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[borcic]

My 2011 DS has been completely reliable until one day a couple of months ago when I stopped at a traffic light and it wouldn't respond when the light went green - no error lights, but twisting the throttle had no response. Powering off and on had no effect. I pushed it the rest of the way to my destination and left it parked for the day. Later that day it was back to working normally. All was well until two days ago - it's back in the same state, but this time leaving it parked didn't "fix" it. Everything seems normal - kickstand is up, kill switch is set to "run", there are no red lights on the dash, but twisting the throttle has no effect.

The newer bikes have access to diagnostics through bluetooth - is there anything equivalent for the 2011 models? The last time it happened, I had posted to the Zero Motorcycles Owners Facebook page and someone suggested the throttle potentiometer - is there an easy way to test that?

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them, otherwise my only option is to tow it to the nearest Zero dealer.

 -Rob

[PhreaK]

Same issue popped up on my 2014 SR the other day. http://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=5239

Currently at the dealer waiting to be looked at - the were booked solid until next week.


edit: I should clarify that. Same *symptoms* appeared on my SR.

[Richard230]

My very early build 2012 S had the same problem. It was fixed permanently when Zero installed a new throttle assembly.

[borcic]

Normally I leave the bike plugged in while I'm at home, but I decided to leave it unplugged on Friday morning after seeing if it worked. Well, this morning (Saturday), it was working normally. So now I have two hypotheses:

• leaving it unplugged for a few hours will resolve the issue - possibly some sort of software glitch
• t's related to temperature - it was later in the morning and much warmer when I tested it today

[Richard230]

On my bike the problem was random, but it only occurred when I came to a stop for more than a few seconds, such as when I had to stop for a traffic signal.  Then the throttle would not respond when the light turned green leaving me stranded in the middle of an intersection with traffic all around me.  I would then turn off the ignition, push my bike off to the side of the road, turn the ignition back on and it would run fine for the rest of the day.

However, when the temperature dropped to below 40 degrees F during the early spring, upon the first start up in the morning, the throttle would sometimes refuse to respond, until I cycled the ignition switch off then back on.  After that the bike would run fine for the rest of the day.  Both of these issues were resolved with a new throttle assembly.

[eyeinsky]

I Agree bad throttle assembly seen this before, Check Connection and your wires on the handlebar if they are tight re-secure the tie wraps. if this fix the problem replace the throttle because it has some damaged wires. if you are handy you could test it, it is a 5k pot. you can get similar ones on ebay for $50. you will have splice in the old connector on.

Cheers   

[jenn1970]

Can you tell me a part number?  I'm experiencing the same problem with my 2011 XU and I have a pic of the part but can't find the part.  Any help you can provide will be most appreciated.

Thanks.

[borcic]

I haven't been riding much since I last posted (vacation, travel and bad weather), but the bike was working properly whenever I needed it until this week. On my ride home on Tuesday I suddenly lost power for a few seconds twice in a short ride. In both cases I was accelerating when suddenly the bike lost power and was coasting for a few seconds then abruptly started accelerating again. This morning the throttle was back to being completely unresponsive so I left the bike at home. Does this still sound like a faulty throttle? If so, I think I'll try to replace it.

One other tidbit - another minor problem I've had for over a year now is that my kickstand switch sometimes thinks the kickstand is still down after I've pushed it up. No throttle response but there's a flashing red light on the display. Kicking it down and up again once or twice has always resolved the issue, but I'm worried that it will fail completely sometime.

[Doug S]

...my kickstand switch sometimes thinks the kickstand is still down after I've pushed it up. No throttle response but there's a flashing red light on the display. Kicking it down and up again once or twice has always resolved the issue...

I've been dealing with that on my 2014 SR since I bought it, but it's never gotten any worse so I just keep an eye on it. It only happens on my bike when the weather's warm. I assume the microswitch is just slightly out of adjustment, but at this point I actually kind of look forward to it as the first sign of summer.

[borcic]

Since the symptoms were pointing to a faulty throttle, I decided to replace it. The 2011 DS throttle has only two wires, making it easy to test. Testing the old throttle with an ohmmeter showed ~0 ohms at rest and ~5k ohms at full throttle. That seemed correct to me, but I ordered a Domino throttle to replace it anyway. Wiring up the Domino was pretty easy and I was able to take the bike for a test ride this morning. I rode about 6 miles of suburban streets with plenty of stop lights and had no problems at all. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this was the only problem.

One thing I did notice on my ride was that the cooling fan came on after a little while and stayed on for most of my ride. It was 65 degrees F outside, so not really all that warm. In the past I would usually only notice the fan coming on when it was really hot out - 100+. Could this be a symptom of something wrong with the motor?

[j.coal]

I had similar symptoms when my speed controller was failing.  Check the diagnostic led's on the speed controller if the problem returns.

[borcic]

Well, the problem returned after a couple of weeks. I got about a half mile away from home when I lost all power. I ended up pushing the bike home. The next morning I tried it again and it had one little spasm of power and then never worked again. I ended up contacting Harlan at Hollywood Electrics who provided me with a diagnostic guide that indicated that the controller was defective. Harlan was able to order me a new one and I successfully swapped out controllers today. The bike was working perfectly on a test ride, so I'm hoping this keeps it alive for a couple more years.