Electrical Fault.........kind of

[Hereward]

Here's the problem, turned of alarm with keyfob, stuck the key in turned the ignition on, and the red key light on the tach started flashing like mad! temp display said HI and bike wouldn't start...........Ok key problem, tried the "red" master Key........same result, left it for 30 seconds, fuel pump then preasurised, red key light stoped flashing, temp went to normal, bike started....then the 4 way flashers started going.............Turned it all off started again, once more adsactly the same, waited 30 seconds then started the bike. This time flashers didn't come on, I tried the indicators which imidiatly set the flashers off again.
At this point I rang Yamaha LOL As the poor guy on the end of the phone is trying to work it out, he said it sounds like a fault on the alarm system........Being impatient I fired of the attack alarm on the system from the key fob then cancelled it.........I then tried the bike which then started normaly.......I apologised to the Yamaha mechanic who was still scratching his head and the bike seems to behaveing itself again.
Not had a single problem with the bike and this one seems to be a case of the alarm getting confused or as the mechanic said, it may have been set of or tamperd with.......Bikes in a locked workshop and I'm the only one with the key so doubt that was the case
Anyway, if you have any alarm type gremlins the way to reset the system is simply to set the alarm off then cancelling it. Anyone else had any weired alarm issues?

 

[Hoover]

Does the Euro 8 come with an alarm? Stateside doesn't. Not 4 way flashers either.

 

[Hereward]

The alarm is an optional extra fitted from new by Yamaha..........UK bikes all have 4 way flashers.......buttons situated on the left hand control cluster. The FZ8 comes as standard with an imobilizer with a chip key, red light on tacho with key symbol next to it.

 

[hypo]

definitely sounds like the relay for the alarm either didn't fully throw... if you hit the DISARM two times, do you hear the alarm relay CLICK two times?

 

[Hereward]

I tried a number of times, enabeling and disabeling the alarm, It was giving the indication of doing both via the indicators but it wasn't until I actualy set the alarm of then cancelled it did it clear. It was messing with the bikes dash and the bikes imobilizer which it shouldn't really do. Some really odd glitch that was sending false signals all over the place........the Bike wasn't displaying an error on the initial tacho sweep which was really odd, hasn't done it before, and fingers cross it's been ok since, Yamaha guy was confused at it also.........on a lighter note, the Alarm fob has a button which simply sets the alarm off and imobilizes the bike as soon as you hit it.......The Yamaha mechanic called it "the rape alarm".........now as optional extras that has to be the ultimate in bike security

 

[Hereward]

Well...........it just got a whole lot worse! Bike will now not start! basicly the temp indicator shows "Hi" constantly, the fuel system wont preasurise and the transponder for the keys seems to flash but only when you turn on the indicators...........Yamaha mechanic is scratching head. Will let you all know what the fix is when they work it out.

 

[Hereward]

Well bike picked up, the guy who picked it up gave me 2 possible and logical solutions........first up the batterie could be low.....(I did think this myself so I'd already charged it and it didn't clear it) The second was the indicator relay...........If you read the initial problem I mentioned the indicators had gone mad.........The bike came fitted with LED indicators and aparently the diode in the led flasher relay can burn out and it confuses the bike and stops it from starting. This to me sounds likely to be the cause. They have had a FZ1 do this adsact same thing but hadn't seen any issues as yet with the FZ8.

Just to go through a few of the very odd symptoms in case others have the same issue in future.

Turn bike on and temp indicator flashes Hi constantly
Fuel pump dosn't preasure up
Alarm indicates low voltage in batt
Imobilizer key light flashes when indicators engaged and flashes in time with them
pressing the select or adjust buttons whilst ignition is off dose not bring up clock
Alarm goes off once activated.
Occasionaly you can clear the fault by engageing the indicators, fuel pup preasurises and HI temp returns to normal display.......over time this action fails to clear fault.
Canot enter diagnostic mode used by yamaha.

To my mind the LED relay looks favourite, followed by a dodgey alarm system, next up would be a problem batterie and then a problomatic conection on the bike, ignition system or management system........will pass on the final fix when they sort it out.....Bikes still under 12 months warranty under 2000miles on the clok LED indicators and alarm were fitted by yamaha and are both in there accesories catalouge.

 

[Hoover]

We in the US don't have the imobiliser/alarm system. I'm not sure what comes with the bike if you order Yamaha's LED signals with regards to the relay. I fitted a $6.00 relay to mine when I put my leds on and have not experienced any problems.
Not sure if we can offer too much assistance from this side of the water when it comes to electrics as our version is quite different.

 

[Hereward]

The nature of the fault is really odd, dosn't really lend itself to self diagnosis, bikes under warranty so Yam can fix it. If it is the led flasher relay or batt then this info may help others in future, and is the reason I thought I'd share.

The imobiliser system is a europe and australia (possibley asia as well) item, Your right in saying the US don't hve the hassle of transponder keys and imobilizer units.

 

[hypo]

good info. a lady I work with rides a 1200 sportster with a keyfob that has to be near the bike in order for the bike to start up. I guess the fob has a little transponder and a battery in it... she got stranded FARRRRRRRRRR from home one day because the battery in her fob died. she could turn the key, the lights would come on and flash, but the engine wouldn't turn over. she was as pissed as a wet kitten when she called me, but I was too far away to be much good to her (her words) so she just cussed and hung up. She found out later about the pain and suffering and she fired off an email to someone about putting a spare battery or something in a hidden compartment and maybe putting some training into their sales force to warn riders about that helpful "option"

I laughed at her for a very long time after that.

 

[Hereward]

The latest update...........and it's not good..........it's not the alarm system! It's not the LED relay or the batt.........Yamaha have said it's the PCI but suspects it's not actualy the unit which has gone down, rather it's a lose or bad conection somewhere on the bike.........curently my bike consists of 2 wheels and an engine in a frame..........everything has been striped of the bike so the mechanic can get at every conection on the wireing loom...........as yet he's not found the bad conection, of course if it's not a conection then its a new PCI unit.........I have to say that if the bike was out of warranty this would be a hugely expensive problem to fix! the bike is less than 12 months old and has less than 2000 miles on the clock and has never been taken out in the rain........If it is the PCI I'm going to have to look at selling the bike as my confidence will be a little shaken...........heres hopeing it's simply a lose plug. The intermitent nature of the fault strongly sugests a bad contact.

 

[hypo]

WOW! thats ridiculous!

 

[Hereward]

I have to just add at this point that the FFZ8 is a fantastic bike, I really have no complaints about it performance wise and bar it's current problem it has never skiped a beat reliability wise, from reading others experiences with the bike I have no reason to think that my bike is anything other than an exception to the rule when it comes to reliability.

That said, The yam dealer has until wensday to fix my bike at which point I stop being reasonable and understanding with them and the FZ8 stays with them permanently.

Here's hopeing for a lose plug!

I will of course fire up the adsact problem and the fix on here once it's found.

 

[Deleted member 438]

I don't see why they can't just install a new computer and complete wiring harness. Wouldn't this solve the problem?

 

[Hereward]

I don't see why they can't just install a new computer and complete wiring harness. Wouldn't this solve the problem?

Yes it would. Yam mechanic didn't know what the problem was, he rang yamaha and they told him what the issue is, They have told him to first check all conectors on the harness, then they will need to change the "computer" if the fault continues........Yam says the fault is being generated by the computer and is saying the "green and white wire in the ariel" is faulty........but this isn't actualy the cause of the fault. Aparently its a dirty conection in one of the harnes conector blocks...........which one they don't know so there checking them all Logicaly this makes sense as the fault was intermitent at first and was cleared by various random switches being engaged (indicators, hazard lights, side stand switch) if it was the ariel in the computer it would simply stop working end of story.............but time will tell on that one.

 

[Hereward]

Success! Bike was fixed on saturday, unfortunatly I was away all weekend at a bike rally.......in my car


So the problem........it turns out it was a burnt conector in the main power distribution plug......namely the power to the ariel from the dash to the computer......problem was one poorly conected plug, which subsequently burnt out over time, it's been fixed and resealed. Yamaha want to replace the entire loom to make sure there isn't any reacurance but that will be done at a later date, the mechanic is more than confident the problem won't reacure. Both Yamaha and the mechanic have never seen this problem before and after a good trawl of the internet it seems no one has reported any similar fault on the FZ8 or older FZ1 modles.

Took the bike out for a good run and I'm not sure what the mechanic has done but the bike seems a bit "frisky" rolled the throtle on in second at about 40mph and the bike decided to raise it's front wheel in aproval.........certainly never done that in the past, pickup seems very much improved also. Will have a quiet word, may simply be down to it being a very cold day here but it certainly kept me on my toes LOL

 

[hypo]

outstanding! glad to see you're back on the road!

 

[mikefz8]

Glad you're back up

Happy for you...it would suck to be w/o my bike for so long...way to persevere.

 

[Hereward]

outstanding! glad to see you're back on the road!

Cheers, I will add they cleaned the bike as well and it looks like it's just come of the showroom floor. I wasn't the happiest bunny in the field this weekend getting ribed by my fellow club mates over my shiney reliable Yamaha, so much so thoughts strayed to what to replace it with.......a quick hour blast on the FZ8 later and all bad thoughts have gone. In reality Yam picked the bike up and the mechanic had it up and runing after 2 days, tuned it and polished it.......all under warranty. Can't complain about the backup service.

So to end on a high note, if your FZ8 is doing something peculiar which dosn't make sense.......check the plugs for gunge or sighns of arching conectors. The main culprit seems to be the power distribution plug which is straped in down near the rear shock, it provides power for all the bikes systems and because of it's relation to the bikes computer it can generate odd electrical faults all over the place!

 

[Hereward]

Well a quick update, bike was ok till a muppet in the bike club decided it would be a good idea to knock my bike over in the carpark tonight......Bars bent, barend faceing at a jaunty angle, rear footrest scuffed, rear brake bent, mirror snapped off and to finish it off carbon Akrapovic end can seriously scuffed up. may be more problems will see tomorow when I take it back to Yam to get it all sorted......the muppet who knocked it over was very apologetic and is paying for it all to be fixed.......I was equally civil about it LOL