Power Commander III shut off my Gixxer!

scastro901 · 11-09-2009, 09:15 PM

I have a 2006K6 Gixxer. I put on a PCIIIUSB months ago and it's given me 0 problems (probably 1,000 miles+) until now.

I was cruising in 2nd gear around 40 on rural roads and I upshifted to 5th and let go of the throttle (don't ask why - it was for a reason). My bike instantly shut off with an FI alarm. I coasted safely into a pullover to troubleshoot.

My friend behind me said he saw a puff of white smoke come out of my exhaust when my bike died. And it was instantly when I shifted to 5th and let go of the throttle. So my assumption is that the RPM shift was too sudden and the power commander fucked up my fuel mixture and flooded my cylinders with too much gasoline.

So on the restart attempts, white smoke was coming out of the exhaust like an old steam locomotive. She wouldn't start. The white smoke eventually went away. I was killing the battery with all the restart attempts. Each failed attempt caused the FI light to come on. Resetting the ignition cleared the FI alarm.

I was using the WOT feature on the restarts to stop fuel from going into the cylinder. We had to jump her and finally got her started and I got her home.

She seems to be running fine but here's the first diagnostics I've done. I couldn't pull the FI code cause I wasn't in dealer mode on the road. Now that I'm home and in dealer mode, I can't reproduce the issue of course. So I don't know which FI code was thrown during this whole debacle.

I looked at my power commander unit, and it's a little concerning. The lights go out and come back on. If you gently squeeze the unit, the LEDs stay on and move on the fuel range when you rock the throttle. So it seems that the power commander is working, but I think the unit may be flakin out on me. If you let go of the unit, the LED stays on for a sec or 2 then goes out. You can still see the LEDs unbelievably faint when they're off and they're moving when you rock the throttle.

So I sent a note to DynoJet to get their opinion on whether or not I need a new unit. But I want your opinions of course. Fire away!

RayOSV · 11-10-2009, 12:52 AM

Is the wiring to the PC still solid with no loose connections? If the wiring is OK, the unit may be bad. Bypass the PC if you want until you get a new one.

scastro901 · 11-10-2009, 07:41 AM

The connections to the injectors and TPS are fine. I knocked that out of the park. However, the harness by the unit got crimped a little by my seat (the pressure point). I didn't tuck it out of harms way. But it doesn't look cut or damaged, only flattened. I bent and wiggled that part of the harness while doing tests on the PC and it wasn't interfering with the power of the PC at all.

And back to the unit, I forgot to mention I hooked it up to my computer and it's showing RPMs and TP just fine. My map I loaded is still there (yoshi TRC full and aftermarket filter). The only worrysome problem is that the LEDs on the PC go out and come back on with some gentle squeezing of the unit (this would have nothing to do with the crimp on the harness which is upline a good 10").

I also think the crimp on my harness was done after this whole incident went down because I was on the side of the road removing my seat with my toolkit to jump the bike. So when I put the seat back on, I did it in haste and probably didn't tuck the harness out of harms way. So I'm not very concerned about the flattened wire - rather more the unit LED display and how it's being real weird.

So let us explore this. The PC on the lower injectors is a Y cable (a bypass to the stock ECM signal). So if in theory, the power commander dies while you're riding, shouldn't the stock ECM take over? Or is that not how it works?

Thanks for your input gents.

Skaz915 · 11-10-2009, 08:23 PM

I'm still trying to figure out why you would shift directly from 2nd to 5th esp when going only 40mph...

scastro901 · 11-10-2009, 09:35 PM

I knew someone would demand an answer. I needed to zip my right pocket and instead of pulling the clutch to free up my right hand I did this so I can take my hand off the throttle and not get rocked with engine braking.

Go ahead and poke your fun - get it over with. I'll never do it again.

Regardless, the PCIII shouldn't have freaked. It's not like it was too violent of an RPM change vs. throttle position. It probably would've been worse if I pulled the clutch and let go of the throttle to zip my pocket cause the RPMs would've shot down to idle and throttle position to closed. In fact that's probably more disrupting than what I did. If the power commander can't handle that, it's a piece of garbage.

Let's stick to the faulty unit - DynoJet got back to me and said to send it in for warranty repair. I just uninstalled it and I'm shipping it to Las Vegas baby.

Eat it guys...

Teej · 11-10-2009, 10:51 PM

White smoke? That's almost never anything but coolant getting into the engine. Can't blame the PC for that.

Did you smell the smoke? Generally you get:

white smoke - coolant - sick-sweet smell.

blue smoke - oil - obvious burning oil smell

black smoke - too rich mixture. smells like...well...fuel.

Saml01 · 11-11-2009, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scastro901

I was using the WOT feature on the restarts to stop fuel from going into the cylinder.

This is called flood clear.

scastro901 · 11-11-2009, 08:26 PM

What does flood clear mean?

Saml01 · 11-11-2009, 09:25 PM

The function that you are describing.

WOT + Crank tells the ECU to not inject fuel during cranking.

scastro901 · 11-11-2009, 09:32 PM

Nice. Well it saved my ass from a tow. Got the tip from a friend.

Do all modern FI bikes have the flood clear feature (cruisers and sports alike)?

Saml01 · 11-12-2009, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scastro901

Nice. Well it saved my ass from a tow. Got the tip from a friend.

Do all modern FI bikes have the flood clear feature (cruisers and sports alike)?

I don't know about sports bikes but I know that cars do, and thats what the function is called. But I would imagine that most that have EFI would.

scastro901 · 11-14-2009, 01:32 AM

So TEEJ, how can coolant get in the engine and exhaust? Isn't it in a closed circuit that, sure flows around the engine, but it doesn't have anyway to get into the throttle bodies or cylinders. Am I wrong?

And there was definitely gasoline in my exhaust pipe when the white smoke was billowing. It was almost misting out of there. Definitely gasoline.

I just don't get the coolant thing. Fucking Gixxer with the supid dealer mode!!! I wish I had those fucking codes! I'm leaving the dealer mode toggle switch in there full time in case this ever happens again. It would also be nice if dealer mode could tell you the last FI codes that were thrown (instead of current) cause I can't reproduce the issue now of course. FUCK!

scastro901 · 11-14-2009, 07:56 AM

Wait a minute. I just read about the SDS (Suzuki Diagnosis System) set tool in the service manual. Apparently this stores previous FI codes. Without referencing the service manual (which I already have) has anyone used this before? Where do you get one?

Saml01 · 11-14-2009, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scastro901

So TEEJ, how can coolant get in the engine and exhaust? Isn't it in a closed circuit that, sure flows around the engine, but it doesn't have anyway to get into the throttle bodies or cylinders. Am I wrong?

And there was definitely gasoline in my exhaust pipe when the white smoke was billowing. It was almost misting out of there. Definitely gasoline.

I just don't get the coolant thing. Fucking Gixxer with the supid dealer mode!!! I wish I had those fucking codes! I'm leaving the dealer mode toggle switch in there full time in case this ever happens again. It would also be nice if dealer mode could tell you the last FI codes that were thrown (instead of current) cause I can't reproduce the issue now of course. FUCK!

The engine is not a solid piece, it has a head and a cylinder block, the two pieces are sealed together with a gasket. If the engine over heats the two pieces warp at different rates, that negates the gasket, and lets fluids mix.

scastro901 · 11-18-2009, 08:12 PM

A bunch of people mentioned the wire tap to the TPS as a possible issue. I hit the proper wire on the right side of the throttle bodies.

I didn't use dielectric grease on the tap. I removed it and saw the TPS wire from my crimp. It didn't look like the crimp removed all the wire insulation.

So here's the deal, it definitely worked for months. The PCIII fuel band LEDs were moving when you rev the throttle. So it had a signal from the TPS.

However, if that connection flakes out (cause of the poor connection) can it cause the bike to shut off with FI code?

What should I do?