Got on my 01 F4i this morning to go to work and I get 50 ft away from my driveway and the bike dies. I try to start it back up and it turns over just fine, idles smooth, runs fine. The second I let out the clutch it dies again. I immediately think kick stand sensor, the bike doesn't know that the kick stand isn't down.

The clutch seems to work fine, I tightened the cable just a bit to see if maybe that was it but it wasn't. The kill switch seems to be working, I hear the gas pump kick when I switch it to the on position. The only other thing I can think of is the kick stand switch.

Am I missing something else? How can I tell for sure its the switch? Is ther a way to bypass it? Thanks for your help.

 

Ok looking through the manual I tested the continuity in the switch when it was down Ihad none, and when it was up I had continuity so the switch is good.
Where do I go from here? The bike still wont run in gear..

 

Follow the switch wiring and make sure its good.

 

Bike will die as soon as you put it in gear with the kickstand down and the clutch pulled in, so that isn't telling you anything as you'd never get to the letting the clutch out point.

 

I took to searching the bike for an obvious loose or burnt wire, or a loose connection. I did notice that I had several wire harness clips that were a bit dirty, so I took them apart and cleaned them up.

I took the tank off, checked the battery connections. And after not seeing anything obvious decided to put it back together and see what happened. It started fine!

Now 2 weeks later Im driving on I95 and the bike just quits on me at 70+ mph, right after I let off the accelerator, it think, its hard to remember. I grab the clutch and restart while shifting down to the appropriate gear for my now 5o ish mph and the resume driving just fine.

This has happened three times now, twice while on the hgwy, and once in my housing track. Seems to be deceleration I think as all times I was in some form of slowing down.

Any ideas?? I am going to resume my search for loose/bad connections. Maybe a relay??

Thank you in advance for any info you may be able to provide!

 

If it is the kickstand sensor its easily bypassed but it is a safety feature.

 

When the bike dies, does the power to the gauges stay on or does that go off as well?

 

The tachometer dies temporarily. If I down shift and give it some rpms it will resume just fine. The lose of power is only for a split second. I am going to test the battery. Maybe the stator?

 

I have seen batterys that have a bad connection between the plates inside and will intermitantly loose power as they vibrate. Its a long shot but I hope thats it.

 

I checked the battery and its reading 13.1 after sitting overnight in the garage. I havent load tested it though

But, I think I found it! The wire harness splits into two connections just below the Instrument panel and I was wiggling wires while the bike was on the stands in 1st. If I twist the harness just right the power would cut and then return a split second later.

Problem is all the wires look good. Must be a broken wire inside the insulation? How do I pin point it? I really don't want to strip the whole harness. Any ideas?