The Chicken Man
Active Member
Obviously, the title is not exactly true, but that it is the best way I can describe my issue.
So, I'm looking for some advice with an issue I started experiencing with my bike yesterday. My bike is a 2009 with about 22,000 miles. Notable modifications included a Voodoo exhaust, typical airbox mod, and ECU flash by Chris Moore Mafia.
The Issue:
The issue is that my throttle response has suddenly became very choppy. It only really occurs at lower rpms. I'd say below 4,000 but is especially apparent below 2,000. How choppy it is is not super consistent, but it is consistently choppy (if that makes any sense). At it's worse it makes the bike surge and jolt when trying to pull away from a stop or just put along at low speeds. I've also noticed a bit of sputtering and popping from the exhaust at times and increased deceleration popping. It really feels like my1st gen when I had carb issues.
I took some videos of it idling this morning to show. In the videos you can hear the inconsistency in the idle, though I wouldn't say it sounds bad as it did yesterday. I can't get them to upload unfortunately.
I also checked for any fault codes. There are none present or in the history. I have not I seen the engine light come on at any point either.
The Background:
I first noticed this issue yesterday when I was coming back from a ride up through New Hampshire. I had driven about 300 miles prior to this during the day without any signs of an issue. I was riding on the highway when I slowed down from probably 70mph to maybe ~20mph to pass through a toll meter. When I started to accelerate from there back to highway speeds I noticed something was very wrong. My bike started surging and jerk, literally jolting me around as the bike lunged. I felt as if I was flicking the throttle back and forth (though I wasn't). I struggle my way back up to highway speeds, but I could still feel the power was inconstant. The motor was going back a forth between sounding right and sputtering and farting, running concerningly bad at times. Symptomatically, it felt like I was running out of fuel.
I was at 1/4 tank of fuel when this first started but dropped down to 1/8 shortly after, so limped to the next exit to get fuel. On the off ramp I noticed quite a bit more deceleration popping than normal. I was even told from riders behind me that they saw flames come from my pipes at times. I thought maybe my fuel pump has sucked some air at first, as it did feel similar to a time when I ran out of fuel on my old 1st gen. So, I filled up and hit the highway again with hopes of at least making it home.
It continued to act up as I made my way back to the highway, but the conditions soon improved once I was back up to highway speeds. On the highway the rest of the way home (~75 miles) it was pretty much normal. If slowed down to bring the bike to around 3,000 RPMs and the accelerated back to around 5,000 RPMs I could feel it act up a little, but once above 4,000 RPMs it was basically unnoticeable. Under any decent amount of throttle it would accelerate pretty normally. It seemed to operate totally fine under hard acceleration and a high speeds, showing no sign of hesitation.
Once back in town and on slower roads I found it was still acting up a lower speeds and RPMs, but it seemed better than before. At idle it was noticeably sputtery and poppy. The engines RPMs never rose or fell by any significant amount though, nor did it ever stall or shut off at any point. The engine would also crank and start completely fine, it just sounded garbage once running. I noticed pulling away from stops it didn't feel so much like it was lacking power, but more that the power was just inconsistent. Nevertheless, I made it home. Though my Vmax did let me down, it did not leave me stranded.
The Thoughts:
Air In The Fuel System: As I said, initially it felt like the bike was running out of fuel. After my initial panic wore off, I thought maybe it would make more sense that the fuel pump might have sucked some air. I was only at 1/4 of a tank, so maybe when I slowed down for the tolls the little fuel I had left had sloshed around letting the pump suck air. It was running pretty bad on the way to the gas station so I thought maybe it could be just taking some time to work the air out of the system. I thought after being on the highway for an hour any air in the fuel system would surely have worked it's way out though. So that the fact that I was still having some issue when I got home makes me feel as though this theory is less likely.
Wiring Recall: Another thought I had was that this could be a result of an issue associated with the "Throttle and Accelerator Position Sensor" recall (NHTSA Campaign No. 10V327000). My bike was manufactured in November of 2008, so it would fall into this range. The only symptoms of this recall I've read about are the bike stalling or not returning to idle, which aren't things I experienced. But logically I feel as though an issue with wires between those sensors and the ECU could possibly cause an issue like mine. I'm not the original owner of the bike so I do not have any confirmation as to whether this recall has ever been fixed on my bike. I will have to contact a dealer when they are open.
I did find these two articles that mention the wiring recall, but I don't know if the websites are really reliable resources. One article does not even distinctly mention if it refers to a 1st or 2nd gen.
Additional Thoughts: The articles I linked mention issues with fuel lines and the pump, by I don't know that my bike running fine at high RPMs matches with issues that would create fuel restrictions. Maybe it's an issue with an injector, a sensor, or some part of the ignition system.
My concern is that the affirmationed ideas are just that... ideas. I honestly don't have any other leads moving forward. So, I just wanted to throw this long-winded post out here to seek some advice from any passersbys while I continue to look into it. I'm curious to see if anybody else has had an issue like this. Has anyone experienced symptoms of the wiring recall? Or has anybody ever gotten air in their fuel system/run out of gas on their 2nd gen? Do these bikes do things like this if they run out of fuel? Any advice you have is greatly appreciated! I'm still pretty new to these bikes and not super familiar with how everything works just yet.
So, I'm looking for some advice with an issue I started experiencing with my bike yesterday. My bike is a 2009 with about 22,000 miles. Notable modifications included a Voodoo exhaust, typical airbox mod, and ECU flash by Chris Moore Mafia.
The Issue:
The issue is that my throttle response has suddenly became very choppy. It only really occurs at lower rpms. I'd say below 4,000 but is especially apparent below 2,000. How choppy it is is not super consistent, but it is consistently choppy (if that makes any sense). At it's worse it makes the bike surge and jolt when trying to pull away from a stop or just put along at low speeds. I've also noticed a bit of sputtering and popping from the exhaust at times and increased deceleration popping. It really feels like my1st gen when I had carb issues.
I took some videos of it idling this morning to show. In the videos you can hear the inconsistency in the idle, though I wouldn't say it sounds bad as it did yesterday. I can't get them to upload unfortunately.
I also checked for any fault codes. There are none present or in the history. I have not I seen the engine light come on at any point either.
The Background:
I first noticed this issue yesterday when I was coming back from a ride up through New Hampshire. I had driven about 300 miles prior to this during the day without any signs of an issue. I was riding on the highway when I slowed down from probably 70mph to maybe ~20mph to pass through a toll meter. When I started to accelerate from there back to highway speeds I noticed something was very wrong. My bike started surging and jerk, literally jolting me around as the bike lunged. I felt as if I was flicking the throttle back and forth (though I wasn't). I struggle my way back up to highway speeds, but I could still feel the power was inconstant. The motor was going back a forth between sounding right and sputtering and farting, running concerningly bad at times. Symptomatically, it felt like I was running out of fuel.
I was at 1/4 tank of fuel when this first started but dropped down to 1/8 shortly after, so limped to the next exit to get fuel. On the off ramp I noticed quite a bit more deceleration popping than normal. I was even told from riders behind me that they saw flames come from my pipes at times. I thought maybe my fuel pump has sucked some air at first, as it did feel similar to a time when I ran out of fuel on my old 1st gen. So, I filled up and hit the highway again with hopes of at least making it home.
It continued to act up as I made my way back to the highway, but the conditions soon improved once I was back up to highway speeds. On the highway the rest of the way home (~75 miles) it was pretty much normal. If slowed down to bring the bike to around 3,000 RPMs and the accelerated back to around 5,000 RPMs I could feel it act up a little, but once above 4,000 RPMs it was basically unnoticeable. Under any decent amount of throttle it would accelerate pretty normally. It seemed to operate totally fine under hard acceleration and a high speeds, showing no sign of hesitation.
Once back in town and on slower roads I found it was still acting up a lower speeds and RPMs, but it seemed better than before. At idle it was noticeably sputtery and poppy. The engines RPMs never rose or fell by any significant amount though, nor did it ever stall or shut off at any point. The engine would also crank and start completely fine, it just sounded garbage once running. I noticed pulling away from stops it didn't feel so much like it was lacking power, but more that the power was just inconsistent. Nevertheless, I made it home. Though my Vmax did let me down, it did not leave me stranded.
The Thoughts:
Air In The Fuel System: As I said, initially it felt like the bike was running out of fuel. After my initial panic wore off, I thought maybe it would make more sense that the fuel pump might have sucked some air. I was only at 1/4 of a tank, so maybe when I slowed down for the tolls the little fuel I had left had sloshed around letting the pump suck air. It was running pretty bad on the way to the gas station so I thought maybe it could be just taking some time to work the air out of the system. I thought after being on the highway for an hour any air in the fuel system would surely have worked it's way out though. So that the fact that I was still having some issue when I got home makes me feel as though this theory is less likely.
Wiring Recall: Another thought I had was that this could be a result of an issue associated with the "Throttle and Accelerator Position Sensor" recall (NHTSA Campaign No. 10V327000). My bike was manufactured in November of 2008, so it would fall into this range. The only symptoms of this recall I've read about are the bike stalling or not returning to idle, which aren't things I experienced. But logically I feel as though an issue with wires between those sensors and the ECU could possibly cause an issue like mine. I'm not the original owner of the bike so I do not have any confirmation as to whether this recall has ever been fixed on my bike. I will have to contact a dealer when they are open.
I did find these two articles that mention the wiring recall, but I don't know if the websites are really reliable resources. One article does not even distinctly mention if it refers to a 1st or 2nd gen.
- Yamaha VMAX Problems: 5 Common Issues (Explained) | Motor & Wheels
- Yamaha Vmax Problems – Strong Bike or Expensive Toy?.
Additional Thoughts: The articles I linked mention issues with fuel lines and the pump, by I don't know that my bike running fine at high RPMs matches with issues that would create fuel restrictions. Maybe it's an issue with an injector, a sensor, or some part of the ignition system.
My concern is that the affirmationed ideas are just that... ideas. I honestly don't have any other leads moving forward. So, I just wanted to throw this long-winded post out here to seek some advice from any passersbys while I continue to look into it. I'm curious to see if anybody else has had an issue like this. Has anyone experienced symptoms of the wiring recall? Or has anybody ever gotten air in their fuel system/run out of gas on their 2nd gen? Do these bikes do things like this if they run out of fuel? Any advice you have is greatly appreciated! I'm still pretty new to these bikes and not super familiar with how everything works just yet.
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