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

[VirginiaJim]

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.

Putting water on a bike.  What a strange concept.

[B.D.F.]

Bad battery connections. That corrosion is caused by current passing through a large- resistance connection- indicating a lousy connection. I thought you had mentioned that they (it?) were loose as well.

By the ignition spring, I believe you mean the spring under the ignition switch that we press down to 'wake up' the bike? It is not possible that that or any other part of KiPass could have caused the bike to stall. No part of KiPass can interfere with an already running motorcycle. Again, I believe it was a poor battery cable connection.

At any rate, even a bad battery, which I do not think you have, would cause the bike to stall either. At least not a battery that would later show a resting voltage as high as yours did.

Clean and tighten both battery connections, clean and tighten the negative battery- to- frame connection and I believe you will be all set. There are no other problems that I am aware of given the description of the symptoms, the battery connections (and associated serious corrosion), photos and battery testing results.

I am amazed that the factory battery is rated that high in CCA! To be honest, I would be amazed to see one actually put out even half of that new, never mind used. At any rate, if the battery is still turning the engine over as fast as it did new then I would keep using it until it showed symptoms. Just my opinion though and a lot of people change batteries out earlier than I would so it is an individual choice. But I would LOVE to see a CCA test done on a new motorcycle battery to see if the actual test showed anything even close to that number.

Brian

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.

[Conrad]

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

When you said 'and still nothing' are you saying that the bike won't start and/or turn over at all?

Did you check and clean the connections on the other end of the battery cables?

[maxtog]

Finally, I was able to put the battery back in the bike today after cleaning the terminals and still nothing.

What do you mean by "still nothing"?

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

Knowing how old the battery is would be helpful in some of the troubleshooting, but you still have not put the year of your bike in your avatar message or signature: http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=8275.0

It could be 5 years old or 2 months old.... who knows.

[B.D.F.]

Wait- I missed the 'still nothing' part: what do you mean? The bike won't react when you push down the key? You could have the infamous stuck KiPass activation switch problem but that would not have caused the bike to stall in the first place.

Let's back up a bit.... when the bike stalled, it did restart, didn't it? I was under the impression it restarted. If it restarted, when did it fail to start? I am afraid that I am not following the timeline of what has happened to you. Strike what I said a couple of posts ago, I thought you were in a very differrent circumstance than I now think you are. Could you give us a brief but incident specific outline of what happened? Something like:

Coming to a stop the bike stalled.

Then what- did it restart? Did you have it towed? ??

Would the bike work before you removed the battery?

If not, when did it fail again (if you did not have it towed)?

Glad to help but I am just not following what happened.

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

[Supatramp]

a failing battery can cause all sorts of strange side effects."

Amen to that 

[VirginiaJim]

Replace the battery.

[Conrad]

Replace the battery.

Which one exactly Jim?     

[Burbs]

What do you mean by "still nothing"?

Knowing how old the battery is would be helpful in some of the troubleshooting, but you still have not put the year of your bike in your avatar message or signature: http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=8275.0

It could be 5 years old or 2 months old.... who knows.

Sorry about that. I have a 2009 ABS model.

[gPink]

Sorry about that. I have a 2009 ABS model.

Replace the battery.

Do it.

[Burbs]

Wait- I missed the 'still nothing' part: what do you mean? The bike won't react when you push down the key? You could have the infamous stuck KiPass activation switch problem but that would not have caused the bike to stall in the first place.

Let's back up a bit.... when the bike stalled, it did restart, didn't it? I was under the impression it restarted. If it restarted, when did it fail to start? I am afraid that I am not following the timeline of what has happened to you. Strike what I said a couple of posts ago, I thought you were in a very differrent circumstance than I now think you are. Could you give us a brief but incident specific outline of what happened? Something like:

Coming to a stop the bike stalled.

Then what- did it restart? Did you have it towed? ??

Would the bike work before you removed the battery?

If not, when did it fail again (if you did not have it towed)?

Glad to help but I am just not following what happened.

Brian

I'll break down what happened and what troubleshooting methods I've done.

Bike Breakdown Incident

We were riding and were approaching a stop sign

As I was braking, the bike all of a sudden died. All the gauges and lights shut down and the engine was killed. We glided to the stop sign.

I brought the bike to a stop and pushed the knob down

The "immobilizer error" message appeared on my screen

Neighbor came to pick up my wife, but she went to CVS to get me another FOB battery, in case it was dead. The new battery didn't work

The bike was towed to my house...after waiting almost three hours mind you!!!

When I arrived home, I had my wife bring out the other FOB

I pushed the knob down and it made the "clicking" sound, the lights came on and I was able to turn the knob

As I went to push the starter, the lights and gauges turned off again and the "immobilizer error" came on again. I couldn't start the bike

The red light now blinks when I push the button down and the "immobilizer error" does not appear anymore, with either FOB

Troubleshooting Methods So Far

Looked at the wiring inside the battery box area to see if there was any loose connections, there wasn't

Looked under the seat at the ECU to see if there were any loose connections, there wasn't

Removed the battery, put it on the trickle charge overnight

Cleaned the battery terminals

Looked at the ground wire, but it wasn't corroded and it was tight

Reconnected the battery, made sure everything was tight and tried the bike again.

No error message, just the blinking red light. The knob does not turn nor make the clicking sound

After speaking to my dealer, I proceeded to connect my car battery to the bikes battery, but did not have the car running. Still no power, just the red light

Banged on the ignition box area to see if I could "nudge" the spring, but this did not work

Had the battery tested and found out that the CCA was 66 and the voltage was 12.66v

Posted message on the forum again 

So this is where I am at right now. I'm now wondering if I should get a new battery.

I hope this helps, if you need anymore information, please let me know. I really appreciate everyone helping me here.


-Chris

[gPink]

Chris, not trying to be difficult but you have four pages and fifty replies from folks trying to help. The majority of those replies suggest a new battery may well be in order. You have a battery that is at least five years old. That's a good run for any motorcycle battery. You've been without a bike since this happened more than a week ago. Why don't you humor all who are trying to help and get a new battery? Until that's done, I'm not sure what else we can do here. Good luck.

[B.D.F.]

Great outline Chris. Here is what I think and why:

1) You had a main power interruption first (at the stop sign). Because the engine stopped running and all lights went out, main power was interrupted to the bike, specifically from the battery to the power distribution areas, which are all the fuse boxes basically.

The interruption is not complete though and this is why you could re-activate the system. So the main power interruption is intermittent and would appear to be dependent on heavy current draw because the bike will power up fine (low current usage) but when you hit the starter button all power is lost (heavy current usage).

2) For the moment, let's ignore the 'Transponder Error' and chalk it up to a 'confused' ECU due to the sharp power outage and abrupt re- powering of the system by the intermittent connection. I think that that is not a problem here but either way, the main problem is that loose / open / bad / <mostly bad> connection somewhere. It is also possible that you have a bad battery but I would test that before chucking it (test it in the bike while trying to start it).

So what you have is basically a bike that cannot get enough current when trying to start it but does get enough current to 'power up', light the LCD, operate the ECU's, etc. The first thing to determine is if the problem is battery or wiring based. An easy test using a voltmeter on the battery: connect the voltmeter and watch it while powering the bike up. Then hit the starter and watch the voltage- if it drops below approx. 8 volts, the battery is shot and needs to be replaced. If the voltage does not move much (less than 2 volts from where it was before engaging the starter), there is a partially open circuit somewhere between the battery and the bike, most likely around the solenoid / main fuse area.

You could just replace the battery and use that as the test of course. If the battery is more than 4 years old that would not be a terrible thing anyway. But without prior testing you cannot be sure that is your problem.

It would be most useful to know what the battery's voltage dropped to during the load test; again, if it was below 9 and especially if it was below 8 volts, time to chuck the battery.

Brian

I'll break down what happened and what troubleshooting methods I've done.

Bike Breakdown Incident

We were riding and were approaching a stop sign

As I was braking, the bike all of a sudden died. All the gauges and lights shut down and the engine was killed. We glided to the stop sign.

I brought the bike to a stop and pushed the knob down

The "immobilizer error" message appeared on my screen

Neighbor came to pick up my wife, but she went to CVS to get me another FOB battery, in case it was dead. The new battery didn't work

The bike was towed to my house...after waiting almost three hours mind you!!!

When I arrived home, I had my wife bring out the other FOB

I pushed the knob down and it made the "clicking" sound, the lights came on and I was able to turn the knob

As I went to push the starter, the lights and gauges turned off again and the "immobilizer error" came on again. I couldn't start the bike

The red light now blinks when I push the button down and the "immobilizer error" does not appear anymore, with either FOB

Troubleshooting Methods So Far

Looked at the wiring inside the battery box area to see if there was any loose connections, there wasn't

Looked under the seat at the ECU to see if there were any loose connections, there wasn't

Removed the battery, put it on the trickle charge overnight

Cleaned the battery terminals

Looked at the ground wire, but it wasn't corroded and it was tight

Reconnected the battery, made sure everything was tight and tried the bike again.

No error message, just the blinking red light. The knob does not turn nor make the clicking sound

After speaking to my dealer, I proceeded to connect my car battery to the bikes battery, but did not have the car running. Still no power, just the red light

Banged on the ignition box area to see if I could "nudge" the spring, but this did not work

Had the battery tested and found out that the CCA was 66 and the voltage was 12.66v

Posted message on the forum again 

So this is where I am at right now. I'm now wondering if I should get a new battery.

I hope this helps, if you need anymore information, please let me know. I really appreciate everyone helping me here.


-Chris

[VirginiaJim]

Replace the battery.

[gPink]

...sigh...

[freebird6]

I am totally stoked knowing that there is such a responsive information base and great advice should I ever have a problem. Well done guys.

[Burbs]

Chris, not trying to be difficult but you have four pages and fifty replies from folks trying to help. The majority of those replies suggest a new battery may well be in order. You have a battery that is at least five years old. That's a good run for any motorcycle battery. You've been without a bike since this happened more than a week ago. Why don't you humor all who are trying to help and get a new battery? Until that's done, I'm not sure what else we can do here. Good luck.

I understand that people are saying to replace the battery, which I am planning to do today. However, Brian and others have asked questions and I am providing the details.

[VirginiaJim]

Too many questions, not enough action.  Battery is old, replace it anyway.  They're not that expensive in the general scheme of things.   5 years on a MC battery is pushing it.  I replaced mine at 3 just because.  I will say I had a battery go 5 years on my C10 but I replaced it because I didn't want to stuck somewhere I didn't want to be.

[B.D.F.]

Yes, and thanks for that. Always better to understand what is going on I think.

And for whatever reason, I have been a bit slow on this thread. I failed to notice the 'still nothing' in your post and did not realize that you have a 5 year old battery. My apologies- reading compression has obviously failed me here. So yep, what the others said- new battery time.

And to you other folks, chill- ax. Save up that adrenaline in case you need it later for something like running away from a fire or something.    We'll get to the bottom of this one even if I am being obtuse....

Brian

I understand that people are saying to replace the battery, which I am planning to do today. However, Brian and others have asked questions and I am providing the details.

[B.D.F.]

Never confuse motion with progress. Besides, applying a general rule like 'it's old, replace it' would have most of us gone by the end of the day. And shouldn't you be sitting next to your mailbox waiting for the envelope with the tire in it anyway?

 

Brian

Too many questions, not enough action.  Battery is old, replace it anyway.

<snip>