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Voyager Recall for Electronic Control Unit

10K views 27 replies 17 participants last post by  bpro215 
#1 ·
OK Folks, I just received a recall from Kawasaki for my 2009 VN1700 Voyager to have the :Electronic Control Unit Replaced", due to stalling issues. I have never had any stalling issues, I thought that was only on the 2010 models? Anyone else receive this letter? (Apparently, this was mandated by NHTSA?)
 
#2 ·
See the sticky at the top of the forum regarding the recall. I have not received my letter yet, but Kawasaki emailed me about the recall.
 
#6 ·
Recieved Recall and survey same day



Recieved yesterday I commend Kawy for their fairly quick response to the problem. I had two incidents with mine one causing injury and damage to the bike, but thats a whole different story.
On a M109 forum there are hundereds of posts for clutch and transmission
problems with a class action suit in progress Suzuki doesn't aknowledge
any problems exist and refuse to do anything even declining some warranty
work due to [they say] abuse.
That model came out in 2006 and so far no improvements or upgrades were done up to and including 2011 models.
One recall was issued for a fuel leak, yes mine did leak.
It seems as though Kawy uses input from owners to make the product better.
 
#5 ·
Got my recall yesterday. Postmarked 10/29 from Santa Ana, California. Now I have something to show my dealer. He was not aware of the recall when I called yesterday. I am hoping it will take care of the 12 second rule on the '09s. The only thing that has ever happened with mine in over 10000 miles is the first five minutes or so, when I pull up to a stop sign or light, she races at 1500 to 2000 for five seconds or so before coming down to idle. If it fixes that, I will be TOTALLY happy....if not....I'm still VERY happy with her!:)
 
#8 ·
OK Guys,

Just talked to my dealer, and the replacement ECU part numbers are:
999990321, and 999990323. He was not sure of the difference, but stated that it must be by either model or VIN, because both parts were for 2009s and 2010s. I asked about the LT vs Nomad/Voyager, but he didn't know.
 
#9 ·
Just got my letter of the recall for stalling yesterday. Do not drive the bike, how am I supposed to get it 50 miles to the dealer? I think this is just an overreaction to the Toyota throttle issue. I have a computer controlled throttle in both my 2010 Subaru Outback and my 2007 Honda Civic. Both of these cars sometimes stall when you push in the clutch after decel. My 2010 Voyager has over 7,000 miles on it and stalled once, big deal. I have driven stick shift all my life and engine stalling used to be a regular thing in years past. When it happened on my Voyager I made a mental note, started the engine and went on my way. I am considering not having this recall work done. Hey the bike runs great, it will be a big hassle to return the bike as winter is approacing and changing the computer just might screw something else up.
 
#10 ·
Just got my letter of the recall for stalling yesterday. Do not drive the bike, how am I supposed to get it 50 miles to the dealer? .
That is lawyer speak to protect their butts so now you will have a harder time winning a lawsuit because you were informed.

If I were you I would wait to do the recall untill spring. That way you will get information from those of us that are doing the recall and riding all winter. There is no time limit on recalls that I am aware of.
 
#11 ·
I was thinking the same thing, perhaps wait until Spring. I have some concerns over changing out the computer. Will it be a new or reworked unit? What other changes to the firmware will come along with the fix? Right now as far as I am concerned the engine runs great and I may not like other changes that may come along with the fix.
 
#13 ·
Just a backyard mechanic but I do not consider these failures. When in decel at low engine RPM if the clutch is pulled in to downshift the engine, the engine must go from braking to energy output before the engine RPM falls too low to prevent stalling. I have only had the stalling occur a few times in the cars and just once on my Voyager. So 99.99% of the time I do not have an issue and this does not bother me. What may bother me is the fix which may change engine operation in a way that annoys me. I started driving when everything had a manual choke and engine stalling was a regular thing. Now that the engines are now all computer operated stalling is so rare some may think there is an issue if it occurs once in a while, I do not.
 
#14 ·
Back when cars had manual choke it was up to the person to make sure the car or bike did not stall. They were the "computer".

On these modern systems we have given up that control to the electronic brain on the bike or in the car. The electonic brain should not let the engine stall. My Mean Streak has never stalled when pulling in the clutch lever. The engine RPMs return to the set idle RPM.

On my Voyager the RPMs rarely return to the set idle RPM. They generally drop below the idle RPM and then climb back to idle. Sometimes they drop low enough to just shut off the bike. That is a problem.

The only thing I could do to compensate for this problem using my "brain" was to adjust the way I ride the bike and never let the clutch lever be pulled in longer than the time it takes to downshift into the next gear. Once in a while that means that the engine will still stall but now I have let out the clutch lever and the bike bump starts which could be dangerous for a rider who is not experienced and prepared.
 
#15 ·
I believe all new clutches slip if excessive deceleration would occur to prevent rear wheel lockup. If you are in a low gear popping the clutch may not turn over the engine. Still this feature is open loop i.e. works only well on dry roads. If you are on wet pavement especially while turning, the rear wheel would still lockup and you may dump the bike. Sounds like your Mean Streak did this a lot, I only had one episode on my Voyager in over 7,000 miles.
 
#17 ·
You would have to have a slipper clutch on the bike which would help keep the rear tire from locking up. I have not verified if the Voyager has one or not, but even so, the tire doesn't lock up but the bike bump starts which can take your attention off of the road when you are wondering what the bike is doing.

My Mean Streak is flawless. It is the Voyager that needs new software.
 
#16 ·
ECU Recall

I see the point about engine stalls during down shifting a cold bike not being a big deal, but the more I think about it, the more I think I'm wrong. On older engines this was the norm, but with the advent of computers/ECU's it's not, the computer is supposed to control the parameters and keep this from occurring. It is an indication of problems in the ECU. I've had this happen maybe 20 times in the course of 1 & 1/2 years and 5K miles. My bigger concern is my engine idle will fluctuate between 500 & 3000 RPM's for the 1st 5 to 15 minutes occasionally after a cold start up.
I think any distraction like these can be a safety issue, like the ones mentioned earlier. I once had an accident when I was in bumper to bumper traffic, I jumped on the brakes fast and a bit heavy and a coke bottle came flying out from under the passenger seat, I looked at it, lost focus, and hit the car in front of me. When I reported it the insurance lady said it was very common.
Thanks to all you Voyager units for applying the pressure to make this happen, they never fix things like this without it!
 
#18 ·
I haven't gotten the notice in the mail. But when I typed my VIN into the Kaw. web site, it came up. So I'm gonna go see my dealer this weekend. I expect they'll have to order the CPU. When it comes in, I'm gonna ask if I can hand them the old one and install the new one myself. It's a ten minute swap that can be done in the parking lot. If they insist on doing it, I'll wait for it in the showroom.
 
#19 ·
I watched the tech do mine and the only tricky part is getting the rubber holder to let loose of the ECU and sliding the new one back in.

After I watched him, I coached another tech who was doing his first swap on a Nomad. Having to coach him made me nervous about letting my bike loose in there. I'm glad they let me watch and I even helped uncrate and put the bike together when I bought it.

There is an instruction sheet to follow that says to start the bike without touching anything for a few minutes so it can set itself up. When we shut mine off and then I started it again the idle hunted a little so I waited a minute. I have since rode it and started it 3 times and no hunting idle.
 
#22 ·
Dealer replaced my ECU today. First thing I noticed is that it idles at the low speed like it should. No more 12 seconds wait. My opinion, the bike is now fixed. Could not make it stall. Fixed-at-last fixed-at-last fixed-at-last. Woohoo! Throttle seems a little more responsive and while puttering around at low speeds in town the throttle feels like a fixed wire throttle. Smoooooth. Seems to have a little more pep in her step too! I only got to ride 17 miles after the install. I'm impressed so far. The recall notice says not to ride until you get it fixed, so if you don't your probably on your own if it stalls liability wise.
 
#23 ·
2010 Vulcan Voyager Recall

I recently ha the ECU unit replaced by the dealer and now the cruise control system does not work. The bike ran fine before but now the dealer cannot seem to get an answer on how to fix this latest issue. I asked them to put the old ECU back in the bike and they said they had already sent it back to Kawasaki. Go figure!
 
#26 ·
I recently ha the ECU unit replaced by the dealer and now the cruise control system does not work. The bike ran fine before but now the dealer cannot seem to get an answer on how to fix this latest issue. I asked them to put the old ECU back in the bike and they said they had already sent it back to Kawasaki. Go figure!
Your dealer needs to get another ECU but first he might want to check all the connections. They can disconnect more than the ECU when they are under the seat pulling parts. Are you getting a code or is the cruise just not working?
 
#24 ·
Ecu #

Just talked to my dealer, and the replacement ECU part numbers are:
999990321, and 999990323. He was not sure of the difference, but stated that it must be by either model or VIN, because both parts were for 2009s and 2010s. I asked about the LT vs Nomad/Voyager, but he didn't know.
Do you know which part number you had put on your bike. They change mine and now it runs great but the electronic cruise control will not work and the dealer does not seem to think the ECU number was correct? Thanks if you can help.
 
#25 ·
Just talked to my dealer, and the replacement ECU part numbers are:
999990321, and 999990323. He was not sure of the difference, but stated that it must be by either model or VIN, because both parts were for 2009s and 2010s. I asked about the LT vs Nomad/Voyager, but he didn't know.
Do you know which part number you had put on your bike. They change mine and now it runs great but the electronic cruise control will not work and the dealer does not seem to think the ECU number was correct? Thanks if you can help.
For the Nomad/Voyager the part numbers are 99999-0321 for a reprogrammed ECU and 99999-0316 for a new part.

I got the 99999-0316 because I did mine at the beginning of the recall and there were no pulled parts in inventory for the factory to reprogram.

So, that means the 99999-0323 must be for the classic/LT.
 
#27 ·
They installed wrong ECU (one for Classic which doesnt have cruise). Dealer did the same thing to me-the guy who got my ECU had a classic-he didnt know any better since the only diff is cruise. I gave dealer back my new(wrong ecu) and he gave me back my orignal-then classic guy had to come back and swap-then I got new correct ecu-I just changed it out myself instead of riding back and forth-(in November).
 
#28 ·
Hello all. I have the 2009 Nomad. Just had the ECU replaced about a month ago after waiting 2 months for it to come in. I really had no issues with the old one except the poor gas milage. It only stalled on me once when it was real cold out and I did notice that after it warmed up it had trouble coming down from the high rpms. Other then that it ran fine. Having said that. Now that I have the new ECU, I have noticed a couple things. The bike runs real smooth on the highway. In fact, now this was only one trip on mostly back roads, I got 44 MPG out of it. I double checked the figures and also had the GPS running which I reset before the trip and came up with the same. I haven't done another trip like that but want to see if I get the same. I will be really pleased if I do. Now, the problem I am having is that when I first start the bike up cold, It hesitates in 1st, 2nd, and even sometimes in 3rd when in town. I never had that happen with the old one. The thing I want to check is the gas. I never paid attention until the last time I used BP gas in it. I had used a couple tank fulls of Sunoco and I didn't recall if it hesitated or not. I really don't think it did. Now I had used BP before and I had the hesitation but never really thought about the gas. I am going to run this tank full out and fill with Sunoco. Hopefully that will make a difference.
I was wondering if anyone else had the same experience with the gas?
Thanks Bill
 
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