Greetings,

My '06 RR finally made its way to the shop. It had gone from occasionally having difficulty starting this summer, to not even accepting a bump start. I checked the obvious, and was pretty sure it was the battery as it would barely crank. I replaced the battery, it will crank all day but never start (I know not to crank it too long so I never did for more than 5 seconds + 1 minute rest, I guess part of me was just praying it would start up). The lights are on correctly, I can hear the fuel pump prime, the engine just never "catches" (although it certainly sounds close sometimes).

So I got it into the shop, and they're trying to get me to replace the ECU, saying that the voltages are reading incorrectly and that's what they're supposed to do next. I understand there is a possibility that this is the actual problem, but even they don't sound convinced it will fix it.

I'm thinking about picking it up from the shop and buying a salvaged ECU from ebay— is this a terrible idea? I guess I'm just not too happy about paying $1400 for a fix that might not even fix the issue. Is there anybody on here with some more expertise that could guide me in the right direction?

Thanks.

 

If you replaced the ECU and it didnt fix the problem then make them stick the old one back in...When I brought my old bike to the shop they replaced a $300 part and it didnt fix it, they didnt charge me for it the guy took it off and put the old one back on and I didnt even ask him he just told me that it didnt fix it so he put the old one back on. I cant remember what part it was but they said it was reading low voltage...I wouldnt want to spend $1400 on an ECU, I would probably check ebay myself and see what they go for on their...if their are any.

I normally take my bike to a local honda dealer (well its about 30 miles from me but they do good work, unlike the honda dealer in my town). I use to take it to a local shop, but he closed up and their are no other shops that will even work no sportbikes unless I go about 50 miles. If you dont think its the ECU take it to another shop and see what they say.

 

A used ECU off eBay will prolly be cheaper. But you'll get what you pay for and no refund (since you don't know it's the ecu).

What voltage specifically and from where is reading wrong? That'd tell us a lot

 

Yea, now I'm wishing I had taken more readings before I took it to the shop. It seemed like everything was working properly electrically, since it was cranking. I don't have much mechanical experience and didn't imagine it would be anything this expensive, so thought it was a better use of my time to take it to the shop. Whoops.

They're closed now for the holidays so I'm afraid I won't have any more contact with them/my bike until January. From what I can remember of our phone conversation, it sounded something like "all the voltages are reading wrong" and definitely gave the impression that it was a systemic thing.

Is an ECU replacement a tricky deal? I was a little surprised that they wanted to charge over $400 in labor (although I suppose part of that may include the extra diagnostic time) to do a part swap.

Also, where N8 Dawg pointed out that the dealer swapped the old part back in once he realized it had not fixed the problem... is that common? I pretty bluntly asked the shop "So... what happens if you replace it and it still doesn't work?" and the response was something like "then we keep on looking".

I guess after the new year I'll call them and see if I can't work out something better than "we'll keep on looking", or else I'm taking the bike elsewhere.

Thanks for the advice so far.

 

Provided there's no confusion in terminology here, it might take me 15 min to swap out the ECU... Err, okokok maybe 30 minutes cause I have big hands.

$400 in just labor? Find a new shop pronto.

edit:
To explain. When you say ECU I am thinking of the PGM-Fi module. It's a plug & play module takes 2 connectors on the wire harness. Accessing it is as simple as removing the seat and its nestled along the tail. Chances are extremely high given that quote and their evasiveness, you're about to see a $1900+ bill for something it's likely not.

 

Yea, so I just called them and they wanted $250 for 3 hours of labor for the ECU swap.

I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same part:
ebay link

I was thinking about buying one of those as it seems that we're blocked until that can at least be ruled out, and I really don't see the point of getting the OEM one. Let me know if anybody has any different ideas, otherwise I'll probably go down that path.

EDIT: So I got a little more info out of them, apparently not only were voltages wrong but it was "firing at the wrong time". Does this sound plausible to those who know more than me? Also, I'm a little curious how this could have happened. It seems like either the brain should be working or broken, but I rode it for a few months with difficulty starting.

Thanks.

 

I wouldn't pay $400 or $250 labor for that...I know I had my ECM go out on a 91 eclipse I had...It would run great one minute then stall out and sometimes wouldnt start...it went from doing this once a week for about 2 months and then after that it would stall out every 15 mins or so and then finally wouldnt start...I took it to the dealer and they never found the problem...I did some research on the internet and found that was most likely the issue, sure enough it was...I also had one go out in my formula...it was something to do with the firing because it would backfire every now and then, and when I took it to my mechanic he said it was the ECM, but he had formula he totaled months prior and I bought his for $100, he didnt even charge me to put it in.

And electrical issues are the worst as far as vehicles go...No shop likes looking for an electrical problem because most the time the vehicle runs fine and the part only fails occasionally. In your case if the bike isnt starting at all I think what they are saying makes since, the ECM controls alot of stuff on the bike...but for $65 I would grab that one and replace it myself if it doesnt fix it you were only out $65.

 

I'd want to know all the tests they did. Like did they check the coils, what specific voltages were wrong and what condition are the plugs in.

And they'd have lost their mind if they thought I'd pay $250 in just labor to swap the ecu. Wire harness & ECU, maybe. But just the ECU, hell no

 

When I get a problem bike in my shop I allways check the typical things that can go out, in your case fuel spark and compression after that I lead to the more expensive. I just got a zx10r that had a broken crank and it turned off running. Kuroshio is correct, it doesn't take but 10 minutes to change the ecu. Get it out of there bro and find someone that can help you. Johnnyh

 

Cool, thanks for all the advice. Just bought a used one from ebay, will go ahead and install that myself when it gets here. I'll keep you guys posted in case anybody's interested.