Electrical problem maybe?

[Cormanus]

I went for a reasonable ride today—a bit over 400 kms. The bike ran fine until I was on the way home when it felt like the engine cut out. The revs dropped for a moment, less than a second. The HISS, engine and oil temperature lights all came on, but went out after perhaps a second.

It happened a number of times on the way home, mostly at a round 3,500 RPM but at least twice when I was backing off the throttle. On those occasions, I had a faint sensation that it was holding the revs a little high. But, like the perceived cut out, it was very brief. In both circumstances, less than a second.

At all other times the bike ran normally. It has oil. It was a very cool day. I guess it could be fuel, but I'm not sure why that would cause the dash lights to come on.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[Randy B]

When all of the warning lights come on it is usually an indication of an under volt condition caused either by low RPM not spinning the alternator fast enough, or the charging system failing in some fashion.

Even if the alternator failed the battery should keep the bike running. There could be an intermittent issue with your HISS causing the bike to temporarily shut off, but I don't know enough about it to postulate any further on that.

[Cormanus]

Thanks Randy. The oil low pressure light did not come on. I don't know whether there are any recorded faults. I'll have try to figure out how to check tomorrow.

[Randy B]

Check this out.

https://www.healtech-electronics.com/products/obd/

EDIT: OUCH!!! $229.00 USD.

[Cormanus]

The Mighty Lord Popgun has one of those. Perhaps I could get him to check it remotely for me.

Isn't there a way to read diagnostic codes without one, albeit without quite so much information?

[Lord Popgun]

There is Cormanus. I forget the exact procedure (sorry, I just got up!) but it’s easy. I’ll look it up unless someone posts it first. Mostly it is just kickstand down, turn ignition on and look for MIL flashes.

Does sound like what Randy said, a low voltage condition. Check your battery cables for cleanliness/tightness. Do you have a voltmeter?

[Cormanus]

Thanks. I have a multimeter and I can just about figure out how to test the voltage of a battery or a power point. I could probably also clean/tighten the terminal connections. A loose terminal makes sense as the bike ran fine all morning.

I'll have a look in the service manual for the MIL flash codes.

EDIT: Looks like you're right. Drop the kickstand, turn on the ignition. I'll try tomorrow.

[Lord Popgun]

If you can meter the battery, you can also start the bike and meter it again. If the charging system is good it should read ~14.1v or so.

[max]

The bike ran fine until I was on the way home when it felt like the engine cut out. The revs dropped for a moment, less than a second. The HISS, engine and oil temperature lights all came on, but went out after perhaps a second.

Cormanus definitely not fuel, it's electrical and i would think the red e-stop would be a good candidate, water in the switch could have an effect, easy to try if it happens again and see if the symptoms are the same as you described above.
Unless work has been done on connectors in the past, maybe in the headlight area, the connector for this switch lives inside the bucket.

Another culprit could be the sidestand switch; sidestand plus in gear stops the engine as we all found out, have a snoop in that area, is it loose, any damage to the wiring/switch, connector not corroded and clean?
The sidestand switch "talks"to the e.c.u. I have not measured the voltage on it but could be either 5 or 12 volt when the switch is open ( down position i think ), the switch is connected to ground on one side and to terminal b22 on the e.c.u. and also connects to one side of the clutch switch, in other words ; to test the sidestand switch you would disconnect both spade terminals from the clutch switch and connect a voltmeter on the one that changes the voltmeter reading when the sidestand is operated with the ignition switched on.

Of course the fact that it works does not mean it is reliable........

So two options to try out for next time, all the best.

Apart from the engine stopping what lights come on if you operate the sidestand whilst on the centerstand in gear ( and disregard the oil pressure switch )?

If the fault was in the main switch/fuse the meters would have swept so that is not a plausible candidate, we are looking at a safety circuit fault best as i can figure from what you tell me and it is highly unlikely that any fault codes have been "set" in that case.

[Cormanus]

Thank you, popgun and max. I'll try to follow those up in the morning and report back.