Engine Warning Light

[CantWin1]

Hi,

 

Didn't find much using the search....

On the way to work this morning my '05 Venture died. Trying to restart I noticed the engine warning light was on and blinking. Started, ran about 20 feet, enough to pull into a gas station. It will crank over and start for a second or two, rev's ok, but then dies and the engine light flashes. I think it's flashing three times...but I did see there's a code with 9 flashes, maybe I didn't let it keep flashing before trying to start again...?

 

My bike resides outside all the time, we did have a good rain last night, roads were wet this morning, so moisture somewhere may be an issue. However I did a 1500 mile ride over labor day and part of that was in a heavy blowing down pour with no issues. I did pour out my cup holder over the gas tank this morning, maybe that water got somewhere that rain doesn't?

 

Any help would be appreciated....

 

John

[CantWin1]

Update:

Grabbed a truck & trailer at work, and some help to push the pig onto the trailer. For good measure I decided to try and start it. Started up immediately, rev'd fine, rode the 7 miles to work, no issues across any rpm range.

 

Think it may be time to pull the tank and put dielectric grease on any connections under there. Was just settling my mind yesterday that this bike's a keeper vs buying something newer. Picked it up with 97k miles, now at 108k. Had decided to drop 7-800 into it for my birthday this month, LED brake light, new brake & clutch lines, new windshield (tinted ones suck at night), & a used corbin seat.

 

Hope it doesn't happen again....

[Condor]

Probably a moisture related short somewhere. Do yourself a favor and drop by a Cycle Gear store and pick up one of their BILT bike covers. Cheap insurance during the monsoon season in AZ. Cover is guarantee'd for 5 years against anything. Even UV damage. Over the counter replacement

[etcswjoe]

Sounds like mine did when the fuel pump died but I don't know about the engine light blinking.

[LilBeaver]

8-76 of the service manual lists the fault code for 3 blinks:

 

Item: Throttle position sensor (TPS)

Condition: "Disconnected, Short-circuit, Locked"

Response:

- enables the motorcycle to run so taht the ignition timing is fixed when the throttle is fully opened

- Displays the condition code on the engine indicator light

When engine is stationary: Blinks fault code [3]

When engine is running: Light on

 

Page 8-78 has additional troubleshooting for that circuit

 

%%%

Also, I would be careful with the application of dielectric grease in all of your connectors -- one must understand the purpose of the grease and what it really does. That the grease itself is an insulator and helps protect the contacts from corrosion via moisture and contact with the atmosphere. Applying too may contribute to hindering the connection that is supposed to occur (if, for example, the contacts are not quite as snug as they ought to be or if with the vibration that occurs while the motor is running, the grease works its way between the two parts of the contact in the connector -- maybe unlikely, but NOT something I would want to try to troubleshoot...)

I would say giving your connectors a good cleaning ought to be in order, and it is rather straight forward to further test the TPS.

 

Regardless, then manual does have some good information in it and it sounds like the bike is giving you a good place to start

 

[CantWin1]

Appreciate the comments. Will take a look at the manual, and check out the TPS. Thanks, will post what I discover!

 

Thanks.

John