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Thread: Error code 15, 16, 21, struggling with diagnosis

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    17
    Hi all- I recently took a trip on my 2006 12ss from Southern California to North Idaho; the trip was awesome, and the bike gave me no trouble whatsoever, which made me pretty happy. After getting here, however, my bike almost immediately started exhibiting problems; the main one was a tendency of the bike to give me some hesitation in engine power at steady speeds.
    I would be traveling at an even pace, holding the throttle steady with a equally steady rpm... and randomly there would be a slight, slow decrease in power and the rpms would begin to lower. But as soon as I gave any kind of throttle, the engine would respond immediately without hesitation.

    The codes I got off my blinking EL are

    15-Intake air temperature sensor
    16-Battery voltage
    21-Interactive muffler control

    Initially, I fully charged my battery, then checked the battery load test with my multimeter. Couldn't find anything wrong with the system; and fuses and plugs were all good. So I read up here for awhile and decided to switch out my AIT sensor. Swapped that, and took it on a night time test ride. I live on a mountainside, and it initially did great- on the way down, it was fully responsive, everything felt normal, and it was steady when I held it to an even pace. However, probably about 7 miles down the lights started to dim on me; the EL let me know it stored a code. I immediately turned around and started heading back. The entire way back my beams and dash were swiftly getting dimmer, to the point where I could barely see. I tried to diagnose it, and the lights seemed to get minutely better when I pulled the clutch in, but only barely. And the same hesitation I experienced before came back as well.

    After getting back, I noticed my engine was understandably hot, but my fan hadn't kicked on. I realized I hadn't noticed it on the last few days before the engine lights came on either.

    So I tried to go through things again, this time with more detail.
    The battery: recharged it; and the multimeter showed it at 12.76v with just the key on-and than started slowly declining until it reached 12.04v, where it stayed. I turned the key off for a second, and measured it again a couple minutes later at 12.63. turned the key on, and it dropped to 12.04 again. When I started the engine, it dropped to 8 volts, but quickly caught and idled steady at 12.34. It worked up to 13.15-.60, jumping around between alot. And when I give it throttle, volts go to 14.27.
    -If I'm reading this correctly, my battery seems to be holding a charge, and my alternator seems to be working. Beyond that, I'm still figuring out the rest of my charging system (what the hell does the stator DO? I've googled it, searched for it, and can't figure it out).

    Interactive muffler control: I located the actuator on my airbox, and and cycled it- it opened and closed the valve smoothly. Right now I'm stuck on how to test the resistance in the actuator's power line.

    I also visually checked connection 77, and could not see any signs of wear or melting. I only checked the inside of the adapters however- I didn't pull the wires themselves.

    The bike runs smoothly when idling; no signs of trouble whatsoever.

    Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. I did my best to hold off on posting here, and instead tried to read every thread I could regarding these codes; I was hoping to make this a last resort. But the problem is that I'm getting exhausted just reading-every thread seems to cut off into 5 different rabbit trails, each of which I feel I have to check off. But I'm educating, and re-educating myself, and going in circles-all without touching the bike for days. I guess this is to help me keep things simple and orderly, as well as ask for help, haha.

    Sorry about the wall of text, and thanks again for any input!

    killer_buell

  2. #2
    Senior Member ich's Avatar
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    Oct 2010
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    685
    check ac voltage, coil resistance, ground fault as per service manual.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
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    Mar 2010
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    7,805
    you have a bad battery,loose or corroded main ground or positive

  4. #4
    Junior Member
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    Sep 2011
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    17
    Thanks Ich and anrkizm95.

    -Checked stator. My meter stayed blank when checking for continuality. It showed .4 for resistance across all sockets (- the .2 shown by meter when shorted). So stator is good.

    -Checked AC output. All sockets showed about 31 at 2000rpms. Range is 32-40. Is that 1 point substantial enough for concern?

    -Did milliampere draw test- got -1.50 across negative terminal and battery.

    Going to my mechanic buddy tomorrow, will use his load tester for battery test, and voltage and current output test.

    Trying to check grounds right now.

  5. #5
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    17
    Well I went over everything I listed; took it easy when I rode it down to my buddy's place, and it had no problems going down. We checked the ignition coil, and I decided to look at the plug cables. I had changed my plugs recently, but didn't inspect the cables at the time. Turns out one of the cables had a massive amount of corrosion built up; couldn't even get a resistance reading with it in my hand. Cleaned it off to bare metal, and hooked it back up. Noticed the slight hesitation I've gotten when turning over is gone. We did a 20 mile test drive; everything ran smooth!
    So either its intermittent, or its one of the things I've touched in the last week.

    One thing I noticed is that my fan is fried; it barely spins when I stop, as opposed to the normal RC plane sound effect I get. Gotta test that to make sure its the motor, before I rip my tail section apart.

    Thanks to you two again for your time and tips, pretty elementary problem-solving I know but it helped me tremendously to have it anyhow.



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