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Hi chaps, can anyone save me a lot of money?
Whilst out for a ride last weekend, about 30 miles into the journey, the engine just died, instantly and completely. The recovery man found there was no spark on either cylinder, did a bit of fuse and wire connector checking and recovered me home where I've spent many an hour going through all the fault finding stuff as per the service manual.
The PGM FI self diagnosis lamp produces no blinks, saying there is no fault.
Most things I've checked out as working except I can't test the control unit nor the ECM.
I've not got a peak voltage adaptor, as per the service manual. So when measuring the ignition pulse generator peak voltage between the yellow on the ECM grey connector and ground I can only guess whether there's a flicker on the multimeter.
I've tried a new bank angle sensor to no avail. Everything seems to function correctly, fuel pump primes, FI lamp goes out, no blown fuses, all relays are working.
I've ordered an ignition pulse generator (mainly because I'm staying in denial and telling myself that I can see a pulse going into the yellow on the ECM so I don't have to shell out a grand for a new ECM).
One of the faults that the self diagnosis check is the ignition pulse generator, supposedly. How can I check without one of those peak voltage adaptor things?
What am I missing? Has this happened to anyone before? Is it me?
Where did my spark to both cylinders go? Who's nicked them?

Just a quick question, is the bike fitted with a power commander? If so, disconnect it from the loom and reconnect the honda connectors and see if that works. Could be a duff power commander. (hopefully...... )

Long shot, I've no idea if our bikes are fitted with one but I had the same issue on a car some years back. CPS - crank shaft position sensor gone?
That would result in no spark or fuel injection as the ECU wouldn't know where or when to inject/fire

Thanks for the replies chaps. There's no Power Commander installed; and good shout about the Crank Position Sensor, that will be my next option.
In the words of Homer Simpson "I'll burn that bridge when I get to it".
Has anyone measured the ignition pulse voltage on the ECM yellow without the peak voltage adaptor and can tell me what they found? The lowest DC range on my multimeter is 2.5V and the book says the peak voltage is 0.7v, I'd have thought that would be enough to kick the needle up from zero by an easily identifiable distance. It doesn't.
Being a bit lazy I was hoping to need to take the crankcase cover off only once, but , hey ho, onward and upward.
I'll keep you posted.

You might get a reading if you change your meter over to AC but you would be better off if you can borrow an oscilloscope.
Before you do though. I'm trying to remember what happens when the side-stand switch is broken. I think the fuel pump still primes but I cant remember if the bike will still crank over. I'ts also tied into the neutral switch, if that's broken it might think its in gear all the time. I can have a look tonight when I'm home if you like.

Pete

Another long shot, you say you checked the fuses........does this include the 30amp one behind the battery that is for the ECU?

Thanks for your thoughts chaps. Hey, this is a good un isn't it.
Another check of the side stand switch, it's ok, fuel pump primes & engine cranks.
Another look at that 30a FI fuse, it's ok, it does the whole ignition business.
The Bank Angle Sensor and it's relay and the fuel cut relay are all working.
The bummer is that the Fault Indicator lamp throws up no 'blinks' saying that there is no fault. It lies like a Chinese taxi meter. My engine don't go.
I don't get any 0.7v pulses going into pin 22 of the grey socket of the ECM. If there is zippo there then my guess is that the ECM will send zippo to the converter unit to bump up to 100v to send to the coil primaries.
I've got an ignition pulse generator ready to fit this weekend.
Why doesn't the FI lamp give me 19 blinks telling me the fault lies with the ignition pulse generator???
Keep yer fingers crossed.

Update on expensive success story.
A better (the manual does say 'at least 10M impedance) meter showed that the pulses from the ignition pulse generator 'could be' ok.
Further metering around the converter unit showed;
The black and blue, and the black and yellow from the ECM to the Converter Unit are good and have signal pulses.
The black and white going into the converter unit gets 12v from the bank angle sensor relay when ignition on.
The green has continuity down to 0v.
The blue and yellow and the yellow and blue from the converter unit have continuity to the coils but don't have any signal pulses down to 0v.
? there's nothing coming out of the converter unit ? I didn't want to go here because they cost £500 and I couldn't find one on flea bay.
Anyway, £500 from David Silver spares later, bike sparked up first press.
Moral of the story: the manual leads your fault finding off on the pulse generators trail. If your spark dies instantly I reckon you should go straight to the blue and yellow and the yellow and blue from the converter unit and see if you get any signal pulses from there; they are a higher voltage and easier to see with a cheapo meter.
P.S. I hope nobody needs to do this cos it's gonna cost you a salty £500...

Ouch!
Glad she's up and running again
No disrespect intended but I hope that's not a problem I ever have to track down on mine.
Now get out and ride, that'll help ease the taste of that repair

Pete

Cheers Pete,
I'll be tooling around N Wales this WE that will help dissolve the pain...
What helped a real bunch was the job satisfaction I got when I sorted it myself and the motor sparked into life first press. Brilliant.