Everyone please chime in here

Duster · #**181** (**permalink**) 03-05-2010, 05:30 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by thomasdjames1

Well I am interested in hearing what the outcome is and I would be ticked if my ECU had a problem. I hope it all works out for you.

I bet you'll be interested in this little bit of info as will some others I am sure.

Remember we were measuring the draw... and I had called in to Kawasaki... and when I asked for a "normal" draw spec.... I was told they had no such specification...

Then you were good enough to help me out with one.

Well, as this drags out, I had to call back in out of frustration of it sitting at the dealer. There last hold-up hoop to jump through with the dealer was now all of the sudden they want a draw measurement with the bike off.

So I gave them hell about that, since now they want it... and I gave them the measurements....and then went about explaining that I know these I've caught are greater than "normal" but also not the battery killing drain.

When they started questioning my results, they were also very shocked when I called their bluff on the neutral bull s____.

After all the frustration, aggravation and wasted time that caused me, that was one of those "priceless" moments to me.

I should have an update by the end of the day.

I encourage everyone to watch and consider how this is handled before deciding if their extended warranty is worth the high premium.

kawa x · #**182** (**permalink**) 03-05-2010, 08:38 PM

A little off topic here but my stock 08 battery took a crap on me after my ignition coil went bad.

Duster · #**183** (**permalink**) 03-06-2010, 07:38 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Duster

I should have an update by the end of the day.

I encourage everyone to watch and consider how this is handled before deciding if their extended warranty is worth the high premium.

Well, I never got a call yesterday.

Called the dealer today... Kawasaki never even called the dealership either.

Pissed!

Rode my buddies TRX450R today... and realized just how down on power my low end really is with this problem. The KFX450R is supposed to have the most on bottom.... and mine really is not even close.

Even more pissed!

Like I told them... warranty my ECU... or tell us what is wrong if you all are so sure it's not faulty....

MicAl718 · #**184** (**permalink**) 03-07-2010, 02:57 PM

just to add my late 2 cents, i have an 08 special edition and i need to leave it parked in neutral or else it will die after a day.
i also just picked up an 08 for a friend of mine. the previous owner claims he never had any problems. well i told my friend to park it in neutral so it doesnt kill it. well leaving it in neutral doesnt work for him. we have tried numerous times since that is the only thing i new to do. so now i will leave it in gear with the thumb switch on after i charge it up today, and we will c what happens. i will keep u informed as i will be following this thread.

Duster · #**185** (**permalink**) 03-12-2010, 09:32 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by MicAl718

just to add my late 2 cents, i have an 08 special edition and i need to leave it parked in neutral or else it will die after a day.
i also just picked up an 08 for a friend of mine. the previous owner claims he never had any problems. well i told my friend to park it in neutral so it doesnt kill it. well leaving it in neutral doesnt work for him. we have tried numerous times since that is the only thing i new to do. so now i will leave it in gear with the thumb switch on after i charge it up today, and we will c what happens. i will keep u informed as i will be following this thread.

How'd that turn out?... And was his battery disconnected to charge up?

Bottom line is both parking states are a hoax. "IF" either ever ACTUALLY works, here would be the conditions...

-NEUTRAL would have to be a case of a leak out of the ECU and the path to the neutral switch would have to be the path of least resistance... and since it has a one way diode... I guess you could say that power is drawn 'towards' ground on that line, but can't reach ground because of the one way nature of the diode. A bad diode there would send power off to ground.

Understand that the neutral switch circuit is a non-powered circuit with the key off, and has no other possible power source but the ECU when the key switch is good... and if the key switch were bad, everything would have power and the neutral light would be lit and the starter would spin if you pushed the button. So in the end, the whole circuit should be non-active when parked, and if power is leaking out on it, it has to be from a bad ECU.

-THUMB SWITCH ON, IN GEAR OR OUT either way does not matter. Out of gear the above applies. In gear, the switch is open, no contact, no ground source possibility. Thumb switch on, all that does is connect the brown wire (key on power wire) to the Yellow/Red that supplies power to the coil and fuel pump relay. All I can come up with is that would have to "complete" a loop-back from and back to the ECU. But it makes no logical sense because EVERYTHING would be powered if the Brown & Yellow/Red were energized.

At this point, I maintain absolute confidence the battery drain issue is a random event... and/or MUST be caused by one of the following...

- Intermittent wire short before the key switch (should pop main fuse)
- Faulty key switch (power to everything)
- Fuel pump relay sticking closed (fuel pump would pump/prime)
- Intermittent coolant temp sensor or connection/wiring (fan would run)
- Fan relay sticking closed (fan would run)
- Bad regulator/Rectifier (bad diode > short to stator)
- Bad ECU (all else sources it's power and ground from the ECU)

Duster · #**186** (**permalink**) 03-12-2010, 10:25 PM

Well I spoke with the service manager today....

Earlier in the week the final hoop to jump through was that Kawi wanted a measurement reading of the draw... after having expressly told me they had no such specification to tell me when I called a month or so ago. On top of that, I had already communicated with them recently what the measurement was.

Once the dealer provided this measurement, in conversation with myself and the dealer it's noted as way too high. And if I am not mistaken, it has also been cross-identified by transplanting the ECU to another KFX (not 100% sure).

So all this stuff has been verified on multiple occasions by myself and the dealer. Next, instead of getting it over with... the new final hoop to jump through is going all the way back over the bike again, disconnecting things one at a time until the draw reduces or stops.

This has already been done twice... once by me and once by the dealer. Both of which are TOTALLY POINTLESS in hindsight... because frankly you would only be finding what circuit the ECU is leaking power to... that HELLOOOO it shouldn't be leaking!!!!!! And furthermore, I have personally communicated with them that this small draw reading that is too high has NO CHANGE no matter what you unhook... until you unhook the ECU... then it goes to ZERO.

I called them today and re-established this fact. Their excuse was that they had not heard this from the dealer yet.

When I talked to the service manager prior to this call to Kawi, he indicated he was unable to get in personal contact with anyone. So he either left a message of the information, or sent an email of it (can't remember). And he felt confident he'd receive approval and shipment of the part from Kawi.

So I assumed all was fine and made the call to Kawi to rattle the bushes and find out an ETA on the part... as I have been at this for about a month and I am missing races!

Well then is when I find out they say they have not heard from the dealer, they supposedly don't have voicemail to leave a message, and do not communicate by email unless it is an issue that requires pictures.

They actually expected me to believe that BS!!!!

They were just praying they'd find power leaking out to a sensor or some BS and send me on my way with my bad ECU and now expired warranty.

So I will be paying a visit to the dealer tomorrow if I am able, and I will be calling Kawi back Monday demanding to speak directly to the individual who is assigned to this.

I guess I will be getting that Rekluse clutch, or PCV+Autotune or something with the money I had planned to purchase the extended warranty with.

Duster · #**187** (**permalink**) 03-23-2010, 05:54 AM

Well I brought the thing home and out of their way for the weekend on friday 3/19.

I've been watching this thing like a hawk since I have had it home for the weekend... strongly because it came home with a battery voltage right at 13 and has been holding it.

Just a bit ago I did a random check and caught it on the drop. So I hooked up inline right fast to test the draw going on right then before it ran it on down and stopped.

When I disconnected the battery to read, I heard a little noise in my meter and the leads got hot before it could auto-range itself and display a reading, so I had to disconnect.

So I couldn't even get a reading on the peak draw I had been trying so long to catch.
It must have been pretty strong though I guess... I think I just did save my meter in time or it would have smoked the wires or the board.

CycloneISU · #**188** (**permalink**) 04-05-2010, 07:46 PM

Just wanted to chime in I’m on my way to buy another battery. I just got my 08 back from the dyno and they said that my battery was going bad. They also threw in their two cents with they have seen this before with other KFX. Didn’t have enough juice left to fire up and pull on to my truck. Damn these bitches are heavy under people power.

Duster · #**189** (**permalink**) 04-05-2010, 09:07 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by CycloneISU

Just wanted to chime in I’m on my way to buy another battery. I just got my 08 back from the dyno and they said that my battery was going bad. They also threw in their two cents with they have seen this before with other KFX. Didn’t have enough juice left to fire up and pull on to my truck. Damn these bitches are heavy under people power.

I changed to a Procom fully reprogrammable high performance ECU.

The same battery in mine that would not hold a charge now reads 13v and I haven't had a charger on it.

Stock ECU is the cause.

thomasdjames1 · #**190** (**permalink**) 04-07-2010, 04:53 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Duster

Quote: Originally Posted by CycloneISU

Just wanted to chime in I’m on my way to buy another battery. I just got my 08 back from the dyno and they said that my battery was going bad. They also threw in their two cents with they have seen this before with other KFX. Didn’t have enough juice left to fire up and pull on to my truck. Damn these bitches are heavy under people power.

I changed to a Procom fully reprogrammable high performance ECU.

The same battery in mine that would not hold a charge now reads 13v and I haven't had a charger on it.

Stock ECU is the cause.

I am extremely glad to see that you have found the problem. I am not sure what Kawasaki is doing for you but I hope you get them to do something. It is terrible that Kawasaki had a bad part and refused to replace it under warranty. Let me know what Kawasaki is currently doing. Are they planning on replacing on your bad ECU with a new good factory one even though you already have a replacement? With the new programmable one are you just running factory setting or are you tuning anything with it?