If the topic sounds familiar, it's because someone experienced the same problem a scant 2 weeks ago. But this morning it was time for my 07 FJR to pull a "Burleigh."
Our rush "hour" starts early and goes long here in the metro Seattle/Tacoma area. I was merging onto Highway 167 at about 4:30am this morning while rocking out to some Jimi Hendrix and immediately shot over to the fast lane. At this time of morning the highway is already full of cars, but at least they are still moving at 60-70mph. No sooner did I tuck in behind a cage when there was a sudden complete engine power loss. What an incredible feeling of powerlessness when you twist the throttle and nothing happens no matter how hard you twist.
With no way to move right, I was forced to hit the breakdown lane to the left to avoid getting run over. Because the highway was crossing a road below, my breakdown lane suddenly became rather narrow on the bridge section and I intimately knew how James felt with cars zipping by. Luckily I was able to coast far enough to get to a wider section to come to a stop.
While my mind was whirling with thoughts of avoiding cars, I was troubleshooting the problem in hopes of regaining power. All lights were still on, the kill switch was on and cycling it didn't help and pushing the starter button didn't help. At that point I resigned myself to stopping on the wider section of breakdown lane.
With the clutch lever pulled in and the bike still in gear (I even remembered to downshift into first before stopping
) I got no starter engagement. I put the bike into neutral and it fired right up. What a sweet sound to hear those 145 horses rasping through the Trooper modded mufflers! :yahoo: Remembering my experience with the sidestand switch going flakey on me about a year ago ( https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/154843-intermittent-stalling-on-the-freeway/?p=1105075 ), I cycled the sidestand. The bike went into gear and kept running. With some trepidation, I launched my rocket and merged back into the heavy traffic for a normal commute to work. Maybe normal isn't the right word because thoughts of dying bike didn't leave and I decided I no longer wanted to listen to Jimi, although I probably should have cued up "Are you experienced?".
I'm now pretty sure that my cleaning of the non-disassembable Gen II sidestand switch was not a lasting repair. I'll break out the analog meter when I get home to confirm this, but I suspect it's time to order a new switch. I'm thinking that $35 plus shipping is good insurance to ensure there's no future power loss while "running with the bulls." But before I leave the parking lot, the switch will be disconnected and the bike side connector will have a shorting jumper installed. I hope I don't forget to raise the sidestand and kill myself when I leave the parking lot.
Our rush "hour" starts early and goes long here in the metro Seattle/Tacoma area. I was merging onto Highway 167 at about 4:30am this morning while rocking out to some Jimi Hendrix and immediately shot over to the fast lane. At this time of morning the highway is already full of cars, but at least they are still moving at 60-70mph. No sooner did I tuck in behind a cage when there was a sudden complete engine power loss. What an incredible feeling of powerlessness when you twist the throttle and nothing happens no matter how hard you twist.
With no way to move right, I was forced to hit the breakdown lane to the left to avoid getting run over. Because the highway was crossing a road below, my breakdown lane suddenly became rather narrow on the bridge section and I intimately knew how James felt with cars zipping by. Luckily I was able to coast far enough to get to a wider section to come to a stop.
While my mind was whirling with thoughts of avoiding cars, I was troubleshooting the problem in hopes of regaining power. All lights were still on, the kill switch was on and cycling it didn't help and pushing the starter button didn't help. At that point I resigned myself to stopping on the wider section of breakdown lane.
With the clutch lever pulled in and the bike still in gear (I even remembered to downshift into first before stopping
) I got no starter engagement. I put the bike into neutral and it fired right up. What a sweet sound to hear those 145 horses rasping through the Trooper modded mufflers! :yahoo: Remembering my experience with the sidestand switch going flakey on me about a year ago ( https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/154843-intermittent-stalling-on-the-freeway/?p=1105075 ), I cycled the sidestand. The bike went into gear and kept running. With some trepidation, I launched my rocket and merged back into the heavy traffic for a normal commute to work. Maybe normal isn't the right word because thoughts of dying bike didn't leave and I decided I no longer wanted to listen to Jimi, although I probably should have cued up "Are you experienced?".
I'm now pretty sure that my cleaning of the non-disassembable Gen II sidestand switch was not a lasting repair. I'll break out the analog meter when I get home to confirm this, but I suspect it's time to order a new switch. I'm thinking that $35 plus shipping is good insurance to ensure there's no future power loss while "running with the bulls."
But before I leave the parking lot, the switch will be disconnected and the bike side connector will have a shorting jumper installed. I hope I don't forget to raise the sidestand and kill myself when I leave the parking lot.
