crankshaft position sensor

[petetheteach]

Hi can anyone help I have a DL1000 (K3) 2004
every so often it goes through a stage  of missfiring, running rough, stalls even at speed, difficult to start some times when it plays up.

had to call the RAC one day as I couldn't start the bike at all the RAC man said straight away "camshaft position sensor" and when he took it off it was all whiskered up with metal filings, he cleaned it by spraying brake cleaner all over it put it back in and Hello presto the bike fired up and ran fine for a good few weeks.

It will do this every few weeks to a month after quite a few miles everytime I take it out clean it all is fine again, BUT my question is why is it getting whiskered up and will just replacing the sensor cure the problem?
 :wtf:

[Juvecu]

I think it has a magnet in it so the 'whiskers' are metal bits coming from somewhere else. I don't know if this is a common issues, don't recall there being much said about it on this forum. Where is the metal coming from?

[petetheteach]

Hi Juvecu

don't know where the metal filings are coming from engine I presume ( a bit like years a go when I had classic cars always bought magnetic sump plug for same reason)

its just really one nerving as the faultering is quite strong and it always stalls in the most dangerous areas...
 

[mjc506]

camshaft or crankshaft?

By the sounds of it you mean the camshaft sensor - top of the rear cylinder head cover I think on the 1k? Any metal in there is bad news

[petetheteach]

The sensor position is on the left side of the bike a few inches above the gear shift, so definitely not a camshaft sensor

[mjc506]

That'll be the gear position sensor then?

[greywolf]

The crankshaft position sensor (CKPS) is on the left under the left engine cover next to the stator. It will pick up metal whiskers from the oil if the oil isn't changed regularly or there is excessive wear on the gears. The gear position sensor is on the right and the camshaft position sensor up by the cam. Steel whiskering is one way the CKPS can cause a problem.

[TimV]

The sensor position is on the left side of the bike a few inches above the gear shift, so definitely not a camshaft sensor

That sounds like the black plastic one that is about an inch to the right of the clutch hose... if so that's the speedo sensor & it gets all sort of crud off the chain onto it (I've just looked at that area of my Vee & can't see any other obvious sensors there). However, I don't know how the speedo sensor relates to the ECU, if at all, hopefully someone else here can advise.

[Abercol]

It still begs the question on where all the metal filings are coming from....never had this problem on my Vee or heard of it before.....

[greywolf]

If this is a sensor that resides where the engine oil gets to it, the metal whiskers likely come from gear wear. That much wear is a cause for concern.