The Yamaha is dead, long live Dad's Hornet

craigs23 · Mr Muscle Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Karma :

Hopefully only temporary...

The Yamaha failed to start today, despite 3 weeks of continual reliability.

No warning, no funny noises, no miss fires, just went to push the starter today and got the usual whine of the starter motor - just with no spark.

Little panic, as I had a presentation at work, dug out Dad's Hornet keys, then zapped off to work (worrying whether there'd be enough fuel, when he last checked his tyre pressures, what mood he'd be in when I got home, etc).

Checked the R6 over this evening - fuses are all in tact, alarm/imob seems to be working normally, all the other electrics work fine, still no sign of any fault. Just doesn't seem to fire. Even checked the kill switch.

Time to phone up the dealers; luckily the bike's still under warranty.

So, back to Hornet commuting tomorrow (I'm hoping for courtesy bike too).

Blimming modern bikes and they're silly electrics.....grumble, mumble, grrrrr...

lllN30lll · World Chat Champion Joined: 12 Jun 2005 Karma :

you'd not got the alarm in Service mode have you?
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Turbo R1
CRF450R

craigs23 · Mr Muscle Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Karma :

lol, no.

Scouse · World Chat Champion Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Karma :

Mines done that a few times this year. Probably only three at the most. Usually kicks in with a big bang though after a few tries and a 5 minute wait.

Charlie · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 May 2007 Karma :

Should have stayed with Honda's Craig Razz

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Past: Honda x8rs, Honda City fly, Honda Hornet 250, Honda VFR750, Yamaha xt600e.
Current: Honda CBR929RR & Yamaha XT660Z Tenere

Keir · World Chat Champion Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Karma :

should have gone for the K4....
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Current : '08 Yamaha FZ1s
Previous: '99 Honda CBR 600FX, 03 ZX636 B1H, 99 Fazer 600 (red), 02 GSX-R 600 K2, 00 SV650s (red), 2008 ZX10R, 97 Bandit 1200N, 04 ZX6RR K1H, 04 GSX-R 1000, 98 Fazer 600 (gold), 05 Madness 110 Pit bike, 04 CR125R, 00 SV650s (black), 06 KTM 625 SMC, 99 SRAD 600 track bike, 03 SV650, 98 Bandit 1200N, Bandit 600SY, 03 GSX-R 600 K3, 01 GSX-R 600, 01 Fazer 600 (black), VFR 400 NC30 x3, 78 Honda Dream, 00 Speedfight 50

Ravo · Scooby Slapper Joined: 19 May 2007 Karma :

I'm siding with DS55. If your bike fails within it's first year then you have bought a bike that hasn't lasted a year.

Wafer_Thin_Ham · Super Spammer Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Karma :

craigs23 · Mr Muscle Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Karma :

Phoned up the dealers today, going to send someone over (hopefully tomorrow) to come and diagnose the problem.

It has, unfortunately, knocked my confidence in the bike. Not in the sense that it could be unreliable (I'm hoping this is going to be something simple), but the fact that I'm not able to diagnose faults with it - either I've got a steep learning curve with maintaining the R6, or servicing/problem solving on the bike is for recognised professionals only (I don't want to compromise my warranty either y'see).

If that's the case, where does this leave me the next time something goes amiss? When choosing the bike I thought I'd covered all the angles - comfort, running costs, known model issues/recalls, performance, finish, build, etc. What I didn't anticipate was the fact I'd be stranded - quite literally, if something went wrong.

This is the newest bike I've ever owned, and I'm worried it's too new for me to rectify any issues that may become apparent. Even, if by some miracle, the bike starts tomorrow, I wouldn't be confident that, without knowing what caused the problem in the first place, I wouldn't know how to remedy the situation again.

I'm not sure whether I can live with a bike like that on a day to day basis.

craigs23 · Mr Muscle Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Karma :

And as if by miracle (plus a push from Dad), the R6 jump started into life today. Confused

Nothing seems amiss, everything's working as it should, I'd just be danmed if I knew what caused the issue?

One possibility, as it seems a little coincidental comes to think about it, was that I filled the bike up on the way back from work on Wednesday evening. But it seemed absolutely fine for the remaining 20 miles home?

I'm not going to sleep very well until I find the cause of the problem, that's to be sure.

Finglonga · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Karma :

Are you sure you didn't just flood it?
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Andy Sez....
F.Y.Y.F.F.

jimbothe · World Chat Champion Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Karma :

craigs23 · Mr Muscle Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Karma :

MattEMulsion · World Chat Champion Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Karma :

My fuel injected R6 did this once and I never did find out why - failed to start I mean, not particularly flooded as such.

I rolled it out of the garage one day in the middle of summer, I hadn't used it for a couple of weeks but this in itself is not unusual for the use my bike gets. Anyway I hit the starter button and it turned over and over but it would not fire. I checked the obvious things such as the kill switch but it still wouldn't go.

In the end the battery was starting to flatten and so I wheeled it back into the garage and was just comprehending lifting the tank when I gave it one last try. As if by magic it kicked up, ran a bit lumpy but after a few twists of the throttle it idled ok.

I never did understand why that happened and I haven't had any further problems since or indeed before that. I've just put it down as a strange occurance.
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Yamaha YZF-R6