2012 V7

[BikerDavo 1947]

Hi everyone I have just joined and ths is my first post.
My 2012 V7 has been under cover unused for four months. The battery was flat and after charging it started first time. My problem is the orange engine management/warning light on the dash stays on permanently. It has not done this before. I have not ridden it yet only ticking over. It has done 53000 kms. Any help wold be much appreciated. Davo. Top End.

[Dr. Enzo Toma]

I would suspect there is a fault code stored, perhaps one from low voltage due to the flat battery.

[malik]

That orange light!
Unused for 4 months - in Mataranka - you've been keeping it out of the floods perhaps, but you've had about 100% humidity for about that long, no? Sounds like a job for liberal amounts of contact cleaner. Start with your 2 earth's on the bell housing - remove,  clean, vaseline & replace. Battery terminals as well. Then the fuses & the relays before trying again.

To find the stored faults you'll need Guzzidiag on your computer next to the bike. Let us know if you have these & advice can go from there. It's not guaranteed that there will be any faults stored, but if there are, it is helpful. I've found that your ECU, the 15RC, doesn't seem to store many.

I got the orange light when my engine temperature sensor was failing, & a few others I'd have to look up, and some of those went away without any obvious reason. What can I say, other than it's a Guzzi & italian.

In the absence of further info, my first bet would be on corrosion, but it's a good step to get hold of a copy of Guzzidiag & use it. Just replacing sensors & testing is a long & expensive process.

[Roman Hordan]

Good advice above on the corrosion angle - Top End humidity plus 4 months sitting will do that to any earth strap or connector block.

One thing worth adding: before you chase Guzzidiag and fault codes, just try a proper full charge/condition cycle on the battery rather than a quick top-up, then disconnect and reconnect the battery terminals (undo them fully, clean them, don't just tighten). Sometimes the ECU throws the light simply because it saw voltage drop too low during cranking and needs a clean power-up to clear the flag - on some Guzzis a battery disconnect for a few minutes will reset it even without a diag tool.

If the light stays on after that, then it's definitely worth going down the Guzzidiag path malik mentioned. Worth checking the diagnostic connector under the seat too while you're in there, that's another spot that corrodes quietly and throws odd faults on these.

[BikerDavo 1947]

Thanks everyone for your advice. This morning I disconnected both Positive & Negative terminals, left it for 15 minutes, reconnected both and the problem is solved. BTW for those mentioning humidity our dry season here in the Northern Territory runs from May to August and there is little humidity. We are now building up to the Wet Season where humidity can reach 80%. Happy days.

[malik]

Very well done. Congrats.

About the weather - I knew better (last rode out of Darwin in August) but just didn't think it through, just winged it & blathered.

Still a good idea to get the Lonelec cables & Guzzidiag, if you haven't already. I use it with a vacuum guage/manometer to do the very occasional throttle body balance - I find this gets the engine running more smoothly & increases fuel economy. Worth doing.

Most recently I ended up solving a persistent high idle issue by hooking up the Guzzidiag, and resetting the TPS in Guzzidiag (amongst other actions) - there were no faults stored in the ECU. A prior hard reset by leaving the battery disconnected for half a day did not fix the issue. Just saying. I read up about it, try some things, get sort of a handle on it but still it's all somewhat mysterious. BTW the V7C is now once again an impressively sweet ride.

[Roman Hordan]

Glad the battery disconnect sorted it, Davo. That's the cheapest fix there is, so well done.

Since it's thrown the light once after a flat battery, I'd put a battery tender on it if it's going to sit for months again, especially heading into the Wet. A few weeks of slow discharge is what tends to drop the voltage low enough to upset the ECU in the first place.

Malik's point about Guzzidiag is still worth acting on when you get a chance. Even with no light showing, it's handy to have on hand for checking the TPS and doing a throttle body balance down the track. Enjoy the ride, 53,000 km is barely run in for a V7.