I thought KIPASS Stranded Me Last Night.. (New Title)

[Pokey]

HA HA HA!!!!!!!

[VirginiaJim]

What is that?

[Burbs]

Two questions:

1) What kind of grease?
2) What will the baking soda do?

I did charge the battery last night and hopefully after I clean the terminals, this solves the issue.

[VirginiaJim]

My father-in-law slathered his with chassis grease but I don't use any and have never had an issue with corrosion on my bike.    The baking soda neutralizes the battery acid.

[gPink]

As a sealant around electrical contacts:

Dielectric grease

Dielectric grease is electrically insulating and does not break down when high voltage is applied. It is often applied to electrical connectors, particularly those containing rubber gaskets, as a means of lubricating and sealing rubber portions of the connector without arcing.

A common use of dielectric grease is in high-voltage connections associated with gasoline engine spark plugs. The grease is applied to the rubber boot of the plug wire. This helps the rubber boot slide onto the ceramic insulator of the plug. The grease also acts to seal the rubber boot, while at the same time preventing the rubber from becoming stuck to the ceramic. Generally spark plugs are located in areas of high temperature, and the grease is formulated to withstand the temperature range expected. It can be applied to the actual contact as well, because the contact pressure is sufficient to penetrate the grease. Doing so on such high pressure contact surfaces has the advantage of sealing the contact area against corrosion.

Another common use of dielectric grease is on the rubber mating surfaces or gaskets of multi-pin electrical connectors used in automotive and marine engines. The grease again acts as a lubricant and a sealant on the nonconductive mating surfaces of the connector. It is not recommended to be applied to the actual electrical conductive contacts of the connector because it could interfere with the electrical signals passing through the connector in cases where the contact pressure is very low. Products designed as electronic connector lubricants, on the other hand, should be applied to such connector contacts and can dramatically extend their useful life. Polyphenyl Ether, rather than silicone grease, is the active ingredient in some such connector lubricants.

Silicone grease should not be applied to (or next to) any switch contact that might experience arcing, as silicone can convert to silicon-carbide under arcing conditions, and accumulation of the silicon-carbide can cause the contacts to prematurely fail. (British Telecom had this problem in the 1970s when silicone Symel® sleeving was used in telephone exchanges. Vapour from the sleeving migrated to relay contacts and the resultant silicon-carbide caused intermittent connection.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicone_grease#Dielectric_grease

[Conrad]

Brian, are you saying that Kipass can cause low oil pressure and seize the engine?       

People REALLY should RTFM!!!

Yeah, KiPass has become such a big thing that I think some people believe it controls the phases of the moon :-)  KiPass's job is to authenticate a valid fob and ALLOW the starting sequence to BEGIN and that is all. The chain of events is that the KiPass ECU sends an 'okdokey' to the main ECU and then KiPass is done with the entire bike save the display unit. Even if you leave the fob on the ground when you started the bike and drove away the only thing that can happen, while the bike is running, is that the display will display 'Transponder Error'.

The reason for all of this is simple: common sense and liability. It would be disastrous to have any part of the bike stop the engine for any reason on its own without the operator's involvement. I mean, what if our bikes simply stopped running in the middle of a long curve, well leaned over, because the temperature was too high as judged by the ECU? No one would make a vehicle like that, including Kawasaki. KiPass (or anything else on the bike such as low fuel, too high a temperature, no oil, etc.) cannot stop the bike. The worst case scenario is no oil pressure which will result at some point in an engine seizure but again, that fault will NOT stop a running bike, only alert the rider; it is up to the rider to stop the bike when safe to do so.

I really do believe Chris's problem (Burbs) has nothing to do with KiPass but rather is a simple electrical fault, given his description (starting with the bike stalled....). The message 'Transponder Error' was just one more of the symptoms of the underlying and basic problem, which I believe is a central electrical fault and most probably a simple one at that.

Brian

[Burbs]

I changed the title of thread since I was completely wrong and accused KIPASS of something that wasn't it's fault. 

I've never heard of the baking soda mix, so I'll try that this afternoon. After looking inside the battery compartment, everything looks connected to me, so hopefully the battery is the issue.

[maxtog]

I've never heard of the baking soda mix, so I'll try that this afternoon.

Baking soda will neutralize the acids in the white corrosion.

[gPink]

everything looks connected to me

Looks can be deceiving.

[Conrad]

Once you get it cleaned up be sure to rinse really well with water. 

[B.D.F.]

Baking soda will remove and neutralize the corrosion (chemical reaction- baking soda is a mild alkaline or base).

Any kind of grease other than graphite or moly grease. Chassis grease, wheel bearing grease, Vaseline, whatever. Grease just keeps the oxygen away from the battery posts. You can also buy special purpose battery post protecting potions at the auto parts store and most of them work fine too.

Brian

Two questions:

1) What kind of grease?
2) What will the baking soda do?

I did charge the battery last night and hopefully after I clean the terminals, this solves the issue.

[B.D.F.]

I have heard that KiPass can seize the engines in the cars that get too close to a C-14.

Brian

Brian, are you saying that Kipass can cause low oil pressure and seize the engine?       

People REALLY should RTFM!!!

[Richard. Wales UK]

Once you get it cleaned up be sure to rinse really well with water.

I was taught to use boiling water from the kettle, and always have, what the thinking is behind this I don't know

Richard

[Conrad]

I was taught to use boiling water from the kettle, and always have, what the thinking is behind this I don't know

Richard

That makes two of us...

I would never use water that hot on my bike but that's just me.

The baking soda, as explained by Brian, is the way to go. 

[clogan]

The use of baking soda to clean battery posts will require a small bit of water. I use tap water from a spray bottle. It creats quite a mess, and should be done out of doors, or at least in an area where the resulting mess can be contained and cleaned up. For those not familiar, a water/baking soda mix applied to battery corrosion creats a reaction similar to what we all did as kids: mixing baking soda and vinegar. An even more impressive reaction is mixing Mentos monts with a diet drink.

On another note, a failing battery can cause all sorts of strange side effects. My Ford F-150 heater would not work. Only blew cold air. A new battery fixed it. Apparently there was insufficient voltage to power the computer that controls the HVAC blend mix device.

[Burbs]

Finally, I was able to put the battery back in the bike today after cleaning the terminals and still nothing. I did have the battery tested and the voltage came back at 12.66v but the CCA was 66. From what I've read, that low CCA isn't good.

Time for a new battery I'm guessing?

-Chris

[B.D.F.]

What is the battery rated for new (it is printed on the battery, or should be)? I think they are only rated for something like 80 CCA new and some deterioration of that value is expected adn acceptable. That does not sound that low to me. Then again, I tend to run batteries until they show signs of weakening such as slow cranking, not holding a charge if left standing a while (weeks), etc., before I change them. Of course doing that exposes me to the risk of having a bad battery leaving me somewhere but that has not happened, at least not yet.

The corroded and / or loose battery terminals are not in any way related to a 'bad' battery. If that 12.66 is resting voltage (not just coming off a charge) then I would forge ahead with that battery until it had symptoms as mentioned above.

Besides all of that, I have heard that one cannot be stranded on a bike equipped with KiPass. Not sure that that is true but I think I heard it somewhere....   

Brian

Finally, I was able to put the battery back in the bike today after cleaning the terminals and still nothing. I did have the battery tested and the voltage came back at 12.66v but the CCA was 66. From what I've read, that low CCA isn't good.

Time for a new battery I'm guessing?

-Chris

[Burbs]

So if it's not the battery, then what could it be, the little ignition spring? But would that fail while I was riding? Like I said, I was coming up to a stop sign when all of a sudden the bike just died. 

As for the CCA, I see that Yuasa is rated for 240, which is why I initially thought that could be the issue.

[Pokey]

What is that?

Something called a "key" I am pretty fond of it. 

[VirginiaJim]

I would try charging it first if you can and then if it doesn't start the bike it's new battery time...