Hey guys looks like a great site, I just joined up after picking up an '03 f4i today. The bike has 800 miles on it and has been garaged for 3 years after the original owner laid it in a parking lot, all cosmetic damage (I believe). Anyways drove the bike home about halfway though I started stalling at every light, noticed that without me on the throttle the bike idled around 600 rpm, no big deal just tweaked the idle **** back up to ~1200 ish. Before I garaged it I had to hop off to open the garage and noticed the neutral indicator was a little buggy (assuminga relay/switch just had a poor contact after 3 yrs). Here's where the problems started. I can start the bike fine, in any gear as long as I'm holding the clutch, but the second I shift to any gear it stalls. I can feel it engage even though I'm holding the clutch all the way. I know the clutch is working too because with the bike off I can pull the clutch and push it around (without the clutch it rolls inches then catches on the gear). What the heck is going on here guys? I don't have the manual but have 2 things that catch my eye on the instrument cluster. The red light left of the N indicator stays lit until running and looks like oil flashes until the bike is running. This could be normal behavior but again I don't have the manual. I've checked the oil (let engine warm up, shut off, level bike and look through site glass) and all looks good. Any ideas?

 

Check to see if there is a problem with the kick stand detection circuit. The bike will not start in gear with the kick stand down. And If you start it in Neutral, then clutch in and shift it dies if the kick stand is down or if the bike thinks the kick stand is down. Refer to the owners manual that you can download for free from the links on this site or do a quick google search.

 

First, make sure the kick stand isn't down when you are trying to shift out of neutral. If you have the kick stand down, the bike will kill itself the second you put it into a gear.

I looked like a freaking idiot when I first bought my bike and couldn't leave the parking lot for 15 minutes because I had the kick stand down, and killed the engine every time I clicked into 1st. Finally, the salesman came out (probably after laughing at me the whole time) and told me my kickstand was down. I felt like an ***, but would have never known WTF was going on unless he told me.

Sometimes, it's the little things that are overlooked that cause the problems.

 

Well it wasn't the kickstand, today I started it up, kickstand up, in neutral with the clutch in. Barely tried upshifting and I could actually feel the synchros kicking back at me. I kept applying more and more pressure (nothing crazy I was barely doing this with a toe) and it slipped right in to first and kept running. Runs great now. Have no clue what went on but I'll keep an eye on it and let you guys know how it goes.

 

It's alright man, you can admit that the kickstand was down before! lol jk =P

 

LIES! LIES! So far I can still blame everything on the3 yr garage time. Flushing the fluids this weekend we'll see how it runs after that.

 

LOL. high five dude.