I love my bike, but this year it developed a problem that ruined my entire season.
Symptoms:
My 2014 FZ-09 has 30 000km on it and started stuttering while cruising around 30% throttle. It was getting worse as time went on. The stutter was becoming more frequent, under more riding conditions and was becoming violent. The bike was also starting on the 3rd or 4th pull instead of the normal 1st pull. It got so bad that is was happening in low speed situations. Once, it happened in the middle of a busy intersection during a left hand turn... only my angel and willpower kept me up. Disconnecting the battery or unplugging the ECU would improve the situation for a while, but after 50 km it was back.
The process:
I asked my Yamaha dealer to look into it during my maintenance service and they said it was bad gas (which ticked me off). Later they told me it was plugs, (which I had changed the day before myself). So I started cruising the forums to find a solution. I changed the air filter to a K&N and did the plugs. Then I did a reflash through VcycleNut. It didn't fix the problem. Then I replaced the injectors and tightened the throttle cable. While these all improved the bike, they didn't fix the underlying problem.
The Solution:
Finally, I decided to check all of my electrical connections. When I checked the connectors for the Accelerator and Throttle Position Sensors, I found condensation inside. I cleaned them out with electrical contact cleaner, let them dry and put it all back together. Low and behold, no stutter, jerking or hiccups. On top of that, 150km on, the bike is running smoother and starts 1st pull. My guess is that the APS and TPS must have been sending bad readings to both the throttle actuator and ecu. The actuator was opening and closing according to bad signals and the O2 sensor was reading rich as a result. The ecu was probably leaning the bike out based on the O2 data. Probably why it got better when I disconnected the battery. As the emissions data is rewritten in the ECU, the bike is returning to its normal fueling. Unfortunately it took the entire riding season to discover.
Recap:
Clean the electrical connectors for the APS and TPS to fix the problem. I plan on doing it every spring.
P.S. The VcycleNut flash greatly improved the bike. They have excellent customer service and maintain prompt correspondence throughout the process, it is also a cheaper alternative to throttle commanders and O2 deletes. Also, the manual states 1/4" play in the cable, that is WAY too much. Tighten to where its comfortable. (No wonder my right hand was always tired an numb.)
Symptoms:
My 2014 FZ-09 has 30 000km on it and started stuttering while cruising around 30% throttle. It was getting worse as time went on. The stutter was becoming more frequent, under more riding conditions and was becoming violent. The bike was also starting on the 3rd or 4th pull instead of the normal 1st pull. It got so bad that is was happening in low speed situations. Once, it happened in the middle of a busy intersection during a left hand turn... only my angel and willpower kept me up. Disconnecting the battery or unplugging the ECU would improve the situation for a while, but after 50 km it was back.
The process:
I asked my Yamaha dealer to look into it during my maintenance service and they said it was bad gas (which ticked me off). Later they told me it was plugs, (which I had changed the day before myself). So I started cruising the forums to find a solution. I changed the air filter to a K&N and did the plugs. Then I did a reflash through VcycleNut. It didn't fix the problem. Then I replaced the injectors and tightened the throttle cable. While these all improved the bike, they didn't fix the underlying problem.
The Solution:
Finally, I decided to check all of my electrical connections. When I checked the connectors for the Accelerator and Throttle Position Sensors, I found condensation inside. I cleaned them out with electrical contact cleaner, let them dry and put it all back together. Low and behold, no stutter, jerking or hiccups. On top of that, 150km on, the bike is running smoother and starts 1st pull. My guess is that the APS and TPS must have been sending bad readings to both the throttle actuator and ecu. The actuator was opening and closing according to bad signals and the O2 sensor was reading rich as a result. The ecu was probably leaning the bike out based on the O2 data. Probably why it got better when I disconnected the battery. As the emissions data is rewritten in the ECU, the bike is returning to its normal fueling. Unfortunately it took the entire riding season to discover.
Recap:
Clean the electrical connectors for the APS and TPS to fix the problem. I plan on doing it every spring.
P.S. The VcycleNut flash greatly improved the bike. They have excellent customer service and maintain prompt correspondence throughout the process, it is also a cheaper alternative to throttle commanders and O2 deletes. Also, the manual states 1/4" play in the cable, that is WAY too much. Tighten to where its comfortable. (No wonder my right hand was always tired an numb.)
