Just last week, I had planned a solo ride to Sravanbelagola and Belur Halebid. I started my ride at a relaxed 10.30Am, and hit the Bangalore-Pune NH4. Everything was going as per schedule. I had a lunch stop over at Hassan, at 1.30Pm, 200Km away from Bangalore. Soon after lunch I hit the highway at 3Pm, to go to my first destination of the day which was Belur, 35Km ahead.
The road was very good, which allowed me to cruise at a comfortable 120Kmph. I was 9Km ahead of Hassan, and suddenly the red warning light came on. This has randomly happened before whenever the Pulsar 220 goes above 120Kmph (no one at Bajaj Service is sure why this happens). The only way to make that light go away is to do a full reboot of the bike. Since I was at a high speed already, and the road was clear, I decided not to stop for the reboot. I came down to 2nd gear to reduce speed, and turned off the engine while pressing the clutch. It normally takes an approximate 15 secs to reboot and finish priming the fuel pump, after which I start the engine. This time the engine did not start after the boot up was complete. I rebooted again, still in motion, and even then the engine did not start!
Now I was worried, as this has never happened before. As a last attempt, I rebooted again, and this time tried to start the engine by engaging the gear. Nothing happened, it just would not start. Finally I came to a halt, pulled the bike on center stand and tried starting multiple times. Each time I rebooted, the fuel pump priming sounded normal, the starter motor would run normally, but there was just no ignition. The engine would sound as if it had run out fuel (there was at least 10L of petrol as I had tanked up earlier), and the starter would just run. Finally the battery low indicator started flashing on the LCD console.
I was 9Km ahead of Hassan, the only place to get decent shelter and help for the Pulsar 220. I checked my mobile, there was just one bar on my Nokia indicating weak network strength. There were a few huts in sight a few hundred meters away. I tried calling Bajaj Service Bangalore, but all I got was 'call could not be completed' message on my Nokia. Now I was panicking, and tried hard to think. I took off the Cramster Colt of the bike, and all other luggage, opened the side panels and checked for any visible clues; none were found.
An aged villager saw that I had stopped and has dome problem with my bike. He came and offered help. But due to language problems, all I could make out was that there was a STD-PCO pay-phone a few hundred meters near the next settlement. Since that was my only option, I put back the bike and all the luggage, and pushed the bike. And boy, it was heavy. This was the first time I realized that the Pulsar 220 is a huge bike with a kerb weight of 150Kg's! By the time I had reached the pay phone, I was sweating like a pig.
I immediately opened up the bike again, and made my first call to Venkats Auto Service, asking to speak to the supervisor. I was put on to Babu, who knew me and my bike as he was the one who I would interact with for all my servicing and other issues. He calmly instructed me what all to do, what all to check. Here is all that was done..
-Open petrol tank lid, check if fuel was visible, shake the bike with lid open, try starting (this step I guess comes from an old line of thought that the fuel tank may generate -ve pressure, preventing easy fuel flow)
-Open the fuel flow pipes, and check if there was proper flow. I had a hard time doing this as I had the bare minimum tools (default provided by bike). Finally I found that the fuel flew perfectly and in volume as the fuel pump primed.
-Remove both the spark plugs, and check for burning, smelling or residual/wet fuel on them. Both looked (dirty black, which is normal) and smelled fine.
All the above took more than an hour, as I had to go forth between the pay-phone and the bike a few meters away. In the meanwhile I had discovered that I could send and receive SMS's. I messaged Venkat, the big boss at Auto Service. As soon as he came to know about the situation, he swung into action, and took over from Babu. He did another round of troubleshooting, and asked me to check the wiring thoroughly. He indicated that its could be an ECU or an EM issue. In the mean while he informed me that he is escalating the situation to Bajaj Service.
I got back to checking the wiring and to my surprise found a wire which had come out of a socket. Putting it back did not help, so perhaps it was not an important one. In the mean while I got an SMS and a call from a Bajaj Service official by the name of Balakrishna. He informed me that they are doing their best to handle the situation, and sounded very concerned. Venkat informed me that a Bajaj dealer from Hasan is being called to check the bike. Balakrishna told me that if the Hassan dealer was not able to help, he would take care of transporting the bike and accommodation for the night (who was going to pay was not clear, but the offer was very comforting).
I continued checking the wiring, and came to small black box under the rear seat. I popped it open, and I was shocked to see that it had a fuse in it which had blown out!! There was also a replacement fuse there, which I quickly replaced, crossed my fingers and booted up.
The engine started with its reassuring note, and came to life. Just then the Bajaj dealer from Hassan arrived with 2 engineers. Although the engine had started, I explained everything to the engineers. They gave the bike a through check, including the wiring. They found out another loose wire, which was dangerously hanging under the battery compartment. It had come off, and was centimeters away from bare metal. He explained that this could have shorted the fuse. He put the wiring securely in place, and did a small test ride. Everything was fine now, and they returned back to Hassan.
This info was relayed back to Venkat and Balakrishna, who again asked me to call him any time in case of further issues. I thanked them all for their patience and help. Since my confidence was all shaken up, and it was almost after sunset, I decided to spend the night at Hassan. First thing I did was I bought replacement fuses.
After staying for the night, I continued my ride the next day. I had to cram up 2 days worth of riding and visits in 1 day. The next day was uneventful, and although a bit shaken up, I finished my ride on schedule.
The road was very good, which allowed me to cruise at a comfortable 120Kmph. I was 9Km ahead of Hassan, and suddenly the red warning light came on. This has randomly happened before whenever the Pulsar 220 goes above 120Kmph (no one at Bajaj Service is sure why this happens). The only way to make that light go away is to do a full reboot of the bike. Since I was at a high speed already, and the road was clear, I decided not to stop for the reboot. I came down to 2nd gear to reduce speed, and turned off the engine while pressing the clutch. It normally takes an approximate 15 secs to reboot and finish priming the fuel pump, after which I start the engine. This time the engine did not start after the boot up was complete. I rebooted again, still in motion, and even then the engine did not start!
Now I was worried, as this has never happened before. As a last attempt, I rebooted again, and this time tried to start the engine by engaging the gear. Nothing happened, it just would not start. Finally I came to a halt, pulled the bike on center stand and tried starting multiple times. Each time I rebooted, the fuel pump priming sounded normal, the starter motor would run normally, but there was just no ignition. The engine would sound as if it had run out fuel (there was at least 10L of petrol as I had tanked up earlier), and the starter would just run. Finally the battery low indicator started flashing on the LCD console.
I was 9Km ahead of Hassan, the only place to get decent shelter and help for the Pulsar 220. I checked my mobile, there was just one bar on my Nokia indicating weak network strength. There were a few huts in sight a few hundred meters away. I tried calling Bajaj Service Bangalore, but all I got was 'call could not be completed' message on my Nokia. Now I was panicking, and tried hard to think. I took off the Cramster Colt of the bike, and all other luggage, opened the side panels and checked for any visible clues; none were found.An aged villager saw that I had stopped and has dome problem with my bike. He came and offered help. But due to language problems, all I could make out was that there was a STD-PCO pay-phone a few hundred meters near the next settlement. Since that was my only option, I put back the bike and all the luggage, and pushed the bike. And boy, it was heavy. This was the first time I realized that the Pulsar 220 is a huge bike with a kerb weight of 150Kg's! By the time I had reached the pay phone, I was sweating like a pig.
I immediately opened up the bike again, and made my first call to Venkats Auto Service, asking to speak to the supervisor. I was put on to Babu, who knew me and my bike as he was the one who I would interact with for all my servicing and other issues. He calmly instructed me what all to do, what all to check. Here is all that was done..
-Open petrol tank lid, check if fuel was visible, shake the bike with lid open, try starting (this step I guess comes from an old line of thought that the fuel tank may generate -ve pressure, preventing easy fuel flow)
-Open the fuel flow pipes, and check if there was proper flow. I had a hard time doing this as I had the bare minimum tools (default provided by bike). Finally I found that the fuel flew perfectly and in volume as the fuel pump primed.
-Remove both the spark plugs, and check for burning, smelling or residual/wet fuel on them. Both looked (dirty black, which is normal) and smelled fine.
All the above took more than an hour, as I had to go forth between the pay-phone and the bike a few meters away. In the meanwhile I had discovered that I could send and receive SMS's. I messaged Venkat, the big boss at Auto Service. As soon as he came to know about the situation, he swung into action, and took over from Babu. He did another round of troubleshooting, and asked me to check the wiring thoroughly. He indicated that its could be an ECU or an EM issue. In the mean while he informed me that he is escalating the situation to Bajaj Service.
I got back to checking the wiring and to my surprise found a wire which had come out of a socket. Putting it back did not help, so perhaps it was not an important one. In the mean while I got an SMS and a call from a Bajaj Service official by the name of Balakrishna. He informed me that they are doing their best to handle the situation, and sounded very concerned. Venkat informed me that a Bajaj dealer from Hasan is being called to check the bike. Balakrishna told me that if the Hassan dealer was not able to help, he would take care of transporting the bike and accommodation for the night (who was going to pay was not clear, but the offer was very comforting).
I continued checking the wiring, and came to small black box under the rear seat. I popped it open, and I was shocked to see that it had a fuse in it which had blown out!! There was also a replacement fuse there, which I quickly replaced, crossed my fingers and booted up.The engine started with its reassuring note, and came to life. Just then the Bajaj dealer from Hassan arrived with 2 engineers. Although the engine had started, I explained everything to the engineers. They gave the bike a through check, including the wiring. They found out another loose wire, which was dangerously hanging under the battery compartment. It had come off, and was centimeters away from bare metal. He explained that this could have shorted the fuse. He put the wiring securely in place, and did a small test ride. Everything was fine now, and they returned back to Hassan.
This info was relayed back to Venkat and Balakrishna, who again asked me to call him any time in case of further issues. I thanked them all for their patience and help. Since my confidence was all shaken up, and it was almost after sunset, I decided to spend the night at Hassan. First thing I did was I bought replacement fuses.
After staying for the night, I continued my ride the next day. I had to cram up 2 days worth of riding and visits in 1 day. The next day was uneventful, and although a bit shaken up, I finished my ride on schedule.
3 comments:
First up, it's great that you're sharing your experiences with your bike here with us. Atleast, we'll be able to know what to look for when our bike encounters problems! Dearly hoping that the Chennai guys provide as good a service as your guys!
Hey - sheer bad luck I guess, I thot P220 is a modern bike. So many problems? Your story sounds like a bullet owner dream come true.
Hey - am from bangalore too and part of BN
Yes, the wiring is not so good. Some of it's ok. (Going by my 180 UG3.) On the whole, the Pulsar is *much* better made than the equivalent Japanese bikes (many of which are made in Brazil and various other countries.) The attention to detail on the Pulsar is amazing.
That fuse /fuse holder... I'm about to change mine to a blade fuse. I think more reliable / more shock resistant / vibration resistant then the old-fashioned glass fuses. (So much modern tech on these bikes, why the hell are they still using those old glass fuses?!)
I've been tidying up the wiring some more the last week or so and I bought a plastic fuse holder with a cap that takes blade fuses. (Can only get them with wires already crimped on, so cut those wires shorter and join the bike wires to them. (With solder and then heatshrink.)
The main earth/ground point on the Pulsar 180 ... main earth wire from battery joining earth wire from other side of engine casing at big ring terminal bolted to engine mount bracket on righthand side near the swingarm pivot grease nipple. I took the bolt out and a lot of white powder / galvanic oxidation fell out. *Good* earth is important, so... i spent some time cleaning out the threads with contact cleaner on a test tube brush, I sanded off the paint around the mounting hole (for better contact), and I polished the ring terminal with a little wire brush.
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