Hello all. I hope this post finds everyone doing well. Obviously I have a problem that I need help with but would like to get the pleasantries out of the way. I own an ‘06 F4i that I purchased brand new in ‘07, there is about 12500 miles on the bike and I have never laid it down. About 13 months after I bought it I had to replace the battery with no other problems till the beginning of last August.
I am in the Navy and stationed in Sicily. Last march I deployed for 6 months. During my deployment, I had my wife start and run my bike for 10 to 15 min twice a month. For 4 months she didn’t have a problem. Then one day after she started it, it just shut off and would not start again. She had a friend of mine who rides come over to try and start it, no joy. So it sits for 2 months till I get home, I check it out, put the charger on it, put gas in it as well as a fuel injector cleaner. After charging the battery for about 12 hours I go out and “wallah”, it starts and runs fine. I badly needed to get new tires on the bike and with the condition of the roads in Sicily, I didn’t ride the bike yet. I ordered new plugs, air filter, oil filter, oil and a PCIII. I would go out every other day to start the bike. Once the parts arrived, I did the maintenance. Installed the PC and started my bike. It sounded so sweet. I couldn’t wait to take it out so I checked the air pressure and off I went. It ran like a raped ape. I was so excited to be back on my F4. The next day, I went to take it to work and it sounded funny. At first I thought it was because of the PC but when I eased the clutch out, the bike did not want to go as usual and it almost died. I left it home, went to work thinking there must be something that came loose because of the maintenance I did. The next day started my slow but increasing loss of hair, patience, and an increase in irritability and frustration that has lasted since the middle of last October.
When I start the bike, only cylinders #1 and #2 are firing. I have tested this with a wet rag on the headers. I have checked for spark on cylinders 3 and 4, good to go. I rotated the coil packs, still 3 and 4 not firing. I called the company I purchased the bike from and spoke to the service dept. He gave me some options for testing the injectors and the injector connections. Continuity on the entire bike is perfect. I did not get any voltage to either of the injectors so I assumed it was the ECU, it might have just been me not getting a good connection because once I got the service manual it all checked out fine. So I go out and buy a new ECU. A week later it arrives, I install, start the bike and again I am off like a raped ape. Everything is “A-OK”. The bike runs great for about 2 weeks. Then one day I drive it to work, it sits for about 12 hours, I go to leave and when I start it up, again only cylinders 1 and 2 are firing. So I baby it home and have been stuck there ever since. On several occasions I have gotten cylinder #3 firing again (not knowing how it happened) but it continues to go out. #4 has never come back. I have disconnected the PC and that has no effect. I downloaded a service manual and have done every conceivable test in the book. At one point I ruled out it being an electrical problem and started testing the fuel system. It all checks out. The fuel pressure regulator seems good. All of the vacuum lines are good. The battery is holding juice. Every test I have run seems perfect. How could the cylinder just come and go like that? I have moved the coil packs while they are connected to the spark plugs. I did a code check and it indicated the MAP was bad or had a bad connection but when I ran all the tests on it everything checked out. I really am at my wits end and so is my wife and kids. Please give me some ideas!!!!

 

Everything that I would have checked and tested you have pretty much already done. Could it be a loose connection somewhere? That would explain the intermittent cylinder misfiring. Perhaps you should start it in its current condition and wiggle connectors and grounds and see if anything changes. That's all I can think of at the moment. Good luck!

 

reset ECU? Test codes??

 

Ok, so yesterday while reading through hundreds of threads I read about someone turning on their bike, opening the butterfly's all the way and cranking it over. So this morning I go out and cranked for 5 seconds and then turned it off for a minute. Did that 3 times and then cranked it over without the throttle open and it started right up with all 4 exhaust manifolds getting hot. Ran the engine for about 10 min up and down the rpm range, got lots of white smoke, cleared up, got some spurts of black and now its all clear. I can hear a miss intermitently above 5000 rpm but all 4 cylinders are kicking. What could have caused that and should I expect it to happen again?

 

What mods are done to the bike? You mentioned you have a power commander, if you have a full exhaust did you retain the 02 sensor. You mentioned the MAP sensor coming up as a code. have you replaced that?

 

The only mods are the PCIII and a K&N air and oil filter. Everything else is oem. The MAP was causing a single flash on the FI light but since reseting the codes it hasn't come back. Oh, and the map for the PCIII is for an oem bike. I reprogrammed that to make sure.

 

How old is the fuel ? I have this problem with bad fuel in one of my bikes

 

I personally wouldn't even run the PCIII and aftermarket filter untill you get the diagnosis figured out. Keep the amount of variables down. I would also have a leakdown/compression test preformed if you haven't already done it.

 

+1 to the leakdown/compression test. Also a cooling system pressure test. Sounds like you might have had cylinders washed down with coolant. Maybe a bad head gasket?

 

wouldnt worry about these if its an intermittent problem and the cylinders occasionally fire. first and foremost sounds like a bad fuel problem. maybe try switching the injectors around and checking the fuel lines?