AE only, intermittent paddle shift failure

[McRuss]

I have experienced a paddle shift failure several times over the last few months, 5 times to be exact, when shifting from 1st to 2nd. My dealer couldn't duplicate the failure and after consulting with Yamaha, replaced the switch (this was after the 4th failure and while the YES was still good.) The day after the switch was replaced, a catastrophic failure occurred which resulted in having the entire wiring harness replaced (under warranty as part of the Spider recall.) All was fine for the first few rides and then this morning, failure number 5.

It just fails to shift with the up-shift paddle, acts like the paddle shift is not turned on (it is, I checked....). The foot shift works fine to get around the failure so it doesn't seem to be a mechanical issue (and the dealer checked out the mechanical portion of the operation before replacing the paddle.)

Long story long, has anyone else experienced a similar failure and if so, how was it fixed?

2009 AE with 54,700 miles, one owner since new. Issue started about 5,000 miles ago or so.

 

[majicmaker]

I've never experienced anything like that with mine. It has 90K miles on it now. I'll follow this with interest. Good Luck!

 

[mcatrophy]

Sounds very strange if it really is only 1st to 2nd and the foot switcher still works.

There's no difference in signals to the MCU regardless of the gear, no difference to the MCU's reaction to either hand or foot signal. If it was an electrical issue (bad switch or connector), it would show up in any gear.

The only reason I can think of is the idle speed is high and you are trying to change up before the 1st gear revs have built up enough. This can happen with the cold idle when you know it would be fine, but the MCU isn't so sure.

Next time it does it, accelerate so the revs are higher, then try again.

 

[SailorTim]

Occasionally I have trouble down-shifting when I stop and the bike is still in third or a higher gear, but it eventually goes down. Never had anything like this happen, and the paddle is the only shifter I use.

 

[Brodie]

If you are in the habit of removing your shift motor to gain access to your air box in order to service the air filter element,you may want to check this out...

What you are looking at is the shift motor from my AE that became mis-adjusted through repeated removals through the years. As you can see, the punch mark on the shaft aligns properly with the mark on the shift arm, but look how the blind hole on the housing is mis-aligned to the through hole in the shift arm. This 5mm hole times the movement with the shift drum in the transmission. I had been tolerating a "lazy shift" for several years. Occasionally the bike would take a moment (or three) to make the shift from first to second gear. It happened mostly during the upshift, however occasionally on a down shift.

This is my second '06 AE, the first one violently taken away from me by an inattentive driver in a Chevy Silverado. I had come to think that my first one was blessed with a bullet proof shifter, this second one showing such an early failure mode. Last November I performed my 78K maintenance interval, and the shifter became much lazier. Almost every other upshift was noticeably late, and the downshifts were getting bad too. That's when I realized I did something to mess it up. After a quick perusal of my service manual, I hit upon this adjustment. Sure enough, the alignment holes were off considerably. This arm is adjusted by the shift linkage. It has a turnbuckle like arrangement between the Heim joints. Whenever I removed the shift motor from the sub frame, it was put back in a slightly different position. This last time was enough to force me to look closer at it.

The service manual has the mechanic use a 5mm rod to time it. I have no problem modifying a tool in my collection for a specific task. This time I found a double end scribe with the right diameter shank. Out came the dermal tool, within minutes I had a special tool just for this purpose.

With this new tool inserted, I was able to adjust the length of the shift linkage to properly time it. The above picture shows just how far off it was. Now the shift motor throw was in sync with the shift drum. The Electric Shift works spot on now!

I will still remove this unit to gain access to the air box, however I now know to make this final adjustment.

Have a look at your unit, this is an easy fix, once you know about it.

Brodie

 

[mcatrophy]

If you are in the habit of removing your shift motor to gain access to your air box in order to service the air filter element,you may want to check this out...
What you are looking at is the shift motor from my AE that became mis-adjusted through repeated removals through the years. ...

Brodie

Interesting thought, but if the OP's symptoms are as he described, his apparently always works ok with the foot "switch".

Misalignment wouldn't make any difference between using finger or foot control operation

.

 

[YummYam]

Very interesting topic. No issues with mine but eargerly awaiting the next installment and eventual cure for the O.P.

 

[majicmaker]

Interesting. That's just like the rigging holes on an airplane to adjust the alignment on all the control rods between the stick and the flight controls. I hope that's the culprit But, Mc does make a good point. Interesting in deed!

 

[McRuss]

The alignment is certainly something to keep in mind but I'm sure that is not the issue here; no 'lazy' shift, just no shift at all. And the dealer had the mechanicals apart while trying to find the culprit. As for the RPMs not being high enough, these failures come long after the bike is warmed up and at 20 mph and 3,000 rpm as I attempt to shift from 1st to 2nd.

After giving this lots of thought, a couple things 'popped into my head:'

The only two times it shouldn't paddle-shift from 1st to 2nd is 1) when the 'on/off' button is off and the green light is off and 2), when the bike is not moving or moving at a crawl (I don't know exactly what speed it takes but not much.) The on/off button does not affect the foot shift but the speed does. Knowing this, I don't see how the 'speed sensor' failure could affect only the paddle (so much for that thought.) So I'm down to the 'on/off' button/switch. The dealer changed out the paddle shifter but I'm not sure they changed the on/off switch. I've queried them about that, waiting for an answer.

Bottom line is that the failure is so infrequent and not reproducible that the service mgr and I have decided to just wait for a total failure, if that ever happens. They have agreed to cover the problem out of warranty which is only fair since it was brought to their attention under YES.

I wall keep the lot of you advised as to progress on a solution if any.

 

[mcatrophy]

... The dealer changed out the paddle shifter but I'm not sure they changed the on/off switch. I've queried them about that, waiting for an answer....

You'll find that the on/off switch and the paddle switch will have been replaced as one unit.

 

[erixun]

Wonder if they only changed the 'switch' part within the housing, and not the whole housing itself, so in effect leaving a 'flawed' green light switch? mcatrophy is there replaceable parts within the unit, or only replaceable as a whole unit? I would not put it past a dealer to replace the the minimum parts necessary to get a fix, and maybe not knowing exactly what the problem was the plan was to 'see if this works'.

 

[mcatrophy]

Wonder if they only changed the 'switch' part within the housing, and not the whole housing itself, so in effect leaving a 'flawed' green light switch? mcatrophy is there replaceable parts within the unit, or only replaceable as a whole unit? I would not put it past a dealer to replace the the minimum parts necessary to get a fix, and maybe not knowing exactly what the problem was the plan was to 'see if this works'.

I'm not looking at a parts fiche, but I guarantee it's only available as a complete unit. So, unless he had another unit to hand, he could only have purchased a complete unit.

I'll try to dig out a picture of the switch in bits, shows there's little possibility of partial replacement. I'm having a little problem with my server, so it will take me a little while to dig it out.

 

[mcatrophy]

Found some pictures, one example:

Click on image for larger view



Click on the < prev >, < next > or < more > links for a few more.

 

[erixun]

Found the fiche, and you sir are correct. The only part number given is for the complete unit. https://www.yamahapartshouse.com/oemparts/a/yam/5004606ff8700209bc795151/steering-handle-cable Which kinda sucks, I need a new rubber button cover for mine, do not want to pay $343 for it!

Sorry, I just took a shot in the dark.

 

[McRuss]

I also approached the service manager with the question of the possibility that the button was not replaced and he confirmed that it is a one piece item. The photo by mcatrophy indicates that it is a unit including the housing and the wire harness. My housing looks original but what do I know?

Yamaha suggested to him that the problem was me shifting at too slow a speed. I did some experimenting this morning and found that the only way I can duplicate the failure is to coast at an idle in 1st, RPMs at about 1100 or 1200. Any time the clutch engages (at higher RPMs) it will shift even though the indicator says "Pull up! Pull up! Insufficient ground speed!" or some such (no gear indicated.)

As for dealer short cutting, I would usually agree but this dealer (Destination Cycle, Kerrville, Texas) is OK. They even replaced my rear shock at 55,000 while they were working on the shift problem. Said it was starting to leak and they were poking around up there anyway. Covered it under 'good will.' No argument from me!

To be continued...

 

[Big-B]

The foot shift is a switch it is not mechanical. I had a bad switch and the hand shift does not work if the foot switch fails as you would think it would.