[sweetlou]

All, my N1K died on my tonight coming home from work. I was riding on the highway and all of a sudden my ignition cut out. FI code 39 appears. Kawasaki manual says "ECU Read Error."

Bike has 11,xxx miles and has been the setup the same for the last 10xxx miles so no new changes. Battery was just taken off trickle charger before leaving for work, like usual. Plenty of battery left to turn motor over. I will check voltage tomorrow. Starter turns and engages fine. No FI when I turn key on. I don't hear butterflies moving or fuel pump engaging so obviously no fuel is being sent into motor.

Tomorrow I start tear down and checking fuses and go from there. PLEASE tell me someone had this happen to them before?

Thanks,

Lou

 

[Barry]

No havent experianced it,but voltge check on batt and fuse checks are the best place to start.
Cant offer anymore info till you can post results of initial checks.
Post'em up asap and ill do my best to help.

 

[2011ninja]

check your ecu connections also.
may it be so simple.
good luck!

 

[rcannon409]

Heres a good thread on the 10r forum..I suspect the same code is good on any Kawasaki? I'll ruin the suspense..... Kawasaki switched a lot of parts on his bike, but it was not cured until he replaced the battery. Hopefully yours is the same ...

Gen 4: 2011- Error code 39 - Kawasaki ZX-10R.net

From that thread, it sounds as if our systems like a good battery.

 

[sweetlou]

Ok, I know where to start. Where is the ECU... Is that the black thing on the frame by the steering head?

This blows. You would never know I just put a down payment on a new KTM and the ninja is for sale.

Lou

 

[rcannon409]

No, ecu is in back...there are two boxes in the back tail area. ECU is the bottom one.

Seriously, go for a battery before even removing it. Theres a test procedure in the manual, but it will pass..then what?

 

[sweetlou]

Yeah, I hear that. Let me check all the simple stuff and the first thing I replace will be battery

 

[rcannon409]

One thign odd on our bikes is the placement of the voltage regulator/rectifier. The worst place you coudl put this is in the direct path of garbage flung up from the rear tire..which is just what Kawasaki did...I'd start there. That connection might be dirty.

 

[sweetlou]

I still have good crank power, light all come on normal, etc. I've never had a R/R go bad on me though so not sure what to look for

 

[rcannon409]

From what the other thread sounded like, the battery had to be in a1 condition to function properly....I dont know how a person checks this out withhold trying a known to be good batt from soemthign else? The 10r guys were getting that error with a battery showing the "bottom" of the "good " range....

If so, every electrical test will turn out ok, but it wont work right.

The owners manual shows a very basic test of the ecu, using a multimeter, but if the bike runs, I'd imagine it will checked out.

 

[sweetlou]

OK, battery fully charged on trickle charger. No change. Bike will crank and crank but no running. Again, no fuel pump engagement or butterflies turning when key is turned on.

Starting to test. Off the bat I can see my Power commander 5 has NO power when the key is turned on. It DOES power on when I plug it into my laptop, so the unit appears to be functioning properly.

Just tested battery voltage, 12.31v. I believe this is low, right? Should be higher?

EDIT - just tested my other bikes and batteries are at 12.9. Time to swap out battery and test.

Lou

 

[sweetlou]

Now it is getting even weirder, with the bike OFF, I get 12.7v on battery disconnected from bike. With key ON, I get 12.3v. Still no power commander power. Tests continue.

 

[sweetlou]

FIXED

The main power lead fuse blew. Follow the power cable + from the battery into the first harness, there are two fuses - a 30 and a 15. My 15 blew. Now comes the important question.... WHAT would cause it to blow as I am riding home on a dry night?

Lou

 

[kenors]

FIXED

The main power lead fuse blew. Follow the power cable + from the battery into the first harness, there are two fuses - a 30 and a 15. My 15 blew. Now comes the important question.... WHAT would cause it to blow as I am riding home on a dry night?

Lou

First of all, thank you for the updates and results. This will get filed away in my memory bank.

As to what could cause a fuse to blow. Fuses get turned out dirt cheap by the bazillions. The fuse element itself is a soft metal that can succumb to metal fatigue from vibration fairly easily. It used to happen a lot more but now most fuse boxes are rubber mounted. Still, it doesn't take much of a manufacturing flaw to create a fuse that is under rated, poorly mounted or otherwise "semi" defective. That MAY be your case. Fuses occasionally fail of their own free will. I'd replace it, carry a spare and not worry about it unless it happens again.

 

[JonTheChron]

Said nothing.

I was riding home on a dry day aswell when my bike fried. Unplug the voltage regulator under the tail, check the pins. if they are corroded, get working on it asap.

 

[rcannon409]

Jon, this issue...it starts with a corroded voltage reg connection, right?

 

[sweetlou]

Jon, I was poking around there and saw mine is a bit loose, although it is rubber mounted. It's dirty but I will check the pins. Thanks for the help

 

[JonTheChron]

Jon, I was poking around there and saw mine is a bit loose, although it is rubber mounted. It's dirty but I will check the pins. Thanks for the help

Yes, It happened to me 1 mo after end of warranty. Fried my whole bike.. ECU, voltage regulator, part of wire harness and all bulbs. Some pins on the power regulator broke off due to corrosion and the regulator sent 25V to everything... the battery almost blew up while i was sitting on it, it was as hot and fat as a potato when i pulled it out from under my seat on the side of the road.

 

[stevenvt]

There most likely is some reason for the blown fuse. I wouldn't just discount it as a fatigued fuse. I remember when I first got on this list there was a recall for some early serial numbers Ninjas. It had to do with how the wiring loom was routed inside the fairing and how it could cause chafing and cause a short. If you are interested, I can dig up the recall notice. If I remember correctly for those serial numbers that were affected, the dealer would re-route wires at certain locations.

What's amazing to me is that the speedo had enough brains to detect that the ECU was having an issue. Perhaps it puts out a request for some kind of info and the ECU didn't respond.

 

[rcannon409]

The voltage regulator has been moved on the 2014 edition to the steering head. This must be the reason why.