And not in a good way. I got off the highway today on my way home and was stopped at a red light when I heard my exhaust sound like it hollowed out. I revved the engine a couple of times and it sounded like it was gonna conk out on me. The light changed and when I released the clutch into first gear, the bike wouldn't pull. I pulled over into a gas station and turned everything off and checked the bike out. Checked the airbox, no clogs, the end of the pipes were blowing exhaust out. Started it again and tried to pull out of first gear and the bike had no power. I limped it home for 6 miles, I almost called the number on my Ducati card. I've got an '07 s2r800 with full zards with MonsterMash's reflashed ecu. Outside temperature was about 45 degrees engine temperature was at 180. There was very light rain today. I don't know what's up. Anyone got any ideas or suggestions on troubleshooting?
Ummm, stupid question, but since noone else is willing to chime in here. . .
Did you check to make sure you're getting spark to both cylinders?
I'm just heading into my garage right now. How do I check that?
pulled both plugs and reinserted them, didn't know what to look for. started the bike and it still has a hard time pulling out of first. i'll rev it high and release the clutch and it wants to conk out. when i rode it home earlier, i would rev it up to 6000rpm in 2nd and would still only be going about 25mph
I suppose you could be running on one cylinder...to check for spark you need to remove the plugs(make sure to plug them back into the plug wires) and have them placed on a ground source (read: not your body, I don't recommend holding them) etc.. and then crank the bike, you should see an arc across the gap. Remember to put the bike in neutral if you're not on it, I'd recommend 2 people, one can watch for spark while the other turns the bike over. alternatively, spark tester.
Is there any hesitation when you're revving it? If you're running on one cylinder it will sound/feel weird to rev.
Check your belts? I can't imagine the bike would run at all if you broke one but...you never know
i don't get what you mean by place it on a ground source.
so what if that's what it is? just get a new sparkplug?
Quote from: donzo on October 22, 2009, 05:24:06 PM
i don't get what you mean by place it on a ground source.
so what if that's what it is? just get a new sparkplug?
What you need to do is ground the spark plug to the engine. Unscrew the plug, reinsert it into the wire, and take a piece of bare wire and wrap it around the threads of the spark plug, and then secure it to a spot of bare metal on the engine somewhere. Crank over the engine and check for a blue spark at the end of the plug. Be careful, high voltage!
I haven't had to do this on anything that had more than one cylinder, so I'm not positive but I think you could do them both at the same time. I wouldn't want the bike to start on just one cylinder.
You can do them both at the same time, you'll see them spark in the firing order, hold the starter button down and they'll keep clicking away.
If the bike is running on one cylinder, the running cylinder will get quite hot, the one not running will stay relatively cool.
Check the easy things first. maybe check your fuel level, There maybe crap in the bottom of the tank that could have been sucked in if you were low.
Quote from: drenalinejunki92 on October 22, 2009, 07:45:52 PM
Check the easy things first. maybe check your fuel level, There maybe crap in the bottom of the tank that could have been sucked in if you were low.
You're just a step away from recommending that the fuel filter might need to be replaced.
If its partially clogged, it can give similar symptoms.
BC.
I had the same problem and it was bad gas. Try throwing a little bit of HEET in there and see if it clears up.
Thanks a lot for all the suggestions guys, I just ordered the service manual, spark plugs, fuel filter and I'll be tinkering all weekend. Can't wait for the fun to begin!
Quote from: donzo on October 22, 2009, 04:26:06 PM
pulled both plugs and reinserted them, didn't know what to look for. started the bike and it still has a hard time pulling out of first. i'll rev it high and release the clutch and it wants to conk out. when i rode it home earlier, i would rev it up to 6000rpm in 2nd and would still only be going about 25mph
Road speed is not affected by how well the engine is running. Engine rpm / gear ratio / sprocket tooth count all = a specific speed.
(ie: doesn't matter if you have a coughing and wheezing "only running on one cylinder" 40 horsepower or a 200+hp superbike engine, the above factors will make the speed the same regardless)
If you are only doing 25mph in second at 6000rpm, your clutch is likely the culprit
Quote from: Q777 on October 23, 2009, 11:27:34 PM
Road speed is not affected by how well the engine is running. Engine rpm / gear ratio / sprocket tooth count all = a specific speed.
(ie: doesn't matter if you have a coughing and wheezing "only running on one cylinder" 40 horsepower or a 200+hp superbike engine, the above factors will make the speed the same regardless)
If you are only doing 25mph in second at 6000rpm, your clutch is likely the culprit
missed the 6K RPM in 2nd part. Slipping clutch or chain/sprockets are so bad you cannot transmit power. You didn't mess with the little screw in the clutch lever did you?
No messing with anything, I was just at a stop light idling when I heard the engine sound differently
What if the clutch hub nut is working loose? There seems to be a lot of that going on with the S2R bikes lately.
so it was nice enough today to bring the bike out on to my patio (i don't have a garage) and I checked the sparkplugs. one is not firing, but it's sunday so i can't buy sparkplugs to replace. i'll buy some tomorrow and try then. this clutch business has me a bit concerned though. stay tuned...
make sure to check the wiring to your coils/ignition modules. the connections on my coils have vibrated off before and caused a cylinder to drop.
so i replaced the sparkplugs and it sounds good again, but the bike is still not producing the same amount of power. the bike didn't fire up as it usually does, the starter turned a bunch of times before it fired. after the bike warmed up it didn't hold its idle, it conked out when i took off the choke. all this clutch talk made me notice that the friction zone when releasing the clutch wasn't grabbing where it ordinarily would and i would have to rev it real high to keep the engine running. i took the bike for a spin and tried to open it up, but it still was not producing. guess it's off to the dudes at GP Bikes to get serviced.
Thanks for everybody's help and suggestions.
Quote from: metallimonster on October 23, 2009, 10:54:48 AM
I had the same problem and it was bad gas.
That's why you should stay away from the mexican food! ;)
i had a very similar problem the other day,the spark plug had enough spark to zap me but not to run the bike.would idle but only if the good coil would fire the top plug,changed the coil and problem solved,hope this helps
Thanks for busting some knowledge on me folks. The bike got picked up and went to the shop and they did a diagnostic on it. It was running on one cylinder and that was the cause of the loss of power - obviously. So why was it running on one cylinder? Well, I replaced the sparkplugs and the techs took if from there. There was no spark being produced even after the change from the front cylinder. They tested the coil, wiring and tested through the DDS. Nothing. So, they noticed that I was not running the stock ECU. I was running on MonsterMash's reflashed ecu after I bought my ZARDS. They put in the stock ECU and bam! ROAR! So they tuned the stock ECU and it's running great, I think even better than when I had Mash's ECU in there. I'm gonna put it on a dyno to see what the output is now in comparison. So that's what it was.
Now can someone give me a quick primer on what is involved in reflashing an ecu and how dependable other reflashes have been. The reflashed ECU was only in there for a month. Was this shoddy product? I know Mash is a Minor Sponsor so he's got to have some kind of rep. But with the purchase of the ECU and the repair, I'm out 600 clams.
No FHE here but everything I've read from people on the board has been negative. Were you running a reflash simply for the Zards?
Might be a good idea to send monstermash a PM.
QuoteNo FHE here but everything I've read from people on the board has been negative.
I haven't read anything negative about the reflash with the exception of someone who had a frankenbike with other problems.
i was running the reflash for the zards full system and open airbox with k&n air filter