GRiSO broke down Help

Hi all.

Went out for a ride today and the engine stopped dead while on the highway. Turned key off and on but still wouldn't start. Next thing the dash started to go mad displaying all different speedo readings even though the bike was stationary. At the bottom it showed the connection cable display for the ECU (the one you get when you hook up guzzi diag). At the same time the relay under the seat on the RH side closest to the rear was clicking in and out. The bike would not wind over. After about 3 minutes everything worked itself out and the bike started again only to do exactly the same thing 100 meters down the road. This continued a further 4 times until I put the bike on a trailer and went home It almost appears to be a bad connection to the ECU. Took the bike off the trailer and turned key on to see the same ECU cable display on the dash. Am now drinking beer.
Does anyone have any ideas of what it could be and where is the ECU found.

Cheers Mark

Up under the steering head remove this 
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To find ECU. Hex key pointing at Earth wire. 8 mm socket on front bolts to remove , which will give you access to the 2
Connectors
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Thanks Ron.
Does it sound like a connection problem to you??

Mark

Sounds a bit like startus interruptus if the ECU connections check out. Corrosion/connection at battery and/or main ground(earth).

add another earth from the ECU to a good ground and check both battery terminals and the other end of the earth strap under the starter motor cover.

If the dash is going mad, it might be something as simple as a bad earth, or water in somewhere. If the battery checks out ok , check the earth point above the starter. 

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Thanks.
I( shall check all this out and give an update tomorrow.

Mark

Could it be condensation in the dashboard? Has your area been experiencing big temperature swings?
Have you seen condensation inside the speedometer display?

I have seen condensation from time to time but not today. I believe it is a typical problem with the silver display. Not sure if it can be fixed. However as soon as the ecu showed it was connected and the bike would start normally, the dash would behave normally. As soon as the dash showed the ECU connection thingy the dash would play up. I will check all the earths and connections first

Mark

Where does the frame get its earth from??

Through the mounting bolts.

Hi all
Update on problem
I turned the key on (showing fault) and moved the earth around on the ECU. After some wobbling it came right. I have now removed ECU and blown out the 2 main connections, cleaned the earth to the ECU and added a second bigger earth from the ECU to the chassis, cleaned the battery terminals (not dirty) and cleaned the earth terminal on the starter (not dirty)
End result so far is that the bike and dash do everything they should do. Have had it running in the garage with no hint of problem and the dash is behaving nicely with no engine failures. I am not in a position to test ride till this weekend so fingers crossed.

Thanks everyone. I shall update again once road tested.
Mark

Hi Mark, my Bellagio had a few problems early on with diagnostics pointing to my battery earth lead as every fault was showing "bad earth connection". Made a new earth lead but problem persisted. So we drilled out the contact from 5mm to 8mm and put it on one of the gearbox mounts just above the starter motor. Cured!

Also, check your fuse/relay box, several of my fuses and relays have come loose over time, causing all sorts of running problems. "Click", and its cured!

Thanks
Are you saying that you took the earth strap off the starter. Or added another from the starter to the gearbox Mount?


Mark

I took the battery earth strap off the mount that Ron's pointing to with his grubby nose picking finger, and attached to the gearbox/crankcase mount just behind the rubber hose at upper left in same photo.

Thanks

Wow this is a friggen helpfull bunch of people in this Ghetto. It just never ceases to amaze me how willing people here are to share their experience. I feel humbled to share in it. If I have not said it before I would like to say thanks for past and future assistance all you give

See how easy it is? Groom them and they will be sucked into the dark well.........

More on ECU's
I got the dreaded ECU disconnected symbol on the old GRiSO today, thought I had fried it tack welding a tab onto the exhaust but...... After swapping ECU's back and forth found both work fine on new bike, both don't work on old bike, WTF have I done
Tracing back over last work done, tank back off - no pinched or disconnected wires. Checked out the duck tail, found I had left the indicator relay off on reassembly.
So , If the Indicator relay ever cacks itself you will get the dash sweep but that's it, along with ECU unplugged symbol

Hi All
Thought I would update the condition of the fix for this problem seeing I started this thread. I placed a secondary earth on the ECU. Have now been out a bit and probably done 1500 km including a 500km ride up the coast yesterday. Hasn't missed a beat.

Thanks for all the advise. Mark