By Scotty on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 05:22 am:

Again following similar patterns I started the bike fine from cold this morning.. but needed to fill up with fuel as the light was on.

After filling up I had another total refusal of the bike to fire the starter at all... tried all my usual tricks in the hope that I could make it work.. no luck.

So I call out the AA... wait about 40mins then patrolman phones me to say that he's at least 20mins journey away.
I decide that I'll give it another try and it fired normally..

So I'm totally confused over its behaviour.. its definately not the immobiliser as I switched this onto service mode (where it doesn't operate) and it made no difference when I originally tried after refueling.

Its got to be starter solenoid as it must be this which is not supplying current to the starter motor. (orginal AA callout when this occured before, guy placed a voltmeter against the starter when the button was pushed - zero volts)

Anyhow I've taken it to Harry Nash out of desparation to get it fixed. Sod's law says that they will not be able to repeat the problem.

Finally got to work at 11:30 today, having finally had to get the tube from Harry Nash in Chiswick to the office in Putney.. total time to get to work 3 hours  

By Molan on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 06:18 am:

Never had any problems with mine except for a minor glitch after a "just didn't see you" moment with a Vectra recently.

However all I could suggest is maybe a different dealer?

Only official dealer I've used is MLS Bikesmart in Alperton (not that far from Chiswick?). They specialise in scoots & Suzis really but are an Aprilia main dealer & seem to know what they are talking about. The mechs in particular are very enthusiastic wbout working on the larger bikes & Martin (I think the owner) is really helpful.

My fave specialist dealer is PDQ in Taplow (near Maidenhead & a fairly quick blast down the M4). They are super knowledgeable although I think they are more tuning specialists rather than starting problems. however they are, again, really helpful. In this case I'd speak to Larry for some potential advice - you never know, maybe a phone call could help

01628 667644

PS - I promise I don't get commission from these guys, I just think they're good

 

By Crmc33 on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 07:47 am:

There is a Fix

...buy a H*nda solenoid

...or just buy a H*nda!

Never had this problem wiv me superdweam In fact the starter motor made more HP than the engine! 

By Scotty on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 02:05 am:

UPDATE...

Harry Nash did take a look at the problem yesterday and eventually managed to replicate it not starting..

With the bike failing to start they checked the whole electrical system including swapping out my starter solenoid for a new one without sucess i.e. they couldn't find any problems.

They said by a process of elimination that it must be the datatool immobiliser.. so having checked with datatool (about the problem and that I was registered with them) they are removing the immobiliser for datatool to look at and probably replace.

I just have to wait for the (hopeful) replacement immobiliser and for the dealer to fit and test the bike.  

By Dave on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 06:20 am:

Fingers crossed...  

By Scotty on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - 12:45 pm:

Ok, finally got the falco back from Harry Nash today.
Delay was datatool sending updated PCB for the immobiliser.

Nice to have the bike back as I was sick of getting the tube to work.