What happened? DCT version conked out on open throttle

[thwartedEfforts 264]

Have been meaning to join since falling in love with my NC750X, and am a little sad my first post has to be a request for help rather than a simple hello.

 

Was riding to work this morning on a familiar route when, no more than a couple of miles from home, I felt the power drop on an open throttle. I'm not doing more than 40mph and have just exited a roundabout. I don't recall the engine speed, but was in D rather than in S, so probably less than 1,250 rpm 

 

I twisted the throttle open further and was rewarded only with the sensation of engine braking. As I dropped to walking pace the oil lamp comes on and the engine is quiet.

 

The fuel tank is full, the oil is fine, the bike has recently had a service. I wasn't riding like a jackass and tend to stick on the sedate side of fast anyway. The only thing I remember doing before the bike cut out was to turn on the heated grips as I approached the roundabout. Nothing else to note.

 

Having coasted to a halt thinking, "Well, this isn't very Honda", the bike jumped back to life when I thumbed the starter. There were foreign clicking and clattering noises from the transmission, but after they died down the bike acted as if nothing had happened. I chatted briefly with the supplying dealer and, after speaking with someone in service (where I had a clear sense this wasn't the first time they'd had the conversation), rode the rest of the way to work without incident.

 

Has anyone else had anything similar happen? It's knocked my confidence: never had a bike just plain die underneath me, let alone a 12 month old Honda with fewer than 2,000 miles on the clock 

 

Also.. hello!

[Tex 36,817]

Hello. And welcome to the forum.

 

At first I thought the heated grips may have blown a fuse, but then you said it started up again - so it’s not that. The unaccustomed noise from the DCT in starting could be because it was left in gear when the engine cut out? 

 

You didn’t somehow knock the kill switch off when fumbling for the grip switch? Unlikely because you would have had to turn it on again and you would, presumably, have remembered doing so..

 

Very difficult to know what to say, really. It’s much easier to diagnose an engine that won’t start than one that does.

 

 I would just put it down to ‘one of those things’ and not worry too much. Even Rolls Royces break down!  

[embee 7,288]

Always look at the last thing you did/changed. I'd be looking closely at the heated grip wiring. Where is it connected to? Are there any signs of chafing of wiring? Who installed them?

 

As Tex says, the noises from the gearbox are simply it trying to select neutral before it will start again. The oil light comes on when the engine stops, it's just pressure. When the engine stops and you lose oil pressure the DCT clutches will disengage (they use oil pressure to operate) but it won't automatically select neutral if power is cut until you try to start it again.

 

The kill switch/supply is a prime candidate, either an inadvertent prod with a glove or a fault. I had a fault in the connector between the right switch block and the harness, tarnished pins, which effectively cut the supply to the kill switch (so the engine wouldn't start, it had been running fine up till then). Worth checking that connector, it's somewhere in the right side fairing (not sure exactly where on your bike, mine will obviously be slightly different but it thereabouts, about 18" away from the headstock somewhere).

[thwartedEfforts 264]

Hot damn that's exactly what it is. How embarrassing.

 

I knocked my right side mirror coming out of the garage this morning. After exiting the roundabout and accelerating up to 40mph, the mirror arm swung round on its nut and pointed straight at me. In tightening the thing up, I must have knocked the kill switch. When restarting the bike I remember thinking, hang on, why is the switch off, but didn't twig the sequence of events because the mirror isn't related to the functioning of the bike. I put the switch position down to the kerfuffle of getting the bike off the road, but in actual fact I'd most likely knocked it while adjusting the mirror.

 

Feel silly that I've failed to put two and two together here, but am most grateful other people did. Thanks 

Edited July 15, 2019 by thwartedEfforts
clarity

[Grumpy old man 4,670]

1 minute ago, thwartedEfforts said:

Hot damn that's exactly what it is. How embarrassing.

 

I knocked my right side mirror coming out of the garage this morning. After exiting the roundabout and accelerating up to 40mph, the mirror arm swung round on its nut and pointed straight at me. In tightening the thing up, I must have knocked the kill switch. When restarting the bike I remember thinking, hang on, why is the switch off, but didn't think much of it because it isn't related to the actual functioning of the bike. I put its position down to the kerfuffle of getting the bike off the road, but in actual fact I'd most likely knocked it while adjusting the mirror.

 

Feel silly that I've failed to put two and two together here, but am most grateful other people did. Thanks 

Good to hear it's sorted😊

[thwartedEfforts 264]

Well as I said in my original message, I remember thinking, this isn't very Honda. And it wasn't. It was the fathead on top of it.

[Tex 36,817]

Don’t be too hard on yourself. The man who never made a mistake never made anything! And well done for recognising (and owning up to!) the cause. 

 

I hope you’re going to stay around on here? It’s a nice place to spend some time.  

[GaryBee 48]

Remember that most of the fixes or cures are presented by those that have been there already and done what you have done, including myself.

[Grumpy old man 4,670]

5 hours ago, thwartedEfforts said:

Well as I said in my original message, I remember thinking, this isn't very Honda. And it wasn't. It was the fathead on top of it.

I think we all have engine kill switch stories.

 

[outrunner 4,457]

2 hours ago, Grumpy old man said:

I think we all have engine kill switch stories.

 

Not me, never, well perhaps........................

 

Andy.

[alhendo1 3,031]

Or disc lock ones (me 3 times😅)

[Tex 36,817]

3 minutes ago, alhendo1 said:

Or disc lock ones (me 3 times😅)

 

I only did it once and cracked a rib - ain’t never gonna do that again! 

[alhendo1 3,031]

1 minute ago, Tex said:

 

I only did it once and cracked a rib - ain’t never gonna do that again! 

Maybe my downfall/failure to learn was because I never suffered actual pain😅

[Tonyj 6,907]

My friend Richard was in an underground car park and wanted everyone to know he was a big roughly tufty biker . Saw a young woman exiting the lift and thought she’d be impressed with the loud exhaust on his Kawasaki 650 :0) dropped the clutch and promptly fell off .......... forgot the disc lock :0)  still makes me laugh now thinking about it.

[Trev 18,576]

Must have done kill switch thing a few times over the years myself (and had them flocked of by mates d*cking about), I wonder if anyone has actually ever used one for what it's designed for?

[thwartedEfforts 264]

It will surprise no one to learn that I arrived at work today without any hair raising incidents 

 

[Tonyj 6,907]

See everyday is a school day.😃😃

[listener 11,158]

2 hours ago, thwartedEfforts said:

It will surprise no one to learn that I arrived at work today without any hair raising incidents 

 

Wait folks ... any minute now he'll realise he forgot to put his trousers on. 

[baben 11,703]

I had a mystery failure to start issue. Just like a kill switch - but turned out to be a loose fuse in the box under the seat. Dead simple when you know what it is.

[John Y 136]

In our office this kind of unexplained technical event in known as a PICNIC error

 

Problem In Chair Not In Computer

[Andy m 23,473]

Anyone care to explain why we need the kill switch when every other road vehicle manages without? Off road killing the engine in gear gives you the equivalent of a hand brake, but never had to do this on tarmac. Reaching the key isn't so hard is it? 

 

The occasional use compared to the pain caused by trying to kick up an Enfield or MZ with the switch off makes me think I'd rather not have one. 

 

Andy

[Rocker66 34,378]

6 minutes ago, Andy m said:

Anyone care to explain why we need the kill switch when every other road vehicle manages without? Off road killing the engine in gear gives you the equivalent of a hand brake, but never had to do this on tarmac. Reaching the key isn't so hard is it? 

 

The occasional use compared to the pain caused by trying to kick up an Enfield or MZ with the switch off makes me think I'd rather not have one. 

 

Andy

I think it maybe to do with making it easier to kill the engine in an emergency or if the bike goes down.

[Andy m 23,473]

That makes sense on the odd cruiser where the bike may be laid on the key, so standardise on having the key in the normal place and it's actually easier than the kill switch that's on a bar potentially half tucked under the tank. 

 

Andy

Edited July 16, 2019 by Andy m

[Rocker66 34,378]

22 minutes ago, Andy m said:

That makes sense on the odd cruiser where the bike may be laid on the key, so standardise on having the key in the normal place and it's actually easier than the kill switch that's on a bar potentially half tucked under the tank. 

 

Andy

I remember that when kill switches first came in that the key could be in any one of several positions. I have had bikes with the key in the side of the headlight on top of the headlight under the the tank and in the left hand side panel.

[Defender 3,834]

7 hours ago, thwartedEfforts said:

It will surprise no one to learn that I arrived at work today without any hair raising incidents 

 

Yup didn't surprise me at all!

BTW nice looking well equipped bike, I think you have the same exhaust can as I do, looks like a Remus, I'm on my second one as the first got seriously bent when I got rear ended last year, but I think it absorbed some of the impact?