Tiger 800 XC idling problems

[staelens]

Hi all,

First of all; happy to be a member here. Learned a lot already before registering. I recently bought a Tiger 800 XC from 2012 with 19000kms on the clock. It has been used for proper offroading in Africa, so the kilometers on it are pretty heavy ones :)

I instantly started having problems with starting/idle; the bike stalled easily when idleing and it sometimes was hard to start it. Did some research and found a TON of info/problems about the stepper motor, so decided to clean it. When I was at it i also replaced the spark plugs and the airfilter.
I cleaned the stepper motor and surroundings with WD40 and then lubed it with a dry lube.

So, after doing so (cleaning the stepper motor, replacing spark plugs and airfilter), reassembled to whole bike and it seemed to idle better; steady around 1100rpm. I started it for a couple of times and it always started fine so I decided to take it for a test drive. I just rode it and now it's even worse than before, only after a couple of 100 meters i can't even keep it in idle. As soon as I pull the clutch the bike stalls, very dangerous actually. Starting and keeping it idleing is just impossible now, it seems to flutter between 600 and 800 rpm, not steady at all and stalls every time. What went wrong here? Any ideas? It rides perfectly fine if i keep the revs up.

[chuckxc]

From what you wrote it appears you have spark and air flow renewed. The next simple question would be fuel flow.
Is your fuel tank clear of water/dirt?
Are you certain you have installed the idle control stepper  motor correctly?
Are you sure you have reconnected all the MAP hoses, especially the one attached to the manifold air pressure sensor?

[awjdthumper]

It sounds like classic stepper motor issues many of which are caused by accumulated muck around the mechanism - the fact that this bike had been subject to serious off-roading points in this direction. The link below shows one particular aspect of this problem and might be worth checking this hasn't happened in this case:

https://www.tiger800rtw.com/tiger-800-stepper-motor-problem/#:~:text=The%20Tiger%20800%20stepper%20motor,motor%20clean%20during%20regular%20servicing.

[staelens]

Originally Posted by chuckxc

From what you wrote it appears you have spark and air flow renewed. The next simple question would be fuel flow.
Is your fuel tank clear of water/dirt?
Are you certain you have installed the idle control stepper  motor correctly?
Are you sure you have reconnected all the MAP hoses, especially the one attached to the manifold air pressure sensor?

I’m going through the same process again today and reconnecting everything. Could it be that the bolt on top of the stepper motor it too tight/not tight enough? In my memory all the hoses were reconnected correctly but I might have done something wrong, i’ll report back here. Wich one is the MAP hose that connects to the manifold air pressure sensor?

Edit; after some research it seems that some people have a problem with the hoses disconnecting while driving, making the bike unable to stall. It sounds like that gives my problem, so i’m guessing one of the hoses came off during my test drive. If thats the case, any tips on reattaching it more securely?

[awjdthumper]

I seem to remember my Tiger would not start with the MAP hose removed. The MAP sensor is front right on the air box and it just needs to be checked that the vacuum hose is in place.

[staelens]

Originally Posted by awjdthumper

I seem to remember my Tiger would not start with the MAP hose removed. The MAP sensor is front right on the air box and it just needs to be checked that the vacuum hose is in place.

Thanks a lot, I do remember reconnecting it, but maybe it came back off when messing around with the rubber air inlet on the airbox or something... A coffee and back to it, thanks already!

[staelens]

I just removed the tank and airbox again and checked; all hoses and connectors were connected properly and snug.
I did adjust the stepper motor bolt a little bit because it was too close to the bracket.

When I give the bike power to check what the stepper motor is doing, I can hear it click very softly. The clicking comes from the stepper motor, I can feel it vibrate slightly with my finger. After putting the bike to off again, I want for the stepper motor to do it's faxy-thing and when it does it barely moves, not more than a couple of mm's. I don't think this is right? Maybe stepper motor gone?

[awjdthumper]

I have no direct experience with this stepper motor set up (my Tiger is Gen 2) but I would be tempted to disconnect the motor and then to see what it does and to also examine the actuator mechanism to convince yourself that it operates smoothly. The stepper motor can be tested using TuneECU or possibly using TigrTool. I would have thought the motor either works or doesn't work and the problem is more likely with the rest of the actuator mechanism

[staelens]

Well, update; It seemed that i DID make a mistake in reconnecting the stepper motor 
The plastic thingy was not horizontally positioned. I changed that and reassembled, but it still doesn't want to idle. It idled at first start at around 800rpm (on a cold bike) and next startups just didn't want to idle. Where to go next? Get me an OBD2-USB cable and try with tuneECU?

[staelens]

Well, argh. Connected everything again after another clean (yet again), but no solution. Also; the dash indicated there's no fuel at all (not even 1 bar), but there is at least 5L in the tank... Pretty frustrating to feel like you made it worse than before -_-