Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Daveruns]

My 2011 S burned through its second motor three weeks ago. Still waiting for a replacement from Zero. The first motor lasted 3,500 miles and the second one 2,000 miles. The first time, I waited three weeks plus for a replacement and it looks like this time will be even longer. When you add in the repair time, my bike has been down more than 20% of the time in the first year. Although I love the Zero, I am getting really discouraged about this issue. Zero tells me that this should not be a problem with the 2012 bikes due to the brushless motor, but I am losing all confidence in them. Plus there are several posts on this board about problems with 2012 motors. I am also 300 miles from the nearest dealer, so I am on my own for repairs.

Am I the only one in this pickle or is everyone having these problems?

[Doctorbass]

I guess that this board represent a small percentage of Zero owners... and this board is probably the only solution for people on the internet where people share problem and try solving them...

This board probably have more people that have problem than people that dont... people that dont will not search on internet for solution... they dont need to...

so we should not make our opinion with the ratio of people that have problem here.. it'S not really the best neutral evaluation..

Doc

[dkw12002]

Only Zero probably knows the full picture. Not too many people post on the forum. You know my 2011 S died at 3500 miles about 2 weeks ago. It was under warranty, so I just traded it in last week for a new Vespa and don't know what the problem was. I certainly posted on this forum a long time before I had my problem. Could be a burned out motor, could be a bad contactor. Those are the two ideas I've heard so far. It did growl just before it died just like the sound in the YouTube video.  

 A new Agni 95R motor like in the 2011 S and DS would cost about $1,000 installed at a Zero dealer if it weren't under warranty.  Dealers and Zero get much lower prices from Agni than you would get buying directly (Agni sells the motor for 900 British Pounds retail) and you could probably save $100 or so installing it yourself.

I think is is safe to say Zero is experiencing way more warranty work than they would like.  

 

[manlytom]

My 2011 S burned through its second motor three weeks ago. Still waiting for a replacement from Zero. The first motor lasted 3,500 miles and the second one 2,000 miles. The first time, I waited three weeks plus for a replacement and it looks like this time will be even longer. When you add in the repair time, my bike has been down more than 20% of the time in the first year. Although I love the Zero, I am getting really discouraged about this issue. Zero tells me that this should not be a problem with the 2012 bikes due to the brushless motor, but I am losing all confidence in them. Plus there are several posts on this board about problems with 2012 motors. I am also 300 miles from the nearest dealer, so I am on my own for repairs.

Am I the only one in this pickle or is everyone having these problems?

Hi Daveruns

how do you mean "burned" through the second motor ? on my 2010 we replaced two motors to conclude it was a faulty BMS.

cheers

[Daveruns]

Not really sure of the cause, but the immediate fix is to replace the motor. Symptoms are surges and stalls that increase in frequency and duration and ultimately lead to grinding noise and total failure. Replace the motor and problems solved. Zero says brush failure and overheating.

[dangerider]

Hi All.

Just joined the Electric Motorcycle Forums.  There seems to be a lot of experience here with Zeros.  Trying to find owners with similar issues and this thread might be the closest one.

We have a 2011 Zero S that we bought used and have had for about a year.  Back in November, I had the bike stall on me on a couple of occasions while riding it.  In both cases, it was an abrupt stall while in the middle of traffic that left me feeling pretty vulnerable that a car could have rear ended me.  We had our dealer in Austin (AF1 Racing) take the bike and check it while it was under warranty, but they claimed to have found nothing wrong with it.  Unfortunately, the bike has sat in our garage for the last 3 months as I am not feeling comfortable riding it.

Do other feel that replacing the motor will fix this stall issue? 

We have been really disappointed in the 2011 model as it has terrible range (20 miles on full charge on highway) and been really unreliable with these random stalls.

I have contacted Zero to see what they are willing to do about the motorcycle.  Will post when I get more info from Zero.

YD

[Richard230]

The first thing I would check on your bike is the throttle assembly.  Apparently there was a problem with the throttles used on some of the 2011 and early 2012 models that would cause random stalling when stopped at a traffic signal. This would require "rebooting" to get going again.  Replacing the throttle assembly on my bike with the latest version permanently solved this issue.

[Daveruns]

Dangerider,

When the bike stalls, look at the flashing lights on the dash. These are the key to diagnosing the problem. The manual has several pages dedicated to telling you what the flash patterns means. Once you figure this out, then the techs on the Zero help line can walk you through the repair. I have found them to be very helpful.

The 2011 Zeros have lots of issues and I would suggest that you really get to know the bike as it will require frequent repairs. I have put 7,500 miles on mine over a period of two years and have lots of problems with stalls in traffic. There is not a dealer anywhere near me, so I have really learned the bike and I feel confident in my ability to repair it and replace parts. I'm sure that I have brought on some of the problems myself as it usually takes a couple of goes to get things fixed correctly. But stalling really is a danger if it is in the wrong place and it always takes me awhile to get my nerve back up to have another go after a dangerous stall.

That being said, I really love my Zero and would only give it up for a new one. I plan on upgrading at some point, when I can spare the cash. I think the new motors will solve about 80% of the problems with the 2011 bikes. Too bad they are not reverse compatible.

[oobflyer]

When I first got my 2012 ZF9 it stalled a few times, while sitting at red lights, but it wasn't a hardware failure. Zero loaded the latest firmware into the controller, which seemed to have fixed it for a couple of years.
When it happened again, recently, they had to make some adjustments to the 'encoder' (in combination with installing the lastest firmware). I haven't had a stall since, but I've only ridden a couple of hundred miles since the repairs.

[NoiseBoy]

When I first got my 2012 ZF9 it stalled a few times, while sitting at red lights, but it wasn't a hardware failure. Zero loaded the latest firmware into the controller, which seemed to have fixed it for a couple of years.
When it happened again, recently, they had to make some adjustments to the 'encoder' (in combination with installing the lastest firmware). I haven't had a stall since, but I've only ridden a couple of hundred miles since the repairs.

The 2012 bikes are a totally different animal to the pre-12 bikes.  Its unlikely to be the same issue.

If you look in the for sale section, someone was selling an uprated brush holder and brushes for an Agni motor.  Might be worth a look if you are hard on your motors.

[Digudi]

Hello to all. I am new here and just got. Zero 2011 S with 2500miles on it last year here in Canada. Last fall the bike worked well and I stored it for the winter. Last Monday was about 50 degrees and I decided to go for a ride with my zero it was okay for about 25 minutes then she stalls and all the dash went black. I turn off and on again the key and nothing. I put back in the charge and I still get nothing when I turn the the key on. I was riding below 30miles hour and the charge was about 75% after 8 miles ran. Any idea what can be? I am new to electric bikes but I had gasoline bikes before. I am very sad the bike just stopped to work right at the beginning of the season. Thank you all in advance

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk