Connected Battery Backwards! YEAY!

For those following this thread. Unfortunate reality is I don't have the overall expertise nor time with shift work and kids to diagnose something as complicated as this one. Bike was taken to Burlington Cycle. Spoke with them today and they advised the following:

- the tick tick relay noise occurring with Ignition ON (but kill switch OFF) had to do with something fuel related. A sensor or something.
- so they managed to trace it to a wire that I believe runs to the instrument cluster (the "meter") and the ECU and/or to this fuel related part near the top of engine area I described in the past
- with the wire disconnected (I assume removed out of a harness/connector), the bike fired up perfectly.
- so they are waiting on input from Yamaha Canada.

I had my ECU tuned by Bauce Racing. Very reputable. He advised he is very confident he did not incorrectly flash the ECU or flash it with an incorrect tune file. So, perhaps I fried the ECU, but I would then hope not given the bike runs without that wire connected.

Perhaps I friend some other component or the instrument cluster itself. We'll see.
 
there is a possibility of 2 problems
blown fuse from incorrect battery polarity
and corrupt/incorrect ECU flash

or you just frigged it :)

good luck OP
 
JavaFan said:
or you just frigged it :)
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..this would appear to be the case. Yamaha advised Burlington Cycle the instrument cluster is doing what it is supposed to do. Not the cluster. ECU is toast. Oddly ECU functions in so much as the bike works with that wire removed, but ya.. So looking at buy a new/used ECU and going from there.
 
Bagman said:
For those following this thread. Unfortunate reality is I don't have the overall expertise nor time with shift work and kids to diagnose something as complicated as this one. Bike was taken to Burlington Cycle. Spoke with them today and they advised the following:

- the tick tick relay noise occurring with Ignition ON (but kill switch OFF) had to do with something fuel related. A sensor or something.
- so they managed to trace it to a wire that I believe runs to the instrument cluster (the "meter") and the ECU and/or to this fuel related part near the top of engine area I described in the past
- with the wire disconnected (I assume removed out of a harness/connector), the bike fired up perfectly.
- so they are waiting on input from Yamaha Canada.

I had my ECU tuned by Bauce Racing. Very reputable. He advised he is very confident he did not incorrectly flash the ECU or flash it with an incorrect tune file. So, perhaps I fried the ECU, but I would then hope not given the bike runs without that wire connected.

Perhaps I friend some other component or the instrument cluster itself. We'll see.
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Wouldn't this indicate the "sensor or something" has a fault, and not the ECU?
 
Don't feel bad Bagman. I know someone who replaced the battery in his car and it still wouldn't start. Towed it to a garage and the mechanic told him he should have removed the plastic terminal covers before connecting the cables. Duh.
 
nobbie48 said:
Don't feel bad Bagman. I know someone who replaced the battery in his car and it still wouldn't start. Towed it to a garage and the mechanic told him he should have removed the plastic terminal covers before connecting the cables. Duh.
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Those stories might seem like one case repeated a million times, but I remember firsthand experience of that too, back when I was in the business of selling batteries. Customer brings it back to the desk, complains it's completely dead but there are visible clamp marks on the plastic terminal caps. Not surprisingly the battery tests good
 
most likely that the battery issue caused the ECU damage
but it could be a corrupt flash
can you get it flashed again to rule that out?
 
Any Good Samaritan with an equivalent FZ8 willing to do an ECU swap as a test? That's probably the only way to be sure without buying one.
 
So there are two harness connectors that run into the ECU. As was explained to me, one of them is what the ECU Tuners plug into and work with to flash the ECU. The other connector is what all the sensors work with. The wire they pin-pointed, and removed, to get bike working traces into the connector that is not what the tuners plug into.

The ECU is not repairable, because they close up the ECU by filling the whole thing with silicone for shock and water-proofing. Opening it up just tears it all apart cause of the silicone.

As for re-flashing it. I suppose, but it starts to eat up costs. The tuners have to a license fee to 'chip' each ECU. Not sure if just re-flashing it on an existing license (ECU) is free or not.
 
so that wire they disconnected is an input or an output to/from the ECU

it's an input from a sensor
or an output to an actuator or relay of some sort
if it's an output, it most likely switches a relay

what is on the other end of that wire they had disconnected from the ECU?
 
Throwing out a long-shot.. Anyone with a 2011 Fz8 (so the same ECU) want to let me borrow their's to see if it fires up.

JavaFan, the best I understand from their explanation is that the wire connects with Fuel-Pump, Fuel-Pump Relay, the Instrument Cluster and the ECU. The fuel-pump Relay sits by the seat, so this is NOT the source of the tick-tick noise I am hearing with ignition ON and kill-switch OFF. The shop explained that tick noise is actually the fuel-pump and since I had next to no gas it in it just echo'd and sounded more pronounced. Yamaha stated it was NOT the tune, nor the cluster. That is was a bad ECU.

If I can't find a local ECU to test, or a local used one to buy I very well may pay full pop at the dealer. That way they can install. It if works, okay, I can send the new one out from home (with the bike ridden back home) to get flashed all over again. If it doesn't work, then I have recourse for them to accept it back and I'll send out my old one to get re-flashed.

The only thing I can say to why the bike runs with a tuned, yet seemingly busted ECU, is that broken part of the ECU is on the connector/side of the ECU that deals with all the sensor connectors - as best I understand off the shop's explanation.

The reality is there no cheap way to figure this out as faulty TUNE or bad ECU, because replacing ECU with a stock one changes to variables. Bad scientific method.
 
To put this to bed - final update:

Replacing the ECU with a brand new one solved the problem. Bike works.
 
Bagman said:
To put this to bed - final update:

Replacing the ECU with a brand new one solved the problem. Bike works.
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Glad to hear your bike is back up and running...

But did the ECU fry because of the battery being hooked up wrong or was the flashing of the ECU the reason ?

I don’t see anywhere in your postings that the bike worked right after the ECU flash ?

.
 
Me connecting the battery backward fried the ECU. I know, seems odd considering a plethora of other electrical bits you'd think should have taken the fall before the ECU. With that said one of the sales guys at Burlington Cycle offered two anecdotes of past bikes that had fried ECUs from similar electrical mishaps. Moral of his stories were to suggest the ECUs are very susceptible to current going down the wrong way.

To expand on the story:

To diagnose and determine I fried the ECU Burlington Cycle was able to get the bike to fire up with the 'fried ECU' that did have the BAUCE Racing flash simply by removing one wire out of a connector harness (not one of the two at the ECU) that dealt with communication between the fuel pump, its relay and the ECU. They confirmed with Yamaha that the ECU was therefore fried.

Well, my gut said maybe it was the tune so I sent back my original ECU (that was apparently 'fried') to BAUCE Racing in New Jersey. It arrived physically damaged. So I started my claim with CanadaPost. Anthony flashed it back to stock and in the meantime..

I bought a brand new ECU from CheapCycleParts in the US and shipped directly to BAUCE in New Jersey to avoid duties and extra shipping, and save money on the price of a new one. I was gonna have him flash it and send me it along with the original now flashed back to stock. Well it arrived physically damaged from shipping too. CheapCycleParts said that now the ECU was on back-order from Yamaha so I cancelled, and got my refund.

I bought a brand new ECU from Burlington Cycle at the extra-special, extra-expensive Canadian price. It arrived speedily, got installed and problem solved. Bike works.

Now my plan is to take a little road trip with the family at the end of month and personally bring the new ECU to get flashed by BAUCE Racing. It am very confident, as is BAUCE Racing, that the tune is NOT the problem.

What a flipping nightmare over such a mindless, simple mistake.

To top it off, CanadaPost is denying the claim saying the item was "inherently fragile" and they don't cover damage to such items. LOL.
 
How were they damaged?
 
If you can imagine like many electrical connections on motor vehicles, computers and motorcycles the connector clips in to the socket. Portions of the the cut-out, molded plastic part of the ECU where the large electrical connectors would clip in to was chipped off/snapped/broken so the connectors wouldn't have a means to clip in and secure.
 
GateKeeper said:
Glad to hear your bike is back up and running...
But did the ECU fry because of the battery being hooked up wrong or was the flashing of the ECU the reason ?


lmao.

I remember when I was 12 and we had a corvair field car on the farm(s). my buddies little brother put in a battery backwards and we never got our $40 car running again. Every person should be so lucky to spend time on a farm. I bet our entire "gang" of 5-6 kids never put a battery wrong the rest of their entire lives...

we did get another field car. A $20 64 valiant convertible slant six. jeez, those were the nifty days...
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