So, just back from the Hard Alpi Tour on my X Challenge - what a ride!
Had some issues with the XCh blowing Fuse F... pretty much every couple of hours at one point!
It started as I pulled on to the Ferry at Dover and the bike just cut out, engine, lights, display, everything. I thought my trip had come to a sudden end before it had even begun, but a quick Google over breakfast (which suggested I might have stretched a wire to a diagnostic plug against the frame) and special access to the car deck allowed me to swap the fuse and had me going again and I was able to ride off in to France.
As the bike got hot, riding down the Paeage to get the miles done, it would blow the same Fuse F while standing at toll booths, fuel stops etc with the engine running waiting for the others. Then as we went on I'd turn off to let the engine cool for a minute or two at these stops but the bike would blow the fuse as it went through its diagnostics when I turned it back on.
Then, on one occasion it blew as I was riding down the motorway! Wasn't especially hot, hadn't turned the bars or anything. However, with a pocket full of fuses from service stations I eventually made it to the start of the Hard Alpi... where it blew just as I was about to exit Parc Fermé! Not a great start!
Over the course of the rally which took me just over 23 hours I blew a load more fuses – I set off with a bag of 10+ and had just 2 left when I finished. It was a mixture of blowing when hot while standing, blowing when I turned back on after a few minutes off (although it would usually be ok if I left it off for more than half an hour or so), blowing once when I kicked the sidestand up (although that may have been coincidental) and one time it blew in the depths of the night in the middle of nowhere with nobody else around as I was descending a steep trail in the pitch black - engine off, lights off, everything just cut out! Scary!
However, after the Rally and for the next 3 days trail riding and 2 full days back home over some great Alpine passes and a load of dull Paeage it didn't blow a single fuse!
I'm going to have to strip the big Touratech tank and everything off to give it a proper clean as it's caked in Alpine mud and crud, but does anyone have any ideas where to look initially for what might be causing the issue?
Quite tricky as there wasn't much pattern to when it would blow. My thoughts were that the big TT tank was restricting airflow to maybe the starter relay (which operates off that fuse), the reg/rec or maybe even the ECU under the seat. Then again it may be as simple as a cracked/bared wire that I'd shaken into a position where it was shorting whilst laning before I went away and shook back out of the way whilst doing the HAT!
I've seen this on ADV Rider, but they're talking about a different fuse... possible it's the same cause though?
Any ideas of where to look first would be good to know!
Had some issues with the XCh blowing Fuse F... pretty much every couple of hours at one point!
It started as I pulled on to the Ferry at Dover and the bike just cut out, engine, lights, display, everything. I thought my trip had come to a sudden end before it had even begun, but a quick Google over breakfast (which suggested I might have stretched a wire to a diagnostic plug against the frame) and special access to the car deck allowed me to swap the fuse and had me going again and I was able to ride off in to France.
As the bike got hot, riding down the Paeage to get the miles done, it would blow the same Fuse F while standing at toll booths, fuel stops etc with the engine running waiting for the others. Then as we went on I'd turn off to let the engine cool for a minute or two at these stops but the bike would blow the fuse as it went through its diagnostics when I turned it back on.
Then, on one occasion it blew as I was riding down the motorway! Wasn't especially hot, hadn't turned the bars or anything. However, with a pocket full of fuses from service stations I eventually made it to the start of the Hard Alpi... where it blew just as I was about to exit Parc Fermé! Not a great start!
Over the course of the rally which took me just over 23 hours I blew a load more fuses – I set off with a bag of 10+ and had just 2 left when I finished. It was a mixture of blowing when hot while standing, blowing when I turned back on after a few minutes off (although it would usually be ok if I left it off for more than half an hour or so), blowing once when I kicked the sidestand up (although that may have been coincidental) and one time it blew in the depths of the night in the middle of nowhere with nobody else around as I was descending a steep trail in the pitch black - engine off, lights off, everything just cut out! Scary!
However, after the Rally and for the next 3 days trail riding and 2 full days back home over some great Alpine passes and a load of dull Paeage it didn't blow a single fuse!
I'm going to have to strip the big Touratech tank and everything off to give it a proper clean as it's caked in Alpine mud and crud, but does anyone have any ideas where to look initially for what might be causing the issue?
Quite tricky as there wasn't much pattern to when it would blow. My thoughts were that the big TT tank was restricting airflow to maybe the starter relay (which operates off that fuse), the reg/rec or maybe even the ECU under the seat. Then again it may be as simple as a cracked/bared wire that I'd shaken into a position where it was shorting whilst laning before I went away and shook back out of the way whilst doing the HAT!
I've seen this on ADV Rider, but they're talking about a different fuse... possible it's the same cause though?
Any ideas of where to look first would be good to know!
