My Oilhead Won't Start

[Glen Kirkpatrick]

I'm new to this forum, so hopefully I'm posting in the right place...

 

We split our time between Nevada and Medellíin, Colombia.  Just got back to the states and planned a ride this morning.  My 2004 R1150RT cranked over fine, but didn't even try to fire.  It had been sitting idle for 3 months, but was running fine before that.  

 

Realized that I couldn't hear any action from the fuel pump, so tore everything apart and started troubleshooting.  The fuel pump itself works fine.  Wiring from the fuse panel to the pump is good.  Fuse is good.  Relay is good.

 

I put a voltmeter on the signal from the Motronics unit to the relay (R6) and see a brief, maybe 300 mS pulse of voltage, which then drops to zero.  Very repeatable with key-on, so not an intermittent connection.  Thought maybe the controller had gotten into immobilizer mode, so pulled the fuse (F5) to the Motronics unit and went for a beer.  Came back and found the same behavior.  Dang it!

 

So my question is this:  Is there some way to do a hard reset of the Motronics board that might clean up its behavior, or am I writing *another* check to Beemer Boneyard for a new controller?

 

Any insight appreciated!

 

Best,

 

Glen

[Jim Moore]

Sidestand? Engine cutoff switch? 

[dirtrider]

11 hours ago, Glen Kirkpatrick said:

I'm new to this forum, so hopefully I'm posting in the right place...

 

We split our time between Nevada and Medellíin, Colombia.  Just got back to the states and planned a ride this morning.  My 2004 R1150RT cranked over fine, but didn't even try to fire.  It had been sitting idle for 3 months, but was running fine before that.  

 

Realized that I couldn't hear any action from the fuel pump, so tore everything apart and started troubleshooting.  The fuel pump itself works fine.  Wiring from the fuse panel to the pump is good.  Fuse is good.  Relay is good.

 

I put a voltmeter on the signal from the Motronics unit to the relay (R6) and see a brief, maybe 300 mS pulse of voltage, which then drops to zero.  Very repeatable with key-on, so not an intermittent connection.  Thought maybe the controller had gotten into immobilizer mode, so pulled the fuse (F5) to the Motronics unit and went for a beer.  Came back and found the same behavior.  Dang it!

 

So my question is this:  Is there some way to do a hard reset of the Motronics board that might clean up its behavior, or am I writing *another* check to Beemer Boneyard for a new controller?

 

Any insight appreciated!

 

Best,

 

Glen

 

 

Morning Glen

 

I think that you are getting way ahead of yourself here.

 

You really need to do the basics before you start tearing the bike apart as once things start coming apart then the troubleshooting becomes much more difficult & scattered.

 

You have an 1150 bike so if it cranks & the neutral light is on then the side stand switch is probably OK or it doesn't matter. (1150 bike will start in neutral with side stand down)

 

I presume that by saying "relay (R6)" that you are referring to the fuel pump relay?

 

The fuel pump relay ONLY gets about 2 seconds of  Motronic voltage signal at key on, THEN it goes off again until the engine starts cranking.   (you might recheck your Motronic signal to the R6 relay with engine actually cranking).

 

The 1150 Motronic can go into a locked mode from a crazy HES signal  but usually removing fuse #5 will clear it.

 

I will come back later & reply some more as I'm going out for a morning ride in about 2 minutes.

 

My suggestion is to put the fuel pump & all electricals back together THEN check for a spark during engine cranking, then check for 12v to the fuel injectors during engine cranking, then check for fuel return flow out of the fuel return hose during engine cranking-- THIS, should give you a troubleshooting direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Glen Kirkpatrick]

Thanks for the comments!  Not a sidestand issue, unless there is a problem with the sidestand switch wiring.  I did check for spark before digging into this (have spark).

 

Everything is put back together to conserve space in the garage.  Did not check fuel flow, but can hear when the fuel pump goes on/off, so "pretty sure" I know the answer to that one.  Did not check injector voltage.  Should have done that (duh).

 

R6 is the fuel pump relay and F6 is the fuel pump fuse on my bike.  Not sure if this is the case on all oilheads.

 

Did not know that the fuel pump would pulse with key-on, then wait for engine crank to enable, so just went out to check that.  Guess what?  The engine fired up and idled fine!  I guess disassembly/reassembly jiggled something back into service.  More likely it was just mad at me for neglecting it for 3 months and just wanted attention...

 

The good news from this exercise is that it pointed out the fact that I have a lot to learn about Motronic function, so I have a new area to explore.

 

Thank you all for the suggestions!

 

Glen