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2012 R1 Engine Stalling

7K views 54 replies 9 participants last post by  gkamp 
#1 ·
Hello Everyone,

First time posting here, I wanted to see if this community has seen this problem before. Quick little backstory, UTI graduate, work in the Semi field now as a engineer, know a thing or two about controllers and electrical systems. Just bought a 2012 R1 from Ridenow here in AZ, gorgeous bike, only 1300 miles, it has a PCV, 2bros silver slipon/cat eliminator and that is all to my knowledge. Id like to mention that this being my first liter bike that it runs like a stripped ape, used to 600cc's and it runs VERY well. My only problem that i have that Ridenow cannot figure out is it stalls when it gets hot ONLY on my ride home. I commute about 45miles one way, during the early morning 4am ish it gets me to work just fine. On my way home ~ 30 miles from work the engine just stalls, like someone flipped the kill switch. It keeps stalling once it starts doing it and leaves the bike stranded. Mind you it is summer in AZ and around 110-120 degrees outside(except today its raining! :O ) and the bike does get hot, never enough for the coolant light to come on but 220-235, fans do come on. When it stalls and I'm moving it just kills the engine, the check engine light comes on and the throttle has nothing, but Ridenow says it doesn't have any codes. I have tried to commute 3 times and all 3 times it has died on the way home, Ridenow has had to come pick it up. They said they cannot get it to reproduce the issue, but have shotgunned some things to try to fix it they said they have rode it 50 miles, let it idle hours ect to try to reproduce. It currently is in their possession and they don't know what it is. I have my suspicions. Ridenow first thought due to the extreme heat here in AZ the fuel was vapor locking, they added heat padding on the tank and fuel line and they installed a new map in the PCV. Last time they had it they said it was the firmware on the PCV and updated that(i kinda laughed as i knew that wouldnt fix it). And now they have almost threw their hands in the air.

My suspicion currently is the PCV is getting too hot during my ride home and is shutting down. Has anyone seen this before? Has anyone seen heat play a part in engine stalling on the stock components? If they get to the point where they want to replace the PCV to have them get a flash tune and flash the ECU and ill eat the cost for the flash tune bench kit.

Thank you for any input on this, it is really disappointing a practically new, extremly low mileage R1 is giving me this many issues out the box. Here is a video of it doing it while idling https://www.dropbox.com/s/3glt9fhb01gqwfu/VID_20160623_163808.mp4?dl=0
 
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#3 ·
Battery and charging system OK? You mentioned they added insulation to the fuel line, did they check if the hard plastic fuel line was kinked at all? This has been a common thing and guys tend to replace that line with flexible hose. It's an easy enough thing to check.

Not sure why it would only show up when hot though.

Search for "fuel line mod", maybe it will help.
 
#4 ·
I have been pretty dead at work, been searching the web for most of this week X). I have seen a few other instances on other sites of a PCV failing when bike gets warm just wanted to reach out to a R1 community to see if there is anything that has been seen on this specific bike.
 
#9 ·
Right, I would expect it to have an issue the majority of the time. Unless by some odd chance it's related to the thermal expansion of the line when it kinks enough to cause an issue. But that's kind of a stretch. Just offering some items to check to rule them out.
 
#25 ·
The bike cutting out in heat like that sounds electrical. I had a similar problem with mine (not the same, but similar) it turned out 2 of the coils, when the bike was hot, dropped below spec. 1 was significantly below spec, the other one was right on the line. The well-below spec one would return to borderline in spec when it was cool, and then drop considerably when it was hot. I'd be commuting home in summer and my bike would start sounding really rough, like it was running on 3 cylinders, and then shortly after it would run like absolute shit and stall. If I let it sit for 10-15 mins, it would start up

The first thing I would do is remove the PC V. If you're running the bike in summer heat with the y pipe + slip ons & stock ECU tune, you should not have a problem with leaning out. I've run my 2012 with Akra slip ons + Akra Y-pipe and stock ECU image (I have the FlashTune interface. I needed to troubleshoot an issue with the bike so flashed back to stock for a week) and the bike didn't ping except under load at just-above-idle revs on take-off from the lights. I got around it by feathering the clutch at really low rpm and applying load to the engine once the revs were up a bit.

My point being - in AZ afternoon heat, you're not going to have any problems with the bike running lean, running the stock ECU image.

My guess is, there's something amiss with the PCV, and you should piss it off. Either get a FT ECU harness so you can flash the stock ECU as much as you want, or get the stock ECU flashed with a decent image.
 
#26 ·
Thank you for that info!! Mine isn't running rough or anything it just turns off like you flipped the kill switch only in the afternoon after ~30 miles. Yeah I'd like to remove the pcv and just do a FT, at the mercy of the dealership currently. Thank you again for what happened to you, any into I can give to the dealership to test (because they can't duplicate it of course) is extremely helpful

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
 
#30 ·
Well update, 110 degrees out in the AZ heat with a r1 stranded on the side of the road. Battery was NOT it, I hate saying I told you so to the dealership, girlfriend wants me to walk away from it, I'm getting to that point too, payment plus insurance for a month and 5/5 times failing to get me home. I just want them to disconnect the pcv and see if it does it...:(

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#31 ·
At this point I'd disconnect the damn thing myself and run it as a test. Don't even bring it up to them that you tried it if it doesn't change anything.

You could also connect to the pcv and make sure there's actually a map loaded and that the firmware is current.
 
#33 ·
Yeah, i agree with you, talking to the owners son of the dealership, had it towed to another dealership now. I know I'm more than capable of doing it but it's currently is semantics, I shouldn't have to touch it as it's currently a brawn new bike. But I may have to take matters into my own hands soon.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
 
#34 ·
I understand what you're saying. I just would never handle it that way because, as you already know, it'll take forever. Most likely they are doing as little as humanly possible to the bike because they aren't getting paid.

If you could check some items and come with a solution or solid lead on the issue it might help your situation.
 
#35 ·
If this is a 2012 unless its got 0 miles on it, it's not a Brand new bike, Second multiple people have said disconnect the PCV and see if that's your issue. Bikes run with PCV all the time so its not going to hurt anything. Ridenow is by far the worst dealership when it comes to troubleshooting. They had my bike for 3 months for a similar issue only to find out 2 months in that it had dropped a piston due to part of the head gasket breaking off and getting in the cylinder. Yamaha paid to fix it but the only reasons I knew it wasn't a battery and stator, was the white smoke coming out of the breather into the airbox choking the bike out. So take it elsewhere or regret it later.
 
#36 ·
It only has 1300 miles and is fully covered by the dealer for 2 years... Basically new, but yes technically not 0 miles, engine is barely past the break in period. Didn't mean to offend anyone, I agree with disconnecting the pcv I just get it after work once it's said to be fixed, ride it the next day and it doesn't get me home then I don't have it another week. When you work 12 hours a day 5-6 days a week with a hour+commute each way I don't have much time to mess with it after work.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
 
#38 ·
I wasn't sure how to get it into diag mode earlier!! :( it died @45mph and had to coast to a stop luckily in the shade... But the check engine light stayed on and stays on until it is restarted then goes out.

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#44 ·
Thank you for this, if it happens again I'll do this, currently the bike is at the dealer and I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow for a week to get out of this heat for awhile. If anyone cares I'll update with any findings or updates when I get back.

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#45 ·
Update, got the bike back today, pcv disconnected, made it home without a hiccup, to be fair it's monsoon and storming so it's not 115 as tested before. Will continue to ride the next few days. I'm just happy to make it home!

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#48 ·
I actually told them if it is the power commander I want it removed and instead of buying another PCV to use the funds for a flash tune, that way I can disable AIS and do WAAAAY more than a power commander and also have the fuel mapping.

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