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ECU Disconnect

I put battery on charge for 5 1/2 hrs at 2v. Had it checked at battery store said it’s ok
 
Sadly I must revisit this issue. My wife & I have shipped our 13 Stelvio to Dublin to start a 3 month tour of Europe. I ran it nearly 300 miles before we left on the 200 mile ride to Montreal, where it got on the plane. After collecting the bike at the shipper, we pulled out into an intersection and the bike died! This is the nightmare I dream about when traveling.
Red triangle Service message followed by the Ecu-disconnect message. The injection relay up front on the left side clicks constantly with the key on. I unplugged it and jiggled it around and it stops. Neutral light back on, fuel pump primes and the bike fires up. We get about 100 meters up the road and it does the same thing. I make the relay stop clicking and it starts again. The third time I can’t make the relay stop with the key on.

Fast forward, the bike was hauled to a Guzzi dealer outside of Dublin. The mechanic decided it was likely a fuel pump because he didn’t here it prime. He changed the relay to no effect. This was a Saturday before a holiday weekend and on top of that the Aprillia mechanic was on vacation the following week.

We have been using public transportation and a borrowed car for the last week making the best of it . Hopefully Monday (13 days after our flight) they can get some propped diagnostics done.

I don’t believe the relay and disconnect message has anything to do with the fuel pump. Low voltage to the relay might be a theory. The battery is only a year old and is regularly on a tender. The test mileage before the trip didn’t have any problems.

This is my 5th ecu- disconnect episode in the last 4 years. Previous cures involved replacement injection relays, logic relay, main fuse, front F fuse and even a dirty abs sensor. This one is different.

I hope a cure can be found in the next day or so or we will need to ship a dead bike back to Canada and figure out how to get it home. Not the way we had hopped this trip would work out.

Thanks for listening,
Jon
 
As always, load test the battery. These days they don't last long. Be sure the ground wire mounted externally to the ECU has a clean and tight connection.
 
To add to what John says above, check the ground strap both at the battery and under the starter motor cover as well for solid connections. The small soft stud bolt at the motor is a known issue. I’ve had my NTX show the ECU disconnect a few times in it’s life so far, usually a key on/off a few times it will make it go away and start. No error codes shown. You can see error codes on the dashboard as well you are aware, yes?
 
As John and GTM have advised.

I can also tell you that 98% of these errors and behaviors are the direct result of a battery which will fail a “Load test”. The Stelvio absolutely abhors insufficient voltage or erratic electrical supply.

This is not the same as reading the voltage across the battery terminals!

Before I abandoned my motorcycle and shipped it back, I would get a load test done on the battery (many auto parts stores offer this service for free) and/or just replace it.

You will see your problem disappear.

I can practically guarantee this is the case.
 
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So frustrating these Guzzi's doing random stuff like that, mine will just did the ECU disconnect twice yesterday after being OK for almost a year.
 
gringo said:
So frustrating these Guzzi's doing random stuff like that, mine will just did the ECU disconnect twice yesterday after being OK for almost a year.
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It’s not really that bad when you consider the age of the Stelvio NTX’s.

Mine is 12 years old. Cleaning up some connection oxidation is really more like restorative maintenance.
 
My -06 B11 was finnicky for a few years. Ground connection, all accessible connectors (tank and airbox off) and the main plug into the dash were cleaned and "anti-corroded". Success! If I get a service alert now, it is usually enough to snug down the battery terminals.
Maybe once in a year or so.
 
There are no codes. I haven’t heard from the shop so far this week. I plan on traveling down there today by train and do some troubleshooting. Mostly with the battery. We are staying 125 miles north. Which is not ideal.
 
One other thing when you check the battery by Load Testing it.

I cannot tell you how many times as a professional mechanic, I would see freshly cleaned battery connectors that were beautiful to look at (the side facing up and away from the battery), versus the side which actually touches the battery, was heavily oxidized and even corroded! Clean the inside surface which touches the battery.

Also, follow the negative battery cable from the battery to where it attaches to the motorcycle block. Remove the bolt and clean the cable and area if the block with some sandpaper or a wire brush and reattach the cable firmly.

I know you said your battery was on a tender but I tell you that battery technology these days is truly awful. I’ve seen batteries that are 4 months old, kept on tenders, fail miserably. Especially the cheap after-market kind most people buy on FleaBay and Amazon.

I am pretty sure that your issues are related to electrical supply.

Good Luck to you!
 
We think it is fixed! The ecu plug had worked loose. Must have been a bumpy flight. It was on 3 separate flights. One more than us. Many other things have been checked and double checked. 2 hour train ride for me tomorrow and I will ride it north to where we have been staying. Just under a two week delay but still, happy days.
 
Vt-Guzzi said:
We think it is fixed! The ecu plug had worked loose. Must have been a bumpy flight. It was on 3 separate flights. One more than us. Many other things have been checked and double checked. 2 hour train ride for me tomorrow and I will ride it north to where we have been staying. Just under a two week delay but still, happy days.
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Hard to believe it came loose. That connector is a latching plug type. May not have been fully latched.
 
Vt-Guzzi said:
We think it is fixed! The ecu plug had worked loose. Must have been a bumpy flight. It was on 3 separate flights. One more than us. Many other things have been checked and double checked. 2 hour train ride for me tomorrow and I will ride it north to where we have been staying. Just under a two week delay but still, happy days.
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Congratulations! It's very nice that your mechanic fixed it for you. I hope you enjoy the remainder of your 3 month vacation.
 
scott_m said:
Congratulations! It's very nice that your mechanic fixed it for you. I hope you enjoy the remainder of your 3 month vacation.
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The disturbing part is that none of the mechanics fixed this issue. I had figured it out myself while stranded in a wet rainy parking lot in England.
 
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