emptysea
Road warrior
Thread starter
[Note to moderators: I started this as a new thread because the other idle problems I have read about are different than what I am experiencing. However, if you feel that it's similar enough to be added as part of an existing thread, feel free to move this there.]
A little over a week ago, I noticed that my CB1100 was idling high. It was a relatively cold day and I assumed that the outside temps had something to do with it. Instead of idling at around 1200rpm, it was idling at about 2300rpm at stoplights with clutch lever pulled in. Interestingly to me, the idle would drop to about 1800 when in neutral. I continued to ride it, hoping that riding at a higher speed for a longer period of time might help solve the problem. No luck. I text my friend, The Ferret and he relayed to me some of the advice from this forum (I was not in a position at the time to sit at a computer and search/read more on the topic. He suggested using the Kill Switch instead of the key. No luck. He suggested the "Open/Close Throttle" TPS reset technique. No luck. I rode it a few more times and noticed that the idle speed increased to 2800 and one other interesting thing: if I pulled the clutch lever all the way in the idle would drop to about 2000rpm, but if I let it out just a bit, but not into the friction zone, it would pop back up to 2800. I tried the TPS reset a couple of more times and sometimes it would idle at the more or less normal 1200rpm, but only until I'd engage the clutch at which time, it would increase to 2800 and stay there. The last thing I discovered is that the idle would not drop below 2800-3000 upon up-shifting or when rolling the throttle all the way off to slow down. This became disconcerting while making a turn at an intersection.
Took the bike to my dealer Tuesday. They determined that the ECU has failed. I don't know yet what other troubleshooting they did or possible solutions they may have implemented. All I know at this point is that they swapped the ECU from my bike with another 2013 that they happen to have at the shop and the idle problem stopped on my bike and immediately started on their bike. The service tech indicated that this is a "hardware" problem -- that there's a component within the ECU that is not working -- so re-flashing or other "software" solutions wouldn't help.
This is a pretty expensive repair (over $900) so I am going to have a few more questions for them about other possible solutions and about the price of repair for a customer that has bought 5 new bikes from them in 10 years, but I do trust these guys.
So, I am sidelined for a few more days while they repair my bike and fit it with new Pirelli Angel GTs. My 2020 goal of 183 riding days is on hold at 168 and my goal of 15,000 holds at 14,860. I'm going to use my riding time to finish off a couple of old Seat Time reports and maybe post a new one or two. Free time and dry pavement is a depressing combination for motorcycle-less rider.
A little over a week ago, I noticed that my CB1100 was idling high. It was a relatively cold day and I assumed that the outside temps had something to do with it. Instead of idling at around 1200rpm, it was idling at about 2300rpm at stoplights with clutch lever pulled in. Interestingly to me, the idle would drop to about 1800 when in neutral. I continued to ride it, hoping that riding at a higher speed for a longer period of time might help solve the problem. No luck. I text my friend, The Ferret and he relayed to me some of the advice from this forum (I was not in a position at the time to sit at a computer and search/read more on the topic. He suggested using the Kill Switch instead of the key. No luck. He suggested the "Open/Close Throttle" TPS reset technique. No luck. I rode it a few more times and noticed that the idle speed increased to 2800 and one other interesting thing: if I pulled the clutch lever all the way in the idle would drop to about 2000rpm, but if I let it out just a bit, but not into the friction zone, it would pop back up to 2800. I tried the TPS reset a couple of more times and sometimes it would idle at the more or less normal 1200rpm, but only until I'd engage the clutch at which time, it would increase to 2800 and stay there. The last thing I discovered is that the idle would not drop below 2800-3000 upon up-shifting or when rolling the throttle all the way off to slow down. This became disconcerting while making a turn at an intersection.
Took the bike to my dealer Tuesday. They determined that the ECU has failed. I don't know yet what other troubleshooting they did or possible solutions they may have implemented. All I know at this point is that they swapped the ECU from my bike with another 2013 that they happen to have at the shop and the idle problem stopped on my bike and immediately started on their bike. The service tech indicated that this is a "hardware" problem -- that there's a component within the ECU that is not working -- so re-flashing or other "software" solutions wouldn't help.
This is a pretty expensive repair (over $900) so I am going to have a few more questions for them about other possible solutions and about the price of repair for a customer that has bought 5 new bikes from them in 10 years, but I do trust these guys.
So, I am sidelined for a few more days while they repair my bike and fit it with new Pirelli Angel GTs. My 2020 goal of 183 riding days is on hold at 168 and my goal of 15,000 holds at 14,860. I'm going to use my riding time to finish off a couple of old Seat Time reports and maybe post a new one or two. Free time and dry pavement is a depressing combination for motorcycle-less rider.
