Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Keats]

Last Saturday June 27th was heading out on a ride (family reunion) and stopped to top off gas tank at a Local Wawa (kinda like a 7-11, but much better)

(Sheetz for the Pittsburg crowd, RUTTERS, IN AND OUT, )

Anyway after fueling up I only made it 2 blocks before bike went into a limp mode (no throttle, just idles at 1000 rpm).

I was determined to keep going, but at only 1000 rpm and 150 miles ahead of me, the day was starting to look real long.

I cleared the computer no less than 20 times and maybe get 10 feet to 200 yards.

I decided after a half hour of this things were looking bad and decided the dealer would be my new destination. (only 10 miles)

I kept up the clearing of the ecm and shaking the tank and it started to run a little smoother (still sputtering)

I get to a fork in the road, one way is dealer and the other is original destination. (either way has no ability to pull off the road safely)

I was disgusted at this point and said what the hell just ride through it.

It worked, bike started running without stopping and ran over 300 miles that day.

I suspect water in the tank, due to the fact it was running perfect until i topped off the tank.

This is what I get for buying premium gas............

[DDavidson]

Sucks!

I heard rubbing "isopropyl" alcohol helps break up the water?

Good determination that it was water.

I make choices like that also but trying to minimize the risk now that half of my ass has been bitten off.

[RayG]

Why would water put it into Limp Mode? I thought Limp Mode was an electrical issue? If it was running poorly and suddenly started to run better it could be water or a blockage or dozens of other situations. My bike (08 SERK) is at the dealership for Limp Mode issues.  I was doing the reset as directed by a previous post but in all actuality why would resetting the ECM have anything to do with the real culprit that was diagnosed as pitting of the frets and corrosion relating to poor connection to the throttle body. I went a whole week doing the reset and I always seemed to be able to get going again after numerous attempts, looking back I think I was just lucky. The last time the bike would not get out of limp mode for hours (last Thursday) so they picked me up and trailered it back to the dealership. Of course once it was there it ran fine. I was in yesterday and saw the connections, now I have to wonder how often will this have to be serviced, according to SBB he said every 8000 miles. Well I hope you have better luck that me. I just can't see the connection (no pun intended) between water or poor gas putting it into Limp Mode, but then again I'm wrong more often that right. Well I hope you have better luck than me, by the way I had 32,500 miles on the bike. Could the bikes be programmed to be put into Limp Mode when certain problem arise for protection? As was previously posted Limp Mode is better than being stuck in WFO Mode.

Good Luck

Ray G.

[miker]

tt418

[Sklywag]

How full did you fill the tank?  I have had the exact same thing happen when I overfileld the tank and flooded the charcoal cannister.  What happens is if the tank get too full the extra gas goes directly to the charcoal cannister through the vent line & then the tank can't breath.  It sputters, no rpm, but will idle.  The quick fix is crack the gas cap, let the tank get air in through the gas cap, as soon as the system purges the extra gas out of the cannister everything goes back to normal.

[Keats]

Maybe my situation was not gas and I got lucky.

I thought the fact that I just topped off and it konked out 2 blocks after that event was the reason.

I assumed that the spitting and sputtering (mis firing) could be spotted by the ECM and would put the bike into a Limp
mode.    

I may be wrong in this, would love to know though.

Has been running great lately and have put over 1000 miles on the bike since the last event.

 

[Keats]

How full did you fill the tank?  I have had the exact same thing happen when I overfileld the tank and flooded the charcoal cannister.  What happens is if the tank get too full the extra gas goes directly to the charcoal cannister through the vent line & then the tank can't breath.  It sputters, no rpm, but will idle.  The quick fix is crack the gas cap, let the tank get air in through the gas cap, as soon as the system purges the extra gas out of the cannister everything goes back to normal.

I always fill to the same point where the nozzle shuts off, nothing more.

it sputtered then went to 1000 RPM  - Idled fine, just no throttle response -

[grc]

Next time it happens check your "check engine" light.  In theory it should be illuminated and there should be one or more codes set when the electronic throttle control goes into one of it's non-standard modes.  You may still have historical codes present even if the check engine light is out.

H-D has identified wiring terminal problems as a common issue with the ETC, see the Tech Tip attached.  Might be a good idea to check out all the connections before this happens again.


Jerry

[Diamondback]

 

[Keats]

Next time it happens check your "check engine" light.  In theory it should be illuminated and there should be one or more codes set when the electronic throttle control goes into one of it's non-standard modes.  You may still have historical codes present even if the check engine light is out.

H-D has identified wiring terminal problems as a common issue with the ETC, see the Tech Tip attached.  Might be a good idea to check out all the connections before this happens again.


Jerry

The check engine light did come on........

will have ro have them check ETC

[miker]

WhaddIsay???

[SBB]

Of course once it was there it ran fine. I was in yesterday and saw the connections, now I have to wonder how often will this have to be serviced, according to SBB he said every 8000 miles. Well I hope you have better luck that me.
Good Luck

Ray G.

Whoa Ray!

See MikeR's post above with TT418.

To quote from TT418,

The most common vehicles to have these symptoms are those with more than 8000 miles or
those vehicles with 103ci and larger engines. The vibration that these connections are exposed
to is believed to contribute to the fretting condition.

The way I read it, if a bike has more than 8000 miles and it meets criteria set forth in TT418 the fretting condition may occur.
My issue happened at 28000 miles and I'm now at 36K. I plan to have it checked again very soon.

SBB

[Keats]

Is the consensus, that poor gas or water would not cause the series of events that happened to me?

2nd question............if this was a ETC problem

how frequently does this pop up?

and I assume if you get it cleared once the frequency and severity of the problem increases.

I will call the dealer tomorrow.

[grc]

Is the consensus, that poor gas or water would not cause the series of events that happened to me?

2nd question............if this was a ETC problem

how frequently does this pop up?

and I assume if you get it cleared once the frequency and severity of the problem increases.

I will call the dealer tomorrow.

Don't know about a consensus, but poor fuel quality or water in the fuel shouldn't have anything to do with the ETC going dead.  It probably would cause misfires and other abnormal stuff that would cause codes and check engine lights, but it shouldn't affect the ETC.

I would strongly suggest that anyone with one of these ETC bikes definitely check all the connections as per the Tech Tip, or have a technician you trust do it for you.  If the terminals all look good, apply a coating of dielectric grease and reconnect everything.  Make sure any seals in the connectors are good (apply a little dielectric grease there as well) to keep moisture out.  Doing the inspection/suspect terminal replacement/dielectric grease routine may be all you need to avoid problems in the future.  If not, sue the SOB's and maybe they'll be forced to upgrade the terminals to something decent like gold plated versions.  After all, this is a safety item even though H-D isn't treating it that way.  I'll bet if we had Toyota's losing throttle control due to crappy terminals, there would be a recall, not some semi-secret "tech tip".


Jerry

[Keats]

Dealer is of the same thought that bad gas would not throw it into limp mode (no throttle control)

They want the bike back for inspection.


Miker.................you were right   TT418 is the logical cause of problem.

This bike has had it's fair share of issues for only 16K miles.

At least it runs good when it is running...............