Stuck in gear?

[Jacko]

Makes sense, halves the life of the plugs though. :D

[greywolf]

Maybe that's why the plug replacement schedule is so ridiculously short. Anyway, the effect on the plug of igniting the mixture is much greater than throwing a spark in an exhaust stroke. I wouldn't put the additional wear at anything approaching half.

[mjc506]

Yeah, wasted spark is pretty common. I'd more interested in the injection side of things

Today, I passed an MoT

...and emptied a fuel tank through the main rear drain port

I don't know if it's faded memory, but the Wee feels smooth, predictable, and more powerful than before? It's loosened up nicely, sounds fantastic, and I've still got a silly grin on my face

By the end of the week I should be back onto synthetic oil, and running in will be pretty much complete

[MartinW]

I cannot really say this thread is worthless without pics, so where's the promised video of it running?

Oh, and very well done.

[iansoady]

That (wasted spark) would be OK on a 360 degree twin (or 2 sets of wasted sparks on a four) but I'd be a bit suspicious on a 90 degree V twin.

[Juvecu]

The way I understand it: for fuel injection it's more a case of how long the injectors stay open rather then when exactly they open. As long as there is enough fuel to suck in when the intake valves open it's all fine At idle the injectors only open for milliseconds, at full revs they can be open 80%+ of the time. Engines with both crank and cam sensors can be more accurate with the "when", if needed.

[Jacko]

That (wasted spark) would be OK on a 360 degree twin (or 2 sets of wasted sparks on a four) but I'd be a bit suspicious on a 90 degree V twin.

Crank and TDC relation remains constant regardless of configuration.

[greywolf]

The way I understand it: for fuel injection it's more a case of how long the injectors stay open rather then when exactly they open.

Right. The fuel pressure to the injectors is constant. At 43psi, a bypass valve in the pump starts to open and delivers excess fuel back into the tank. Since the pressure is constant, the amount of fuel fed to the combustion chambers is determined by how long the ECM holds the injectors open. The ECM takes information from the sensors to determine how long to hold the injectors open.

[mjc506]

Good point. I'm a retard I rebuilt the thing and I was still imagining injectors in the combustion chamber :doh: I guess there's a pretty big volume of air between the injectors and valve seats to hold fuel vapour/air in, especially at those sorts of speeds/frequencies.

I need help again.... where do I stick this fantastic gel domed sticker that Mr Rat sent me? My first though was on the top of the tank, but I'm kind of holding out for a v-strom.co.uk tank protector

Video as requested

[Keith Cross]

That (wasted spark) would be OK on a 360 degree twin (or 2 sets of wasted sparks on a four) but I'd be a bit suspicious on a 90 degree V twin.

Vstrom definitely not a wasted spark system.  Maybe someone has got confused as each coil runs 2 spark plugs in the same cylinder with later models.

Keith C

[mjc506]

Certainly not in the traditional sense (all cylinders spark at the same time) but perhaps in the sense that each cylinder sparks on every crank revolution.

don't know, just educated guesses really.

[MartinW]

Video =  

[greywolf]

Another possibility is the ECM uses a camshaft position sensor to distinguish the compression stroke from the exhaust stroke. I haven't seen anything in the manual that addresses the specifics on the matter.

Edit: As they say in New York, fagedaboutit. Only the Vee has a camshaft position sensor.

[mjc506]

Video =  

GW, there's a camshaft position sensor on the Wee?

I guess it doesn't matter anyway - the lump runs

Tonight's job is another oil change, and I'll go over all the fasteners to find any that I forgot to tighten...

[Descolada]

That was so funny (video) I wasn't expecting the audio overlay ... GULP! ... or is that how it really sounds  

[greywolf]

GW, there's a camshaft position sensor on the Wee?

It was listed in the index. A further check finds no other reference. It's only in the Vee and Suzuki must have used the Vee manual as a boilerplate.  

I'll go back and edit previous stuff.

[mjc506]

No problem! I just panicked and thought I'd forgotten to install a component!

Here's the real video

[Juvecu]

at the first video, it was a real  :wtf:  moment for me!

[mjc506]

I actually hadn't listened to it before I posted. Better than anticipated

[mjc506]

Updates:
Run through a few tanks. Fuel consumption seems back to normal/better. I'm convinced the engine is running better than I've experienced before. Even my pillion commented how smooth it was. I'm guessing a bit of love to the clutch, coupled with de-coking everything has helped a lot. I haven't managed as many miles as I expected (cursed weather), so I'm still on dino goop. I'll go synthetic @~1000miles. The oil changes have been easy. Very little crap in the oil coming out, although the first filter had a reasonable amount of aluminium in it. Nothing since. The last oil change was possibly a waste of time, as it came out the same colour it went in

No leaks/vibrations/bits falling off either

Problems:
Something isn't quite right with the electrics. Yesterday evening, after a bit of rain during the afternoon, I switch the bike on, thumb the starter and nothing happens. Switch off and switch back on again, and it starts fine. This morning, after a night of rain, switch on, fuel pump and STVA make the right noises, but no starty :( I get the solenoid click, but no movement. C12 on the dash - Crankshaft position sensor. I imagine I would have had the same come up last night, but it took a good few seconds for it to appear.

I can't get to the CKPs plugs at the moment, so couldn't check that, but the service manual seems to indicate that the engine should still crank with that sensor failed (FI Troubleshooting, C12 CKPS) This wasn't cranking even. The solenoid was clicking when pressing the starter button, but the starter wasn't running. (Sound familiar?) I'm wondering if the C12 is correct?

The solenoid clicked was fresh in my mind from the weekend, so I tried the spanner trick (shorting the solenoid terminals). Nothing. A tiny spark (really small?!) but not movement. In desparation, I left the ignition on, and jumped between the battery +ve, and the starter motor. Engine bursts into life! At this point, I'm late for work so I get on (not forgetting to pocket the handy length of wire, just in case...) and ride off. Bike runs perfect all the way to work. No other troubleshooting done yet. No FI indications, just C00 all the way.

So if it's running, then the CKPS must be OK, right? This solenoid deserves some investigation. I'll try jumping from battery +ve to the solenoid 'output' too to check the wiring between solenoid and starter motor.

Any other ideas?

EDIT: just been out to have a play. It's all working fine now - it's dried up a bit, so I'm thinking connections somewhere. Unfortunately, I left my multimeter turned on, so it's now dead