I was servicing my 2008 bike, it is black with a leo vince exhaust and having had lots of bikes from a 250LC to ZX6R and a few BMWs, this is my favourite bike in 30 years of riding, I have a 65 plate GSA with cruise control etc but this blade has reminded me how much i need to always have a sportbike from now on. I took off the fairing, gave it a clean then decided to remove the rear pegs (which is a pain), all went well, so I had new plugs, new K&N air filter, coolant and oil to change. It was all easy enough (not done oil as was looking to warm engine first), but on reassembly (leaving fairing off) I tried to start the bike. Nothing doing. So added the fairing back on as read that there's BAS sensor and the fairing needs to be on. Tried that, and still nothing. Tried the MIL error code, no flashes. Checked the fuel pump, and that's fine. Checked over all the connectors and took the airbox back off. I then reconnected the connectors that sit on top of it and the ECU. Took out a plug, tried it, then tried an old plug, no spark. I'd disconnected the battery before starting the service and reconnected at the end so was actually taking my time for a change . I had the sidestand up and down and in and out of gear. I'm guessing wrestling the rear pegs out may have done something, but having looked at the manual, it appears I've got to check a few sensors and the ECU, I really hate electrical issues. Has anyone got any ideas before I attempt to wield a meter. Cheers Phil
Just a quote from something I was reading on the subject that you could try. “The side stand switch, clutch switch and neutral switch/light directly affect spark and are part of the safety system that prevents u from driving away with the side stand down and possibly crashing then blaming the manufacturer for this. The way it works is like this, it basically grounds the ignition system when the stand is down and the transmission is in gear with the clutch out or released. This side stand saftey system is easy to test. Assuming u have a multimeter u can connect the leads to one of the ignition coils and with key on kill switch in run bike in neutral u should get battery voltage (12 volts or slightly less) at the two small wires going to any of the four coils. If these are showing 12 volts then flip stop switch off ( battery voltage should be interrupted indicating properly working switch) then repeat by putting in gear with side stand down clutch out and same should happen. Put side stand up and trans in neutral and it should return. Of course the key must be on during these tests. If all these pass congrads u have just completed first steps in troubleshooting, dividing the system. The problem will then be in the output side of the system not the input. Next to check would be the pulser coil which sends a small amount of triggering voltage to time the spark. First check continuity between the two wires coming from it and if that's good measure the voltage while cranking the engine over. It is very small ammount so as long as u see some voltage its usually good. That leaves the coils/caps (which are least likely component to fail especially if u have no spark on all four cylinders. For all four to be bad is almost impossible). Dont forget to check fuse if no voltage on those coils.”
Laugh if you will, but this has happened to me. Damn near disassembled my track bike before I realised I'd not switched it on.
Thanks for the replies, I downloaded the service manual, I realised you need the secondary injectors on the upper half of the airbox connected to do a spark test. So I did that and got a spark, big relief to see that , I then decided to take this slowly and tested each stick coil individually, and all was well. I have a torque wrench so decided to use it on the spark plugs, I usually just go by feel, but they all weren't tightened properly so I tightened them to the right torque, I then connected everything back up and tried again. It fired and ran for a few seconds and then cut out. That was progress and I decided to buy a new battery as I don't know how old the current one was although my optimate charger said it was OK, it was on save mode after a few tries to start it. So after doing all that yesterday and ordering a new battery I tried it again tonight. It fired up second time and ran fine. I let it run for a few minutes and all was well. I started it a few more times and it's like nothing ever happened. Well happy.... Another couple of weeks and it'll be warm enough to ride it. I use a Versys 650 in the winter and that's a good (not very reliable) bike but missing scaring the shit out of myself.
