Bike turns off while shifting down or pulling clutch lever

[Joshoua]

Hello to all.
I have bought a new FZ6 Fazer S2 2008 three months ago. Up until now I was riding On-Off bikes and this is my first experience with a street and I must confess I love it.
I had no problems with the bike until last Saturday when I got out for a ride with a couple of friends, on some curvy, mountain roads.
Please note that this the first time I take the bike for a long ride, after the 1600Km/8000rpm limit on the manual.
Anyhow, after about one hour of hard riding (shifting up and down gears and braking constantly), the bike started turning off while I was pulling the clutch to shift down gears. Of course, because the bike was still moving, when I was letting the clutch go, the bike would start again.
I stopped and tried to troubleshoot the problem.
The only thing I could minimise as a problem, was the following.
While the bike was still, it was starting fine but when I was stepping on the gas (I really don't know the expression for a motorcycle in English ) without any gear on, it still would turn off.
It did the same thing with a gear on and me pulling the clutch.
The only way the bike was able to move, was me not going over 4000rpm. The bike was not on high temperature, the meter was showing 90C (which is pretty normal, I have seen it going over 100 some times)
I decided to head back home at that time.
The bike stopped doing the problem after a while of easy riding.
Please note that I didn't especially liked the gear box from the very first time I rode that bike. It just doesn't snap on the gears perfectly (especially when shifting down fast).
I didn't pay attention though because i have read some reviews online that say that the model's gear box is not very good.
My mechanic (who I started to believe is a thief and liar) told me that there is nothing wrong with the bike and that he reprogrammed the injection and now it should be fine. He also said that the engine oil I use is not good (PJ1) and that might have caused the problem (I have never had a problem with PJ1 with all my previous 4 bikes).
The only think that calms me down, is that I have used a different gas-station to refill that day and that might caused the problem (if the fuel was dirty or something).
I was wondering if any of you had any similar problems or if anyone could suggest something to check.
I really love this bike and it's pretty frustrating to have this kind of problems 3000Kms after I bought it.
Forgive my poor vocabulary, I live in Cyprus and english is not my native language.
Any help would be appreciated.

[Ozfazer6]

Hi and .Well you have thrown us a hard one to start with havn't you

When I first read your post I was going to say the clutch safety is loose but that wouldn't account for turning off when in neutral . I,m not really sure on this one but I would start with checking all the safety's i.e: clutch,kick stand and maybe the kill switch. If that fails take it back to the dealer and get them to look at it .

Maybe someone with more knowledge on electrics can solve this one .

[Wolfman]

Could it be something to do with the side stand gear sensor...that stops the bike from starting when the stand is down....it's a long shot, but it sounds like an electrical, or ECU problem too me????

[BranNwebster]

Originally Posted by Joshoua

My mechanic (who I started to believe is a thief and liar) told me that there is nothing wrong with the bike and that he reprogrammed the injection and now it should be fine.

He reprogrammed the injection on a bike that had nothing wrong with it. Your belief in him being a thief and a liar may have some truth to it. Your problem could have been fuel related. If it seems ok now, ride the hell out of it and keep us posted.

[Fred]

Your English is quite good. In fact, it's better than that spoken by some Americans I know!

The problem is extremely odd.

I don't think it's the clutch switch. The clutch switch would keep the bike from starting, but once it's running, it cannot stop the engine.

You said you were in the mountains when it happened. The altitude may have been a problem. Try the same ride up into the mountains and see if the problem happens again.

Frederic

[necrotimus]

I don't know how warranty repairs work in other countries but is it under warranty still? Its confusing because the sudden cut offs after running the bike hard would indicate a fuel problem to me (had similar problem with a car and it was a clogged fuel filter) but the cutting off when pulling in the clutch makes it seem electrical (unless maybe the load shift when the clutch is pulled in causes enough of an engine performance change to cause the fuel problem?)

I'm grasping but if under warranty then try that route. If they don't give you satisfaction contact yamaha directly. If not under warranty get a second opinion while the problem is occuring.

[Scab]

Originally Posted by Fred

Your English is quite good. In fact, it's better than that You said you were in the mountains when it happened. The altitude may have been a problem. Try the same ride up into the mountains and see if the problem happens again.

Frederic

Interesting. FJR's did suffer from an "altitude sickness" that was related to the ecm. The sampling of air/conditions done by the ecm was at slow repeat rate so that you could actually change altitude by a tremendous amount while the ecm was trying to control things with settings from a wrong altitude.

[NOMALOS]

I actually had a very similar problem with my 2007 FZ6. I brought the bike to the dealership for the 600 mile service and immediately afterwards the bike started stalling whenever I downshifted (and sometimes pulled in the clutch) when I was above 4000 RPM. The first time the bike stalled was when I was downshifting to gain some power for a turn I was making. The back tire locked up and I BARELY gained control and avoided puting it down.

Well I brought it back to the dealership and they assured me this would have had nothing to do with the 600 mile service. I had to leave the bike for the weekend which pissed me off cause I was planning on going on a saturday ride in the rocky mountains. When they called me back on Sunday they said the problem turned out to be the TPS (throttle position sensor). They said when they washed the FZ after the service some water got into the sensor which messed up the fuel injection timing. I don't know a whole lot about the TPS but found it very strange that this happened. After I got the bike back it shifted fine and still does to this day (I'm at about 1500 miles now).

So from my recent experience I would recommend to check out the TPS and make sure its working properly.

And btw, the dealership still would not admit fault even though they messed it up when it was in their shop. The said the powerwash is a "complimentary" service so it had nothing to do with the 600 mile service. What a load of BS!

[Joshoua]

Thanks for the answers guys
Well..to be honest with I did wash the bike with a powerwash service, but it was over a month ago (if not more)..
Becides that, in Cyprus, the temperature is over 40c usually so any water could have been evaporated (couldn't it?).
It is quite strange though that my problem is the exact same as NOMALOS!!
So it could be something similar to his problem.
I have refueled the bike today, from another gas station (my usual one) and tomorrow I am going to go on the same route and see if it does it again.
I don't really think it's the altitude, I mean the highest mountain on the island is 1500m , at the time I was travelling at about 800m above the ground.
The thing about warranty in my case is that I bought the bike from a dealer (he is a mechanic and also deals bikes).
The distributor of Yamaha in Cyprus, does not support bikes bought from anywhere else except them (I don't know if this is legal though).
The bike doesn't have the problem all the time, so I am not able to prove that it indeed has a problem. If I don't minimise the problem, I am going to be on a back and forth travel to the dealer trying to convinvce him that there is a problem and him telling me that there is nothing wrong with the bike.
Note that the bike has done no problem since last Saturday, although I am really afraid of driving it on a highway.
Imagine the bike turning off, on 150kmh. I don't even want to think about it..
Anyhow, is there any way I can check the TPS??
I mean how do I do that?

[pooty]

i never powerwash any of my bikes