Quick background: I bought my ZERO SR (2015) in 2018 with 4.000 km (aprox. 2500 miles) on it. It drove and looked like it just came out of the factory. I drove it for about 5.000 km (aprox 3.000 miles) with a lot of joy and happiness (hence my profile name).
Then I had this:
https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=9811.0 , which ended with a replaced BMS, Charger and Battery...
When that was done I again had a great time with my electrified love and hoped I would not have to get myself annoyed by my Zero dealer soon again, and then...........
I took the bike for a spin on 12JAN2020 around 15:00 CET. I had not ridden it for a few weeks.
It was dry and the road was also completely dry. The outside temperature was around 7 degrees Celsius.
The bike was about 60% charged, I was driving in Eco mode.
The bike drove perfectly fine for the first 5 kilometers (~3 miles), I drove in the city, so I maxed at about 65 kilometers (~40 miles) per hour shortly but was doing 50 km/h (~30 miles) mostly. The engine temperature was somewhere in the 30-40 degrees Celsius (86-104 Fahrenheit) range. Suddenly while driving, the bike started to respond weird to the throttle. It felt like it had the hick-ups. It had a stuttering response to the throttle and it did not want to go faster than about 50 km/hour. (~30 miles/hour) This happened for about 30 seconds to a minute; I then found a safe spot to stop and switched of the bike.
When after a few minutes I switched on the bike again, the dashboard flashing routine worked as normal and the bike seemed ready to go, but there was no response at all from the throttle.
I tried a few things, like waiting a few minutes and switching the motor stop switch on and off, changing the drive mode from eco to sport and to custom, but nothing had any result.
I decided to walk back home. That was a stupid decision with hindsight, because pushing a bike for 5 kilometers (~3 miles) is hell.
When I arrived home, I plugged in the bike for it to charge and it did so without any problems. Then I had to get a shower and throw all my clothes into the washing machine, I was wet all over from pushing the bike...
The next day I checked the bike and it was fully charged. It still nicely “booted”, inclusive of the “click” from the contactor and it responded to the side stand being either in or out with the related warning. The headlight switched on, etc. It seemed to be ready to go as always, but again no throttle response at all.
I then consulted the manual and found the section on the error codes and then I changed the dash to show the error codes.
Throughout the “boot” process (from turning the key to “on” to the bike being “ready”), it showed the following error codes (in that sequence): 25, 57, 48, 49.
They would however not be present anymore when finishing the boot sequence. The bike seemed perfectly fine and ready to go, but it did not want to....
Finally I connected the bike to my phone and started the app through which I got the error log that I then sent to Zero.
I thought they were super fast and had brilliant customer service, because when I later checked my email I already received an answer from Zero with the confirmation of the receipt of the log and a request for more information about what happened, what the weather was at that moment, etc.
Later I realized that this is just an automated response to anyone who sends them a log file.........
Because of my poor experience with the Zero dealer (from that I believed they do not have a clue about these bikes), I decided to read through this forum from a to z and try everything I could try to figure out what was the problem or to maybe even solve it myself. So I did the following:
1. Tried to install the software that can translate the logs into something that one can actually read. Took me forever and then I gave up. And then as a gift from above I stumbled on this website:
https://zero-motorcycle-community.github.io/browser-parse/zero-log-parser.html BRILLIANT.
2. Tried to figure out from the logs that I could now read what was the problem. I could see what the dealer should have seen with regards to my previous problem, could see several errors, but did not find anything specific in the logs around the time the problem happened.
3. Reset the BMS (soft reset, hard reset), did it again and again and again...
4. Unplugged the main "computer" (MBB) left the bike for 10 minutes and plugged it in again
5. Checked ALL fuses that I could find in the bike
6. Unplugged all plugs that I could one by one (for some I still do not understand how to get them unplugged), tried the bike, plugged in again
7. Unplugged the charger from the bike
8. Removed the rubber flap from the controller and checked all connections
9. Unplugged the canbus from the controller, waited 10 minutes, plugged it in again
10. Had a mental breakdown
11. Called Zero and got someone on the phone who was really nice, understanding and helpful. He checked the logs and concluded that it was most probably a problem with the engine; NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! not again a major part to be replaced!!!! It was, according to him probably related to the sensor in the engine that helps to have the controller understand in what position the rotor is so that it can fire the right phases to get the engine turning........ He advised me to bring the bike to the dealer.....................
I elaborated on my previous experience with my Zero dealer and asked him for advice. He was very understanding, but still advised me to go to the same dealer (close by) and let them work with Zero to figure out exactly what was wrong with the bike.
12. Called the dealer and they came to pick it up same day because luckily it was still winter and hence they were not super busy.
THE NEXT DAY THE ZERO DEALER CALLED AND INFORMED ME THAT THE BIKE WAS FIXED AND THAT I COULD COME AND COLLECT IT!!!!!!!!!
It was only the throttle that was the problem. They replaced it directly and all was done............ I was flabbergasted and extremely happy.
The entire
still did cost me 400 euro ($440) for the throttle (200), collecting the bike from my house (85) and labor costs (115) inc. VAT, but I was sooooo happy that the engine did not have to be replaced.
My faith in the dealer has more or less returned with this great action from them, however.... when I checked the logs a day later, I did see that there is also an update for the bike........ the dealer should have installed that one while the bike was there........... One cannot have it all........
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Topic: Throttle defective (SR 2015) (Read 303 times)