Oil light comes on, engine sputters and dies

[dragginbagger]

I just bought a 04 XB12r, was told it had a bent valve. Upon getting it home, through a battery in it, and proceeded to try to start it. To my surprise, it started, idled a little roughly but died. To my knowledge, the guy I bought it from, bought it in this condition, had it for 3 years, never touched it, and decided he wasn't going to. Assuming the gas wasn't so good, I added some fresh gas, along with some heet, and some injector cleaner. Bike starts rite up, idles good for 20-30 seconds, then the check engine light comes on, motor runs rough, and will die if u allow it to. Turn the key off, then back on, starts rite up, oil light is iff, then the same thing happens. Motor sounds good when running, responds good to throttling, and oil is in the range on the dipstick.
I have worked on many Harley's, but never a Buell, so outside of common sense/ mechanical knowledge, this is new for me. Seems to be an Electrical issue, but wanted to hear other people's experiences/ ideas? Thanks in advance, Ian

[Cooter]

Oil pressure is not a Buell specific thing. Any diagnosis that works on an engine, will work on a Buell. With your extensive experience with Harleys this should be easy!

Since you already started it and ran all that bad gas into your injectors... I'd recommend removing them, cleaning them, and flushing the fuel system completely. Change the oil. THEN check oil pressure with a gauge. IMHO.

[njloco]

Since you were told that it has a bent valve, I would also do a compression test just to rule that out however unlikely it is. Definitely what Cooter said ^^^^^^^^^.
Clean all the grounds, no matter what they look like, then put an anti corrosive lube on them, I use roller chain spray. Doing a TPS reset is always a good thing and can't hurt anything. Other than that I'll leave the rest to the experts.

Good luck with your new to you buell.

[dragginbagger]

Update: took off air cleaner box, found that ETS was unplugged, plugged it in, check engine light goes out, bike runs but misfires through the throttle body, and sounds like its out of time? What exactly does the engine temp sensor do, and could it being faulty cause the misfiring? It actually sounds like it could have a bent valve when it's plugged in, but certainly no engine noise, and I also find it quite odd that it runs great for 30 seconds with its unplugged, before the check engine light comes on then it doesn't want to idle?

[Simplymichaeljr]

I'd recommend purchasing an ecmspy cable and software or a buelltooth dongle to run diagnostics. You can check current codes and stored codes--and check injector psi, coils, voltage, etc. That will point you in a general direction. Hopefully, it's just a sensor and not a bent valve.

[Chicknstripn]

www.buellmods.com
At the above site you can find a service manual.
From there I'd pull the top end apart.
Engine rotation isn't very difficult, furthermore, it's the best way to see what's really going on with the valves and what not.
Yes, if your problem is JUST electrical a rotation might not be necessary but think of how clean you can get the inside of that engine.
Anyway, look into getting ECMspy or ecmdroid so you can check those codes. Or use the pin jumping method outlined in the service manual.
You might want to drop a magnet into the swingarm to make sure nothing is coming apart inside the engine. The amount of metal, or lack there, will tell you a lot about the engine.
Good luck

[Simplymichaeljr]

Essentially, the ETS tells the ecm the temp. and then correspondingly the ecm will enrich the bike until the engine is warmed up based on temp--basically an electronic choke.

[user_deleted]

here's what you do NOT have:
1-an ETS as it relates to this discussion.
2-a bent valve
3-a baseline for determining precise condition of your bike and steps to rectify problems
your XB has a handful of very simple sensors and that date back to the formative years of american throttle body fuel injection systems....though your XB has a pair of dedicated injectors. the sensor that affixes to the underside right rear of your airbox base is an IAT(intake air temperature) sensor. faulty or unplugged makes no difference...the bike won't run worth crap. what you also now have is 1 or more stored trouble codes.
go no further in your endeavors till you install a fresh known good battery....fresh high octane fuel...clean all the grounding points....clean all battery cables....at the very least remove the front (easiest to access) front plug and check for fouling and purchase a diagnostics system either online or from Cole who's handle is AZmidget on this board. he's extremely knowledgeable and a wonderful long-time member who can fix you up with simple diagnostics products that will allow you to view your ecm, trouble-shoot problems, adjust maps, and most importantly identify and clear trouble codes which you clearly have.
hazarding an educated guess here but you have:
stale fuel....fouled original spark plugs....1 or more corroded grounds.....low alternator output....1 or more faulty sensors....and lastly a CPS that has been dicked with and now out of time.

[34nineteen]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this.

[dragginbagger]

Update: got the dongle from Cole, and ECM droid downloaded, hooked up ran diagnostics. Rear o2 lean, ETS fault to ground came up. Cleared those, reset TPS, started bike, set idle. Bike shoes no codes, but idles where it belongs, then jumps to close to 3000, then back down to 1000, and everywhere in between. Not really sure how to use ECM droid other than that, really just looking to get the bike running decent for a ride this Saturday, then will have time to really dive into this entirely new world of fuel injection/ computer tuning! My other bike is a 97" supercharged carbureted Harley, so this is quite foreign to me! Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ian