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Is this the problem?

ad.excellere@verizon.netad.excellere@verizon.net Posts: 6Verified User
in Bug Reports

Bike died repeatedly on the racetrack in 3rd gear, was able to recover by downshifting to 2nd and skipping third then staying in fourth for the rest of the day.

Found this in the downloaded map from this site, which was installed on the ECU:

In the 3rd gear 'Off Throttle' STP vs RPM map.

Is this the culprit?

Comments

  • ad.excellere@verizon.netad.excellere@verizon.net Posts: 6Verified User

    After further investigation this map anomaly is something in the stock map I pulled off my ECU also (as well as in the Unrestricted map available for DL on this site). I think this was 'EPA Measuring' tuning.


    I'm not sure what killed my engine in 3rd gear, but testing back home after the track weekend shows it dies even at idle and downshifting from 4th while stationary/on the rearstand.

    The symptoms are the Instrument Cluster starts flashing everything (as if I were entering Flash mode on the ECU/hooked up the USB bike-side to the USB dongle), and afterward, the Diagnostic Code is 39 - Loss of Instrument-ECU communication. I think this means 'ECU reset', and it recovered from the fault by shifting gear (third gear continues the fault).

    I have a quickshifter on the bike, and it does not seem to be functional. I don't know what's causing this, but I'm debugging by taking everything off/hooking up sensor-eliminators to the harness (KAIS, KLEEN, Exhaust Servo, adding a clutch/starter lockout jumper - the bike has a Woodcraft Key Eliminator on it since it's a Full Race bike) and reinstalling the stock map. If, as expected everything clears up, I'll start by changing one thing at a time (Map, then the quickshifter). If the problem returns (or isn't cleared by restoring the stock map), I'll update.

  • mike@ftecu.commike@ftecu.com Posts: 178Staff User
    https://forum.ftecu.com/discussion/comment/5346#Comment_5346

    I look forward to what you find out.

  • ad.excellere@verizon.netad.excellere@verizon.net Posts: 6Verified User

    OK, I raced the bike this weekend, having sorted the issue.

    I installed emulators for the KLEEN (smog can valve) and KAIS (PAIR) air-inject valve. I don't think these were directly-related, but may have contributed to putting the ECU in an uncovered-by-design state.

    I restored the ABS wheel sensors and blocked off the ABS interruptor motor with solid plugs (M10x1.0x 6mm o-ring gasketed plugs), and made sure the fuses were seated. I think this was the source of the quickshifter issue.

    I shorted the starter-lockout (clutch-lever) switch permanently-closed (and I can start the bike in gear now). Don't think this was related.

    At this point, the quickshifter seemed to work (later proven it does) on the rearstand.

    Using the FTEcu Tuning Suite, I edited the map I pulled/read off the bike before making any changes, the 'initial baseline', and saved it to a new file. I copied the fuel maps (Fuel by RPM & TPS) from the file "2017 636ABSnonKRT Unrestricted Modified.ftm" I'd downloaded, and copied the STP maps. I then edited the STP maps to remove the mid-RPM 'restricted position' you see in the map snapshot I posted above. I then enabled the quickshifter and toggled the other ECU modes as needed (KAIS off, Immobilizer off, etc.). I installed the map, and went for a very short (it's a full-race bike) lap around my neighborhood, and everything worked, no CEL or other issue.


    I believe the ECU crashed because the KLEEN, KAIS, KITC/KIBS were all in error state, and probably because the quickshifter-enable flag was set; this probably put the ECU into a state where it crashed. I think the defect escaped Kawasaki because it's a multiple-failure state not covered by the development-staff's Unit or System-Test; you'd have to pretty much be doing what I'm doing (setting the bike up for racing) to get there.

    I think the STP map 'hole' in 3rd gear is an EPA-test 'optimization' for regulatory certification and it was missed by whomever set up "2017 636ABSnonKRT Unrestricted Modified.ftm" (to which person I'm kind of grateful, so this isn't a slam...).

    The map works well on the track (lots of burbling on part-throttle), I don't feel lean spots, and it pulls HARD in 3rd, so all's well there.

    I'm pretty happy with the FTEcu product (bikeside harness/tuning suite, quickshifter) overall. Took a while to get there, it's been an educational journey :)

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