[Dr.Shifty]

The recall was done on my bike a few months ago. For a little while it was working OK. I've just been touring for a week and the trip has been plagued with the thing constantly failing. It's much worse now than in the beginning.

Before the recall the indicator could be sluggish to register changes, and twice I can remember it surged forward when the neutral light was on. After that I always pulled the clutch in to start, no matter what the neutral light was doing.

1. Since the recall the indicator can still be sluggish to update after a gear change. But it has become really slow, up to five seconds or more.

2. The bike now fails to show neutral if stopped. I park in 1st, but for starting kick it into neutral. Now it won't show neutral, it shows 2nd even when it's in neutral. When it starts up it will sometimes show neutral. If I put the kickstand down so the bike can warm up while I put on helmet and gloves it can suddenly stop - and the indicator is showing 2nd again. A few seconds later it might click back to neutral. So now I have to warm the bike up by sitting on it, raising the kickstand, and waiting out the warmup time.

3. Several times a day when I'm in 6th and in cruise control the neutral light comes on and cruise shuts off. I have to kick it down to 5th and then to 6th again to resume cruise. One time while following traffic in 6th and not on cruise I saw the neutral light come on and stay on for more than a kilometer before going back to 6th.

When they designed the replacement sensor they just swapped the internal resistors between 1st and 6th. That means neutral is no longer close to 1st, but it's still close to 2nd. And now 6th is close to neutral.

Whoever designed the replacement needs better imagination.

 

[JR17]

I have had very similar issues plus TPMS issues after the recall and I scheduled to bring the bike back in... I was informed that Corporate is aware of the issues and the dealership is waiting for a response... While waiting to hear back from them I decided to pull the negative ground in an attempt to reset the computer system hoping that might help... I found that my negative ground was a little loose even though I checked it around 2000 miles ago... I pulled the neg cable for about 5 minutes and reconnected.., The positive and frame ground were tight... I have taken the bike out twice since then for a total of 300 miles and I have had no further issues with the gear sensor or TPMS and everything seems to be working as it should.... I know it’s a rather small mileage sample size but I thought I’d throw that out there... -JR

 

[Dan_Frisbie]

Change your oil. I started running Amsoil when I had this problem at 20,000 miles. It went away. I have 84,000 now. The recall was done unnecessarily at 80,000 miles.

 

[JR17]

Not an oil issue, I have ran nothing but Amsoil since the 500 mile change...

 

[masspatriot]

The recall was done on my bike a few months ago. For a little while it was working OK. I've just been touring for a week and the trip has been plagued with the thing constantly failing. It's much worse now than in the beginning.

Before the recall the indicator could be sluggish to register changes, and twice I can remember it surged forward when the neutral light was on. After that I always pulled the clutch in to start, no matter what the neutral light was doing.

1. Since the recall the indicator can still be sluggish to update after a gear change. But it has become really slow, up to five seconds or more.

2. The bike now fails to show neutral if stopped. I park in 1st, but for starting kick it into neutral. Now it won't show neutral, it shows 2nd even when it's in neutral. When it starts up it will sometimes show neutral. If I put the kickstand down so the bike can warm up while I put on helmet and gloves it can suddenly stop - and the indicator is showing 2nd again. A few seconds later it might click back to neutral. So now I have to warm the bike up by sitting on it, raising the kickstand, and waiting out the warmup time.

3. Several times a day when I'm in 6th and in cruise control the neutral light comes on and cruise shuts off. I have to kick it down to 5th and then to 6th again to resume cruise. One time while following traffic in 6th and not on cruise I saw the neutral light come on and stay on for more than a kilometer before going back to 6th.

When they designed the replacement sensor they just swapped the internal resistors between 1st and 6th. That means neutral is no longer close to 1st, but it's still close to 2nd. And now 6th is close to neutral.

Whoever designed the replacement needs better imagination.

How did you determine the new sensors have the resistors swapped? I was actually going to ask if someone has a new service manual that would have the updated resistor values in the troubleshooting section so I could update my 2017 manual.

 

[Dr.Shifty]

How did you determine the new sensors have the resistors swapped? I was actually going to ask if someone has a new service manual that would have the updated resistor values in the troubleshooting section so I could update my 2017 manual.

The info came from another poster very soon after the recall started. It was confirmed by yet another poster when the dealer forgot to flash his VCM and when he put the bike into 1st the display said 6th, and when he went into 6th the display said 1st. He went back for the flash and it was sorted. Those posts are on the forum somewhere.

My own experience falls into line with the simple 1st / 6th swap with 1st no longer being a problem but the 6th / neutral issue has taken its place.

Even before the recall I would sometimes start the bike to warm up and the motor would cut out and the display showed 2nd. After the recall It did that for a while, but now it shows 2nd as I go from 1st to neutral so the indication is the 2nd resistor remains the same. The sluggish updates between other gears is the same behaviour from before the recall.

It's an assumption until somebody comes up with the new schematic, but the evidence is pointing in that direction.

About two or three weeks ago there was another poster having his bike show neutral and shutting off cruise when in 6th. I imagine we'll be hearing from more people with this problem.

When the original problem became widespread I posted the schematic and suggested that the resistor values needed to be revised to have a greater distance between each one. At the moment there is about 1% difference between each gear change. Increasing that to 3% would probably solve the whole problem.

 

[masspatriot]

Personally I was hoping for a more technical remedy.

 

[Dr.Shifty]

Personally I was hoping for a more technical remedy.

Agreed. I suspect they gave the project to some guy in the back office and said, 'Neutral is getting confused with 1st. Make it work.' But they didn't tell him that neutral also gets confused with 2nd and that the system is sluggish all the way through the gears because the resistors are too close together.

Ironically, had they swapped 1st with 3rd instead of 6th it would have been a better fix. It's far enough from neutral and cruise doesn't work in 3rd anyway.

 

[joescian]

Agreed. I suspect they gave the project to some guy in the back office and said, 'Neutral is getting confused with 1st. Make it work.' But they didn't tell him that neutral also gets confused with 2nd and that the system is sluggish all the way through the gears because the resistors are too close together.

Ironically, had they swapped 1st with 3rd instead of 6th it would have been a better fix. It's far enough from neutral and cruise doesn't work in 3rd anyway.

Incompetence is alive and well at Indian me thinks

 

[Dr.Shifty]

I'm also on a Triumph motorcycle board and this morning a thread got posted showing a Triumph with an arrow on the dash to indicate what side the fuel filler is on. I don't think they can blame that one on 2020.

 

[RoadmasterD]

Get it fixed quick because if you get another common failure at the same time, the clutch switch, you won't be going anywhere. I know from experience. Bike doesn't know it's in neutral, doesn't know the clutch is in, won't start.

 

[Dr.Shifty]

The service manager was away last week but came back yesterday. I'm heading in there today. The plan is to keep the pressure on the local guys so they push the decision-makers up the chain into replacing the sensor - but also to look at their failed attempt to fix the original issue.

 

[Dr.Shifty]

I went in yesterday with another fault to add to the list.

My bike now only shows 2nd on the dash when the bike is in neutral. It won't show neutral when starting so I can't warm up the bike as I put on my helmet and gloves. I have to sit on the bike and raise the kickstand to start. Sometimes it will then swap between 2nd and neutral on the dash.

When I take off in 1st and then change to 2nd the dash shows 3rd. Change to 3rd shows 3rd, and then to 4th and it shows 4th.

Change down to 3rd it shows 3rd, change to 2nd it still shows 3rd, change to 1st and it shows 1st.

Put the bike in neutral at the lights and it shows 2nd.

I wrote it up and listed Thor's youtube vids for the service guy. They want to see the thing fixed and are chasing it up. I have no idea how fast my complaint will track through their system.

 

[masspatriot]

Sorry to hear, Doc, I though this was put to bed.