Guest rotorhead Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 I have a 2000 V11 Sport with about 6300 miles on it and the only mod of any significance is a PCIII. Took a spin over to the Grand Opening of Barbers Motorsports Museum in Alabama yesterday (Wow, what a place!!) and my problem has reared its ugly head again. Seems every time I go for a ride, about 80-100 miles into it the engine just complete shuts down. I have this problem perhaps only once on a long ride and there is absolutly no warning. I was moving along the freeway about 90 or so and then blllaaaahhhhh......dead. Electrics still work (all of the idiot lights come on) and when I pull over to the side and let the semis pass, wait 15 second or so and it starts right up!! Runs fine the rest of the day and I really believe I have this thing tuned quite well as it runs magnificantly except for this problem. I have perused this forum and found similiar problems and it would seem that vapor lock may be an issue but I dunno. I have insulated the fuel filter And checked the routing of all fuel lines to ensure they are not laying on cylinder heads or the like. Perhaps an increase in fuel pressure would work??? Funny thing is, you can almost always anticipate the problem about 100 miles into the ride so get ready and plot your escape!! Any help/suggeations would be hugely appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John T Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Vapor lock would rear its ugly head only after you stop on a hot day and let everything heat soak. This would most likely not cool down after only 15 minutes. Not sure what you did in the past but do you have tank suck? Try burping the tank to see if a vacume builds up. Other things: Relays. Do you have the original black ones? Replace with Bosch units. Side stand switch? Jiggle or disconnect to see if this works. Reconnect after please. Toggle key on off, same with kill button. Not much more I can think of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rotorhead Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Tank Suck should not be a problem as the canisters and such have been removed and tank is open to atmosphere. Replaced entire set of relays to Bosch units.......Again. I will play with the switchs and see if this does anything although I would think the prob would be more often if it were a loose/bad switch but I won't discounted anything yet. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeff Kelland Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Does it die instantly, or slowly like it's running out of fuel, i.e. does it act like you just shut off the key? You need to determine if it's a mechanical fuel issue, an electrical fuel issue, or an electronic fuel or ignition problem. Without diagnsotic equipment attached when the problem occurs the only method of diagnosis available is some careful thought and the process of elimination. It would be great if you had access to some known good parts, maybe you know somebody locally with the same machine? Given that it seems to occur at exactly the same amount of mileage, occurs only once, and then goes away leads me to believe it may be electronic. Did it happen before the pc111? If it did maybe the ecm is suspect. Whenever I diagnose electronic problems (I do this for a living on multiplexed fire apparatus) I always, always, always, start with the basics! Battery connections, both power and GROUND! Inspect all connections and harnesses, every inch. I have seen the smallest chafe in a wire cause some amazing intermittant problems, same with a pin pushed back in a connector, start applying ohm's law to millivolts and trouble isn't hard to start. I am not very familiar with the battery in these bikes (maybe somebody else here is?), internal short? Speed and timing sensors don't seem to fail like this in my experience but if you start running out of things to look for it might be worth a shot. In short, patience, perserverance, and logic will get you to the answer. Good luck and please let us know what you find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callison Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Sounds like a wiring problem to me. I have too many miles (literally) of pushing Guzzi's with similar problems that turned out to be electrical than to attribute this behavior to fuel systems problems. Pull your tank and your seat cowling. Find ANY electrical connector that are a bullet type (ignore the ones on the turn signals). EVERY electrical failure I've had that was a dirty connector has been one of these. The handlebar clutch switch has them, they cause problems. The ECU has one in line with the power relay. It causes problems. There may be others. Find them, disconnect them a re-insert them a few times to wipe the contact surfaces and then start riding again to see if that made any improvement. While tedious, it is totally without cost, so it is worth the effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murray Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 If the above solutions fail try disconneting the power commader it might be failing with heat and vibration. They cause all sorts of antic's when they do fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emry Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 I'll put my vote with callison's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rotorhead Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Still looking for electrical problems but I think I will go ahead and replace the electric petcock with a manual one as well .........perhaps any unseen electrical problems affecting it will be cured with this mod. Its a cheap mod.....20 bucks. I'll keep you guys posted should I find anything of any significance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaing Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Next time it happens, be sure that all the electrics work, by turning on high beam, flash High beam, turn signal, brake lights, tail lights, and horn. If a couple of them do not work, it may be a clue. My tachometer needle starts shaking after 20 to 50 miles, almost like clockwork, I suspect something is getting warm and starting to fail. It has been doing it for over 6 months and has not gotten worse nor better. Our problems appear to be heat related, so I would not look first at connections, although it is certainly possible. Look instead to overheating relay(s), ECU, PCIII, coils, petcocks, fuel pumps, etc. Because it only takes 15 seconds to disappear, I might eliminate coils and fuel pmp because they would take a while to cool. The ECU and PCIII have processors in them that might need a reboot, so one of themcould be the problem. Petcocks and relays would tend to be less predictable than failing every 80 miles. Also your voltage regulator could get hot, drop the voltage and then the relays might shut from a lack of voltage. That would be hard to determine. You could get a volt meter, and if you see it get flaky at 79 miles just before the failure, you may have a solution. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rotorhead Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 Well I turned the bike in to the dealer for warranty on this problem since my two years is almost up and I wanted to get the problem documented if problems continue. I did replace the electric petcock with a manual one and the dealer said that the fuel pressure regulator was bad and replaced it as well. So far no further problems after 500 miles or so. Now it will have to go back for the recall on the tranny. Hope the fix does'nt take long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 It sounds like the problem may be fixed but I'd like to add a bit to Carl's excellent advice. When you follow Carl's suggestion finish the job by putting a coating of dielectric grease to the contacts in the connectors. This will prevent water from getting in the contacts and will eliminate or at least reduce then need to clean the connectors. This is good advice for any European electrical system. I don't know why but Japanese stuff doesn't seem to have many problems of this type. Cheers, Lex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaing Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 Why would the pressure regulator suddenly die after 80 miles? Could be that when tested by the dealer, the petcock was shutting. Sorry, I know it is water under the bridge now, but I think I may buy a manual petcock just to avoid this potential problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bento Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 and check your clutch switch. i know it sounds stupid, but i actually hit a bug and it wedged some of it's parts between the contacts. it's the three little metal plates that sit just on the other side of the focal point of the actual clutch grip. i know it sounds crazy, but i had a "dead bike" problem for a while too. and now have duct tape over the switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_roethlisberger Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 i actually hit a bug and it wedged some of it's parts between the contacts ...oh geez, that's one for the books Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emry Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Hey Bento, From the looks of it you got one in your teeth too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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