Newbie owner and I've broken it already
 

Hi everyone

Been lurking for a little while and just bought a 58 plate Tenere so thought I'd best say hello.

Unfortunately my first post is a shout for help. Took her to work today and broke down in the way home, hopefully if I can describe the symptoms a kind soul can point me in the right direction :hidesbehindsofa[1]:

Was left outside last night, rained and was a heavy dew. Bike started fine and took me the five miles to work no problem.
Came out at the end of the day, little bit of light drizzle but nothing serious. Bike started ok but thought I noticed it was a bit slow turning over?
Rode off and after 500yards orange engine light lit up, sensed some hesitation on the throttle similar to fuel starvation
Digital readout went blank, no power to instruments at all - bike still running.
Engine died, pulled over and went through restart sequence. Yellow engine warning light illuminated, pressing starter caused the starter solenoid under the seat to chatter away as if there wasn't enough battery juice to turn her over.
Checked all terminals under the seat and those on the rectifier (?) down behind the front wheel as best I could with no tools - no obvious issues.
Recovery came out and tried a jump start, bike fired up okay.
Checked across the battery terminals - 12.1 volts rising to 12.4 when revs increased.
Rode her home, all seems ok for now.

Now I'm confused what the issue could be? Can't risk breaking down if I'm using her for commuting...

She's only just had a new rectifier and battery fitted under warranty by her previous owner to combat suspected poor charging

Any ideas ... please

Mike

Welcome! Maybe the battery is well on it's way to battery heaven?

Sounds like it could either be a dead battery or you might ahve a problem with the rec/reg. Have a quick search around here as it is a well documented problem. :thumbsup:

hi and welcome, it looks like you may have succumed to the tedious tenere regulator fault. if you remove the reg connector check is the black wire terminal overheated or damaged in any way.

this is the most common fault, water gets in and as the terminal [i feel is too light to take the load] corrodes and overheats and fails to make the circuit, no topup voltage to the battery which steadily drains away until not enough for the ecu ,pump or ign

i recently changed mine for iirc a fz600 reg as they dont seem to have any probs and although mine was fine i have a spin to africa and dont want it to f??? up
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...yprep013-1.jpg

the reg wires are facing downwards now and has done over 1k with no probs , dirt cheap on ebay as well! a simple swap over to what i feel is a more reliable setup
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yamaha-FZS-600...item255d39f427 there you go!

:thumbsup:

Thanks guys, I'll check in the morning - think I like it here already

ps. I love the bike, if everything pans out I'll be off to Africa on her next year

Give us a run down of what your planning? Theres a few guys and gals who have toured down that way and also the odd one or two people who live on route from england:eusa_dance:

Went to the dealers this morning, explained the symptoms and the manager guessed mine was an early one and white without me telling him!! He said they're more likely to suffer with this problem - apparently hasn't had too many blue ones with the same problem.
He's taking a look but said not to discount a new loom if the problem's got too bad - pleased the warranty is still in place..

Four of us (two Tenere's, KTM 690 and a Honda Dommie) are of to Morocco next Autumn. Having to plan that far ahead to ensure we've all got the funds in place :)
Plan is to transport the bikes to SW France in a horsebox(!), leave the transport in a friends farm and ride the trails across the Pyrenees and down through Spain to the ferry, across to Morocco and on to the Atlas Mountains. Should be a 10-12 day trip.
I only live 20 mins from the Eurotunnel, so if anyone needs an overnighter and doesn't mind an airbed I'll be happy to help out

sounds like the reg/rec fault get it done under warranty while you still can.

My 58 plate suffered the same fate just a month before the warranty ran out.

New loom and reg/rec fitted by alf england as a matter of course.

get it sorted and the bike will be fine again have a good trip it sounds ace

Checked with the dealers today, new loom delivered today and is to be fitted
Can't complain with that service, asked them to fit a 12v outlet while she's in bits :0)

Here another victim but on the blue machine. Also a new loom installed.

18,000 on a 58 white bike with no probs...fingers crossed

Ditto


Maybe the use of sealant and clamping the male and female halves of the connectors together with cable ties has contributed.

This weekend I connected a KTM rectifier directly to the loom. Wires of the old one were completely melted together. So this is my 3rd one, but no without a connector which is the cause of this problem.

If I remember correctly my first Ten was the first to have this problem and had a new loom fitted. As Stoic mentions the terminals are just too fragile to take the load, have a look at the reg rec on an 'R' or 'X' models, they are twice as big.
I now have the '09 model (still Khaki) and took Stoics advice and got a Fazer rectifier as my bike was starting to have the symptoms which I know only too well now.
Check out my pics on an earlier thread as I remounted the reg under the headstock as the loomm is quite long now.
The symptoms that I mention are that the digital part of the dash goes off, the bike still runs OK, then the rev counter goes off, bike starts to run erratically, THEN the orange light comes on, bikes dies.
Basically if you see the dash go off, stop the bike immediately and dive into that stupid connector, fiddle with it or if you havew the tools take apart and check, clean terminals if you can. assemble and you will find that there is still enough in the battery to restart.................and YES I have done this, that is why I chopped off the offending connector and hard wired a Fazer reg.
Even If I hadn't done this I would carry a replacement reg (cheap @�20) and a cheap plastic connector block, because other than running out of fuel or breaking your chain that's about all that is going to stop these bikes..................Yes I have broken the chain and No I haven't run out of fuel.


Hope this helps

PS You should have 14V on tickover.

The bracket is from Adventure-spec for their Solstice lights. They gave me it hoping I would buy the lights!



http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/a...ulator0008.jpg

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/a...ulator0013.jpg

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/a...ulator0017.jpg
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/a...ulator0026.jpg
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/a...ulator0032.jpg

@SteveD: looks good, your solution!

Seriously: taking the bike for 5-mile stretch to work?? The engine of your Tenere won't like that, doesn't even get the chance to heat up properly with that distance....
But hey, that's your choice.
My '08 Tenere hasn't had any major problems so far, at 90.000km's, but I only ride it for fun in weekends and holidays/travels; for commuting I always ride my bicycle(only 7km's one way, so 14km's every day, no sweat!).
Greetz, Hans.