Bad cold start 2016 Stelvio

[Warba]

When the weather is colder say in the 40's like it was yesterday morning Stelvio has a hard time starting. Last time I had to give it some throttle to get it going after 3 tries. If it is warm out it and the machine is cold it will usually start normally. After it is warm it works normally and starts right away. The dealer is 100 miles away and when the machine is warm there is nothing wrong. It just started doing this. It has about 13,000 miles on it now and I put some new plugs in at the 10000 km service.

[rtbickel]

Does it have a fast idle lever like the V11s? 

[Daniel Kalal]

OEM map?

[rdbandkab]

My NTX had the same issue, as well as a clutch "squonk!" when starting in colder temps.   I went by way of the Guzzidiag and cables and loaded an updated map into the ECU.  It's worth looking into.  And it's actually kind of easy to use.  We also changed maps when we added a Mistral carbon oval out back.

richy

[pete roper]

What was done at the 10,000 service?

[Warba]

It has the stock map. It doesn't have a fast idle like an EV. I used to just crack the throttle a little on the EV and it always fired up. On the 10,000 KM service which would be at 12,400 miles I changed all the fluids and adjusted the valves and put in new plugs. The old plugs looked fine and the same. Could a sensor be a little weak? Does it throw out some kind of a code you can see when it doesn't start up right away? One thing about a Stelvio is that the head light doesn't come on until it starts charging so that would help in multiple crank starts.   

[pete roper]

So did you balance the TB's and check the TPS? Are both of the air bleeds open? Did you clear the trims? How far off were the valve clearances and what did you set them to?

Pete

[Warba]

No I haven't touched the TPS or the throttle bodies. It runs fine when warm, dies once in a while when it is cold when you come to a stop sign. And now its starting hard when it is colder out. It only has 13,000 miles on kit. 

[pete roper]

Well giving it a tune up would enable you to rule out simple poor tuning and set up.

Check the air bleeds.if they are both open then it's not set up right.check that the throttle stop screw hasn't been messed with and find out what the TPS reading is.

Also, as before, what did you set the valve clearance to and how far out were they when you checked them?

Pete

[Warba]

I set the valves to whatever it said under the seat .10 and .15 and they were not far off and I did not set them tight so it could be a little more than that. I don't know what the air bleeds are, whether they are open or closed. The plugs did look the right color and were about the same on both sides. Now its a little warmer up and it mostly has been starting up OK. Maybe I'll have to give it a little throttle when it is cold out for a cold start.

[pete roper]

Well the first step is to tune it properly. Balance the TB's and recalibrate the TPS. It's pointless trying to isolate a problem on a machine that isn't tuned properly. If you don't have the tools or skills to do this you need to take it to someone who does.

Pete

[Warba]

Thanks Pete. If I give it a little throttle it starts right up. I think the idle might be a little low. It shows about 1100 on the tach when it is idling.

[Paul Brooking]

Thanks Pete. If I give it a little throttle it starts right up. I think the idle might be a little low. It shows about 1100 on the tach when it is idling.

Warba ... very gently ....

I've had my 2012 Stelvio for about a year. It was well maintained by the previous owner and Pete Roper had done the Rollerisation.
The bike still coughed, farted and popped on over run and ran a tad rough. Fuel economy was eye raising to say the least.

I learnt how to set the tappets and change the oil. It still coughed, farted and popped. Its drinking problem got worse.
I then learnt how to connect the GuzziDiag program and I purchased the latest map from Beetle.
The coughing, farting and popping was substantially reduced, the drinking, however continued on its merry way.
Mark (Beetle) followed up on a my questions and modified his map to assist. I installed this latest map.
The bike's drinking problem has gone away (Beetle is AAA ??) and the bike's performance continued to improve.

I was (am) a competent home mechanic. I had never touched a fuel injected bike before the Stelvio. Tappets and oil changes were the limits of my knowledge until I started to read these posts and ask questions and listen to answers (applying all my normal filters to the varied responses).
The only additional tools I've needed to purchase were the Guzzidiag cables and an electronic manometer to balance the Throttle Bodies (TBs).

The gentle moral of this tale is that Fuel Consumption and Cold starting problems for these bikes are not uncommon and are easily remedied by listening to advice from the knowledgeable posters on this site.

Regards
Paul

[pete roper]

There appear to be a few oddities with the 2L Stelvio maps that seem to require a bizarrely high CO trim factor to be applied. Mark is still working on that I believe. The current map I just installed on mine was made to combat its rich and thirsty condition on the cruise. While I haven't run a whole tank of gas through it yet it seems to be considerably improved but I'm still running the CO at +16! Mind you it's completely linear and turbine smooth! Brilliant.

Pete