form of thread-lock and/or the head may be hidden behind sealant that needs to be removed. The more critical thing is the grub screw that must be screwed back before you adjust the pushrod. You may or may not have this grub screw. The Aprilia lever parts and the Moto Guzzi parts are slightly different. My current lever does not have the grub screw. I adjusted this rod to give better lever travel, but as I say, take care as you could also mess up the lever operation.

Thanks Paul.The serious error (ECU) warning that is permanently displayed. Before seeing your reply I was going to post:– 'I'm now wondering if this may not necessarily mean that there is still a fault: perhaps this message can only be cleared via the official service diagnostics equipment (Axone, Navigator)?' However I see you say the message will go away by itself, after some time. That is good news as it gives hope that when I put the bike back together and ride it, the display may clear (if there is no longer a fault). I like the sound of Ducatidiag: I will have to look into that. Does it need Windows to run?I don't believe that there is any problem with the speed sensor. I think that the ECU code 56 (vehicle speed) is logged from some older incident. The sensor wiring looks ok and continuity is ok, plus the display was showing the speed ok. I haven't had a problem with the speed readout at any time and I did seal the sensor a couple of years ago. I think that these particular error logs do not clear and diagnostics equipment is needed to reset them? I could not understand about there being a second control unit, in addition to the ECU. I thought that I read about it somewhere (in the Service Manual) but now I don't know where. I am glad you confirm it does not exist!

From memory there are two adjustments to clutch operation at the lever. There is the obvious span adjuster and also the pushrod screw. I have adjusted the pushrod to reset the clutch operation. It's midnight now and I need to put the bike and bits away, so I'll post photos of the lever screw tomorrow.

I edited this reply, but must not have posted it. I will edit again now: From memory there are two adjustments to clutch operation at the lever. There is the obvious span adjuster and also the screw-in pushrod that works the fluid piston. I have adjusted this rod to reset the clutch operation. It's midnight now and I need to put the bike and bits away, so I'll post photos of the lever screws tomorrow. Oh, what's going on? Now I see that the previously edited post appears as a new post below!

Hi Jaap. That's great, please thank people there for giving replys so far. It's much appreciated. I'm not sure if I can post on there directly. D

Hi Pete, great to hear from you: I thought you'd disappeared, but then I haven't been posting much either, nor checking other places where you might be active. As you can see I'm in a further period of disenchantment. This bike has been off the road more than on it and I don't know where to turn for help. Ive done everything i can to look after it and fix the 'official' bodges and failures. I'll strip the thing down if needs be, but the problem of dealing with the computerised electronics creates a brick wall. The error code points to the speedo sensor, but the speedo has been working fine, including all the way back home from my break-down on Friday (I'll leave it to your interpretation as to whether that means my breakdown or the bike's, or both). I wonder if the logged error code is from a past incident. As I understand it, the ECU errors remain logged, they aren't cleared in the way that the dash display errors are cleared? So that 56 code may not be connected with the serious error alert that is permanently appearing at the bottom of the dash display. However there is no other error code showing in the on-board readout, just the 56. If the ECU was damaged, would you expect there to be a subsequent error code showing? In addition to the ECU, mounted out front, where is the separate control unit located? Is it by the alternator? I don't see it, so far. Sorry to bombard, but... another question: what is involved in changing or adjusting the neutral sensor/switch? I think that you did change the neutral switch on a 1200 Griso? I can't get at it without removing the air box and that means disconnecting and removing various other things as well. Is the switch height adjustable? All I can see is a white terminal post, I can't see whether there is a nut or any form of screw adjustment. D