Weird Tach

[BugR]

Riding in to work this morning the tach was a little wacko.

Appeared to be reading 2 to 3K low, i.e 0 rpm @ 50 mph.

It would move if I blipped the throttle.

Bike was running fine.

Then when I hit the first light it sorted it'self out while idling for the light to change.

I'm thinking I hit the start button before the gauges had calibrated.

Of course this happens the day before I leave on a 3,000 mile road trip.

Anyone else seen this?

Chris

 

[odot]

Tach line coming loose?

 

[BugR]

Tach line coming loose?

Tach Line? I though the tach signal came directly from the ECM.

Chris

 

[odot]

I don't know...I'm old school. Sounded good though. (pats self on back)

 

[twowheelnut]

That happened on my GL1800, both tach and speedo. Replaced under TSB/warranty. Bad electrics. I seem to recall a comment or two about this recently. Try a search.

 

[fjrchooser]

Sounds like Odot picked the wrong decade to quit doing acid.

 

[Caba]

I was about to post on the same issue. Here is my experience:

for about the last month or so when I haven't started the bike for a few days, the tach doesnt calibrate when I turn the ignition on (go full scale and back). It then reads extremely low when i start the bike and start driving (about the same as BugR). Almost every time that I stop at the end of the subdivision it is still wako. When I take a left turn on to the main road it starts working instantly.

One time it didn't work for about 35 miles. when I shut the bike off and turned it back on, poof! worked fine.

Again, as I said it only happens when the bike hasn't been started for several days and only on the first start. After that, it works without issue. I've had no other electrical issues but thought it might be a dealyed fault from my run in with Bambi last fall.

BugR - has your bike had any "sudden decelerations" (mine was a t-bone into a doe).

Looking For ideas also.

Caba

 

[mindtrip]

I've had the exact same problem with my speedo; when I turn on the key it does not 'wind up' during its self-check, then when I drive it reads extremely low speeds (ie 30mph when I know by GPS I'm doing 80). For a while a few weeks ago it was doing it every morning, but when I'd stop at a stop sign after driving for a few minutes it would return to normal function. Someone else thought it might be the stepping motor; since it hasn't done it in at least 2 weeks, I'm not worrying about it right now. I have one of the '06's with the 17mpg instant read problem; I figure when they officially release a bulletin for this I'll get the speedo problem fixed at the same time, especially if the solution for the 17mpg problem is to replace the entire instrument cluster.

 

[Ari Rankum]

I've had the exact same problem with my speedo; when I turn on the key it does not 'wind up' during its self-check, then when I drive it reads extremely low speeds (ie 30mph when I know by GPS I'm doing 80). For a while a few weeks ago it was doing it every morning, but when I'd stop at a stop sign after driving for a few minutes it would return to normal function. Someone else thought it might be the stepping motor; since it hasn't done it in at least 2 weeks, I'm not worrying about it right now. I have one of the '06's with the 17mpg instant read problem; I figure when they officially release a bulletin for this I'll get the speedo problem fixed at the same time, especially if the solution for the 17mpg problem is to replace the entire instrument cluster.

I've seen something like this before. Yesterday, in fact, my tach did its little dance when I turned the ignition on, but the speedo didn't. I tried turning the ignition off, then back on, same thing. After first stop yesterday, bike was back to normal. My '05 never did this.

 

[Caba]

I've seen the speedo not initialize once, but it worked anyway.

Oh, and mine's an '04 so it isn't just the 06's!