Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

Blade wrote:Was supposed to be boarding the tunnel crossing and heading into Europe at 2.20pm today for 10 days riding alpine twisties.

Got 6 miles from home in the rain and bike broke down at 640am this morning. Two hour wait in the rain for recovery.

Looks like the intermittent cutting out that was going on last summer which I thought was fixed isnt.

Oh well I can stay at home and argue with builders instead. On that subject just got home and window fitter here to replace 10 damaged windows. They have sent the fitter but no materials life just rocks for me at the moment

Does it cut out only when wet or when the engine is under load?

Oh FFS mate, you're having no luck at all.

Bugger!

Can't you take the SP instead?

Sorry Cav. Hadnt read your post when I posted.

Sounds like you day is worse than mine. Glad your ok and hope things repair easily.

Glad you drive off too. You did the right thing. These nutters could have had weapons, knives or anything.

Not taking the SP2. No mot, needs a service and luggage doesn't fit.

Just one of those things I guess and better now than in the middle of Switzerland up a pass with no signal.

Pretty dam pisswd off with life in general at the monent. Needed this trip to escape but obviously not meant to be.

I m alive and healthy could always be worse but still major hacked off

Just fitted new tyres for the trip and the warranty ran out 4 days ago.

Anyone want to buy a zx10r. One careful owner. Full service history, rides and handles great some of the time

Blade wrote:Sorry Cav. Hadnt read your post when I posted.

Sounds like you day is worse than mine. Glad your ok and hope things repair easily.

Glad you drive off too. You did the right thing. These nutters could have had weapons, knives or anything.

No worries.. yeah that was my thinking. If anyone shows aggression these days I just get away from the situation I don't want to be in

Pants!

Shite news....but like you say....better now than in the middle of nowhere.

Cav wrote:Yeah.. they won't they said they were in lane 3 (literally impossible given the fact the 3rd lane at that time was oncoming traffic) and I was in lane 2 then looked across and drove into them twice.

My word against there's and no one else came forward at the time.

Only positive is my car isn't worth a lot and the damage is mostly going to t-cut out. Dent on the wheel arch and scrapes on the drivers side front alloy though. Might get the dent out

As it was at a traffic lights, there may well be CCTV coverage.??

Your word against theirs, even with witnesses & when their version of events is impossible, is very difficult to win. Especially if their insured with LV. Please don't ask me how I know..

Haha, @StMarks.. I won't ever ask how people know certain companies are sh!tes!!!

Where the original incident occurred there was no CCTV that I can tell, the police went back there too so would have looked for it

@cav shit mate, that's scary reading. Glad your OK.

@blade get the sp2 ticketed, serviced, and book in for the IoM. Still time, and after the run of shit you've had, you deserve a break somewhere

Sorry to hear that Blade. Could fitting the luggage not have disturbed an electrical connection?

Ditto Cav. Hope you are ok. Wtf is wrong with some people?

duke63 wrote:Sorry to hear that Blade. Could fitting the luggage not have disturbed an electrical connection?

No mate unfortunately not. I use the luggage anchor points almost every ride for a day bag.

Its the trouble I had last summer back to haunt me. I haven't ridden it much and its an intermittent fault that clearly wasn't fixed despite me and dealer checking everything possible and believing it was. In fairness had be fault free for at least 500 miles.

My notes from last year. I tried everything and checked everything.

SYMPTONS

1. Bike cuts out after riding in traffic and engine has become hot. When engine cuts out the FI symbol illuminates on the dash and the on-board Kawasaki Self Diagnosis Software shows code 31 which is for the Vehicle Down Sensor.
2. NO conclusive information has been obtained at a specific coolant temperature the fault occurs at, but evidence has proven the engine is always hot with a coolant temperature above 93 degrees C.
3. Same fault has been re occurring for 8 weeks and has probably occurred at least 30 times
4. Bike runs fine in all conditions except slow moving traffic with high coolant temperature.
5. Tried to replicate the symptoms and found bike will run on idle for 30 minutes with very high coolant temps between 95 and 105 Degrees with NO problems or fault codes logging and have proved this on 3 separate occasions.
6. For the fault to occur bike HAS to be run for a few miles and allowed to get hot. As comment No.4 above, the bike will not have the fault occur if left to get hot on idle only. Bike MUST be ridden and hot for error to occur. Could this suggest electrics are getting hot when under load (i.e. drawing a current) with the addition of high coolant temperature and the resistance is changing and this is having an effect which allows the fault to occur and the bike to cut out?
7. Cutting out problem is much more frequent in high ambient temperatures so feel confident high temperature is one of the primary causes.
8. On virtually all occurrences of the fault the vehicle has been stationary at traffic lights with hot coolant temperature. The vehicle has never cut out during normal riding conditions (engine at average temperature) and if it was a faulty Vehicle Down Sensor it could happen at any time not just on a closed throttle and when stationary. One exception to this statement has happened. When trying to replicate the fault the bike has cut out when hot and riding at approx. 5-10 MPH (Very small throttle opening) around a housing estate trying to replicate the fault condition of riding in slow moving traffic with a hot engine.
9. If allowed to cool the FI symbol (Code 31 Vehicle Down Sensor) will go out on the dash of its own accord with no resetting. If it was a genuine issue with the vehicle down sensor, then this should not occur until the bike is up righted and the ignition turned on and off to reset the Vehicle Sensor Down (Code 31) fault. This in conjunction with successful testing of the Vehicle Down Sensor plus the replacement of the sensor for a brand new factory supplied sensor suggest to me the Code 31 logging on the on-board Kawasaki Self Diagnosis Software is a red herring and misleading.
10. Vehicle Down Sensor has been replaced for Brand New Item under warranty by Kawasaki and fault is still occurring and logging as code 31 Vehicle Down Sensor.

CHECKS COMPLETED

1. Spark Plugs changed for brand new items and originals checked for signs of running rich, lean, excessively hot or oily. No faults found. Plug condition suggests perfect AFR.
2. Air filter replaced as a precaution mainly for elimination purposes.
3. Battery checked and holding a charge and charging system working correctly. All voltages within specification of a new battery.
4. Vehicle Down Sensor Input voltage within range at 5 volts,
5. Vehicle Down Sensor Output voltage. I cannot get a reading so suspect Kawasaki Maintenance Manual describes incorrectly the procedure for checking such. Tried this on friend’s identical trouble free 2012 ZX10R and using the same procedure no output voltage could be established. Confident error in measuring Output voltage is due to incorrect procedure as my bike shouldn’t run without a healthy return voltage from the Vehicle Down Sensor but it does. Plus identical issues of no output voltage found on friends trouble free 2012 ZX10r suggest procedure for checking such is the cause for no voltage being recorded and not a hardware issue with the sensor.
6. Vehicle down sensor has been checked for operation by titling to greater than 70 degrees as described for a function test in the Kawasaki manual and works perfectly as would be expected.
7. Continuity checked between main harness and ECU as per Kawasaki OEM Maintenance Manual specified procedure. No fault found.
8. ECU checked for ground and healthy Power Supply as per Kawasaki OEM Maintenance Manual specified procedure. No fault found.
9. ECU and Vehicle Down Sensor checked for bent or broken pins and no faults found.
10. Main wiring Harness / Loom checked for damage. No faults found.
11. Quickshifter removed on Kawasaki UK’s instructions in case this was causing the issue. QS removed and no change. The fault still occurs as per symptoms described above.
12. Vehicle Down Sensor replaced with NO change and fault still occurring. Bike cutting out when hot and Code 31 (Vehicle Down Sensor Fault) on the on-board Kawasaki Self Diagnosis Software being displayed.

The bike will be part ex'd asap

Just looking at you avtar Duke. Lake Como 2014 good times

Blade wrote:The bike will be part ex'd asap

Sorry to hear that Blade but guess it's time to just walk away and get one thing that doesn't add to your stress ATM.

Just out of interest, did anyone ever ring the individual wires through between the ecu & tilt sensor - or - try another ECU on it?

Seems tip sensor faults are not uncommon. Can you bypass the sensor, Blade?

Deegee wrote:

Blade wrote:The bike will be part ex'd asap

Sorry to hear that Blade but guess it's time to just walk away and get one thing that doesn't add to your stress ATM.

Just out of interest, did anyone ever ring the individual wires through between the ecu & tilt sensor - or - try another ECU on it?

Cheers Deegee pal.

Checked the wires for continuity. Couldnt try another ecu unfortunately. But changed the tilt sensor for a new one and also for a proven working one from a fault free bike with no imrpovement.

80% random fault. I say 80% random as the symptoms and scenario the fault occurs in are common i.e hot and riding in slow moving traffic but it cannot always be repeated to replicate the fault in an aid to fault finding. It's random if it happens or not to some degree, Just very very likely if high engine temp with engine under load in traffic.

I think the high temperature could be altering the resistance on a sensor but which one. Could be any. Kawasaki had it in the workshop and couldn't find the fault or detect anything on the factory diagnosis software.

It's a Jona bike and needs to go. I had planned to sell it after Europe so not that upset about the biking going just gutted I only made 6 miles from home on a 2500 mile european oad trip.