07 Uly Cutting Out

[Rainman64]

Took it out yesterday and rode to the Bama Jam fairgrounds, about 20 miles round trip. It stalled about 6 times on the short ride. I would be riding along at 60mph and it would just stop running. It was like someone hit the kill switch. It would last for about 5 - 10 seconds and then start running again. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Ray

 

[user_deleted]

things to check if your Uly has them....and if it was wet or you washed it lately???

sidestand safety switch
moisture in right side handlebar mounted "run" switch
seat rubbing against your ecm unit
and the obvious being tight and corrosion free battery terminal connections

 

[SlyFox]

Mine did exactly that and it took H-D 6 weeks and six tries to remedy...it was the ECU/ECM. Mine only quit for a second or 2 and then resume. Sometimes it would do it multiple times in a mile or 1 time in twenty miles.

 

[BuellyBagger]

Tps,ecm,grounds r all likely culprits

 

[steve92106]

Not to steal Rainman's post but I just came back from a nice, 172 mile ride and my bike died at the traffic light a mile from my house. I was able to relight the fire and keep it running by judicious throttle management but the check engine light was illuminated and stayed on the rest of the way home. The bike was running like a top up to that point. 23,000 miles, had the 20,000 mile service a couple of months ago and just replaced the battery. I'll take it to the local HD dealer as there is no other Buell experienced mech in San Diego that I know of (please correct me if I'm wrong on that) but would like to hear any ideas beforehand so I am prepared.

 

[thewanmanrules]

Grounds and ECM are possible. An issue that I experienced was the VR and Stator took a dump. Have you had any issues with the head lights burning out?

 

[steve92106]

No headlight problems but I will check battery and ECM connections and hope for an easy solution.

 

[SlyFox]

ECU/ECM. Mine only quit for a second or 2 and then resume. Sometimes it would do it multiple times in a mile or 1 time in twenty miles.

...what I said...

 

[steve92106]

Well, I found no obvious electrical issues under the saddle. I thought possibly the problem was my starting the bike right away without allowing the CEL to extinguish so I stopped doing that and had no further problems until this weekend. Rode 100 mi from sea level to 7,000' and back down to 4,000' for a lunch break. Bike was running fine. An hour later I fired her up for the ride home and got a big backfire followed by crappy running but no CEL. Rode it home 50 mi on the freeway and, right at the same traffic light near my house the CEL comes on! Got it home and let it idle in the driveway, it was surging up and down, almost quitting and the exhaust smelled VERY rich. So, what could cause an ECM to go bad? I don't have a big chunk of change to pay for an expensive repair bill. If I ride this thing a bit more am I likely to do any serious damage? Jap bikes don't do stuff like this.

 

[user_deleted]

steve: it's fairly rare for an ECM to go bad but some of the 06-07 Ulys were rough on the ECM units due to the seat rubbing against it which was rectified with a pad and relocation by buell. the 2 obvious checks would be to run diagnostics and see what if any codes are stored.....and/or try a borrowed known good ECM from a friend or board member and see what the results are. the symptoms you are describing certainly seem to be electrical with 1 or more stored codes in the ECM which should be read. have you removed your seat and visually inspected the ECM for any signs of loose plugs, cracks or marks from seat rubbing on it? worth a check.

 

[steve92106]

Lunatic, thanks for getting back so quickly. My Uly is an 09. I didn't see anything that looked like a rubbing or connection fault when I first had the problem last month. The saddle is an aftermarket tall seat from Buellparts.net that I've ridden for almost two years. I'll look at it again and see if I missed something because it sure is behaving like a bad electrical connection somewhere. The harness and plug are so substantial, I couldn't physically wiggle anything when I first looked at it. One thing I might try is to remove the pigtail I recently installed to plug in my heated gear. Again, I didn't see any visible evidence of a problem but the timing is certainly suspicious.

 

[user_deleted]

Lunatic, thanks for getting back so quickly. My Uly is an 09.

steve: i was thinking of ray's original 2007 post when i mentioned the seat rub and not your post. your ecm location/seat should not be a factor. as with anything else mechanical when a problem develops fairly soon after a mod or repair was made, that did not exist prior to said mod or repair, check your work. i agree with you that this is suspicious. your pigtail you mentioned might be interferring with a groud circuit used by the ecm to do its thing.

 

[kd4gru]

I bought a'07 ULYthat had been stored for several months. Had problems w/ cutting out while riding, then would run fine. No rime or reason . Tried to figure out all summer. What it reined out to be was rats had chewed wires under air box. As I road they world short out on the head. Would happen sometime, then not.
Never thought about that, kept over thinking everything . Kept looking at ECM, stator, everything but the simple things.
Lesson to learn, if you don't find the problem early, go back to basics .
KISS...