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Rebuilding my bike, trying to get it to start

8K views 38 replies 11 participants last post by  fasteddiecopeman 
#1 ·
Hey Guys,

On Saturday I was driving down the highway when all the cars stopped, hit my brakes but I clipped the car in front of me and went down. Luckily I got away with minor cuts and a sprained ankle, my bike wasn't so lucky.

I've pulled off everything that's broken apart from the radiator, which took a hit when the bike went down. Right now I'm just trying to see if it will start, The bike turns on and I hear the FI run its quick test then nothing. The shifter footpeg mount snapped off so I can't downshift, the clutch lever is bent but I'm able to pull it back all the way so I'm certain it's disengaged.


I disconnected the battery and removed the alarm to cut down on "noise". I had to pull the tank off since the alarm was under it and I noticed something interesting with the power commander.

With the fuel sensor and other things on the tank disconnected the PCV will show the power light on when I turn the ignition. When I pull the clutch and hit the starter I hear a relay click and the PCV loses power. After I put the tank back on and reconnected it, when I turn the ignition I see the PCV lights flash and as soon as the FI finishes its test the PCV loses power.

Anyone have suggestions on what may be going on? I remember when the bike went down and was on top of me the engine was running then cut out, so the tipover sensor did its job.


Some quick pics:


Before I started pulling it apart:




All the broke stuff removed (except radiator because that's messy):





Here's an album of pics that I'm updating as I work on it: http://imgur.com/a/G6VMW#0
 
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#2 ·
Sounds like the PCV is the issue, or something electrical. I'd get out the watt/amp meter and start trying to find exactly what's losing power, when and where. If it is the PC I'd try taking it out of the loop and see If it will start stock.

Is there any code showing in diag mode?

Oh another thing, if you went down on your left side, your kickstand sensor may have been damaged, in which- if your bike isn't in neutral it won't start and will cut the power when you try and start it, even if the clutch is in, which sounds similar to your problem...

Good luck and keep us updated!


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#6 ·
Didn't get any code :( I'm doing it right as if I disconnect a sensor I get the correct FI code for it.

I guess at this point I'm going to hope it's the kickstand sensor. I'm going to try gluing the footpeg mount back together again, I screwed up the JB-QWICK mixture yesterday and it popped apart when I tried to downshift.
 
#7 ·
You should be able to put your hand down there and shift the gears by hand. You dont need to use your foot and the full shifter.

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#14 ·
Quick note.., when trying to shift into neutral DO NOT use pliers or vise grips on the splined shaft... Get some aluminum between the shaft and steel... Best bet is to just replace it... But don't mess up the splined shaft... A lot of work and $$ to replace (personal experience lol)


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#15 · (Edited)
I broke mine falling over when it stalled on a high stump in a thick bush trail... I put the footpeg and shifter under the seat, and managed to shift with a tool from the toolbag on the shifter shaft lever, and rode back home 16 miles away. Tool stayed in place, and I just had to lean over and shift by hand.

A couple hours later, I slapped on my home made replacement mount, from cut, bent, and drilled steel plate. I later added welded steel reinforcement, and a painted aluminum plate cover.

First ride of the year finally today, by the way. Lakes are still frozen over.
 
#19 ·
Invader - you KNOW "the Rule"... without pictures it DIDN'T happen!:rolleyes:

Never thought I'd be so happy to see my bike idle.




Put the bracket back on today, had to sand some of the JB crap down to get the bolt through. I carefully downshifted a gear and it held, tried another and it snapped off again. Grabbed the crescent wrench and used that to awkwardly shift the bike into neutral while I balanced the bike on my shoulder and it started right up without any issues :D

Now that I know the bike is running I can stop fretting and start poking at the forks, the geometry is completely off so figuring out how to set that all back is going to be interesting.
Push your V up to a telephone pole so that one side of the front wheel is touching the pole, then SHARPLY turn into the pole. You might have to do this a couple of times to get everything back into alignment. (Old dirt riding 'trick'.) Pick the appropriate side of the wheel.
 
#16 ·
Never thought I'd be so happy to see my bike idle.




Put the bracket back on today, had to sand some of the JB crap down to get the bolt through. I carefully downshifted a gear and it held, tried another and it snapped off again. Grabbed the crescent wrench and used that to awkwardly shift the bike into neutral while I balanced the bike on my shoulder and it started right up without any issues :D

Now that I know the bike is running I can stop fretting and start poking at the forks, the geometry is completely off so figuring out how to set that all back is going to be interesting.
 
#17 ·
So it continues running with the clutch in and in gear? As far as forks, as long as nothing is physically bent just do a normal install procedure, disassemble from bike then put it back together ;)


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#18 ·
I didn't have it on the rear stand so I didn't try putting it in gear. I'll try that later today though.
I did a bit of reading and adjusting the forks doesn't sound as bad as I thought. I don't see any creases in the tubes so if they're bent I'll have a shop straighten them out for me.
 
#20 ·
Not a bad idea but I gotta pull the tube to check for bends :)


Word of the wise, don't let your wife help you with the bike.

Was checking the kickstand sensor and shifting. Had the kickstand up and shifted it from neutral to first. She was supposed to be holding the clutch and break in all the way, guess the bike shifting spooked her and she released both. Lurched forward and fell over, nothing I could do.
Thankfully not much more damage was done, the clutch lever I was planning to replace broke (turned out it was perfectly fine beforehand, it just got twisted around).


Anyways, once I picked up the bike I finished testing things out. Kickstand sensor is fine, able to shift with it up and it dies when i put it down in gear.

What's odd is I can't start the bike while it's in gear with the stand up or down. Starts just fine in neutral and I can shift it into gear just fine (release clutch and pull throttle). I've always been able to start it while in gear by just pulling the clutch, I'll need to do some research on what sensor might be the culprit.


Another thing I noticed after I picked it up, this plug was disconnected and I'm not sure what it's for. Connects to the housing for mirror/clutch.

 
#21 ·
That plug is why you cant start in gear. Plug it in and the bike should start.
 
#23 ·
Look at his pic again HAWKSHOT - the little "lever" thingie at the bottom of the plug (which is part of the switch, NOT the 'plug') is held by being thru the 'slot', and held by the triangular piece from 'backing-out', and it's correctly inserted to MY eyes.
:thumb:
[/QUOTE]

It very well be all the way in after looking at it again. It just looks like the plug is pulled pretty far away from where it plugs into.

When I crashed my Ninja I spent hrs trying to get it to start. I found that my clutch switch was unplugged and it fired right up.

I hate haveing to have a bike in N to start. My dads Shadow will not start unless in N. I always park bikes in 1st to prevent any rolling. So when I park his then try and get on it to leave it takes me a while to figure out why the bike wont start.

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#24 ·
I hate having to put it in N to start, especially sucks if you kill the bike on the road. Then you're fumbling with the gears while everyone is waiting for you to move.

I failed to mention that it was unplugged when I found it, I plugged it back in and did try starting it once and it didn't. I don't think it's pushed in all the way so I'll mess with it later today.

If it looks like the switch needs to be repaired I'll post the whole process in case anyone else wants to try fixing theirs.
 
#26 ·
Thanks for the video, I'll take a look at it shortly (dinner time!).


Cleaned up the plug for the clutch switch and now the bike will start in gear. No metal bars at work but lots of freshly cut wood blocks so I grabbed several pieces along with some beams thinking I'd jack it up and support it with those.
Turns out the metal bar for my cars top rack is the perfect size to fit through! Went out to lift it up and saw this:




Nowhere to put a jack stand, exhaust is right in the only area that I could use. Additionally my jack stands are puny, I miscalculated how high up the bar is so I'm going to have to rethink how I'll lift it up. Considering removing the entire exhaust line to get at it.
 
#27 ·
Glad to hear that you're not too badly banged up and that you're slowly getting things back together and figuring out what needs fixin'. I'm wondering two things. Why you haven't decided to have insurance cover any of this? Deductible? Rate increase? Not covered in this situation? Are you sure the frame and forks are ok? If it were me I'd want to get it checked out by a trusty shop.
 
#28 ·
For insurance I'm waiting to hear from the driver on how he wants to handle it. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to process all that stuff at the scene, now that I've thought about it some more I'll refer it to my insurance if the terms aren't favorable (I'm leaving the country end of this year for 3 years so any points I gain from this accident will fall off).

The frame is solid, I'm working on checking the forks right now (hence figuring out how to lift it). I'd prefer not to take it to a shop as they're pricey and Motorcycle season is in full swing over here so any shop would hold on to it for weeks. Plan is to fix everything then take it to a shop for "validation" to look for anything I may have missed, I know a couple shops that will be much happier if I do it this way.

Once thing I'm considering is taking the forks down to a shop to have the oil replaced since they'll be off.
 
#29 ·
Forks are off! I was able to borrow a HF lift to get the bike up.



Had to buy some tools to get the front tire off, after that it was smooth sailing. I checked and there don't appear to be any bends, going to take them to a shop tomorrow to have the oil flushed. Since it'll be on the lift until that's done I carried some huge cement blocks over from the parking lot and anchored the bike since it wasn't 100% stable. Also put some jack stands under the front of the engine just in case.




Covered the bike back up and threw a tarp over it (and tied that down) for maximum moisture protection. It looks pretty goofy right now and hopefully the neighbors don't complain.
 
#30 ·
Forgot that the shop isn't open mondays so I've got another day of waiting. On the plus side some parts are arriving today including the new radiator. I'll be able to install that in a pinch with the forks off.

Does anyone know if there is a radiator guard that would have saved my radiator from this?

 
#31 ·
Crash bars would have kept the radiator from hitting.
 
#35 ·
#36 ·
Ordered T-Rex axle sliders and the frame sliders today. I had the fork oil replaced by Seattle Used Bikes, the turnaround on them was pretty quick. The shop owner has been following my thread on another site and loaned me a triple tree stand, I was going to use it today but I couldn't figure out how to use it. Anyone able to offer some insight? Here's a pic:




Didn't have as much time to work today so I only swapped the radiator which was a breeze with the forks out. I didn't realize how bad the radiator was until I was pulling it off, the hose was pinched in so it took a little WD40 and finesse to get it out. You can see in these pics how bad it was. I'll flush the radiator tomorrow as there was some crap on the cap (used the old one), probably run it until it's warm then once it's cool drain and fill it.





Tomorrow the front goes back on!
 
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