Help wanted diagnosing dead '08 510

Looking for some input from people who know these bikes better than I do. '08 SM510R with 900 miles or so. Has a PCIII with no known issues and it has been running fine up until now. The problem began when I was driving up my driveway after a ride and it suddenly died halfway up. I figured I was just sloppy with the clutch and pushed it the last 10 feet into the garage. Next time I tried to ride it, it didn't start.

Here's what it's doing. If I don't open the throttle, it'll turn over forever without firing at all. If I open the throttle midway to full throttle, it'll fire up and rocket up to the rev limiter. Then it dies after a second or less. If I'm real careful with the throttle I can get it to bounce between the rev limiter and dying for a few seconds, but basically it's only firing when I'm giving it lots of throttle and then only very briefly at the rev limiter.

I checked spark. It is sparking even when cranking slowly. The problem is the same whether the "choke" knob is in or out. I checked the plug and it is dry and black. Cleaning the plug made no difference. (Getting a new one tomorrow, but I'm certain that's not the problem since it has never misfired and died suddenly.) I guess my next step is to disconnect the PCIII, but would appreciate any advice.

But that's only half the problem! One other thing I thought I would check is the stator plate to see if the timing had shifted. I've never taken that stator cover off yet and I found a big surprise. Oil -poured- out when I loosened the cover. I'm guessing a quart but it's hard to tell since first it went on the floor, then into rags, then into a small container, and then into an oil drain pan. There is no such thing as a "wet sump" flywheel/stator, is there? Either it was filled with oil due to a bad crank seal or it's supposed to be connected to the oil supply and I just drained my oil out. FWIW, nothing shows on the oil level window anymore so that's where the oil came from.

Are these problems related? Any clue what's going on?

Jon

PCIII lost its map. Had it happen on my GSXR1000. Unplug PCIII.
Oil is supposed to be in there.

Thanks for the help. This is my first thumper and I had no idea that there would be oil under that cover. Duh! Needed an oil change anyway...

I'll refill the oil, check the intake boots, and unplug the PCIII. Then check the map before hooking the PCIII back up.

It sounds like a throttle body / throttle position sensor EFI fault - I have no experience with Power Commander but presumably you can unplug this and return the bike to stock to eliminate it?

If so I'd try that first then if nothing changes you need to get the bike to a dealer to plug the Ibeat in to see what's happening with the EFI. Are you getting the flashing neutral light EFI warning?

Dave

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! The throttle body had slipped off of the front intake boot. I'm guessing it was never installed properly since I haven't touched it and the clamp was relatively tight despite the throttle body not being in place. It was probably only butted up to the boot and finally dropped down for some reason.

I feel kind of dumb for not knowing the stator area is "wet" but it makes no sense to me. Seems like it'd cause a lot of drag and needless frothing of oil to drag the flywheel through oil. I guess with a crankcase full of oil it's easier to just let the oil go everywhere rather than try to keep it out. Now I know.

Thanks all for the help. I had assumed something more catastrophic and therefore had skipped over some of the basics. Whew! Glad it was nothing serious (and that it happened in my driveway!)

For completeness, the PCIII can be disconnected easily and there was no fault indication on the dash. Runs fine now.

Jon