Rode to work today, came out and bike would not run

[mdisher]

OK, I've recently done a LOT of maintenance, valves, etc. Then put about 1k miles on bike, all good.

Then I uninstalled, disconnected and took apart way too much chit to put my rear shock on. Got it back together last night, started it up all was well.

Commuted to work this morning approx 40 miles (the long way) enjoying my new rear shock. All good except for engine noise in my starcom.

Come out for work today, start her up, let it idle while I pack up my ****, put my helmet on and it quits.

It would crank but not fire. I cranked on it for a while, not wanting to kill my battery and I waited. Made a few phone calls to start making plans to get a tow. Then it started, I hopped on, got about a 1/2 mile, then it quit a light. Couldn't get it to go. It would crank, like it's starving for fuel. I have a half tank. NO engine codes or daig codes on the display.

I cranked on it on/off for 30 minutes, no go. Every now and then it would fire but wouldn't stay running.

Dad was local so we loaded it up on the trailer and got it home. Unloaded it. Still wouldn't start.

rolled it in the barn, put it on the battery tender, went and ran a couple errands. Came back, started taking stuff off. Wanted to verify the fuel line under the tank wasn't pinched, etc.

Pushed the starter and now it's running. I'm not feeling good about my trip next week.

Where should I start? I'm fairly certain I had spark but no fuel... As much cranking as I did I never smelled gas, it never smelled flooded.

-MD

 

[mdisher]

I just disconnected my PC3 and things seem to be back to normal...

@^@%@

Previously I had the ground wire for the PC3 tied to the blue-seas, so essentially to the - side of the bat.

I had moved that to a bolt under the tank, I checked the resistance and it's .5 ohms. Which to me is nothing. Could this be the issue?

 

[BkrK12]

I just disconnected my PC3 and things seem to be back to normal...
@^@%@

Previously I had the ground wire for the PC3 tied to the blue-seas, so essentially to the - side of the bat.

I had moved that to a bolt under the tank, I checked the resistance and it's .5 ohms. Which to me is nothing. Could this be the issue?

PCIIIs are very sensitive to grounding. After watching a friend have lots of problems with grounding his to the frame, I grounded mine directly to the battery minus and have never had a problem. The friend had exactly the symptoms you are describing.

 

[Geezer]

I just disconnected my PC3 and things seem to be back to normal...
@^@%@

Previously I had the ground wire for the PC3 tied to the blue-seas, so essentially to the - side of the bat.

I had moved that to a bolt under the tank, I checked the resistance and it's .5 ohms. Which to me is nothing. Could this be the issue?

I would say yes, that's the problem. It is not a good idea to ground through the frame anyway because it can cause corrosion. Ground it to the battery.

 

[mdisher]

For searchability.

Power Commander PC3 PCIII Bike will turn over but won't start or run. Runs for very short period of time, won't idle, stalls won't start back up.

The PC3 IS Very sensitive to how it's grounded. Got 20k + miles w/o issue grounded through a BlueSeas fuse box.

When moved to the frame, bike didn't run for chit. Ran well for Oh about 40 miles then nada.

-MD

 

[wfooshee]

Weird seeing your avatar with that weird name.

BTW, totally lame using first-initial-last-name for a forum handle!!!!

(Hello MR. Kettle. I'm Mr. Pot. You're black!!!) B)

 

[mdisher]

Weird seeing your avatar with that weird name.
BTW, totally lame using first-initial-last-name for a forum handle!!!!

(Hello MR. Kettle. I'm Mr. Pot. You're black!!!) B)

It will pass

 

[mcatrophy]

... All good except for engine noise in my starcom.

...

-MD

Poor grounding might explain your Starcom noise.

 

[SkooterG]

Obviously, your FJR does not approve of your forum name change and is letting you know.

 

[Geezer]

Disconnect the PCIII completely and see if that solves the problem. If that fixes it then you can debug the PCIII problem and determine if it is wiring or a bad unit.

 

[mdisher]

I pulled the PC3 last night and all is well again.

The PC3 ground had a nice 'loop' connector, which fit perfectly on the BlueSeas. The blueseas had a pretty significant set of leads to the battery.

However, with the fuze block i would have needed to cut off the loop and burn a ground connector to connect it. So I searched for a simple frame mounting place near by. That appeared to be a bolt under the tank that was perfect fit.

But I guess the quality of the ground isn't the same.

-MD

 

[Wee Willy]

I think I agree with the grounding conclusion. Engine noise in starcom, intermittent engine running, etc. These are indicative symptoms. Once, when spark plugs were easy to get to, you could just pull one & hold it close to the head and see the spark jump to ensure you had good circuit. That simple test would help isolate motor issues. Lot harder on this bike with everything buried. And finding "ground" with add-on electronics (especially higher power ones) can be a challenge and cause all sorts of fun, as you can vouch.

In our industry (aerospace), ground is treated with almost religious zeal.

Good luck with this one,

W2

 

[mdisher]

I ordered the noise filter that was linked to earlier and will try moving the Valentine ground around. I tried a little bit yesterday without any significant results. But admit I was somewhat focused on another problem.

When I switched from the BlueSeas to the FuzeBlock I had to step down the wire size. I had like 12 guage wire feeding the BlueSeas, already shrink wrapped and run up to the battery. This wire is too big to fit into the connectors on the FuzeBlock and clearly overkill for the power needs to I spliced some 16 guage on the end to make the connection.

Even though I spliced it properly and soldered it together, maybe it's not as good as I thought.

 

[Geezer]

You can shave down the end of the 12 gauge wire to make it fit the FuzeBlock and still get the benefit of the heavier wire. Only take off enough to make it fit.

 

[ian]

I used a 10 ga. wire to run from the battery negative pole to a barrier strip that provides multiple ground sites as suggested by WC on FJRTech. Ian, Iowa

 

[Bluebullet]

I just disconnected my PC3 and things seem to be back to normal...
@^@%@

Previously I had the ground wire for the PC3 tied to the blue-seas, so essentially to the - side of the bat.

I had moved that to a bolt under the tank, I checked the resistance and it's .5 ohms. Which to me is nothing. Could this be the issue?

Just as a point of reference you should get about an 1 ohm for every 20 feet of 22 gauge wire. In your case you have a larger and shorter wire it should have read zero.

 

[Fred W]

As I recall from when I installed my PC3, it said explicitly in the directions to run the "ground" wire directly to the battery, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. That would be the cleanest, least noisy chassis ground point available on the bike.

And FWIW, you guys have that whole forum name thing bass ackwards...

 

[mdisher]

I have removed the PCIII for now, problem solved

The ground wire on my PCIII is about 8 inches long from the box, no way that's getting to the battery itself as is. So I did the next best thing, grounded it to my _then_ Blueseas, which had (2) 12 gauge wires directly to the battery.

Life was grand until I switched to the FuzeBlock. I didn't want to burn a common connector just for the PCIII so I found what I *thought* was a solid ground. only .5 ohms resistance from it (the screw under the tank) and the other end of the wire from the fuzeblock.

So I figured that was good enough. I guess I figured wrong.

I still cannot get my Valentine to not make all kinds of ****** noise in my starcomm now, no matter how I ground it or where.

I should have the filter when I get home and will try that, as a backup, I just returned from RadioShack with enough parts to build a screamer...

Yahoo!

 

[Fred W]

The ground wire on my PCIII is about 8 inches long from the box, no way that's getting to the battery itself as is.

Did you buy it used? Or maybe it's not the model designed for an FJR? Mine came with a black ground wire bundled in with the wire connectors that go under the tank, long enough to run all the way up to the battery.

I still cannot get my Valentine to not make all kinds of ****** noise in my starcomm now, no matter how I ground it or where.

Same here with my Escort Passport. All kinds of noise and no decent radar sounds. Under the advice of Jeff at Bike Effects I bought the special attenuating isolation cable, otherwise the RD would have blown my ears out even at minimum volume.