Doing it yourself can be dangerous...!

Just a note on working on / maintaining your own bike, when like me you are "still learning", that's nice speak for don't really know what you are doing.

I put my SV back together tonight, taking care to torque everything correctly, apply lots of grease where needed, etc, and generally taking my time and being careful with it.

When I went to start the bike, it wouldn't start and just got an FI error on the dash.

I had fitted a new rear shock, requiring that I cut my battery box, and relocated the battery slightly. After a quick search on the org I found the cause of the FI starting issue. The bike thought it was lying on the ground. The little electronic box on the front of the battery box (me not having a clue what it was or what it did), turned out to be the tilt cut out switch which I had flung into a free space in the side fairing panel.

It's just pure luck that it had ended up at 90 degrees to the correct angle and so the bike wouldn't start, alerting me to the fact I had a problem. If in flinging it into the side panel, it had ended up at lets just say for ease of mathematics, 45 degrees, then the bike would have started and I would have thought everything was tickety-boo. My first aggressive corner when I leant the bike over to 45 degrees, would have put the tilt switch to 90 degrees, cutting my engine mid corner

I don't mind admitting when I've made a c*ck up, I am still learning, if somebody else can learn from it that's good.

It would never have occurred to me to check if any of the electrical boxes under the seat needed to be the right way up, or even to check what they are, you just think "that's an electrical 'thing', so long as it dry, plugged in, free from chafing, etc, that's all it needs.

In future before I move or change anything, I'll be finding out what it is.

Needless to say it's now nicely secured in the upright position.

Yikes that is scary. Good advice. Do all bikes have a tilt cut out switch, and are they all usually near the battery??

[dizzyblonde]

oh dear, just as well you have a brain and realised your error.

Tiz why I get somebody else to do it.

Glad you found the problem

Must admit i am one for taking bits on and off and not noting where it came from

[5hort5]

I tend to photograph everything at all stages from all angles, and label up everything in separate freezer bags or masking tape if it's big or cables, tends to work for me but I didn't know about the tilt switch - Is that just a pointy thing?

Glad it's sorted and you spotted it

[Red Herring]

Actually Ralph it would probably have been Ok if you had been riding the bike because the sensor can't tell that the bike is leaning over unless you stop and lose the centrifugal force....but then generally the bike falls over anyhow. Still, we all know what you mean.

well at least you are getting in there and doing jobs on the bike I cant stand it when people don’t maintain there bike/achieve simple procedures it really bugs me.. I believe that to pass your test you also nee to be able to pass a test that give common knowledge about how a bike actually works.. Once again I applaud you for getting dirty with your bike!!

It also helps improve rider skill as you know exactly what is happening to the bike in different situations.

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by thulfi

Yikes that is scary. Good advice. Do all bikes have a tilt cut out switch, and are they all usually near the battery??

I've only ever seen fuel injected bikes have tilt switches. Their purpose is the cut the motor if the bike is on its side, carbed bikes will usually stop fairly quickly when horizontal as the fuel is gravity fed into the float bowls and also the jets only dip into the fuel when the carb is upright or vey near to upright.

[ophic]

I made this mistake - forgot to put the tilt sensor back on its lug. It rattled around and caused numerous engine cut-outs on the motorway. It was very annoying until I'd realised what I'd done - but not exactly dangerous.

[embee]

I think the tilt switches can be more or less anywhere on the bike (for the reasons explained in above posts). On the 700 Deauville it's up near the headlamp I believe.