Garage Remote and Motorcycle (A ? for Techs)

[Brookenstein]

We have an '06 Yamaha R6 that we just got back from the dealer today after having the ECU replaced. The tech said that the garage door opener, which is a key chain type like an alarm remote, may have caused ECU to go bad and that we shouldn't keep the garage remote key on it. How true is this? Can a garage remote really cause damaging interference that would make an ECU go bad?

To make this hot tub relative.... my husband has had to use the hot tub a lot because his neck has been killing him from riding his old POS bike for the last 3 weeks.  He is so happy to have his new bike back.

TIA!

(Paul, I've tried PMing you several times and it won't go through)

[Tman122]

We have an '06 Yamaha R6 that we just got back from the dealer today after having the ECU replaced. The tech said that the garage door opener, which is a key chain type like an alarm remote, may have caused ECU to go bad and that we shouldn't keep the garage remote key on it. How true is this? Can a garage remote really cause damaging interference that would make an ECU go bad?

To make this hot tub relative.... my husband has had to use the hot tub a lot because his neck has been killing him from riding his old POS bike for the last 3 weeks.  He is so happy to have his new bike back.

TIA!

(Paul, I've tried PMing you several times and it won't go through)

You would think if this is true there would be alot of ECU's on other bikes and even cars and trucks that would be going south. I would get a second opinion.

[Brewman]

I'm not buying that story either, it really doesn't make sense to me.  
You probably just got a bike with a bad module- it happens.  Since it's an '06 I'm assuming the warranty covered the repair?  
 Those ECU modules can get pretty expensive.  

I'd ask the mechanic where he got that information, about your GDO causing the ECU to fail.  Unless he can cite some credible source, like Yamaha corporate- they'd have sent the dealer a bulletin or similar, which you should be able to access if this was a known issue.  If he can't show you anything like that, he's probably just speculating.

I've had a GDO on the key ring of my '05 Suzuki 650 for 2 years, and no fried module.  I'm thinking these ECU's all come out of the same factory for all Japanese bikes.  And probably the USA, German, Italian ones, too.  

[pg_rider]

Wow, that's an interesting excuse from the dealer!    I can't see how any radio frequency intereference could physically damage an ECU.  Now, if your husband was pushing the button as he was riding down the road then MAYBE you could get some temporary interference, but I doubt it...

[Brookenstein]

Thanks guys.  We thought they were full of crapola, just wanted a second opinion.

The bike was bought late September so it was covered under warranty, but the guy made it sound like he was doing us a favor like we had purposely f'd it up.  It also took them 19 days to fix the bike knowing it was J's only mode of transportation.  They will be getting a nice letter from me, and so will corporate Yamaha.

[Brewman]

Sadly, that seems to be common operating procedure for a lot of bike dealers.
They like to make you think that everything they do for you is a huge favor.

Some of these places act like they don't care about repeat business.  

  What was their excuse for the time delay?  Waiting for parts?  Shop too backed up?

For sure let me know if you get any kind of response from Yamaha.  I'd love to know what they tell you, if they tell you anything.

[Brookenstein]

Its a long story.....

We took the bike in Wed 9am.  Were told it could take a few days as they are busy and they have to get approval from Yamaha before they order parts to make sure it will be covered under warranty.  (Oh, they also wanted $120 diagnostic fee upfront.  F that I said.)

I called Thursday afternoon.  Was told they couldn't duplicate problem.  I said, what does that mean.  Can't fix what they can't duplicate, regardless of the error code we gave them.  Asked again, what are they gonna do.  Said they will ride it again.

They left a message at closing Friday night.  Called back Saturday.  Told they couldn't duplicate the problem and we needed to pick up the bike.  I explained that I was leaving for out of town the next week and that was leaving J without any other transportation.  I was concerned for his safety.  The throttle would suddenly stop responding when he was accelerating and doing this inbetween lanes passing cars... did not seem safe to me.  They didn't care.

We picked up the bike.  J drove it for 5 minutes, problem was duplicated.  He walked the bike back to the shop.  Techs don't work again till Tuesday so they couldn't contact Yamaha until Tuesday.

I called Tuesday night to get an update and was told it 3-7 days to get approval from Yamaha (before we were told it was a phone call).  Since it was now Thankgiving holiday, they said, Yamaha would be shut down till Monday and they couldn't order parts or anything till next week.  I explained that we were leaving for the holiday, I would be gone til mid December, but J would be flying home the following Tuesday and would the bike be ready for him to take a taxi from the airport.  They said no.

We put insurance on his old bike, that had no headlight, no right blinker, etc. and left it at his work.  He flew into work and it didn't start.  He had to borrow a company car to get home.

On Tuesday I was told they were waiting for the part and they needed to check with the shipping girl to see when it would be in and they'd call me back.  He also said it had been ordered the week before.  He never called back.  I called Thursday morning and he said the part was scheduled to be in that day so the bike should be done Friday.  J received a call Friday afternoon that the bike was done.  He went Saturday to get the bike.  The guy says, "Oh, you didn't get our message?".  J shakes his head.  Apparently, the part came in and the 'new' shipping girl sent it back.  They then took the part off a new bike off the floor and slapped the done sign and called him Friday.  Saturday morning, someone bought that bike, so they took the part out of his bike.  I'm not sure how they got a part so quickly the second time though.  Seems suspicious.

[pg_rider]

Sadly, that seems to be common operating procedure for a lot of bike dealers.  They like to make you think that everything they do for you is a huge favor.

Are you talking about the bike dealer or my local Sundance dealer?  

[Tman122]

Its a long story.....

We took the bike in Wed 9am.  Were told it could take a few days as they are busy and they have to get approval from Yamaha before they order parts to make sure it will be covered under warranty.  (Oh, they also wanted $120 diagnostic fee upfront.  F that I said.)

I called Thursday afternoon.  Was told they couldn't duplicate problem.  I said, what does that mean.  Can't fix what they can't duplicate, regardless of the error code we gave them.  Asked again, what are they gonna do.  Said they will ride it again.

They left a message at closing Friday night.  Called back Saturday.  Told they couldn't duplicate the problem and we needed to pick up the bike.  I explained that I was leaving for out of town the next week and that was leaving J without any other transportation.  I was concerned for his safety.  The throttle would suddenly stop responding when he was accelerating and doing this inbetween lanes passing cars... did not seem safe to me.  They didn't care.

We picked up the bike.  J drove it for 5 minutes, problem was duplicated.  He walked the bike back to the shop.  Techs don't work again till Tuesday so they couldn't contact Yamaha until Tuesday.

I called Tuesday night to get an update and was told it 3-7 days to get approval from Yamaha (before we were told it was a phone call).  Since it was now Thankgiving holiday, they said, Yamaha would be shut down till Monday and they couldn't order parts or anything till next week.  I explained that we were leaving for the holiday, I would be gone til mid December, but J would be flying home the following Tuesday and would the bike be ready for him to take a taxi from the airport.  They said no.

We put insurance on his old bike, that had no headlight, no right blinker, etc. and left it at his work.  He flew into work and it didn't start.  He had to borrow a company car to get home.

On Tuesday I was told they were waiting for the part and they needed to check with the shipping girl to see when it would be in and they'd call me back.  He also said it had been ordered the week before.  He never called back.  I called Thursday morning and he said the part was scheduled to be in that day so the bike should be done Friday.  J received a call Friday afternoon that the bike was done.  He went Saturday to get the bike.  The guy says, "Oh, you didn't get our message?".  J shakes his head.  Apparently, the part came in and the 'new' shipping girl sent it back.  They then took the part off a new bike off the floor and slapped the done sign and called him Friday.  Saturday morning, someone bought that bike, so they took the part out of his bike.  I'm not sure how they got a part so quickly the second time though.  Seems suspicious.

Song and dance, dance and song........find a different dealer!!!

[svspa]

Yes Brooke, that sounds pretty fishy. Most microcircuits have some amount of hardness against EMF and radiation fallout from a nuclear explosion.

So unless your GDO is powered by a mini nuclear reactor and able to open the garage door at the Kremlin from your house it's unlikely it could emit anything that could affect any electronics in the ECU. Microcircuits for the automotive industry have to pass some pretty tight standards with everything they are exposed to on the road.

All microcircuits though can be prone to infant mortality. If there's a defect it will often show up early in its life. That's more likely the cause of your ECU failing. Or of course a wire could have come loose  

Steve

[pg_rider]

The 2006 R6 uses a "throttle-by-wire" system where the throttle grip isn't mechanically connected to the motor... I wonder if there was actually a problem in the throttle electronics?  Did the new ECU fix the problem Brooke?  If not I'd start looking into the throttle...

[Brookenstein]

Funny you should ask Paul... I just got home today (well not home, I'm still in OR... but back to the house) had an email from J.  His bike did it on the way to work this morning and gave teh same error code.  He's had it back since 5pm Monday.  So... he's probably put less than 100 miles on it and driven it say 90 minutes.

They had his bike 19 days, put in $1095 part and didn't even fix it.  Nice.  

[Tman122]

The 2006 R6 uses a "throttle-by-wire" system where the throttle grip isn't mechanically connected to the motor... I wonder if there was actually a problem in the throttle electronics?  Did the new ECU fix the problem Brooke?  If not I'd start looking into the throttle...

Good call PG, I'm thinking a throttle connection also. Could be the servo on the either end or something in between.

[Brookenstein]

I called customer service for Yamaha Friday at 9am.  Wasn't impressed.  They called the dealer for me,  service manager said he'd look into it call corporate back, corporate would call me back... nobody has.  This is after I called the dealer Wed and told them of the problem and they said they would call me on Thursday so we could take them the bike on Friday for the day so they could figure out what they needed to do/order so they could fix it while we are on vacation in a week or so.

[Brewman]

Seems to be SOP for motorcycle makers, and the like.  Similar for cars, too.
 The corporate offices in the USA usually just refer complaints back to the dealer.
This probably gets all but the most tenacious customers out of their hair.  Keep pushing corporate and the dealer till they get the message that you're not going to let this go.  
 Good luck with your quest.