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[evdjerome]

I'm experiencing symptoms of "the glitch" mentioned on this forum.

Symptoms (all simultaneous):

• Loss of power. Doesn't seem to be a complete loss.
• Vibration
• Growling sound.
• Started occurring once every so often (not every ride). Now occurs pretty much every ride at least once.
• Duration between 1 and 10 seconds.

Noteworthy facts:

• I bought the vehicle with 6,600 miles on it. Former owner did not experience glitch. I didn't experience it until after just over 2,000 miles of problem free glorious fun.
• Started happening soon after Zero eastern field tech came out and did a firmware upgrade for the 13V-635 recall.
• I've had the drive belt replaced thinking it could be that but it didn't help.

To me the symptoms sound like this might be the encoder potting issue that's been discussed in this forum.

I towed the bike over 200 miles yesterday to the nearest dealer and left it with them. It should still be under warranty. Hope they fix it soon. The weather is so nice.

I'll keep an update on how this is resolved.

Jerome

[Doctorbass]

This for sure will fix the problem.. just like it fixed the problem on my 2012 S =))

[ZeroSinMA]

Okay so it's finally my turn to suffer glitch issues. After diagnosing the potting problem for Zero, I learned to keep my 2012 S out of situations that create the problem, namely by not allowing the bike to sit outdoors in conditions where the bike and its parts are cooler than the surrounding warmer, damp air. Whenever I did water condensed in the wrong places and inevitably the bike glitched when I tried to ride it -- growling, cut-outs, dead on throttle from a stop, etc. Solution was to park it in the sun for a few hours to dry out. Problem solved and no glitches until the next time I made the same mistake.

Until I went for a ride with a buddy a few weeks ago. As we sat inside eating an early dinner a thunderstorm blew over that drenched our bikes and I mean buried them in a wall of water. The widows of the restaurant looked like a hose was turned on them. Riding home, the bike worked fine and had no issues although the motor sounded like a blender does when you're making a margarita. The bike has never been the same since. Turn it on and it goes backwards. Waddle it forward and I can get it a few miles before it starts making ugly noises or simply dies. Bake it in the sun on warm dry days for days on and and same deal. No improvement. So off to the dealer it goes for a new BMS board on the theory that it got blown out.

Word to the wise: don't leave your 2012 out in a drenching rain.

[eyeinsky]

Drove through a river 12" deep yesterday and lots of trail driving. Small amount of growling from the motor till the water dried out. I did mod the bike with this stuff may have helped.

Cheers Jerry

[evdjerome]

Called the dealer for a status update. They said they did remote diagnostics with Zero and that Zero determined a new motor is needed. So the dealer is now waiting on the new motor from Zero. They (the dealer) had no ETA on when they'd receive it.

[Richard230]

I get the feeling that Zero doesn't keep very many parts for sold bikes in their warehouse and that most of the parts that are requested by owners or dealers to make repairs are special ordered from the particular supplier.     If they had them in stock the parts should arrive within days.

[DedoBurns]

Same thing happened to me. After the firmware upgrade they ended up replacing the motor. It was in the shop from about Nov 2013 to April 2014. Most of the time was waiting for a motor from I think Germany. I was a little frustrated having to wait once the weather got nice. I wasn't pushy in the colder months because I had assumed they would take care of it. I had to be proactive about it to get anything done.

Runs fine now.

[evdjerome]

Thanks a lot for reporting that experience DedoBurns. I would become very frustrated if I had to wait that long.

My current plan is to call the dealer weekly for a status update.

Same thing happened to me. After the firmware upgrade they ended up replacing the motor. It was in the shop from about Nov 2013 to April 2014. Most of the time was waiting for a motor from I think Germany. I was a little frustrated having to wait once the weather got nice. I wasn't pushy in the colder months because I had assumed they would take care of it. I had to be proactive about it to get anything done.

Runs fine now.

[Doctorbass]

I have my 2012 S updated motor ( ME0913) from Zero. It is tested and worked perfect!

It has been updated by Zero this yearafter I also got that ?$*&?%!!   glitch   and they replaced the motor encoder. I tested it for few hundreds km and it work just perfect now.

But I updated  that motor by the 2013 new motor on my 2012 Zero with few dozen of hours of DIY and I no more need my 2012 motor.

Maybe contact Zero and suggest them that I sell you this motor and thay they refund you the cost? that would be faster solution as well !

Doc

[evdjerome]

...
Maybe contact Zero and suggest them that I sell you this motor and thay they refund you the cost? that would be faster solution as well !

Doc

Thanks for the offer Doc. However, Zero shipped the new motor yesterday (yay!).

Jerome

[flexydude]

check out my post under is it junk. They should have plenty of spare parts for 2012's seeing as how they recently cut up a bunch of them. The explanation i got from john logan about why they can't fix my bike in a timely fashion is that their engineers are working on the 2015 models. I still owe 5g on mine, and I can't ride it!!! The nearset dealer is a day's drive away. I've had more problems with this bike than any other that i have owned, even my russian made ural!

[evdjerome]

Got the bike back today from the dealer with new motor installed. Went for 20 mile ride and didn't encounter glitch.

[evdjerome]

Ridden over 200 miles since the new motor was installed last weekend. No glitch yet. Seems to be fixed.

[edwin]

Gotta say I'm pretty disgusted with my 2012 zero s at this point. I have had i for a year and a half, it has 2500 miles on it and I basically cannot ride it because of the exact problems you mention here. I can't be riding on the highway and have the motor slow down from 70 to 55 in 1 second like happened to me last week. I have had problems with the motor "growling" and lurching 7 consecutive times. Brought it to the dealer and after a full week they basically said zero knows this is an issue, needs to replace the motor but that it will be 2-3 months before they can get a replacement. Basically said "tough luck" until then.

This bike has been treated with the ultimate in kid gloves. Not only has it never been left in the rain - it has never seen a DROP of water on it. I keep it in a garage both at work and home and never ride when there is even a possibility of rain. I wipe it down with a cloth. It has less than 100 miles a month on it.

And now I have to wait 2-3 months for it to be fixed 18 months after I bough it brand new? That my friends is complete crap. I'm going to contact zero directly to express my displeasure but I feel like I paid for a very expensive bike and now I have to wait to ride it after it is barely broken in. It's not right. They need to do a LOT better.

[evdjerome]

Hello edwin, sorry to hear about your experience. Sounds very frustrating.

I think contacting Zero would be a good idea. I think it helped in my case. The day I emailed Zero for an update on my new motor was the day they shipped it out (after receiving my email).

I went for a 93 mile ride yesterday, still glitch free.

Good luck.