If your bike is affected by the bad ECU you'll notice it when you're around 4-5K RPM ... the bike will hesitate and bog down and then pick up

If your bike is doin' this then take it into a Yamaha service dealer and they will replace it FREE and there shouldn't be any question about it

 

I haven't noticed anything of that sort, so for now, I can only assume that I have a good ECU.

Thanks, 09R1 Pilot..

 

Take the bike to a steady 5500rpm in 2nd - keep it there for a few seconds, then roll on the throttle. If your bike still has the lag issue it will be very apprent.
There was NO recall. It was a "service action" as in a service bulletin being issued to dealers.

 

Its not a warranty. Its a tech bulletin. If the owner wishes to replace the ECU, Yamaha will do it at no charge, as it should only take 5-10 min. They cannot refuse you.

 

Is this only if you have warrenty? i just bought mine second hand with no warrenty and i have the famous glitch lol

 

Do not let the Yamaha Customer Relations lady fool you...If your bike is an 07 and the ECU has not been replaced it has the issue. Call them back and ask if the ECU has been replaced on your bike. If not, have them replace it.

If you follow Madski's instructions exactly you will be able to find out for yourself.

 

After Yamahas new ('06) R6 got destroyed in the press for not even revving to its avertised 17500RPM redline and for catching fire during slides due to the tank design, Yamaha was very touchy about a "recall" for the new 2007 R1.

At first, when street riders noticed the bad ECU (or "Yama-lag", as it was dubbed), they proceeded to insult their riders by telling them that they "should be riding the bike like it was meant to be ridden". Forget that the bike is geared so tall that they can go 100 in first gear...their answer was, "well if you were a REAL rider you wouldn't hit it anyway".

Then when customers revolted, they instructed dealers to try completely useless fixes, like changing the gearing on the motorcycle to move the "dead spot" to an RPM range where the rider wouldn't notice it. Again, insulting the intelligence of its rider-base.

After the bike-rags got wind of this and started hinting at it, Yamaha sensed its reputation was in jeopardy and decided to secretly start honoring claims of R1 owners to shut them up.

But they still were more concerned with not embarassing themselves than with doing what's right, so they didn't issue a RECALL. Instead, they put out a tech-service bulletin saying "some bikes may experience intermittent poor throttle response"...which was a blatant lie...ALL 2007 R1s in America experience NO throttle response at a VERY SPECIFIC gear and RPM range. (Canadian and Euro bikes seemed to be immune) Yamaha still decided to insult the riders' intelligence and suggest that if they didn't NOTICE the problem, then it wasn't THERE. They required that the dealer had to PERSONALLY replicate the problem and exhaust all other options to repair it.

Many dealers had so many complaints that they stopped bothering with replication of the issue. If someone came in with a 2007 R1 and said it wasn't working right, they just sent it off to Yamaha.

That all being said, Yamaha "made good" by allowing R1 owners this recourse for fixing the issue, so I guess it's all right in the end...but I still do NOT like the way they treated their dealers and customers over this issue, making them jump through hoops to PROVE a problem that was KNOWN to exist and in fact COULD lead to an unsafe operating condition. That's why I soapbox about it so much...I think Yamaha got off too easy in the dishonest and insulting way they dealt with this issue.

And yes, this COULD potentially cause a safety issue. Imagine you're pulling off a stoplight and suddenly a truck that doesn't see you tries to merge over. You get on the gas, but just HAPPEN to be in 2nd gear at 5500RPM and...SURPRISE...the bike DOESN'T respond.



OK, I'm done my rant. Anyway, do what Madski suggests.

-Find a short open stretch of road where you know you're safe
-Take off and upshift into 2nd gear
-Bring the revs to 5500RPM while you're moving and hold it there for about 5-10 seconds
-After 5-10 seconds, roll the throttle on quickly

If the bike gets up and goes like you'd expect a sportbike to go, then your ECU has been replaced and you're fine. If you still have the factory ECU, it will be VERY obvious that the bike is not accelerating the way it should...in fact, you may think your throttle cable is broken at first.

Check out this video.

As you can see, it's as if the throttle just...doesn't work.

As others have said, there's no need to PANIC if you have this problem. Yamaha SHOULD replace it if you take it to the dealer and have him replicate the problem. Some dealers already know about this, but if you get him to ride it and follow the above instructions, your service-guy will not be able to deny that an issue exists.

If Yamaha for some reason WON'T replace it, then you just need to get an ECU out of a 2008 bike. Yamaha fixed it in the 2008 year.

In the meantime, as long as you're aware of it, you should be fine. I typically short-shift on the street so I'm in 3rd for normal riding and don't hit it. It DID bite me a couple of times at Deals Gap and I didn't go flying off the mountain. (well, not for that reason :crash )

If you hit it while riding, just roll back off and get out of that 5500 range, then roll back on. It'll come back to life. If you're at 5000, it'll work fine. If you're at 6000, it'll work fine. If you're in any gear other than 2nd, it'll work fine. It's just that very specific 5500 in 2nd gear that seems to induce the throttle malfunction. You'd be surprised how often you hit it on a twisty mountain road, though. :hammer:

 

Did this issue get resolved before the first 08 models came out? I'd love to go check but I'm getting my y-pipe and heat shield ceramic coated atm...

 

Supposedly the 08's did not have the issue - Not sure when Yamaha sorted things out but I sort of doubt the common logic of all 07's having it and all 08's being OK. I don't really think manufacturing works that way but whatever.

Dub - you have WAY too much time on your hands, lol

 

I get that a lot. :crash

I have not heard of a single '08, including my own, having the throttle lag issue. Yamaha recognized there was a problem and fixed it for the '08s.

I know you're tired of me soapboxing about this. But I mean...Suzuki had a recall the same year...something about either the throttle sticking or the new multi-mode engine maps causing the engine to "surge". They did a recall.

The 07-08 year did a ton of things right...I could tell instantly moving from the 06 to the 07 that it felt much lighter and more "flickable". It's just an example of the KISS principle. You start adding fly-by-wire technology to stuff, you have to expect bugs in the first year.

 

thanks for the info, ill test for this when the temp warms up a bit

 

Its annoying as hell too. My 07 has it I just dont have a truck to get it to my Yamaha Dealership. I should have taken it to them this past summer but they said they had to go over a bunch of stuff and I didnt want them tearing into my bike.

Im the only one that I trust tearing into my R1 and Im confident that most the time I know more about my R1 than these so called mechanics do at the Yamaha dealerships.

 

I had this problem with my 07. Bought it new in May (new-old stock) and I noticed a hesitation...usually happened just after completing a turn and tehn cranking it. Almost felt like it was going to stall out. Checked out this forum and saw the thread regarding this and tried the 5500RPM at 2nd gear and found that I was able to replicate this each time. Visited my dealer, explained the situation. Nothing in any tech notes but after a phone call to tech support at Yamaha was told that my ECU had to be sent in to be reflashed. Bike was out of commision for a couple of days. The problem was fixed but a new one happened. I was getting a ping on low revs that I didn't have before. Had to be a bit more generous on the throttle after that. BTW, this was a Canadian bike <G>

 

its an easy fix, the lady at the shop said same thing to me when i first called in about it...i printed the tech bulletin off the internet and brought it to her, she showed the mechanic who was aware.

I didnt get a new part swap they had my bike for 4 days while they took out the ECU, shipped it to toronto in canada where it was "reflashed" with updated '08 firmware.

I would say get this done, 2nd gear at the affected rpm's is a common traffic cruising speed in my area, the "defect" didnt really bother me until one time i was approaching a light and a guy in the oncoming lane started to make a left turn in front of me, something that happens to me at least once a week id say. This time i was close enough that i figured id get on the throttle to "beat him to the punch" and clear the intersection...imagine my horror when the bike didnt respond.

My heart leaped into my chest, and i remember thinking "oh ****." I had to swerve pretty hard to avoid a crash...

the next day i went down to the shop and got it done.

Its not a problem if you are consciously aware of it at all times, but i dont want to be constantly worrying if im in the wrong rpm range when i want to accelerate....this is not a problem any sportbike should have, in fact its supposed to be designed to do the exact opposite lol.

 

...i printed the tech bulletin off the internet and brought it to her, she showed the mechanic who was aware.

Where did you find the tech bulletin? The only thing I could find is the R1-Forum thread from May 07. I guess I could print this, but an official bulletin would carry more weight with my local retard Yamaha dealer.

http://www.r1-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=201827

 

No, they should swap the ECU while you wait. It takes 2 minutes.

 

i raced my buddy this fall and his did have this issue, its funny to race against this. i hope your dealer helped you out....we can all thank the EPA for this, and the whale d**k muffler on the new R6.

 

I have the problem and the dealer said the vin didnt have the ecu problem. I see the 08 r1 ecu on ebay for a few hundred quite often. Can I just buy one of those and swap it out and call it a day? Or does it need some programming?

 

If you have the symptom then it doesn't matter what VIN you have. The dealer should replace/reflash the ECU.

 

I bought a "street version" YEC ecu from M.C-Racing and this ecu was a reflashed US ecu. The reflash was with YEC firmware. As a result, all throttle/injector problems were solved and as a bonus it de-restricted the 07. Now, if I want to change any settings in the ecu, all I have to do is hook-up my computer to it. Still have speedo, lights and flashers.