08 Uly electrical weirdness

[ebes67]

I've got a problem that seems somewhat similar to a couple of active threads, but different enough that I thought I should start another. Anyway . . .

I just pulled the bike out of storage. It was at my parents' house, where it sat on a Battery Tender all winter. My dad took it out a couple days ago and it ran great. He went to start it again and nothing. Overnight on the trickle charger and it started right up again.

I went to start it this afternoon for the first time since and it was pretty dead. When I turned on the key, the gauges swept and I heard the fuel pump, but I didn't notice headlights and the starter wouldn't even click, let alone turn it over. Based on my dad's report and my own experience, I immediately just wrote it off as a dead battery. I let it sit on the trickle charger for about an hour (when it clicked over to "maintenance") and then tried to restart. I got the same thing, but this time it gets stranger.

Upon turning the key, the same thing happened (although now I'm questioning whether the fuel pump cycled). But when I turned the key back off, all the dash lights stayed on, including the high beam indicator (switch was in "low" position). I cycled the key several times and it behaved almost exactly opposite of what it should have: key on killed the dash lights, key off and they all come back on. The other oddity is that the headlight (low beam) was on, but only visible if you are inspecting it really closely. I could see the filament glowing, but it was giving off no discernible light. The only way I could get this to stop was to disconnect the battery.

At that point, I just went out and grabbed a new battery, which turned out to be a mistake. I basically went back through the exact same process with the new battery, with the exact same results.

I've cycled the key, kill switch, lights, and basically anything else that moves many times. I've disconnected and reconnected the battery several times (both old and new battery), and checked the fuses (didn't see any breaks in the filaments).

So now I'm completely confused. Anybody seen this before? Any ideas? Any help would be very much appreciated.

[ebes67]

Quick update. I tried looking through electrical diagrams, checked grounds, and looked for any obvious rubbed-through wires, etc. Nothing that I can see. Then again, I'm not all that electrically inclined.

Has anyone experienced this issue? I'm about to call the dealership, but I'm trying to avoid it (no clue if they even have any decent Buell guys left anyway).

[ebes67]

The bike started today, so I decided to ride it over to the dealership to check it out. On the way, I got a flat tire (naturally). After pushing the bike a mile down the highway, I put a plug in at a gas station, which promptly blew right out. So I put another one in and put just enough air in the tire to firm it up a bit. There was no way I could get to the HD dealer, but I was only 2 blocks from a Ducati dealership. They happened to have an ex-Buell mechanic on staff (oddly enough, from the dealership I was headed to). In addition to putting a new tire on, he diagnosed the issue without even looking at it. I guess I'll find out soon if he was correct or not, but here goes:

The seats on the XT rest on top of the ECM. After awhile, the ECM cracks and shorts out. After that, weird things happen. The bike needs a new ECM and a hole cut in the seat pan where it was rubbing.

AFTER, he told me all this, he popped the seat off and turned it over. An indentation was rubbed into the bottom of the seat pan above the ECM. Closer inspection revealed a crack in the edge of the ECM.

I have no clue if this is the source of my issues, but he was absolutely correct about the physical damage to the ECM.

The maddening part to me is that it was a known issue related to a pretty obvious design flaw. Seems like something could/should have been done about it through a recall, service bulletin, etc.

[jimijeans]

They won't cover the ECM issue the Dealers are so happy to get rid of Us Buellers . That said you will need to get an ECM MAYBE from Erik Buell Racing for your Bike. Go to the web site and cheaper than the Dealer. Make sure to change the Seat problem before you plug and do the TPS reset.If you have changed ANYTHING exhaust and so on make sure to let them know when you order the ECM. NOW THAT SAID! the ECM is a Race Style ECM and may give you a small boost in power.
THE start up is a little longer for Idle [every time] you start the Engine[mostly] on the 08+ Buells. If you have an Older Buell before 08 you have a Idle Screw to play with.
So when you put it in 1st gear Either be patient and let the Idle come down then put in gear or Put it in Gear First pull Clutch and start.Then easy on the Throttle(while moving) till warmed up. OR Buy the Stock Ecm from the Dealer. The Erik Buell ECM is cheaper and slightly more power.
You Will Have to watch How you put the Transmission in Gear Especially at startup. OR you will be grinding or the Clunking in 1st will eventually take it's toll especially at the high Idle during warm up. After the warm up period the Engine is fine.If you ride more to Commute with traffic and such the Ecm Stock Settings/Program is good for mileage.Good Luck.*Jimi

[djohnk]

Your lucky you found the problem so quickly. It took me awhile to find it on my bike. When I found it I did a temporary fix on the ECM. I wrapped it with a stretchy tape to force the crack closed (it looked like crap, but kept me on the road).

Later I got very lucky and found a used one with no cracks for about $50 online.

Make sure you either relocate your ECM, cut a hole in the seat or something. Originally I just unbolted it and moved it away from that spot. Now I have it relocated to a spot by the battery and have had no problems since.

I think that's why I got the bike so cheap, so in the end it worked out good for me.

[ebes67]

My biggest concern is that there may be more to the problem. I work with a bunch of ex-Mercedes mechanics, all of whom thought the problem was either in the dash or in the key switch. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I've got a Hawk exhaust and a K&N, so the bike is in need of a tune or EBR ECM anyway. I guess this is my excuse to do so.

[ebes67]

In case anyone is interested . . .

I just got the Uly back yesterday. Harley covered the ECM under the powertrain warranty, which was a pleasant surprise. The not-so-pleasant part was that it took a couple weeks to get the ECM in. They plugged it in and the bike still wouldn't run, threw a bunch of codes, etc. So they put the old ECM back in and it started. Their conclusion was that the replacement ECM was also bad. So they ordered another one, which took another week, and installed it 2 days ago. The bike started then, so they cut a hole in the seat pan and declared it done. The bike ran like total crap on the way home, but I'm hoping it's just learning. I guess I'll find out in the next couple days (weather is currently bad) whether it fixed the issue or not.