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"Check Engine" something is wrong, need help.

7K views 19 replies 5 participants last post by  3999 
#1 ·
So I went on a long ride yesterday and ran my 2014 sportsman 800 pretty hard. It performed great for most of the ride but then at one point it stalled, check engine light was on, and the cooling fan didn't seem to be working. It started right back up no problem. No overheating light, just the check engine.

I Let it rest for awhile thinking it was just overheating. Started it up and it ran great again for a long time. Then it started having a hard time idling. It would stall if I let me thumb off the throttle completely. No big deal because it was still running great at speed and the check engine light wasn't on. Surprisingly at the next stop the cooling fan was turning on again. Figured all was good again minus the rough idle.

Rode a bit longer and then the check engine light came on again. This time it was starting to spit and sputter, had major power loss, would stall at anything less than 1800-2000 rpm, cooling fan was only working here and there and it would not engage into 4 wheel drive.

By the end of the day I was just burin it back to the truck and it wasn't easy. I cleaned it and started it up today. Sounded prefect, no check engine light, 4 wheel drive was engaging and it seemed to be idling ok. Decided to go for a ace ride to see what happened. Ran perfect for about 20 min before all the Same symptoms came back.

The check engine light is so vague and the symptoms so sporadic I don't know where to begin. I checked all the fluids and everything looked good.

I like tinker on stuff myself but Where do I begin? Or is the answer to just take it to the shops.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice here.

Jason


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#2 ·
Chk the t-bap sensor wires. Those sound like the symptoms of a damaged harness wires that go to that sensor. T-bap is on ur intake it's similar in location to a mass air flow sensor on a automobile.
 
#3 ·
You are brilliant!!! I checked the sensor and the blue wire is almost completely severed. Any suggestions for the best was to repair this? Found this website as one alternative upgrade http://otbpowersports.com/t-bap-info.htm but wondering if I need to upgrade it our just splice it back together. If upgrade is the answer is there a preferred product and if the answer is splicing should I solder it or just use a butt connector? Wire seems too small for a butt connector.

Lately I got an error code of 21- which is loss of synchronization. Is that consistent with a t-bap sensor issue or do have another problem as well?

Thanks again! Jason


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#4 ·
Yeah that's a good replacement harness. I would cut back to the bad wire in the oem harness and solder in the new ones, that way ur leaving urself with a decent amount of slack. That kit also comes with heat shrink, it's an all in one kit. N yeah code 21 is consistent with ur t-bap wire issue.
 
#6 ·
Anytime. Glad I could help.
 
#7 ·
Ok so I replaced the T-Bap wiring with the upgrade mentioned above. Seemed like the cause when one of the wires was broken into. After replacing it I went on about a 30 min trail ride with no problems. Problem solved!! BUT then I took it out to an area with mud holes and soft sand so the riding was a little tougher. Within 30 minutes there the same symptoms reappeared.

Check engine light comes on
Spits and sputters at high rpm
Hard time idling and will stall if not reved slightly
Runs smooth but only at low/mid range rpm
Throws an error code 21

What else could be the problem? Is it the TBap sensor itself? Is there a chance the wiring harness is bad? I'm going to cut the shrink wrap off to see if a connection came loose. May just cut out the crimps it came with and solder then wires together.

Any troubleshooting advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Jason


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#17 ·
Thanks Pat, finally had a chance to look it over and found the throttle sensor you are talking about. No visual damage or broken wires that I can see. I cleaned the connection really well and applied more dielectric grease. Not sure if that made a difference yet on a test drive but it is still showing the same error codes.

My question is will these error codes always show or do they only show when there is a problem? If they always show is there a way to clear them out?

If this cleaning the connectors isn't the problem then I am thinking it maybe a bad tbap sensor. Anyway to check this and or the throttle sensor without purchasing a new one?

Thanks again for the advise!
Jason


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#18 ·
FIXED: So after months of research and the tinkering with all the different possible issues I finally broke down and took it to the dealer for repair. I hated to do this because I like fixing things on my own and I was scared of their sure to be outrageous bill. Found out that the problem was my Crank Position Sensor. This never came up during my searches so im glad i took it to them, the bill wasn't terrible either $260. I mean I could have bought the part for $50-80 and done it myself in about 15 minutes but at least i didn't have to sell the bike to pay for the repair...lol

Back up and running! Thanks for all of your help! Just wanted to share the conclusion with anybody who may google search this later :)


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#20 ·
Jason, My 09 800 Touring just started doing this same thing recently. Shutting off periodically when idling, also it hesitates when giving full gas. Then it will run perfect no issues for a while with no codes. Then all of a sudden it will stumble and hesitate throw a code 21. Is this what your machine did and was it the crank position sensor itself or was it in the wiring to the sensor. I know these machines have kinda junk wiring, I have already replaced the T-Bap sensor harness. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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