Horrors in My Bellhousing!!

[smdl]

Thanks, gentlemen!  Now I just have to remember where everything goes!!

 

Cheers,
Shaun

[smdl]

Okay, somewhat overdue for an update. 

I spent a significant amount of time last weekend, and a bit of time each evening this week getting the bike back together.

Throttle bodies and engine sensors connected:



Oil cooler and I-don't-want-to-crash bars attached:



Shock and swingarm going in.  Sorry for the dirt -- I had just come back from a significant ride to/from the Western New York Rally when the clutch gave up and jammed the starter.



No cracks (yet).    :



Exhaust on:



Tank on.  If you look carefully, you can see a CARC, a Loop, a Tonti and a spiney (covered) in this photo:



And (drum roll please), here we are after the successful test ride, this evening!



Once I got everything back together, and after getting fuel pressure back up, the bike fired immediately.  Everything seemed to work well, so I took it for a short ride this evening, and the only thing that wasn't expected was that the headlights wouldn't work.  All other lights work, as do the auxiliary units, so I am expecting something possibly with the headlight relay.  I'll check on that tomorrow, and go for a bit longer ride.  Once I get the lighting sorted, I'll put the rest of the bodywork and racks back on. 

More to come!

Cheers,
Shaun 

[canuck750]

Nice work Shaun,

that was a big and complex job.

Cheers

Jim

[nick949]

 You're a braver man than I am.

Nick

[Phang]

We should make a badge/patch and award to those who have done this!

[Chuck in Indiana]

Well, that was easy, wasn't it?  Attaboy..

[Vasco DG]

It's an absolute prick of a job but at the end of the day it's just nuts and bolts. It's this sort of 'Bugger it! Let's get it done' attitude that will make ownership of anything much more enjoyable. Far better than bleating and looking for someone to blame.

Oh, the tools are back. Haven't unpacked them yet. Thanks.

Pete

[John A]

Thanks for taking the extra time posting the pics and describing what you were doing, I appreciate that!

[smdl]

Thanks, everyone.  Yes, it is a large job, with some frustrating bits and pieces that are challenging to get to.  The biggest challenge for me was finding the time to get at it, but in the end, I am really glad that I decided to do the work myself.  I have really gotten to know the bike, and will feel comfortable doing pretty much anything on it in future. 

John, I'm glad the pictures were helpful.  I've never been very good at remembering to take pictures at the time, and still had some lapses here, but I am trying to get better at it. 

Pete, thanks again for all your help, advice, and willingness to loan tools to someone you don't know, half a world away.  I couldn't have done it without all your help!

Special thanks, also, to Wayne, Phang and others who took the time to offer invaluable advice.  In particular, Wayne's picture helped me visualize what my social calendar was going to look like for the next several weeks , and Phang's idea for replacing that little access plate with aluminum and countersunk bolts was brilliant.  That made things MUCH easier going back in.

I should also mention that Piaggio finally did agree to cover the parts, which was greatly appreciated.  I also appreciate that my dealer continued to be persistent with them, as I continued to bug him over several weeks.  Certainly, the bike was off warranty, so I couldn't have any expectation.  However, it was *just* off warranty, and had I lived in a warmer part of Canada, I would have been riding a couple of months earlier in the year.  Also, this appears to be a known fault with bikes in this production range, and I believe there is a flaw with a small run of friction discs.  Regardless, kudos to Piaggio for stepping up and covering the parts under goodwill.

Finally, sincere thanks to Luap and the mods for hosting and moderating this excellent forum.  The information here is priceless, as are the participants. 

All's well that ends well?  I hope so!  I'm about to go out and clean the bike up, and then see if I can figure out the issue with the lights.

Cheers,
Shaun

[Wayne Orwig]

Phang's idea for replacing that little access plate with aluminum and countersunk bolts was brilliant.  That made things MUCH easier going back in.

So that thin plate clears the frame?
That is good to hear, should I need to go back in there.

I still want to see how the factory gets the engine up in the frame with the plastic block on there.

[smdl]

Hi, Wayne.

Yes, the plate provides several mm more space, and clears the frame without issue.  As mentioned previously, I'm sure it's possible with the plastic cover in place, but not easy.  The other notable item that causes clearance issues is the oil cooler.  By messing with the routing of the lines temporarily while the engine was going in, I was able to create much more space.

Cheers.
Shaun

[oldbike54]

We should make a badge/patch and award to those who have done this!

 One of you smart guys come up with a virtual patch that we can award . Pennie , here is your chance to shine buddy .


 Until then
                               
                                                                                Attaboy Shaun !

  Dusty

[smdl]

Thanks, Dusty!

By the way, headlights are now working.  Found that the bike was not charging, so pulled the main fuse (and those next to it) and confirmed continuity.  Cleaned them up a bit with some De-Oxit and she is now right as rain.  I suspect I had just jostled something loose is all my ham-fisted mechanic-ing.   

Cheers,
Shaun

[smdl]

Oh, one other thought.  Pete, you were right on about using the new 1400 California clutch setup.  The action is beautiful on this clutch!  It's hard to recall exactly what the other one was like, but I'm sure it didn't feel this smooth and light.  As discussed, I did end up using the shortest pushrod based upon the reading on the depth tool, but I possibly could have gone one up, without issue (the measurement was right near the boundary between the two).  The clutch works fine, and does release completely, but does so fairly close to the grip.  It might be better to move it out slightly, and I might order the next pushrod, one day, if I am feeling ambitious.  Keep in mind, of course, that I have only ridden a very short distance, so will make sure a change is needed before I do anything.

This might be valuable to those who have expressed concern about their clutch engagement point being out towards the end of travel (my Norge was like this).  If you want to change this,  putting in a different length of pushrod is not an overly difficult job

Cheers,
Shaun

[smdl]

Well, spent the better part of the day cleaning and working on the Stelvio.  Reinstalled the skid plate and luggage racks (PITA!), did a valve adjustment,  throttle body balance, reset TPS, set CO Trim, etc.  It's as ready as it possibly can be for the ride tomorrow.   



The ride will be about 400KM (~240 miles), which is enough to give it a good test, but not so much that I outdistance the maximum tow distance of my CAA plan!

Wish me luck!!

Cheers,
Shaun

[Wayne Orwig]

This might be valuable to those who have expressed concern about their clutch engagement point being out towards the end of travel (my Norge was like this).  If you want to change this,  putting in a different length of pushrod is not an overly difficult job

I would think that the engagement point would be set at the master cylinder.

[smdl]

Maybe so -- will need to consider that.  Perhaps the different pushrod lengths just allow you to make certain that the slave has sufficient travel?

Shaun

[nick949]

Good luck today Shaun - all will be fine.  Trust the force 

Nick

[smdl]

Good luck today Shaun - all will be fine.  Trust the force 

Nick

Thanks, Nick.  I certainly needed good luck, today, and only sort-of got it. 

First, the good news:  The bike ran great!  Clutch was sweet, gearbox was uncannily quiet and snickety!  I was thrilled... right up until I wasn't thrilled anymore. 

Bad news:  About 1.5 hours into the ride, I thought back to how the lights had not been working when I first put the bike back together.  I started finding myself really wanting to be able to check to see if the lights were on at that moment, but I was riding with a friend, and couldn't easily stop.  Then, a few minutes later, I started noticing a bit of weirdness.  The ABS light came on briefly and then went off, and then the bike started to run really roughly.  I knew immediately that it was related to the lighting/charging problem, and as engine power started failing, I quickly shut off electrical stuff.  Auxiliary lights, GPS, heated grips. etc.  That immediately made a difference, confirming my assumptions, and I was able to get enough engine power back to catch up to my friend, take the next exit, and pull into a gas station.  However, the moment I shut the bike off, it was dead.  Dash would light up, but there was not enough juice to crank the starter.  Voltmeter showed 11.5v.  I proceeded to pull off the ride side cover and check the fuses.  They were fine, as were all visible connections, etc., so I decided it was time to call CAA.

Upon arriving home, I re-checked all the obvious stuff, and it was clear that the bike was not charging at all.  So, I decided to tear into it, and dig deep to find out what I did wrong.  So, off came the seats, side cover, lower fairing pods and tank (why is it ALWAYS almost full when it needs to come off??).  I was pretty sure that I must have forgotten to tighten the alternator connections, or something equally dumb, but found them to be well seated and tight.  I checked the belt to see if maybe it had suffered a failure, but it was still happily spinning around.  So, I went looking for the auxiliary fuses, and decided to re-seat all the relays while under there.  All of a sudden, the bike started charging perfectly!  So, it seems that this is/was a relay problem, which is something that I hadn't even touched! 

I'm going to go pull all the relays, shoot them with De=Oxit, and re-seat them properly.  Then, I will put the bodywork back on again, hopefully for the last time for a while.

Hoping that's all it was, and very chuffed  that the bike did so well, otherwise.

Cheers,
Shaun

[nick949]

Thanks, Nick.  I certainly needed good luck, today, and only sort-of got it. 

First, the good news:  The bike ran great!  Clutch was sweet, gearbox was uncannily quiet and snickety!  I was thrilled... right up until I wasn't thrilled anymore. 

Bad news:  About 1.5 hours into the ride, I thought back to how the lights had not been working when I first put the bike back together.  I started finding myself really wanting to be able to check to see if the lights were on at that moment, but I was riding with a friend, and couldn't easily stop.  Then, a few minutes later, I started noticing a bit of weirdness.  The ABS light came on briefly and then went off, and then the bike started to run really roughly.  I knew immediately that it was related to the lighting/charging problem, and as engine power started failing, I quickly shut off electrical stuff.  Auxiliary lights, GPS, heated grips. etc.  That immediately made a difference, confirming my assumptions, and I was able to get enough engine power back to catch up to my friend, take the next exit, and pull into a gas station.  However, the moment I shut the bike off, it was dead.  Dash would light up, but there was not enough juice to crank the starter.  Voltmeter showed 11.5v.  I proceeded to pull off the ride side cover and check the fuses.  They were fine, as were all visible connections, etc., so I decided it was time to call CAA.

Upon arriving home, I re-checked all the obvious stuff, and it was clear that the bike was not charging at all.  So, I decided to tear into it, and dig deep to find out what I did wrong.  So, off came the seats, side cover, lower fairing pods and tank (why is it ALWAYS almost full when it needs to come off??).  I was pretty sure that I must have forgotten to tighten the alternator connections, or something equally dumb, but found them to be well seated and tight.  I checked the belt to see if maybe it had suffered a failure, but it was still happily spinning around.  So, I went looking for the auxiliary fuses, and decided to re-seat all the relays while under there.  All of a sudden, the bike started charging perfectly!  So, it seems that this is/was a relay problem, which is something that I hadn't even touched! 

I'm going to go pull all the relays, shoot them with De=Oxit, and re-seat them properly.  Then, I will put the bodywork back on again, hopefully for the last time for a while.

Hoping that's all it was, and very chuffed  that the bike did so well, otherwise.

Cheers,
Shaun

Well Shaun............ EAT and........too bad and..............co ngratulations...... .........and despite the ordeal, you even remembered the adverb.   

Nick

[smdl]

Thanks, Nick.

Well, I cleaned up the relay, put it back in, and everything seems to be 100%.  I'm going to pick up a few spare relays (4-pin, 5-pin and 5-pin with diode to protect the ECU) to carry, and I'll know to check on that area if I am having similar issues in future. 

Thanks are due to Peter Youngblood (and a few others), who helped me understand what each relay does in this post:

http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=72525.0

Folks, I think that's it!  Unless any additional relevant information comes up, I'm going to consider this issue closed.  Again, sincere thanks to everyone who unselfishly contributed knowledge, advice and tools.  I couldn't have done this without all your help!

Cheers,
Shaun

[Utrider]

So, I'm resurrecting this old topic, and thanks Shaun for the great pictures and narration.

My 2014 Stelvio puked on me last fall in Southern California, I found a donor drivetrain from a wrecked 2015 Norge.  One thing of interest I have found is that port that you fabbed the new piece up for is the same on my Stelvio, but this Norge has a much thinner plate in the same place.

Thanks again for the tip to this thread and the great write up.

[smdl]

So, I'm resurrecting this old topic, and thanks Shaun for the great pictures and narration.

My 2014 Stelvio puked on me last fall in Southern California, I found a donor drivetrain from a wrecked 2015 Norge.  One thing of interest I have found is that port that you fabbed the new piece up for is the same on my Stelvio, but this Norge has a much thinner plate in the same place.

Thanks again for the tip to this thread and the great write up.

Glad my post continues to be helpful!  Best of luck getting your Stelvio sorted.

Cheers,
Shaun

[Peter949]

Hi Shaun,
This morning I was reading your post to look at the photos, and see how a clutch job on a Stelvio is completed.  I just purchased my own 2012 Stelvio yesterday. Also, last week I completed a clutch replacement for my Cali II, and I thought that I would prepare myself for some Stelvio maintenance.

[smdl]

Hi, Peter.  Great to hear from you!

Were you lucky with your Stelvio in that it was factory rollerized like mine?  Or, if not, has that work has already been done? 

Clutch on a Stelvio is really not a fun job, but is a LOT easier if you take off that little cover on the left side of the timing cover.  Still a tight squeeze, but much easier then. 

Let us know how it goes!

Cheers,
Shaun

[sanddweller]

Shaun. First well done on the clutch job and the post.

I had a similar clucth failure in 2017 on my 2012 Stelvio about 38000km, although kept running until I did a replacement at 50000km. (I had a dealer do it), with the 1400 clutch assembly.
(Purchased from TLM and shipped to Australia far cheaper than ordring in Australia)

I am aware of a few others who have also had similar clutch failures, including a chap also in Brisbane/Australia (as I was at the time, although I bought my bike in IOM).

https://youtu.be/NKMSwBLMLYA

[pete roper]

Arrrrgh! Zombie thread alert!

My Stelvio is a 2012 and one of the advantages of slotting the 1400 into it was I got rid of the dubious 2012 clutch and got the lovely ‘Light Pull’ 1400 clutch.

Pete

[smdl]

Shaun. First well done on the clutch job and the post.

I had a similar clucth failure in 2017 on my 2012 Stelvio about 38000km, although kept running until I did a replacement at 50000km. (I had a dealer do it), with the 1400 clutch assembly.
(Purchased from TLM and shipped to Australia far cheaper than ordring in Australia)

I am aware of a few others who have also had similar clutch failures, including a chap also in Brisbane/Australia (as I was at the time, although I bought my bike in IOM).

https://youtu.be/NKMSwBLMLYA

Thanks!  This seems like a long time ago now, but the work went well (thanks to Pete, Phang and Wayne!), and I'm happy to say that I have about 25,000 trouble-free KMs on the new clutch. 

I'm really surprised that you were able to keep running the bike so long after the initial failure!  Mine kept shedding pieces of the springs, wreaking havoc on the starter.  Anyway, glad to hear that you got it sorted before it caused too much trouble for you.

Cheers,
Shaun

[smdl]

Arrrrgh! Zombie thread alert!

My Stelvio is a 2012 and one of the advantages of slotting the 1400 into it was I got rid of the dubious 2012 clutch and got the lovely ‘Light Pull’ 1400 clutch.

Pete

 

[Motormike]

So, I have to ask: are all the 2012 model year CARC bikes a clutch spring time bomb?