Bike cutting out.

[hoppicker]

I had just ridden out of my drive, two days ago, when the engine died and the bike stopped. I pushed it back in the workshop and got another bike out instead. The ride comes first. I plugged the Healtec diagnostic kit in, coupled it to my laptop and tried to connect, no go. Turn the ignition on, no fuel pump running MIL light on, the bar winking where the gear number shows. By accident I turned the bars to full right lock and tried to start it. Everything started up as normal. Perfect. Turned the bars to the left, fault there again. Turned it to the right again plugged the diagnostic kit back in and it connected as it should. No fault codes showing at all. All the live data showing as  I would expect. Started the bike again full right lock, ticking over perfectly. Started to pull the wires around where they are clipped to the steering headstock causes the problem. I therefore suspect their is a fault in the loom around this area. I have removed the panels and checked all the plugs and sockets which are all sound.
 Has anybody had a similar problem. Its a 2014 DCT.

[Mav]

I had a similar problem with my Varadero.  The wires for the HISS antenna were damaged (too much bending back and forth) which caused intermittent non starts and occasional shutdown whilst riding.  A cut a re-solder solved the issue.   

[Mav]

P.S. The bike was a daily commuter and was ten years old when it finally became a big issue.

[hoppicker]

Thanks Mav. I plan to cut and solder as you did. A pig to get at the problem area. It look as as if the section of loom affected was one of the first bits installed when the bike was built. To get the section of loom out will involve removing a lot of stuff. My old Africa Twin and R80GS are so much easier to work on. looks like they are going to be used a lot more for a little while.

[hoppicker]

The problem with the bike cutting out has been cured. I enlisted the help of a good mate who has been a vehicle electrician for 50 years. To cut a 5 hour story short the problem was a trapped wire in the right hand handlebar switch cluster. It had been trapped between the switches and the handlebar. It was completely flattened to the extent that you could see the copper wires showing through the insulation. The wire must have been making intermittent contact with the metal handlebar. We found the problem in the end by running a jump wire from the battery negative and touching it in the handlebars, this immediately caused the problem. After making sure the wire was not trapped when we refitted the switch cluster, and the addition of some more insulation, the problem was solved. I did 40 miles on it today, no problem. I had my RAC card in my pocket, made sure my phone was charged and stayed on A roads, just in case. Just wonder what a dealer would have charged me to sort it out when it was not showing any fault codes.