Took the bike on a work road trip last week -- nothing quite like riding a couple of long days on the time card! A couple of times during the week, the motor seemed to stumble just the least little bit. So short I thought perhaps I had fumbled the throttle (I can be ham fisted at times). Also during the week, a couple of times the fuel gauge is flashing a low fuel warning when I first start the bike in the morning, even though I have plenty of fuel. Gauge goes up as I ride to work.
On Thursday, headed to a hotel mid-way toward home, the motor stumbled much harder, and was off for a full second or two, then recovered. Weirdly, I thought, it seemed as though the stumble may have occurred just as I was signaling a lane change. A little search on the forum finds that was a known ground spider symptom back in the 2009 time frame. Oh oh!
Head out Friday morning for home. Make it a hundred miles or so of the 350 I have to go, and the motor stumbles hard again, but recovers and continues on. Stopped for fuel in Tallahassee, and the bike doesn't want to start, and now the entire fuel gauge is flashing. Turn the key off and on several times, and the gauge recovers and the motor starts. Not intelligent enough to know when I'm well off, I continue toward home, just not on the freeway, sticking to smaller roads. Managed to get almost 5 more miles!
After wasting a couple of hours for AAA not to be able to tow the bike (I have 'Motorcycle Plus' coverage, they just can't actually do so...) I end up getting a tow from a local Tallahassee dealership. It's before noon on Friday, but Tuesday of this week is the first they can get to it. They called today, and had done a very good job of diagnosis, finding a real issue and not throwing parts at the problem. Yeah!
But what they found is not so 'yeah'. Sure enough, one of the ground spider ends of the wiring harness is burned. Not sure exactly how bad, but too far gone for continued operation. They are going to see if Mother Yamaha will cover any of the cost, since this is not exactly a unheard of issue, but it doesn't sound terribly promising. Harness is around $700, labor about the same. $1400 to $1500 to be back on the road. Bike is in pieces 350 miles away. To bring it home, I'd have to have them put it back together, then spend a full day to just to bring it home. Once home, who knows how many days to fix the problem. Depression begins to set in. O.K., not really. There is still a Speed Triple in the garage, but it's just not the same.
On Thursday, headed to a hotel mid-way toward home, the motor stumbled much harder, and was off for a full second or two, then recovered. Weirdly, I thought, it seemed as though the stumble may have occurred just as I was signaling a lane change. A little search on the forum finds that was a known ground spider symptom back in the 2009 time frame. Oh oh!
Head out Friday morning for home. Make it a hundred miles or so of the 350 I have to go, and the motor stumbles hard again, but recovers and continues on. Stopped for fuel in Tallahassee, and the bike doesn't want to start, and now the entire fuel gauge is flashing. Turn the key off and on several times, and the gauge recovers and the motor starts. Not intelligent enough to know when I'm well off, I continue toward home, just not on the freeway, sticking to smaller roads. Managed to get almost 5 more miles!
After wasting a couple of hours for AAA not to be able to tow the bike (I have 'Motorcycle Plus' coverage, they just can't actually do so...) I end up getting a tow from a local Tallahassee dealership. It's before noon on Friday, but Tuesday of this week is the first they can get to it. They called today, and had done a very good job of diagnosis, finding a real issue and not throwing parts at the problem. Yeah!
But what they found is not so 'yeah'. Sure enough, one of the ground spider ends of the wiring harness is burned. Not sure exactly how bad, but too far gone for continued operation. They are going to see if Mother Yamaha will cover any of the cost, since this is not exactly a unheard of issue, but it doesn't sound terribly promising. Harness is around $700, labor about the same. $1400 to $1500 to be back on the road. Bike is in pieces 350 miles away. To bring it home, I'd have to have them put it back together, then spend a full day to just to bring it home. Once home, who knows how many days to fix the problem. Depression begins to set in. O.K., not really. There is still a Speed Triple in the garage, but it's just not the same.
