US FJR13AEV (C) ECU Melt down in Ireland

While commuting home from Dublin to Drogheda (about 60miles) last Wednesday evening, traveling North on the N2 Speedo dropped to zero then started bouncing up and down between 20 & 40 mph, ABS warning light came on, SH_42 code came up long with "SHIFT" and the yellow engine warning light came on, Gear indicator in 5th started to flash too. I tried to shift down and nothing happened, I was stuck in 5th so decided I was close enough to home to limp home in 5th untill I had to turn off the N2 on to a minnor road leading to Duleek near my home, got around the corner but bike stalled as I couldn't change down to take take off again, rear locked up and I slid sideways to a halt, lucky I'm a instructor and could handle the bike, I waved the following vehicles past by just raising my 2 arms in the air showing I had no way of moving, I turned off the ingition and then switched it back on and rocked the bike and finally got it to neutral and was able to get the bike off the junction and to the side of the road. I restarted and everything seemed to work again, started off and got to 3rd before the code came back and I couldn't change down again, so limped to Duleek 3 miles away and then up the country road to my house without stopping again the stalled on my drive.

I rode the bike to the local dealer next morning and shift worked justfine though speedo was still down and gear indicator flashed for a short while after each shift, ABS warning light still on too.

Dealer checked machine and said as they fixed each code problem it was replaced by a few more, the found that the Earthing points throughout the bike were corroded and and that this caused the ECU Part 2D2-86510-00-00 (Mtr Control Unit Assy) to melt inside. Yamaha Ireland (Danfay Ltd.) have said that they never heard of such a problem on any FJR and that as it was:

a. out of warranty by 1 month

b. None European model (imported US bike) not covered by Euro Warranty

Their Quote "Don't know what the problem is and don't want to know either"....

I now need to know if anyone in the US has experienced similar problems and also how can I get a cheap ECU to get me back on the road

BTW I got the rear shock supplied under warranty last Oct08 here in Ireland, yet 6700 miles (6mths) later when this happens I'm screwed. I have 33000miles on the clock in the last 19 months, bike was 6 months old with 750miles when I bought it in the UK (England) back in August 2007 thinking it to be a Euro model untill I was looking for some history on the bike from Yamaha Ireland using the VIN number I found it to be a US (hawian) bike, I thought "Owhh Sh1t".

I hope someone can let me know if I can still be covered by the US warranty, to think I was planning a RTW trip in the next 2 years, and to find out that I could have a problem on a Yamaha, though new would not have any cover if in a different part of the world, that's crazy!

I thought Warranties were World Wide!

??

Kev

Sorry to hear of your delema.

I know that the warranty here in Canada is not transferable to the US or the other way around. It does cover if you are just visiting the other country but not if the bike is registered there. Don't understand why but seems to be the way of warranties. Good luck.

The warranty goes with the bike - and if you travel, Yamaha would repair the bike no matter where you broke down if you were under warranty. But it is true that if you register the machine ni a country other than the one the distributor delivered it in there is no protection.

Having said that, you bought the machine six months used in August of '07 and the factory warranty for US and Canadian machines is 1 year - so the original warranty expired sometime in March 2008 unless the owner purchased an extended warranty, called 'YES' in the USA. If the bike was sold by Yamaha Europe, then the Euro warranty applies.

Assuming it was originally devlivered by Yamaha USA you can check the status of the machine with Yamaha by phoning any US Yamaha dealer and asking that they run the VIN.

The obvious questions are;

0. Given that you have no immobiliser if the bike was US specification, how come no one noticed you have non-transponder keys and that your headlights blinded oncoming traffic? You guys DO drive on the wrong side of the road.

1. How come the frame got so horribly corroded?

2. How come they repaired the machine last year without questioning anything?

3. Who did you buy the bike from? Was it a private sale? If you bought from a dealer, then you probably have the right to sue him because Euro bikes have 2 year warranties, no? So you would have had every right to expect the same warranty for your machine . . . no disclosure = lawsuit.

4. You can probably buy an ECU on Ebay . . . but you'd better make certain it is from the same model machine you have (an AE from the US). Shouldn't be too expensive - think in the range of about US$100 on Ebay.

5. You can buy an ECU brand new from www.ronayers.com for just shy of US$565.

6. There is a recall on the '06 and '07 ECUs - check with Yamaha USA to see if it was performed BEFORE telling them that the machine is kaput - maybe you can get a US dealer to order the recall ECU and ship it to you . . . for free (except, of course for the cost of the shipping). You would have to ship him back the one from your bike. Or maybe someone has an original ECU from a repaired bike . . . the big problem the provoked the recall was that if you rode up and down mountains like a pussy the bike would buck and shudder. If you twisted the throttle, the problem would self resolve . . . but an ECU that doesn't like mountains is a lot better than an ECU that doesn't work at all. Besides; If you get an old style ECU from an '06 AE you can then ask Yamaha USA to upgrade it through a US dealer (see previous sentence).

Obviously if you intend to look into warranty and recall issues you need to be careful with what you tell Yamaha or any dealer in the US you might contact.

Note that you will need to fix the various corroded grounds (assuming that this was what the original problem was) before the bike can be considered reliable.

Note too, the the ECU was NOT fried when you took it to the dealer. How do you know? Because it was working - the bike was rideable and the ECU throwing codes the next day - sounds to me like you had some intermittent connections (Hawaii is a very lovely, but salt sprayed environment). Sounds like your dealer could have provoked the failure to me, which might explain their sudden 'we don't want to know about it' attitude.

By the way, by the model designation, your machine is a California specification machine. What was it doing in Hawaii? How did it get to the UK?

Good luck.

Thanks mate, the corroded earthing points are connectors with a metal plug stuck into the connector and covered with a plastic cap, I was shown 2 under the tank and one under the seat, they were cleaned and returned to their original positions, I found the bike originally on a commercial vehicle auction site we use at work for buying vans and trucks and I saw this FJR in the middle of the listings and was the only bidder as it being a commercial vehicle auction there are never bikes on it, never saw it but for a few pics till the day I picked it up, I rode ST1100's and K1200RS' untill then

I'll check out the site you included as the owner is a name sake almost Ayres/Ayers!!

564.00 USD = 424.602 EUR

Part number: 3P6-8591A-21-00 Engine Control Unit Assy

though I thought it was Part number 2D2-86510-00-00 Motor Control Unit Assy

Duh!

I'd have a go at asking Yamaha whether there are any outstanding recalls on the bike without telling them you are in the UK. I'd also ask whether the bike has any unexpired 'YES' (extended warranty).

If the ECU has not been changed, or if you have remaining warranty you can then 'make nice' to any agreeable US Yamaha dealer and ask them to order the replacement ECU and swap it out under the recall. I'd also canvass the members of this board to see if any of us has a pre-recall ECU they wouldn;t mind parting with - the refitl was 'on demand only', so most bikes would not have had the ECU swapped, but I DO know that many people swapped out their own.

If any of this works out you've will have just saved $565, half of which I would gladly accept if you chose to send it to me in appreciation.

God loves a tryer! :lol:

Thanks for the info and direction

it will be remembered..

I wonder if this bike has had other problems in the past. Possibly a flood damaged vehicle? Possibly a complete write-off? The way you describe it being sold, it doesnt sound like a clean transaction.

Check "Lost power" thread for other failures of the earth(ground) connectors.

Have called Yamaha Corp. US in California 25 mins long distance and expensive, result, nothing.

Called Yamaha Japan, 30 mins mainly on hold same as Yamaha US, but when I did get a fellow FJRAE/AS rider he said that Yamaha Ireland should be able to sort the issue without me having to phone long distance and 8hrs behind for US and 8hrs ahead for Japan to get a result. he has told me to contact Danfay Ltd. (Yamaha Ireland Distributor) next week and they should be able to help me.

I will keep you all informed. the saga continues!

kev said:

Have called Yamaha Corp. US in California 25 mins long distance and expensive, result, nothing.Called Yamaha Japan, 30 mins mainly on hold same as Yamaha US, but when I did get a fellow FJRAE/AS rider he said that Yamaha Ireland should be able to sort the issue without me having to phone long distance and 8hrs behind for US and 8hrs ahead for Japan to get a result. he has told me to contact Danfay Ltd. (Yamaha Ireland Distributor) next week and they should be able to help me.

I will keep you all informed. the saga continues!

Click to expand...

Kev,

I feel for you! I don't know if you have followed my saga, but I am FINALLY suppose to be getting my bike back next week after over 1 month at the 3rd dealer for the same intermittent electrical problem (5+months in 3 different shops)!

If you have Skype and need someone to have a beer or two with, let me know !

I do wish you a speedy fix!

Best Regards,

Shane

Maybe start here, and read on.

Actually; that comment about Skype is REALLY appropriate.

You can call anywhere in the USA and Canada and lots of other places using Skype for about US$.02 per minute - so a half hour phone call to Cypress (Yamaha Headquarters) would cost all of 60 US cents . . . the time differences I can suggest no solution for (except perhaps strong black coffee). I had to attend a telephone conference in Australia once from Canada and could not dial their US toll-free number and I was worried about the cost of a couple of hours to Australia; when I discovered that could call the Australian toll free number using Skype - and that toll free calls to Australia were absolutely free.

God bless the Internet, even if the information revolution is responsible for most of the economic upheaval we're suffering through these days.

On another note; There are presently some 92 ECU modules on Ebay, but only one is from an FJR and that is for an '05 and so inappropriate. I checked Craig's list for one without success . . . but there are probably US scrap yards that can help.

You know, I'm still trying to understand how the ECU supposedly melted inside when the bike was able to be restarted . . . I understand that intermittent connections due to corrosion can impact on operation . . . significantly and that with bad ground connections things can go bad, but they usually stop working altogether and forever. To have used the term 'melted' siounds pretty literal and very is pretty draconian.

Edit:

Having read through the corroded connector thread (how DID I miss that one?) your bike most likely has some variant of it - and given the humidity in the UK, I'm surprised that more owners of these machines haven't reported this type of failure.

On my machine power for all my farkles (except the directly powered HID Headlight conversion, which was plug-and-play) are wired to an underseat fuse block and both power and ground are taken from the battery directly, and so likely doesn't flow through the impacted connector.

Having said that, it seems that many of the machines are AE models . . . . aside from the shift mechanism, AE models in the US come with heated grips as factory standard equipment where the 'A" models didn't until (I think) '08 and I wonder if the problem might not be somehow related?

I have added OEM heated grips to my '06 A model - I'm about to install my cruise control and the servo is going under the tank, so I'll have it opened up and have an opportunity to check out that connector as soon as I get up the energy to do the work.

I'm going to also post a variant this edit into the referenced thread as possible food for thought.

Bram,

Couple of things!

1) Skype definitely has made the world smaller at a very affordable price (free to pennies on the minute). I have it installed on all my notebooks + netbook and I use it a lot! I am getting a Nokia N97 phone to replace my current HTC Windows phone and I am going to be using Skype on it!

2) I do have a US AE and as I am sure you have read, I have had a LOT / LONG history of various electrical problems. But I very seldom ever use my heated grips (I live in Texas)!

3) You skipped over the most important part of my answer... the Internet Skype Beer Tavern :yahoo: :yahoo:!

Best Regards,

Shane

I paid the workshop their 360€ for doing nothing for me yesterday and took the bike home without an problems other than waht was there when I dropped it off with them.. Thought all was okay but for the lack of a speedo and ABS warning light, never use ABS so that doesn't bother me. So I decided to head to a Para jump today in Edenderry with the local lads...

I had the bike out this morning (BTW sorry Shinwacker and Deloney for wrecking your ride to Clonee), everything worked well untill I reached Kilmoon X, then the SH__32 dianostic code came up and the SHIFT and the yellow engine warning light, couldn't get the bike to shift down from 5th for the Junction, got around in 5th just, then at the Topaz station Shinwacker decided it was time for a slash and I needed some juice in the bike so we pulled in, bike wouldn't drop into Neutral as I slowed and therefore stalled, turned off ignition and restarted and then walked the bike to the pumps, fueled up and restarted and got the bike back down to Neutral. Deloney suggested the a speed sensor problem, so off we went again and as I got to 4th before problem started again, 4th okay for roundabouts etc. so continued on to M50 came slowly up to lights hoping they would change, not so lucky, stalled again, lads headed up to M50 and waited, Thanks lads, I got it back down to 1st before the next change and hit all reds on the roundabout to the 50 itself without any trouble, then as speed rose on 50 here we go again, off at Blanch roundabout and stalled again at 1st set of lights, restarted and dropped to 1st again, and got through all lights onto N3, though only just through ambers a few times, I found that if I turn off and on the ignition as I come up to a junction I then could free wheel to the junction and not chug to a halt.

Though bike did stall but not in gear at the lights near Clonee and nearly stopped in the middle of the junction too.

After the lads left for Edenderry, I then decided to head back home via Rathoat, less lights and the bike actually didn't cause any problems untill just before Rathoat, I did the off-on thing again and found that if I use the front brake I could shift down, got through village with very few problem and as far as the N2, Problem seems to come back if I move over 40/60mph depending on which gear and what revs I'm at... I got home just fine though with a splitting headache.

I have another option for sorting this issue and that would seem to be, removing the electronic shift system and replace it with the old fashioned Manual system which would be a safer option, then the Dodgy Yamaha Wiring would not effect safety as I would still have full control of the bike in an otherwise dangerous and life treatening situation, as Deloney can vouch, if the machine staying in gear the machine can stall at the most dangerous point of a bend or junction and therefore is not a road safe system.

Yamaha would need to rethink their safety measures in relation to this system, I would say a kind of "DeadMan Neutral System"(Defaulting to Neutral) in an emergency. basically if the bike stalls in gear it would default to neutral and can be moved to the side of the road or off the junction or free wheeled to a safe halt without killing the rider or putting him or her in danger.

It a beautiful bike to ride but if you can't have confidence in it as I have lost my trust of it then Yamaha and it numberous independent Distributors who won't work together even between European states, well Yamaha may scrap this system as a nice idea that desn't work safely in the real world.

Kev

Are you still looking for an ECU?

I know of one that I was going to use to test something, but you might have more of a use for it. PM me and I'll share the info.

You've got other issues if the clutch doesn't dis-engage when you come to a stop. Several of us checked this situation out Here

I thought that Yamaha would have built in a "fail safe" system to dis-engage the clutch, which they appear to have done based on our tests. But apparently with a fried ECU, all bets are off. Uncomfortable thought. And I'd definitely check and clean ALL the ground connectors listed in the other thread above before installing another ECU, only to have it fry again.

It's a sad state of affairs to say it takes fellow F*R Riders to help me out ahead of Yamaha Inc. or Corp. or what ever they want to be called.

I'd like to thank you lads who have made positive suggestions etc.

It's much appreciated and hopefully I will be riding again in the near future.

Though I have the loan of a Honda Deauville 650cc for the Road Safety Authority's (RSA)- Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) stage 2 test on the 1st July 2009 next, probably just as well lol

Thanks again Lads

kev, PM sent