Power Commander waterproofing issues.

comberjohn

comberjohn

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Fitted a brand new PC5 last October and love the change it has made to the characteristics of the bike. It's a 2010 GS TC with 25k miles, de catted exhaust with standard silencer.
After I fitted it I did have a few issues with damp and it made the engine 'hunt' at tick over. No problems on the open road. When it dried out again, it was fine.
My guess was the TPS plug as it's very exposed on the side of the left injector and tried to seal it with self amalgamating tape and a small quantity of blue tack in the plug itself. Seemed to work for a while.
Started playing up recently and I tried to re do it again. Now it's as bad as ever again when you wash it or drive in heavy rain.
Before all the Hilltop mafia jump in. Yes, I would have preferred a remap and Hilltop would be the only one I would have trusted, but as I live in Northern Ireland, it's just not economical.
Has anyone had the same problem with a PC5 and what was the cure?
At the moment it may be getting removed.
 
That's an interesting site. Not sure I would have the tools or ability to make a watertight connection though.
I'm assuming it's the TPS as the PC5 plug seems to have a gap either side that's not on the BMW plug. On other bikes where the plug lives under the tank it would be no problem.
Had thought of trying to track down an original BMW plug from a damaged harness that has a few centimeters of cable still attached and could be grafted onto the PC5 wiring.
 
I greased both the PCIII on my old SC and PCV on my TC inside and out and never had a problem. I wouldn't wrap any type of tape around the connectors it'll make the moisture sit in there.
 
The design of the TPS plug on the PC5 makes it difficult to tape up and I don't think shrink wrap would be any easier. The metal security clip is where the water seems to get in.
What kind of grease did you use, odd shape, and did you do all of the connectors or just the TPS?
 
I've used both a purpose made silicone grease for electrical connections and also Vaseline! Both worked well.
 
Use silicone grease or ACF-50 grease on the rubber connectors. Then wrap the whole connector from wire to wire with self amalgamating tape. It will need to be carefully cut away when you want to separate the connector but its great for sealing stuff. Stretch before wrapping to give a tight wrap.
 
I had issues with my Wunderlich fuel controller on my old 1200 which was down to poor quality plugs.

I replaced them with OEM BWM plugs (not expensive) and treated the connectors to a good splurge of electrical grease and they never played up again.

Andres
 
Rang Hilltop today just to see what having my ecu remapped would cost. It costs the same, £360, whether you take the bike or just post the ecu over. If that was a way to go, I may as well wait for a month or two and try to make the trip over and have it set up properly.
Either that or grease up all the connectors on the PCV. Does make me a bit concerned about reliability on a trip. More to go wrong.
Although I have kept the o2 sensors in the headers, so wouldn't be difficult to return to stock at the side of the road.
Anyone tried the AF XIED mod?
 
I think I'll just do a bit of work on the PCV and make all of the connectors watertight.
Been reading up on o2 sensors and remaps and all the different options and it does your head in!
For me, the PCV works really well. It's smoother, more flexible and punchy. Honestly can't see any of the other options being noticeably better.
See if I can get silicone grease and a new pack of cable ties and spend some time sorting out any problem areas.
 
Ive had a PCV for about a year and its hardly been a dry winter to date. A good (appropriate) grease in the connectors is all it's needed. But a Hilltop remap has to be a more elegant solution.
 
Was leaning towards a Hilltop remap and thought it might be a bit more reasonable to have posted the ecu over to have it done.
Would be a better overall option.
For me, it would be £360 plus another £100 for the ferry and a bit more for fuel. Might have to factor in an overnight stay somewhere, too. Preferred option, but getting kind of expensive.
I'm guessing that Hilltop aren't keen on doing the postal thing in case everyone starts to post in their ecu and their reputation may suffer over time. £360 to load firmware is hard to swallow when I picked up my PCV for £155 new on eBay.
Nothing is easy!
 
Hi. I’m new to this Forum, was looking for some advice about installing a PCV to my 2009 R1200GSA and came across this thread. Which map have people used for a stock bike – is it the 12-001-001 that is available from the Power Commander website or would anyone recommend an alternative ? Cheers, Chris.
 
No one's going to recommend that you go to Hilltop, Chris. Welcome to the forum.
Firstly, I should say that I like what the PCV has done to my TC. It makes it smoother and it pulls strongly from just over 2k rpm.
Fuel consumption appears unchanged, maybe even slightly improved over stock.
Easily removed and the bike immediately returns to standard.
The main downside is that it introduces six additional connectors to the fueling system and the connectors on the PCV don't seem to be up to the exposed positions on the GS. That's my only gripe with it.
Much has been written about how it works and how the o2 sensors are disconnected. My only concern is that it doesn't damage the engine and I'm not bothered about the o2 sensors as I've removed the cat in the exhaust anyway. (Recommended!)
A remap is probably the best option as there's nothing to see with no additional connectors. The problem is finding someone who knows what they are doing. This is why Hilltop is so popular in England.
When I installed mine out of the box, it gave an immediate improvement. I then installed the standard European map and there was another, more subtle improvement. According to Dynojet, European fuel burns better due to no ethanol being added.
That's the one I'd recommend unless yours is running different exhausts or filters.
In your case that would be the 501 map unless you also have ethanol added. I notice that the maps listed are different from the ones for the TC.
Only takes seconds to upload a different map and the are free. A dyno session is probably the best but not cheap and I would doubt that the improvement would be that noticeable.
 
Mine was fitted by Hammer & Tongs in Warrington and was mounted on the back of the battery box under the tank with heavy duty velcro. The original plugs and leads were then fed back in to the same area giving some protection from the elements to the connections. After 2 yrs one of the connectors got a little furred up giving the symptoms you described but that was cured with contact cleaner and a dab of grease. You needed to take the side panels off and look very carefully to know a PCV was fitted to mine. It was a very tidy job, all credit to Hammer & Tongs
 
The PCV on my bike actually made it handle better. Yes really. No more stutter on easing the throttle open just power exactly when and where I want it so no more bike dropping into low speed turns (when the power arrives late) or lurching when power comes in too harshly.
 
Spathodea said:
Hi. I’m new to this Forum, was looking for some advice about installing a PCV to my 2009 R1200GSA and came across this thread. Which map have people used for a stock bike – is it the 12-001-001 that is available from the Power Commander website or would anyone recommend an alternative ? Cheers, Chris.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum. When I fitted my PC111 to my 06 GSA, I took it to a local dyno guy who set the bike up the way I wanted.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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