So I fitted my PCV with the base map recommended by Dynojet for my setup yesterday, and did a ride to Birmingham and back today for a tattoo session. Just after leaving Birmingham, I opened the throttle wide to overtake a couple of cars and after the overtake, I noticed that it felt as though I'd lost a cylinder (pretty sure I had). Thoughts racing through my head about pulling over and checking connections, and 60 seconds later, she's back in full health again. Now I'm just about to go out and lift the tank to double check all the connections, but I'm pretty sure they'll be fine. Have a big rideout scheduled for the morning and just wondered if anyone has experienced anything like this before? First time I have...
Well, she's never done it before in the three years I've owned her, and the only changes I made yesterday were a quick action throttle & PCV. PCV controls fuelling for cylinders, so pretty likely it's the cause..
Damn, bought it from a member here so definitely second hand. I'll speak with DJ but not sure what chance I'll have of them doing anything about it since I have no purchase receipt. Made sure the firmware is all up to date and it seemed fine. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen again, but I don't much like my chances on that...
no but they might offer a repair at a cheap cost.your not the first guy on here to get a duff one.I remember another member here buying one off ebay and it doing the exact same thing.use the search bar and you might find the thread.see what they did to fix it?
Thanks Phantom, I searched with a couple of different terms on here but found nothing. Google turned up this on the DJ website FAQ's though: "I have had a Power Commander on my bike for quite a while and it has been running great. One day it just started running rough (like it was a cylinder was misfiring) so I disconnected the Power Commander and it went away. What could be the problem with the unit?" The most common problem we see with returned Power Commander is damage to the wiring harness. If the Power Commanders’ wiring harness is cut or nicked by the frame or sharp bracket it can short to ground. Once this happens a number of symptoms may be present, overly rich running, hesitation, stalling, etc. We suggest very closely inspecting the harness for any signs of damage. Small cuts may be difficult to see. If any damage is found, you can simply retape that area, unless the wiring is significantly shorted. So I guess a thorough inspection of the cabling is in order then.
Found this on a Kawasaki forum relating to the same issue too... "Finally Dynojet in America said remove the commander ASAP - it could damage the engine. The power Commander is going into limp home mode -it opens one injector making one pot too rich to fire - close the throttle for a while and it re-sets Dynojet have duplicated the fault on a bike and their engineers are working on a fix. They are putting a bike on the dyno on monday and are hopefull of a fix this week."
So either bad wiring or simply a bad unit... great. And I was really blown away by the way it smooths out the power curve too...
Doesn't sound good but hope its a simple cheap fix for you mate! When I fitted mine I kinked the main fuel hose when lowering tank, worth a look maybe?
Make sure nothing kinked under tank also breather or main fuel pipe . Also there are some air pipes on throttle bodies these can get caught up on tank . Plug power commander in do a firmware update see if it clears it
before you go mad i'd be tempted to reload the map.... or just plug your laptop in and see if a map is loaded. i had issues with my sp2 pc3 caused by a half flat battery - it kept wiping the map out when i hit the starter. then when i plugged it in the lappy it said 'no map found' might be worth lobbing it on a dyno as well, have a look at the fuelling curve rather than the power line. btw - if you are running the pc3 usb - have you tried the accellerator pump add-on brilliant it is
I was going to try that an the local dyno guy told me not to bother :s any maps showing the difference it makes?
Its not just second hand units I had a new PCV on my blade and it played up, first at cadwell park on a trackday (fitted for 1 week), losing and returning a cylinder/stuttering on power then disapeared, lost two sessions stripping bike to check connections etc .... three days later on ride out tons of white smoke out the exhaust no power ! switched bike off then it wouldnt restart..stripped off the PCV on a garage forecourt took the PCV out of the equation started first time ! In DJ's defence they sorted a brand new replacement, but, they wouldnt admit there was anything wrong with the unit and wouldnt tell me anything when I asked simple questions ? It hasnt put me off I have a PCV on the CB1K and with its custm map its super smooth and it works well with the HM PC quickshifter
Thanks for all the responses guys. The fact that it works so well is the only reason I haven't removed mine yet. Made a huge improvement once fitted as I'm running a full Yoshi exhaust. Luckily I haven't had a recurrence of the issue, so no call to remove it just yet, but the very next time it happens I'll be stripping it there and then. Not too sure how I'm gonna fare contacting DJ though - if they don't like admitting to the problem in the first place they're probably not gonna fancy swapping mine out without a receipt...
