2014 Stumble on accel.

[Uncle Hud]

Bill Lumberg, I sympathize deeply. No matter what you're riding, I'll travel with you, brother. Just give me a call and a few days notice. (As a bachelor, I could schedule myself; as half of a couple I need a little notice.)

 

[ionbeam]

Bill Lumberg, I sympathize deeply. No matter what you're riding, I'll travel with you, brother. Just give me a call and a few days notice. (As a bachelor, I could schedule myself; as half of a couple I need a little notice.)

As half a couple you can schedule yourself too. Then when you become a bachelor after self scheduling it is no longer a problem

 

[BikerGeek99]

You should be blowing up their phone. I'd make the receptionist that answers at Cypress cringe every time the phone rings. Until you raise enough Hell, no one high enough to help will be aware of your issue. You should also be all over Google and anywhere you can be, bashing the **** out of your dealer and Yamaha. Force them to pay attention.

Last year, I was working with a domestic automobile manufacturer. They are huge. Massive.

A customer had had a non-positive experience and wrote a letter to the CEO. Somehow, that letter survived the many levels of bureaucracy and wound up in the hands of the CEO. That letter set off a chain of events that will impact the company for years to come.

Moral of the story: do what the dork said. Blow up their phone. Write letters. Do not settle. Be "that" guy.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I was a daily caller months ago (with the motor company), to the point they froze me out. One of the front line phone operators who knew I called every day, and evidently knew what was happening to me, told me she was embarrassed at how they (2nd level customer support) were treating me, and told me how to get to the west coast call center despite being geographically positioned to deal with the Georgia call center. While the results have been slow in coming, the west coast center freed me from dealing with rude and incompetent folks in Georgia. The LBC has never failed to communicate and provide updates, and at least escalated the case and got a roving tech sent out. I have an appointment with the dealer tomorrow to address improper reassembly and to address the ripped seat. The service manager told me the seat had never been off the bike, so he didn't see how it could have been ripped. I just laughed. EVERYTHING they've done to the bike required the seat to be off, and 3 of the missing fasteners are from areas underneath the seat. I'll give them a chance to make it right. I've been very polite thus far, and taken great care not to cast aspersions on the dealer for problems that were the fault of corporate. I don't air grievances or publicly discuss business problems unless things are very bad, and unless the problem entity has had an opportunity to make things right.

 

[Fred W]

Bill. Have you seen this post by ionbeam yet?

That is even more evidence that your entire problem is, and always has always been, a bum TPS that the dealership and Yamaha advanced technician's failed to diagnose.

At this point I would just do an end run on Yamaha support and get and replace the TPS. If it doesn't fix the problem you can remove it and sell it to the next guy for almost what you spent. If it does fix the problem you can have a much, much longer discussion with the shop and Yamaha NA.

 

[Mr_Canoehead]

This is brutal....ask the service manager to show you how they could access the TB's without removing the seat - should be entertaining....maybe video it for us.

You should also send a link to this thread to Yamaha. The marketing department would probably be interested in how Yamaha service is treating it's customers and how an FJR enthusiast site with many potential customers is aware of the issue.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Yamaha corporate is too busy being unconcerned with their own treatment of customers and problems to ever be concerned with dealer behavior. I learned that early on dealing with Yamaha corporate. Their answer was to go to different dealers. Fred- I've followed ion's traffic all the way, and believe the TPS is the culprit but when you've got months of effort and hell raising invested trying to get Yamaha to do something, at some point you need to see it through. As I've said elsewhere, if I had it to do over, I'd just have the TPS replaced. But when I started, I wanted the manufacturer that made the bike and the warranty I bought to get the problem fixed. Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Fred W]

Yeah, I fully understand your frustration, all throughout this ordeal. I know that you are trying desperately to work within the system, for better or worse.

But here's the problem with this scenario: If they finally do get around to replacing the entire throttle body assembly they will (most likely) fix your problem. What they won't do is to find the root cause of your problem, which may be just one of a bunch of ticking TPSes out there. And if their response to every in-warranty claim is to replace the entire throttle body, they will never figure out that it is really just bad TPSes.

That said: it's not your responsibility to make sure that they figure this out. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they will take the TB assy back to the mother ship and autopsy it to determine that it was just a TPS problem after all. I know that is what we would do where I work, given the same kind of situation. I also know that I wouldn't want to be their "roving expert" (which is exactly what I do, in a different field) who couldn't find a problem this simple. I hope that is the case.

Out of curiosity, did anyone involved with the process (shop or Yamaha) ever consider that replacing the TPS might fix it? Was this ever even considered by the shop or by Yamaha? If not, that is pretty strange considering they have had recalls for multiple models of their own motorcycles, including the early FJRs, with symptoms exactly like yours., and those were fixed with TPS replacements. And it is an industry wide phenomenon that TPSes go bad and cause reproducible, intermittent symptoms like yours.

 

[RaYzerman19]

Bill, I sympathize with all this frustration you're going through and wish the dealer was better and Yamaha would have a better response than has been given you. As a wrencher, it's frustrating to see what seems to have the best odds of fixing it seem to have been pushed aside. The folks who have suggested replacing the TPS are also feeling frustrated I'm sure. We want the best outcome for you and hoping Yamaha will "get it" once it is fixed. I've had a whole career in corporate culture of a major automaker, and as someone who participated in root cause analysis of parts.... let's just say there are disconnects sometimes, and things can move at a snail's pace in the big scheme of things. Mind you, my company was pretty good at getting the design engineer involved if the warranty spiked, but our dealers had an option to post additional comments on the issue and we were required to review that data regularly (don't worry, it wasn't perfect or real fast either).

But here's the deal..... can you put that all aside for the moment and can I talk you into replacing that TPS...... I'll pay for a new one, and if it works, I'll just consider it an investment in seeing you back on the road sooner and a bit happier, and maybe a cold pop or two one day. If it doesn't work, then maybe you could send it to me in case mine goes south. Don't be shy, Bill, just order the darn thing now and let me know what it costs. I think it would have more impact if the suspect part did not get lost in the shuffle.

 

[Viper Pilot]

+100

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I've told both Yamaha and the shop that I'm sure the TPS is the culprit, and given them identical cases to support my assertion. Told them both multiple times. If it won't test bad, they won't consider it as a fix. Best estimate is Sep 23 for the assembly to arrive. I just got back from a trip and will be in NOLA next week, so doing the TPS probably won't happen between now and yamaha's repair. But thanks for your offer. Hell, I've spent thrice that in gas just having to take my truck while the bike has been shelved for things where I would have normally taken the bike. We are in the home stretch. I wonder what they'll do with the old parts.... If they're not going to Yamaha, I know where they're going.

 

[bigjohnsd]

Bill, though my experience is dated, 10 years and 11 months since I sold my store, my bet is that Yamaha will call the parts removed from your machine in for review and inspection.

I don't know how i missed this thread until yesterday.

I hope you have reached a satisfactory conclusion with the servicing dealer, at this point, I would be speaking directly to whoever is the Dealer Principal and only to him as far as the condition of your motorcycle as a result of work in his shop. It is fine to continue your discourse with Cypress but they have little control over the work performed by the dealer.

Good luck, hope you get to ride this fall.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Thanks. I've been careful to keep documentation of dealer action and communication through this lengthy process. My concern was to insulate the dealer, who has been pretty stand-up until this recent problem, and to keep the dealer from getting roped into litigation between me and Yamaha. Yamaha's problems are yamaha's and the recent dealer problem is the dealer's problem. They are separate entities and for the purpose of documentation and communication, I try to deal with them as such. I'm confident the dealer will be reasonable. But I don't consider anything a given after the year I've had trying to get back to long miles on my '14. Thanks for your insight. Spot on as usual. I have, at all times through this process, refrained from any public discussion of shortcoming until after I had attempted to address the issue privately and directly and met with resistance. I'd prefer to only post nice or neutral things about everyone I deal with. Honor still has a place in the world, or should have.

 

[vabrzn]

I had a similar issue on my 2013;50,000 miles. I haven't read through al of these posts so I don't know what you have tried so far, but here is what I did to resolve the issue.

I cleaned all of the electrical connectors under the tank with CRC electrical contact cleaner. The large white unsealed connector in front of the valve cover on the right side of the engine had a fair amount of corrosion in it; cleaned this connector.

Issue resolved.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I had a similar issue on my 2013;50,000 miles. I haven't read through al of these posts so I don't know what you have tried so far, but here is what I did to resolve the issue.I cleaned all of the electrical connectors under the tank with CRC electrical contact cleaner. The large white unsealed connector in front of the valve cover on the right side of the engine had a fair amount of corrosion in it; cleaned this connector.

Issue resolved.

Sounds like the same problem on the Gen 1's. Mine had that connector turn green inside as well. Yamaha couldn't find it.

Looking on this forum, the issue was posted and led me right to it....

 

[BikerGeek99]

The TPS on the FJR is also used on other bikes, right? Has anyone perused any forums for that other model (or models) to see if they are having similar issues with the TPS?

Just curious if the issue is with the TPS design itself, or, for some reason, specific to the FJR.

 

[Fred W]

The only other bike that uses the same part number TPS as the 3rd Gen FJRs is the V-Max from 2009 to present. As has been said, it would be worth checking their experiences since they've had them 4 years longer.

 

[dcarver]

Was going to offer my spare, and working, throttle body assy then realized 06 vs 13.

Hang in there Bill.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

A similar TPS is used on the 04-09 FZ6.

The 05 and 06 models had a re-call on the TPS, same as my old 2004 FJR did...

It wouldn't surprise me their the same design. A slightly different part # often follows the different year bike..

 

[ionbeam]

Bill Lumberg Posted 06 September 2016 - 07:18 PM
Thanks. I've been careful to keep documentation of dealer action and communication through this lengthy process. My concern was to insulate the dealer, who has been pretty stand-up until this recent problem, and to keep the dealer from getting roped into litigation between me and Yamaha. Yamaha's problems are yamaha's and the recent dealer problem is the dealer's problem. They are separate entities and for the purpose of documentation and communication, I try to deal with them as such. I'm confident the dealer will be reasonable. But I don't consider anything a given after the year I've had trying to get back to long miles on my '14. Thanks for your insight. Spot on as usual. I have, at all times through this process, refrained from any public discussion of shortcoming until after I had attempted to address the issue privately and directly and met with resistance. I'd prefer to only post nice or neutral things about everyone I deal with. Honor still has a place in the world, or should have.

Here ya go Bill, the Mechanic's Patron Saint of I Give Up.