jonny042

I had an event this past weekend, and the bike was indeed much, much better. All due to the higher idle speed but may also have been helped by fresh, brand new jitsie air filter? Regardless, I may still try to program around the problem with the PTB, as the idle speed is too high for my liking.

Not as of yet, although I did raise the idle speed a bit more, and it seems to have helped. Probably by about 50%. I am planning to get a programmable/dual map ecu and hope to be able to turn the idle back down, I'm finding it to be too fast for my tastes, as in 1st gear at idle it's going too fast for a very slow section. And although the clutch is decent in its modulation under power, it's a little grabby in this condition. With the new ECU I should be able to fiddle with the fuel at idle speeds/0% throttle and get it to start more easily.

There seems to be some misunderstanding on reseting the system. Does anyone have a definitive answer on this. Unless the bike is running there is no way that the ECU would be reading the TPS or would "see" the kill switch.... although I will try it tomorrow. There is no stored energy in the electrical system. This is a common misconception. Even though there is a fairly large capacitor in the system, it's used to smooth the pulses from the rectified and regulated voltage, not actually store any energy. It doesn't take that much power to squirt a bit of fuel, and light a spark...... it's how much fuel, and when that spark occurs that are the only two variables. Ludde: I don't have a PTB, but I guess maybe it's time to get one..... even if it's just for the starting issue. The idea of the engine getting "cleaned out" makes way more sense than it actually being a reset of some sort. I'm thinking there really is no such thing!!!! So, a slow kick that doesn't fire up the fuel pump or open the injector, with the throttle open, cleans out the the cylinder, then voila a fresh charge and away she goes. This is also brilliant because it goes a long way to explaining why a high idle helps. It's the less rich idle mixture that results that helps. Now that I think of it the whole oiled/dirty air filter would have effect too. A least it's starting to make sense! Thanks!! I guess there's my excuse for the PTB.....

Hi Nigel, Yes, I do pressure wash it regularly, but take care to avoid any direct spray on the wiring harness and ecu/injection unit. It did also do it the first time out this spring when I know for sure it was clean and dry. It's done it since I got the bike a little less than a year ago. It's been annoying me ever since but I finally decided to do something about it. I doubt that it is an earth problem, I've double checked that. If it was it would likely be hard starting all the time but it starts like a champ once I "reset" it. Same goes for cold starting. Reset it and it starts first kick. As for idle speed, it is set quite high, higher, in fact, than 3 other 4RT's in my group last weekend. All 3 started fine. Are there any settings in the programmable ECU's that I could play with? I thought maybe a programmable unit would help.

Hi Martin!, do you have any advice on the hard starting issue? You're the refect guy to help....

Hello all, I have a 2007 4RT that is a little finicky when it comes to starting, it quite often needs a "reset" by holding the throttle wide open and a slow kick. What this reset does, exactly, I have no idea, but if I do it, the bike is guaranteed to start up on the next kick. I end up having to do the following at least every second time I start the bike: -kick -swear -kick again -sigh -hold WOT and kick slowly -kick and try to catch up on the loop trail and eat everyones dust It makes no difference if I stop the bike with the kill button, or if I stall it at part throttle or at idle. Idle is set high, play in the throttle. In the course of an event, then, this probably means 10 sections x 3 loops x 2 starts per section x 4 kicks to start = 240 kicks. No wonder my leg is tired! The most annoying thing is it's a software issue, I'm sure. It starts first kick every time after a reset. Is there some other issue perhaps? Thanks and best regards.