Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: redrider90 on March 15, 2015, 10:54:58 AM
-
OK maybe this is on an old thread somewhere but I could not find it. Triple Jim's recent thread on his CDI that will run off 9 Volts (6 1.5V batteries) makes me wonder how many of use have broken down on the road with a failed ignition system. I asked Jim could he theoretically bypass his wiring harness with the 9V batteries to limp to somewhere safe if he say had a catastrophic electronic failure.
But that also begs the question for a different thread: how have you been left stranded. Let's keep flat tires out of the picture.
I myself suffered from ignition woos first with the Motoplat (3 failures) and twice with Dyna failures. On all those occasions I was lucky enough to be local and get my Mille back up on one cylinder and limp home. I've been to enough rallies that I have seen some pretty extensive wrenching to get guys back on the road.
So I am interested in breakdowns that left you stranded or otherwise were lucky enough to find mechanical help roadside to get it back up and running.
Who wins the award for the worst most time consuming mechanical/electrical failure?
-
Doubt if I'll take the prize, but my '12 Griso had only about 7k miles on it when I took off on a 1,400 mile trip.
Stopped for a burger in a tiny W.Va. town, and it wouldn't restart -- prompting me for a user code I
couldn't remember setting. Got the dealer on the phone, no advice and they were many hours away and closing for the weekend.
It was getting dark, no motel in sight. In desperation, I posted on this forum. A few minutes later, master mechanic GuzziSteve rang my cell from his truck on the way to a rally.
He walked me through through disconnecting the battery, resetting the dash, and gave me the shop code. That still didn't do it, so he diagnosed it as a bad transponder in the key.
I spent some time guessing the code I'd given the dealer months earlier and didn't write down. Finally got her fired, and for the rest of the trip had to manually punch in the code after every stop
Meanwhile when I set up camp that night, I checked the forum and found several kind souls offering trucks and places to stay.
The spare key at home worked, and the dealer eventually replaced the bad one under warranty, but I got a good lesson in how great the denizens of this forum can be in saving me from my own stupidity.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Hungary. You're riding along, everything working well, when suddenly the engine shuts off and you're coasting to a stop. What do you do? You take a photograph.
(http://www.dankalal.net/2011trip5/photo545.JPG)
Electrics nearly dead. I can hear the fuel pump, but the starter does not work. The horn works, the instruments are dead. Check fuses. OK. Red triangle.
Call the Guzzi roadside service. Italian. Call again. Figure out that you are being asked to press (1) for... and to press (2) for... I press (2). I hope somebody speaks English. They do.
Ultimately, a connection with a Hungarian service is made and arrangements are made for a truck to come out from Berettyóújfalu.
I think my trip plans are about to change. Berettyóújfalu...
-
I'll add some more...
Nebraska. wheel bearing failure (1/2 day)
(http://www.dankalal.net/2002trip1/js002.jpg)
California. generator failure (1/2 day)
(http://www.dankalal.net/1979trip1/may011.jpg)
Nevada. U-joint failure (3 days)
(http://www.dankalal.net/1987trip1/image051.jpg)
Kansas. clutch failure (n/a; close to home)
(http://www.dankalal.net/2006trip10/2006_07_03C.JPG)
Oregon. Connecting rod bearing failure (2 days to get to a safe place, multiple days to repair)
(http://www.dankalal.net/1980trip1/Mitchell030.jpg)
New Mexico. Water in the ECU (1 week in El Paso waiting on parts)
(http://www.dankalal.net/2013trip21/photo126x665.JPG)
-
Well, this past summer, on the day I left the national in Iowa, my alternator belt broke. I was a little bit past Sun Prairie, just outside of Madison heading towards the ferry in Manitowoc. The bike starts bucking a bit, the red "oh Sh*t" light comes on. I pull my clutch in, and the bike instantly dies. Coast over to the side of the road, 4 ways are going all wonky. Check my battery connections, check what error codes came up (none in the ecu thank God). Pull out my Micro Start (Li-ion power source that can jump start bikes/cars) and magically the bike will start and run while hooked into it. Pull it off, and bike dies.
Go around to the front of the bike, pop the plug in the belt cover, and some shreds of the belt fall out. Luckily, I brought a spare with me, now I just need some way to take this all apart. As luck would have it, a nice BMW rider came by not 5 minutes later, and offered to go back home about 10 miles back, grab his bike trailer and truck, and come pick me up, and we'd work on it at his house.
(http://i.imgur.com/m4qkTx4.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/oaNtflC.jpg)
5 hours after it broke, I'm back on the road, got 2 hours of sleep on the ferry (left at 1 am, got into Ludington at 6 am local time) and managed to make it all the way to Kingston, ON that night.
-
850T Alma, Wisconsin, DYNA ignition failure, found safe place to leave it, came back a couple of weeks later, put points back in and static timed it. Eventually evidence indicated bad ground from sensor plate to block, not failure of ignition electronics. But tell that to the bike.........
BG
-
Three times with throttle cables (I keep an extra one 'threaded' and ready to go so 20 min and back on the road).
Twice clutch cables (I also carry a spare of those, so 15 min).
Three times with ignition cutting out. Would get over to side of road, sit for a bit and it would start back up again. 10mi down the road it would stop again. Seemed like a fuel problem so pulled fuel lines. Did it again. This time would not restart. This time check the plugs, no spark. Finally found one of the female spade connectors to the coils had corroded to nothing. Crimped a new one on there and done (yes I carry extra connectors too :) ).
Had a 'startus interruptus' a few times. I'd wiggle the handlebars and it would start OK. One day would not. Ignition worked so I bump started it so I could get to a shaded place to work. Was futzing about with the side covers off. Decided to crank it while looking in there. Big spark and nothing. Looked where it was coming from. Ground wire was loose. 45min of futzing, 5 min to fix.
This was when the front end collapsed after hitting a pothole. Limped to KOA where we camped for the night. Next morning disassembled and fixed. 2 hrs.
(http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/portablevcb/fixingbike.jpg)
(http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/portablevcb/guzzi/6A7E0911-91B8-4E5B-937E-5AB0AD69C357.jpg)
-
Harvey , is this limited to Moto Guzzi ? Are Lucas failures allowed , that might produce a never ending thread ;D
Dusty
-
Harvey , is this limited to Moto Guzzi ? Are Lucas failures allowed , that might produce a never ending thread ;D
Dusty
Goodness no...... NO LUCAS failures allowed ever in any thread!!! ;D ;D ;D ; Really Dusty, Lucas has their own Pandora's box.
-
Goodness no...... NO LUCAS failures allowed ever in any thread!!! ;D ;D ;D ; Really Dusty, Lucas has their own Pandora's box.
More like a Pandora's supertanker ;D Seriously , in almost 30 years of dancing with the Prince of Darkness , really only one major failure :o :o
Dusty
-
Two times:
- Broken crimp on a brand new OEM fuel filter on my '98 K1200RS, about 20 miles east of Grand Junction, CO, on I-70. Flatbed tow to the GJ Honda/BMW dealer. Four hour delay.
- Broken alternator belt on a rented '04 R1150R in the Dolomites. The tour company learned I was stranded and brought me a F650CS so I could resume my day. Three hour delay.
-
Buena Vista, Va. Guzzi National. Stator crapped out on the Tiger. Bought a battery and ran wires from my buddy Tim's trailer behind his trusty Strada to charge my extra battery while rolling home. Changed battery at gas stops.
The battery problem didn't take near as much time as the lack of electricity at gas stops due to the power outage. That probably cost us 12 to 15 hrs. delay.
Thanks again, Tim ;D
-
Started noticing a little feedback in my right heel as I was headed East out of Wyoming toward Minneapolis. By the time I headed for Moorhead from Money Creek, it was a throb. Headed over the border from Washington with the throb changing whenever the road did. Pulled over at BELL II on the Kassiar with the u-joint smoking and the boot melted so it was dripping onto the ground. 500 miles to the ferry home. I traded salmon jerky for a can of spray grease (the white stuff) that burst into flame when I shot it at the u-joint.
200 miles closer to Whitehorse I no longer dared ease up on the throttle -- the tension was the only thing holding the drive shaft together. It was so cobb-rough that I could almost count the shaft revs as it clacked through its broken circle. Outside Teslin, I saw a lodge on the left -- "TWIN PEAKS". Also a huge, MOTORCYCLE FRIENDLY sign on the front wall. I needed me some of that motorcycle friendly, so I made for the driveway.
Sure enough, as soon as I backed off the noise control and started down the gravel driveway the rear wheel locked up. I did a somewhat controlled slide to a crooked stop at the porch. At least I was safe. The owner, David Bell, watched me 'park' and came over, both amused and concerned. The u-joint was on fire again. I swatted at it with a glove, but it kept re-igniting for about 15 minutes as we discussed the situation.
The lodge was closed. The staff was gone, as was Mrs Bell. David was just securing the property for the winter. But he was also a rider and understood the situation. He hooked the bike up to his 4-wheeler and dragged it to a garage some distance from the lodge. He said "I can let you hide it here, but I've got nothing to fix it with." I replied that I had all the tools I needed with me -- I was just short one drive shaft. If I could do a quick disassembly, I could hitch hike to Skagway, ferry home, get the part, and return in about a week. He said he'd allow it, but if I wasn't back in a week the bike would be locked down for the winter and I could come get it in May.
Long story longer, I got the swing arm out, finally managed to pry out the carrier bearing (inner race and rollers came right out -- outer race was a challenge). There wasn't enough left to use. I left most of my gear with the bike and high-tailed it for the ferry. Along the way I was picked up by two men who helped themselves to my backpack, thumped me thoroughly, and tossed me over an embankment, breaking my neck (just got that fixed, thanks for asking). I looked so bad after that I couldn't even flag down a Mountie to report the robbery.
In Skagway things weren't much better. I looked like 500 miles of bad road. It had been low 40s and raining all day and I was rummy with cold. I took another beating at the ferry dock from a guy who thought I was a thief. He called the skagway cops, who never even asked what my story was. They just accepted the other guy's report that I was going through his goods. The cops told me to turn out my pockets so the complaintant could poinnt out his property. I said "No, he'll tell you what he's missing and then you can see if it's in my pockets." Naturally, the guy couldn't name anything he was missing, so I got to keep whatever I had left from the robbery.
I got back to Sitka after a further delay caused by the ferry running over a drift net. It limped into Juneau on one shaft and I caught a flight home from there. In Sitka I was a day late getting started on a computer job and the customer had his front desk girl flip a coin to see if I got to keep the job. I lost. But I was able to piece together another Convert driveshaft and was headed back to the bike by (literally) plane, train, bus, boat, and car.
When I arrived in the late evening, David was still there and charged a nominal fee for messing up a sleeping room. His truck was already packed and ready to leave. The kitchen was shut down. The next morning I got the bike reassembled in a couple of hours (broken neck and all) and was on the road again -- no more drama for the trip except that I stopped off at the mountie station and bitched them out for not stopping when I tried to flag them down. Like most Canadians I've met they were apologetic and polite.
I got more stories. Getting stranded is what I do. ::)
-
Daniel,
You need to buy a Yamaha!! :BEER:
Bill
-
OK, ignoring the multiple unpluggable tubeless tire flats. (wish they had tubes in them)
A Honda 305 Super Hawk exploded the primary chain. Locking up the rear wheel at a health speed. That was exciting, and required a tow home.
A dealer told me that the 'tick tick' sound from the transmission was normal on my 94 Cali. It wasn't. BOOM! Nothing like a locked up driver train in Atlanta traffic. (the transmission had been improperly worked on by the dealer)
Then the 2004 EV had a universal joint lock solid. I probably could have ridden the 50 miles home with the vibration, but decided to not risk more damage.
My 98 Centauro had a clutch plate disintegrate on the highway.
Kawasaki Z1 second gear exploded.
Honda 600 dropped a valve seat out of the head.
Same POS Honda exploded the starter gears.
Front wheel bearings on the EV failed on a cross country trip but I picked those up at NAPA and changed them along the road.
flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires ,flat tires
:BEER:
-
While no where as classic as these problems, I was nearly a hundred miles from home in the mountains when I got a 3/8th's inch bolt through my rear tire. Did not have cell phone coverage. I tried running on the flat, but it just folded over. I was running Dunlop radials (everyone in SoCal did on their Cali's back then) So not wanting to walk for several days, I tried picking up the pace and see if centrifugal force and stiff sidewalls would help. I found about 35-40 mph, the bike kind of rose up a bit and while very slithery, would move. I rode about 20 miles at a time until the tire was smoking from I suspect the friction of all the internal stuff happening. I finally made it home about 5 hours later with a smoking and melted Dunlop, but I was home and the rim was not damaged. only cost was a new tire and cheap tube (guzzi content)
-
Started noticing a little feedback in my right heel as I was headed East out of Wyoming toward Minneapolis. By the time I headed for Moorhead from Money Creek, it was a throb. Headed over the border from Washington with the throb changing whenever the road did. Pulled over at BELL II on the Kassiar with the u-joint smoking and the boot melted so it was dripping onto the ground. 500 miles to the ferry home. I traded salmon jerky for a can of spray grease (the white stuff) that burst into flame when I shot it at the u-joint.
200 miles closer to Whitehorse I no longer dared ease up on the throttle -- the tension was the only thing holding the drive shaft together. It was so cobb-rough that I could almost count the shaft revs as it clacked through its broken circle. Outside Teslin, I saw a lodge on the left -- "TWIN PEAKS". Also a huge, MOTORCYCLE FRIENDLY sign on the front wall. I needed me some of that motorcycle friendly, so I made for the driveway.
Dude, you need a big dose of good luck. That is one hell og a story.
Sure enough, as soon as I backed off the noise control and started down the gravel driveway the rear wheel locked up. I did a somewhat controlled slide to a crooked stop at the porch. At least I was safe. The owner, David Bell, watched me 'park' and came over, both amused and concerned. The u-joint was on fire again. I swatted at it with a glove, but it kept re-igniting for about 15 minutes as we discussed the situation.
The lodge was closed. The staff was gone, as was Mrs Bell. David was just securing the property for the winter. But he was also a rider and understood the situation. He hooked the bike up to his 4-wheeler and dragged it to a garage some distance from the lodge. He said "I can let you hide it here, but I've got nothing to fix it with." I replied that I had all the tools I needed with me -- I was just short one drive shaft. If I could do a quick disassembly, I could hitch hike to Skagway, ferry home, get the part, and return in about a week. He said he'd allow it, but if I wasn't back in a week the bike would be locked down for the winter and I could come get it in May.
Long story longer, I got the swing arm out, finally managed to pry out the carrier bearing (inner race and rollers came right out -- outer race was a challenge). There wasn't enough left to use. I left most of my gear with the bike and high-tailed it for the ferry. Along the way I was picked up by two men who helped themselves to my backpack, thumped me thoroughly, and tossed me over an embankment, breaking my neck (just got that fixed, thanks for asking). I looked so bad after that I couldn't even flag down a Mountie to report the robbery.
In Skagway things weren't much better. I looked like 500 miles of bad road. It had been low 40s and raining all day and I was rummy with cold. I took another beating at the ferry dock from a guy who thought I was a thief. He called the skagway cops, who never even asked what my story was. They just accepted the other guy's report that I was going through his goods. The cops told me to turn out my pockets so the complaintant could poinnt out his property. I said "No, he'll tell you what he's missing and then you can see if it's in my pockets." Naturally, the guy couldn't name anything he was missing, so I got to keep whatever I had left from the robbery.
I got back to Sitka after a further delay caused by the ferry running over a drift net. It limped into Juneau on one shaft and I caught a flight home from there. In Sitka I was a day late getting started on a computer job and the customer had his front desk girl flip a coin to see if I got to keep the job. I lost. But I was able to piece together another Convert driveshaft and was headed back to the bike by (literally) plane, train, bus, boat, and car.
When I arrived in the late evening, David was still there and charged a nominal fee for messing up a sleeping room. His truck was already packed and ready to leave. The kitchen was shut down. The next morning I got the bike reassembled in a couple of hours (broken neck and all) and was on the road again -- no more drama for the trip except that I stopped off at the mountie station and bitched them out for not stopping when I tried to flag them down. Like most Canadians I've met they were apologetic and polite.
I got more stories. Getting stranded is what I do. ::)
Dude
I hope you have good stories because these experiences are terrible.
-
ran a Norton out of gas once, had a Calvin blow the in tank hose off one time. Both simple fixes. Road debris killed a tire on my R75/6, that one needed a truck, as did the Hall switch failure on a K100 rs . Seems like BMW has let me down more often than any other bike.. Hmm.
-
Dash failed on 2006 Griso 1100. Still down after installing a new dash. The dash reads, Dash.
How I got back, initially a lot of fussing around disconnecting the battery installing the shop code & personal code & she finally started. But since then, the dash cut out less than quarter mile from the house bike shut down & between coasting & pushing made it. Ordered new dash installed new dash, new dash says DASH.
So, I quit for the past 6 years. Still sitting.
-
I can't even compete with the lot of you, but I will participate.
Lost my Honda 350 CL key at Blacks Beach - I had a lot of fun looking for it - had to ask every hotty on the beach if she was sitting on it. Somebody in a van gave me a piece of lamp wire and I hotwired it - good think I didn't lock the fork.
Flat tire on my Eldorado at night - borrowed tire irons from a moped tool kit at a service station, and the same guy picked the bike up off of me when I dropped it on myself.
Left my H2 on an exit one afternoon when the clutch cable broke, came back to find it vandalized and minus the tank, side covers, instruments. Hauled that one in a van. Next time I'll drive home without a clutch.
So far the Bassa just had a battery fail in town and got towed - no excitement. I'm going to AZ in a couple of weeks and hope for nothing to report from that trip (knock on simulated wood grain).
-
Daniel,
You need to buy a Yamaha!! :BEER:
Bill
One with a chain drive.
Ralph
-
At the end of my very first v35II test ride, right after I got my motor license had the smallest component of the final drive fail for no apparent reason. It was a very thin shim on the pinion axle assembly that shatterd making the needle bearings jam pretty badly when trying to drive/ push. Not to mention the terrible noise it made, the -that sounds expensive to fix- kind of noise...
My boss has a shed full of old bikes and I had just been there to show my bike. Knowing he had a big van called him up and he took my bike back to the garage. Long story short ended up with a (pretty expensive) used final drive assembly. Thinking that the old was gone beyond repair I used an angle grinder to get the special nut off and wasn't too happy what I just did: no damage to whatsoever! So wait, you've renderd a matched final drive assembly useless by destroying the piniongear-shaft, whilst a $0,10 shim and borrowing the special tool needed to take the nut off could have saved you 1500x the cost of a new shim...
Big lesson learned that day, don't count something out till you've inspected it!
Other than needing to put the fuel tab on reserve on the highway that was the only breakdown so far. Let's keep it that way :bike
-
Left my H2 on an exit one afternoon when the clutch cable broke, came back to find it vandalized and minus the tank, side covers, instruments. Hauled that one in a van. Next time I'll drive home without a clutch.
Right, an H2 is pretty easy to drive without a clutch too. I've ridden home a couple times that way on mine. The only pain is a stop sign or traffic light, when you have to get off and push it, then hop on and put it in gear. I shift mine without pulling in the clutch half the time anyway. :D
I've never really been stranded by a motorcycle. I did have one of the three CDI units on my H2 quit as I drove into a friend's driveway back in '08. Rather than drive home on two cylinders with my daughter on the back, I got my wife to bring a van to get me. That's probably the biggest reason I got into manufacturing CDI units too.
-
Early VIN Duc ST2 had fuel line split inside tank. Lesson: don't get early VIN Italian anything.
Flat and bent rim. Lesson: don't run over paper bags, they may contain bricks.
Flat Centauro rear tire. Lesson: if you're going to have a flat, nice to have your mechanic happen to be driving by and spot you on the side of the highway and want to help out.
Broken BMW R11RT throttle cable on I-94 near Detroit. Lesson: be prepared for something bad to happen when you are in the left lane with no shoulder and to your right is a line of tractor trailers going 75-80mph.
Blown R11RT valve somewhere between Erie and Buffalo. Lesson: be a good customer to a nice MG dealer/mechanic and he too may meet you and your UHaul truck at midnight at his shop (AJ Cycle in Gill MA) to help you unload as you limp back from somewhere between Erie and Buffalo.
-
On the return leg of a 3,000+ mile road trip, Florida -Iowa - North Carolina - Florida, on my California EV: ten days broken down in The Middle-of-Nowhere, Kentucky, due to broken clutch plates, plus assorted related adventures (including a trip to the Emergency Room). After a few days of looking, I found a British expat living two hours away who had experience working on Guzzis from twenty years prior. He remembered enough to get my bike fixed in about a week's time, with parts that I ordered online and had shipped to him overnight.
http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=69906.0
What did I win?
EDIT: I have now read through the other posts. rodekyll "wins."
-
I ride once a month to my motorcycle club meeting, about 100 miles trip each way. Coming home, about 10:00 on a Tuesday night, and halfway between the meeting and home, the bike quit when I stopped at an intersection. Battery would not crank the engine, so a passerby gave the battery a jump start and I got it started. She would only run at high RPM, but I decided to try to take it on home. Got about a mile and the missing got so bad I decided to take an exit. A friend was riding with me, but he didn't realize I'd exited and continued on, so I'm by myself now.
Walked to a gas station and called another friend who lived near where the meeting was. An hour later he showed up with a pickup and ramp, and gave a lift home. Got bike unloaded at home about 1:30 am, and Jim still had an almost 2 hour trip back home on a work night. That is a true friend.
The next evening I determined that the Sporti ECU had an internal failure, so I called around and Bill Doll in KC had experienced the same problem with his Sporti when his battery died. The jump start had fried the voltage regulator in the ECU. Bill and his dad had come up with a fix, he emailed me the schematic, and after a trip to Radio Shack and couple of hours with a solder gun, the bike was back ready for the road. Less than a week downtime.
If you have a Sport 1100i, be sure to keep a good battery on it, because voltage surges will cause some real problems in the stock ECU.
-Dale
1997 Sport 1100 i
-
Doubt if I'll take the prize, but my '12 Griso had only about 7k miles on it when I took off on a 1,400 mile trip.
Stopped for a burger in a tiny W.Va. town, and it wouldn't restart -- prompting me for a user code I
couldn't remember setting. Got the dealer on the phone, no advice and they were many hours away and closing for the weekend.
It was getting dark, no motel in sight. In desperation, I posted on this forum. A few minutes later, master mechanic GuzziSteve rang my cell from his truck on the way to a rally.
He walked me through through disconnecting the battery, resetting the dash, and gave me the shop code. That still didn't do it, so he diagnosed it as a bad transponder in the key.
I spent some time guessing the code I'd given the dealer months earlier and didn't write down. Finally got her fired, and for the rest of the trip had to manually punch in the code after every stop
Meanwhile when I set up camp that night, I checked the forum and found several kind souls offering trucks and places to stay.
The spare key at home worked, and the dealer eventually replaced the bad one under warranty, but I got a good lesson in how great the denizens of this forum can be in saving me from my own stupidity.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
try that with MGNOC!
-
Dash failed on 2006 Griso 1100. Still down after installing a new dash. The dash reads, Dash.
How I got back, initially a lot of fussing around disconnecting the battery installing the shop code & personal code & she finally started. But since then, the dash cut out less than quarter mile from the house bike shut down & between coasting & pushing made it. Ordered new dash installed new dash, new dash says DASH.
So, I quit for the past 6 years. Still sitting.
winner! or is it biggest looser?
-
Has anybody thought about putting a book together out of all this ? I can read it here but I'd buy a copy. I could mail it around the country getting it signed by everybody who had a tale in it.
-
Late December 1983, riding my Ducati 900 Darmah 750km to get married on the NSW north coast.
There had been light rain, and the bike had 'twitched' a little under power on wet road patches.
That didn't seem right, but I powered on. With 13km to go, approaching a hard left onto a narrow bridge
over a creek, I was braking gently when the rear end stepped out sideways. I got it back in line, but there
wasn't time to brake any more for the turn, so I went off road and laid the bike down in the long grass,
took out a rotten fence post and came to rest still on the bike, on my side.
When I dragged it back to the road, the damage was an indicator a stripped gear change lever.
A pair of pliers got the bike into 3rd gear, but while turning the rear wheel, my hand got covered in oil.
3 of the 5 litres in the sump had leaked from a crack in the sump, all over the rear tyre.
I dared the bike to seize in the next 13km, and rode to a water tap in a park to wash the mud and grass
off me and the bike. My destination was the farmhouse of my future mother and father in law, so
all evidence of my 'off' had to be eliminated.
The Darmah was trailered home after the wedding by my Dad.
Stephen
-
Mine have been relatively minor.
Two flats in hundreds of thousands of miles (probably jinxed myself there).
1. In 1993, on way to dealer with 500 miles on my 93 Sporty. Got a nail and the tire limped me to the dealer.
2. In 04ish, on my way back from a Karate tournament at Penn State, 2-up with Jenn. Got a nail in a tire, limped me to a gas station outside Harrisburg where Jas67 picked me up in his truck, had me drop him home, and take the truck and bike back to my house.
Only other one was Jackal - Blue Ridge Parkway - Ignition Switch.
Pat (AmboGal) drove something like 25 miles down the parkway to pick and the bike up, take us back to her place, take Jenn out to a hardware store to buy some toggle switches and crimp connectors. We made an ignition switch bypass using them and were back on the road that evening. I still owe her for that! Will always be happy and willing to pay it forward if anyone needs local help.
(Stuck on the BRPKWY and then back at Pat's place):
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TA_UN7a-oZU/VQrAL3ZhyWI/AAAAAAAAEcA/Rq9G9toN-0Q/w996-h747-no/IMG_6990.JPG)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VDMouCp7odg/VQrAL6gazAI/AAAAAAAAEcs/Xv0UB3Jri-U/w562-h747-no/IMG_6993.JPG)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0nDfWzzj6-8/VQrAMswQhpI/AAAAAAAAEcQ/ZYYvEuKqCG8/w996-h747-no/IMG_6999.JPG)
Other People.
mid 90s, Rider Magazine Rally - 100k+ mile BMW R65LS - Ignition Coil (cracked housing, wouldn't run in rain).
Limped it to hotel where buddy tried to fix it and broke a terminal off the coil. 5 o'clock, local Knoxville TN BMW shop closed, local Motorcycle Junk Yard had never heard of a BMW motorcycle. Overnighted in a new coil from a California BMW dealer and it was waiting at the hotel the next morning. Punch line, stopped at Harley dealer when leaving next morning, all the techs and salesman at the Knoxville HD dealer back then rode airheads, THEY HAD THE COIL IN STOCK.
(My buddy is holding the can of WD40 we just happened to have with us that he used to spray off the coil and get us to the hotel. My buddy Rob, who died a little more than a week ago of ALS is in the rainsuit at the back, and kneeling with the manual in the lower posed shot - we all worked for Chilton at the time and took it for the office wall).
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Qx5Xi1XyyCA/VQrALxGUoDI/AAAAAAAAEcg/dgtQjeEq97o/w1065-h747-no/BlueRidge.jpg)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-miudcYk-q6c/VQrAM82wrYI/AAAAAAAAEcY/rmqQ0xKyYR8/w516-h747-no/R65LS.jpg)
Avvacatto's Cali 1400 - 2 DAYS OLD - less than 200 miles - Demand Sensor -
Trailered it back to his place, Eraldo Ferracci himself showed up to retrieve it from there.
(Charlie looks pissed doesn't he?):
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-S-eVMJ_Uy0k/VQrAM3jZ2mI/AAAAAAAAEcc/i-M9l-vjLD4/w796-h747-no/UhOh.jpg)
Burger-N-Brewery Tour - TWO, no THREE Harleys broke down in 3 days.
mid 00's Road King with 55k miles, started making funny noise in timing chest. Owner had "never heard" of the TC88 Timing Chain problems. Limped to dealer in Binghamton NY around 2:00 pm on a Friday afternoon. Tech stopped working on a bike, put the RK on his lift, stole parts from another bike they were going to do the same fix to, and by 5:00 pmish we rolled out of there $1600 lighter, but with new Oil pump, Camshafts, Timing Chains, and upgraded Hydraulic Timing Chain adjusted shoes (the original was spring tension and springs were too strong for long term wear).
97ish Police Road King also with around 50k miles on it, died the afternoon after I left the group. Saturday Afternoon, Harley dealer near them about to close. Told them to buy a Crankshaft Position Sensor as it was likely at fault. Dealer closed before they made up their mind. Jas67 drove an hour or so from Harrisburg to the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville to drop off his trailer. I drove an hour or so back up to meet them and take the trailer (and them) back to my place. Next day they rented a Uhaul to get themselves back home to MA.
mid 90's EVO FXR with over 200k miles on it, ignition problem. Started cutting out in the rain that Sunday following the Uhaul back to MA. They pulled over, and 4 guys lifted it into the back of the Uhaul and tied it down next to the RK. A week later the owner road it back to AZ where he'd departed from weeks earlier.
(late that Sunday night, halfway to MA):
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T6l41cfmTpk/VCm-m3UpBVI/AAAAAAAAAas/lmno0EcgZWc/w996-h747-no/IMG950464_1.jpg)
-
Not counting tire issues or running out of gas. Or wrecking the bike!
I've been left on side of road many times riding an RD400 two stroke back in the early 1970s. I was a stubborn teenager who insisted on riding it long distances like it was a Gold Wing. One or both of the plugs would invariably foul after about 150 to 200 highway miles. Carried a little alligator bag full of spare plugs. Sometimes had to call buddy to bring more plugs.
Honda CB550F kept blowing fuses, and stranded me once. Can't remember what the root cause was. Took Greyhound home until dealer could fix.
Broken chain on a dirt bike off in the woods. Walked back to home base.
Several issues with a 2007 BMW F800S. Bad anti-theft antenna ring when new. Stranded me twice because it wouldn't recognize the key, but neither time was far from home. Got rides home from wife.
Same bike later had Battery Sudden Death syndrome--battery seemed fine upon starting, I rode 50 miles, then dead as a rock while cruising on freeway. Took cab to office; called dealer to handle.
Same BMW--alternator failure resulting in dead battery and roadside stop. I erroneously assumed with all its other gauges, the BMW would tell me if the alternator wasn't charging. Nope! That was an odd one--I got ride from wife, got new battery, installed it, and bike would click but still wouldn't start. Finally figured out that it wanted to see actuation of all the controls with the new battery installed for the computer to permit it to start. I think when the computer died from lack of juice it somehow decided that the kickstand was down or something.
Same bike--suddenly started shedding teeth on the drive belt after about 25,000 miles of service --just **barely* made it home on that one. When replaced belt, half the teeth were gone. Stupid fabric belt was nearly $500. :(
Not really stranded, but had a recent problem gave me fits and almost got me sidelined. 2012 Ninja 250. Bike ran great one day--the next it would start, idle, and do ok at part throttle, but would bog down at moderate to max throttle. I checked and changed fuel filter, and related fuel stuff. Got fresh gas. Drained float bowls. Replaced plugs, Cleaned air filter. Replaced ECI. Replaced coils and wires. Traced and cleaned every electrical connector I could find. Adjusted valves.
Finally poked a piece of wire through the long snorkel that leads to the air box, only to discover that a dirt dauber and built a giant nest that blocked most of the passage. Bike ran great otherwise.
That lead me to research dirt daubers. The little buggers built nests very quickly. They have caused no end of mechanical troubles, including several plane crashes (blocked pitot tubes).
-
Minutes before some kind soul volunteered to bring some gas (dreaded Norge fuel gauge). I just wasn't minding the tripometer.
A nice new White Norge might have reduced the reluctance for the woman to stop and lend assistance or; it was the look of desperation on my face being on a road not well traveled except for big rigs blasting by at speeds only pickup trucks in Texas could match.
-
2002 Honda ST1100 ABS failed - not stranded.
2002 Honda ST1100 ABS front tyre imploded to flat in about 3 seconds in peak hour traffic - wooden steering to side of road (try manhandling a fully fuelled ST11 with a flat front tyre at 95kmph around a sweeper .. adrenaline works!) A dump of tyre goo (always carry one can) and continued on journey. Cause? New Bridgestone front tyre fitted at Honda dealership 2 days before had 5cm of rubber covering the bead stripped down to cable, wondered why the pressure was at 40psi when I picked it up, the next day lowered pressure to 37psi and was in the shits .. the flexing at lower pressure dumped all the air. On hindsight I should have sued the dealership, wish I had.
1997 Kawasaki GPZ1100 - oil filler drain bolt fell out of housing in peak hour traffic, was in the fast lane when the oil lamp glowered .. in came the clutch and a friendly driver slowed so I could coast past his lane to emergency strip left of road, rear wheel actually rear of bike covered in slippery stuff, not at all sure why the tyre did not slide when i was working my way thru traffic -bike standing above a growing pool of liquid gold.
Daughter drove car to me, hired a trailer and ended back home... am well looked after.
2010 Suzuki DL1000 stator failed in peak hour traffic one 40C day (3 months out of warranty) (was in the fast lane standing still ...is someone out to get me???)- left stranded (at the time thought the battery had failed so tried bump starting the beast in 3rd gear down a slight incline - there's me on a sweltering day racing down this side road in all black riding gear, hanging onto the tall beast, tensed myself to LEAP on the beast once I let the clutch go, out went the clutch, up into the air went I timing my leap to perfection .. didn't not take into account the ??:1 compression in those big f*&%!@# pots did I?... the rear locked solid moving at my flat out sprint- the bike slid and I the unwitting adrenaline junkie, with it - fortunately all stopped right side up. An hour later while I sat and munched on my packed work lunch -was not going to need it later, jump started by a friend and rode home with idle at 3000revs.
2012 Norge - at 27,000 kms left pot lost spark minutes from work. Motow dropped me and bike off at home, was bad ignition cap/lead - in process on replacement to be fitted.
The pleasure of riding is far greater than the frustrations caused by riding. :BEER:
-
.... Along the way I was picked up by two men who helped themselves to my backpack, thumped me thoroughly, and tossed me over an embankment, breaking my neck (just got that fixed, thanks for asking). I looked so bad after that I couldn't even flag down a Mountie to report the robbery.
In Skagway things weren't much better. I looked like 500 miles of bad road. It had been low 40s and raining all day and I was rummy with cold. I took another beating at the ferry dock from a guy who thought I was a thief. He called the skagway cops, who never even asked what my story was. They just accepted the other guy's report that I was going through his goods. The cops told me to turn out my pockets so the complaintant could poinnt out his property. I said "No, he'll tell you what he's missing and then you can see if it's in my pockets." Naturally, the guy couldn't name anything he was missing, so I got to keep whatever I had left from the robbery.
...
Man ... I am sorry you met those sh*th#ad# ... a few more of those types and the earth will cease being fit for humans.