Uly Electrical Trip info issues

Been looking online for a solution to my Uly electrical issues since Buell / HD dealer has been unable to help. Bought an 06 Uly with 18month warantee left. This is about to run out in the next few weeks. The fault has already been logged with them, so they are aware of it, and had it in 3-4 times to try to investigate the fault, with no success.

Basically, the bike is totally stock, no mods at all aside from the addition of a Garmin 550 power supply connected to the ignition system by the dealer themselves. Over the past 3-4months the bike had developed some odd electrical issues. The most common is for the speedo and rev dials to flip from left to right, and back again when the ignition is switched off. This basicall resets all the trip info, which is annoying as I use this as a fuel gauge. Some other symptoms appear to be full/main beam flicker when the indicators are flashing and the bike is in a turn. This has caused people to pull out in front of me as they think I am flashing them out. these faults have been intermittent, and as such hard to track down. The dealer has checked the earths, looked for cable insulation splits, and crushed cables as the loom passes through the forks, and told me each time "we think we've sorted it". Each time they haven't. One thing they have noted is the foam under the seat was soaked with water, so at my own expense I have had it recovered. While it was being recovered, it was in my dads garage, nice and dry, and when I went to collect it and put the seat back on, the trip had reset again!! so I'm guessing its not water from the foam sitting around the battery and fuse box. Other electrical issues they HAVE fixed are a flickering brake light (broken front lever switch), and blown indicator relay.

I love this bike. It has taken me round Europe on a 4000 mile trip through 13 countries. It cost me a lot to buy. And I dont want to start thinking I should have bought a BMW F800GS. Its a fun bike. A good looking bike. And it will go most places, but with this intermittent fault, and the warantee fast running out, I'm not sure what to do. I dont really want to chop it in, or change it for another, I just want it to work. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Tried a nice warm garage, and a dry seat, tried earths, tried crushed cable searching, tried split cable insualtion. The next thing they want to do is remove the GPS power, but that defeats the point of the bike for me, big trips where the power supply is essential! HELP

I know there a re numerous posts in here re elec issues, but none seemed to be the same thing as this...

i would guess they messed something up when adding the gps power supply.

let them remove it as a test, if you problem is solved, you know where to look.

otherwise i would let them remove the whole electrical wiring and replace it with a new bundle.

i'm getting the distinct impression they dont want to look at this anymore

Who cares if they don't want to look at your bike anymore! Your bike is under warranty and you need to stick the dealership too it. Service and Repair guys at dealerships are so damn lazy they go into work hoping to do oil changes all day. You have the right to raise hell about this and the dealer can't tell you otherwise. Besides like LeFox said they probably messed it up when installing the gps. I hope the best for you in this very strange situation. Good luck. [smirk]

thanks for you help guys! i've tried to do a little analysis of when this happens. my bike is parked outside on the street, and only recently have i been covering it with a tarp. it's only been a week or two, but i havent seen this issue re-occur yet. does anyone else have any issues from water intake from the rain, perhaps into the battery bay, or fuse box area? or even behind the screen where the ignition loom runs?

what's the temperature at your end?

10-20 degrees c, 60-70 degrees f

how might that affect things?

I have a simelar problem with the head lamp blinking on and off when i move the handle bars but also intermittend so i could not trace the problem yet. I also have the dails flipping individually then the one that did not flip doesn`t work but if i jiggle the key in the ignition it all returns back to normal. so i suspect maybe something in the ignition. my bike is out of warranty but my99scoob yours should be fixed by them, leave the bike at the dealer and phone them morning and night.[mad]

well if it's moist outside and the bike overnights out in the open, there could some water build-up. (condensation)

rain is less probable, unless it gets there while riding.

(lion, check for bad connection, either ignition or where the electric wires cross the steering head.

thanks fox. when the seat was recovered, it had to be left in the sun to "dry out for 3 days". apparently, the foam was soaked. that said, could it really get drenched like that by condensation? there is a nice gap between the airbox cover and the seat, perfect for collecting water in the battery compartment. i thought that was what caused it. that said, if it is rain / condensation, is this not somewhat of a design flaw. i dont know of any other bike that cant be left outside. my last bike (japanese) was always left outside, rain or snow, and never had any electrical issues. if covering the bike does resolve these electrical querks, does that mean it's my resonsibilty to keep it covered, or theirs to fix it so it can be left outside?

well leaving your bike/car (no matter what brand) outside isn't a 'health improving' thing to do.

especially aircooled vtwins which need some heat to operate decently.

the gap between seat & airbox cover is normal, and should not guide water to your battery.

personally, i wouldn't like to have to set my bike outside but if it was necessary i would at least cover it up.

well, on my pokey little street, i have no drive, or garage, so dont really have a choice. i'll keep it covered as i said, ans see if thats the end of it. i might open the front "fairing" up, and get some WD40 sprayed around the ignition and loom too. thanks for all you advice guys. gratefully appreciated. i'll let you know if it re-occurs despite being covered, and what the dealers say...

btw, what do you guys ride?

my99scoob said:

btw, what do you guys ride?

Click to expand...

a buell


nah
'04 xb12s...with a bit of new stuff on it.

just when i thought i had figured it out!!

the bike has been reliously covered for 3 weeks now, and only ridden when it has been dry. and not a sign of any problem. went out this sunday just gone, beautiful sunny day, 20 mile ride, parked up, and on my return, all trip info had reset.

so i figure it cannot be water intrusion of any kind. its not seen rain for weeks, and still the same problem persists back to the drawing board, and the dealer i guess!

do you feel anything of the slight power lapse?

just been on the phone with the dealer to book it back in. i have however been told that if i drop it back in "they will take another look", but on a best efforts basis as this is not really covered by the warantee. as there is no engine warning light on, there is no identifiable fault. i did ask if they could see from hooking the bike up to their diagnostic computer that the trip info had reset, and they said "probably not". is this correct? i was under the impression that this is quite clearly under warantee!

how can they know that it's not under warranty, if they don't know what it is? [confused]

they will not see on their diagnostic if/when the trip did a reset.

[mad]

ok, so it's back at the dealer. i have spent time going through the problem with them, and basically summarised my first post above with them. they have decided to identify the cable that feeds the trip info to ensure it is not lost when the ignition is switched off. once isolated, they plan to cut it to try to recreate the symptoms above. if it does, they then want to trace the cable back to try to find the break or poor connection on it. if that fails, they plan to send it to their other office for a fresh set of eyes. finally it feels like they are actually interested in fixing it, rather than fobbing me off with another "...well, we think its ok now". time will tell, fingers crossed....

just found these:

http://www.fixya.com/motorcycles/t1227553-buell_lightning_cityx_xb9sx_speedometer
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/3842/385016.html?1237824514

...looks like im not the only one to have had this problem. im amazed the dealer has never heard of it before!!