2006 AE stuck in Neutral...stuck on the road...

On my second FJR, this time a 2006 AE I picked up with 5K miles. Now have 26K and as I was leaving work, I up shifted to second, to third and viola, it went into neutral. Foot shifter or paddle shifter, nothing would move it out of neutral....had it towed to a Yamaha dealer that won't be able to get to it until middle of next week......I'm curious if there were any recalls on the shift actuator or anything that might be connected with this. I've heard the shift actuator unit, if that is indeed the case, is very expensive.....anyone have any similar experience? Thanks.

Glad you are off the road. There was a recall for the shift actuator bracket. Some people have been having a problem with the gear position indicator. IIRC, the gear indicator is in the $130 range (I could be wildly off).

15-Aug-2006, Bulletin M2006-012.

Affects only AE models, Range: 0006 - 0327, and 0011 - 0079 California
Part Information: Part Number: 90891-20120-00 ( a kit with 2 brackets, 2 nuts, 4 bolts, 6 drill bits, and a spline to 3/8" drive indicating torque wrench adapter.) Test Part: Pull left side cover and air box cover. Pull shift linkage from the actuator. Use the adapter to install an indicating torque wrench (or torque analyzer) -- most will use a 2-beam torque wrench. Check for movement clockwise and counter-clockwise with 29 ft-lbs of torque (never exceed 29 ft-lbs). If the shaft moves -- replace the actuator assembly.

Install brackets (2): Pull shift actuator. Lower the rear shock remote adjuster (3 nuts). Drill out the threads to 8mm on the actuators rear mount hole (ONLY ONE HOLE). Install bracket to the inside of the frame with longer provided bolt. Install bracket 2 to aft mounting hole with the bracket stud installed in the sub-frame crossover plate (existing hole). (Do not know what the torques are -- see your dealer for a copy of the bulletin). Re-install actuator shift arm to the shaft and adjust according to service manual.)

Any chance the mount for the actuator broke? Or is that what you were talking about? The EOM mount was prone to breaking and wreaking havoc. If it wasn't updated by the PO it's possible it snapped and you wouldn't be able to shift. IF that's what it was, it should be covered by recall.

If that's not it, I donno, but I don't have an AE. It was just the first thing that came to mind. More knowledgeable guys will chime in anyway.

Fantastic. Thanks both for the quick reply. I hunted down the Service Bulletin and my bike falls into the range of the recall. I was able to download and copy and the great news is that Yamaha covers the cost to the dealer. Don't know if that is why is wrong, but I strongly suspect it is as when I attempted to use the foot shift, I could fainly feel something moving.....anyway, I live in outside Reno, but spend a considerable time down in SoCal for work so I leave the bike down there to get through the traffic. I was in, of all places, South Central L.A. when it happened...glad it wasn't night......Thanks again for the info......

Holy crap...I didn't see Alan's reply until just now. Looks like we were on the same track. I feel so smart.

South Central is not exactly a tourist attraction.

I had a glitch/anomaly once; wuz ride'in w/ fellow inmate WWWobble a gfew weeks back, (He does wobble in real life!) go'in up HWY 49 north east of Downieville, and almost missed the gold Lake turn off. I stabbed the brakes real hard, frum 65 mph, and started flick'in down the paddle shifter at 'bout 10 mph.

It only went down to 3rd gear no matter what I did (Foot or paddle.) wouldn't go down to 2nd or 1st.

Ended up having to pull over, shut the bike off, look 'round at the incredibly beautiful scenary, then turned the bike back on, then could down shift and all wuz well again. Haven't had that issue since. An '07 AE w/ 'bout 30,000.

Update….shift actuator broke…Dealer contacted Yamaha and they said the repair was done according to their records (service bulletin repair as mentioned above. Thanks!). Dealer said repair not done correctly. Yamaha said cost ($1690) on me. I contacted Yamaha and they are going to go ahead and cover the cost. Subframe coming in from Japan. Good news only five days ETA for the part to arrive. Won't count the chickens until bike is repaired and cost covered by Big Blue. Big question is that is this a major flaw and should I change bikes for non AE or am good to go? I don't want to go thru this again. Major hassle. Put 70K on my original 03 FJR which my son is now riding (and I am now borrowing)…To be continued. Thanks for all the suggestions. It was key to getting things right.

teacherman said:

Update.shift actuator brokeDealer contacted Yamaha and they said the repair was done according to their records (service bulletin repair as mentioned above. Thanks!). Dealer said repair not done correctly. Yamaha said cost ($1690) on me. I contacted Yamaha and they are going to go ahead and cover the cost. Subframe coming in from Japan. Good news only five days ETA for the part to arrive. Won't count the chickens until bike is repaired and cost covered by Big Blue. Big question is that is this a major flaw and should I change bikes for non AE or am good to go? I don't want to go thru this again. Major hassle. Put 70K on my original 03 FJR which my son is now riding (and I am now borrowing)To be continued. Thanks for all the suggestions. It was key to getting things right.

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Good to go, no reports that I am aware of where the replacement mount fails. Except yours, makes you unique.