OMG!! DCT - Suddenly slows and the D or S disappears

HELP!!
Im riding NC700S DCT 2012. Occasionally, not often, suddenly it slows and no matter what gear its in, the D or S disappears from the window. Its still showing the gear it was in. No fault light shows. I have to pull in, come to a stop, put it into neutral, select D or S and everything is normal, except my heart!!
Ive tried to watch, speed, gear, temperature, miles, time, cant seem to find the common thread?
Ive searched this forum as best i can, im sorry if its in there somewhere and i cant see it. Im sure it is can someone link me to it please.
Whats wrong with my lovely DCT?? its very worrying!
Thanks in advance you lovely, lovely peeps!
KBG

Hi,
Sorry, first of all I need to ask.
Do you have a service manual?

I'll bet I know whats wrong. I believe you are hitting the AT/MT switch by accident and taking it out of automatic mode. My wife has done the same thing several times with the same symptoms. So try it and do it on purpose and see if the same thing happens.

You're right. It happened to me once or twice, especially when I had cold weather gloves on.

silverhound said:

I'll bet I know whats wrong. I believe you are hitting the AT/MT switch by accident and taking it out of automatic mode. My wife has done the same thing several times with the same symptoms. So try it and do it on purpose and see if the same thing happens.

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Funny you should suggest that coz i wondered if i was doing that, so ive been partcularly careful and the last twice it has happened ive been in really 'careful' mode, i did try intentionally to do it but its not quite the same. The second time it happened, i had to actually turn ignition off and on again twice before things were normal?

Tomorrow, i shall wear summer gloves (although i wore them for the three months in portugal and it happened there too) and try intentionally to use the switch see if its me, not my beautiful bike. Thanks for your input, i'll post a follow up! Even if its an embarrassing one lol!

Sorry, not having ever even seen a DCT bike (we don't get them here) I can't offer up any help with a diagnosis theory, but in commiseration I can say I kinda know what the feeling is like, lol

Accidently hitting the kill switch.

Auuugh! wtf!? I....

Oh.

Yeah it may not "feel" the same when you do it intentionally because you're expecting it but your symptoms sound curiously the same and it would explain losing the S or D indicator. The bike may "slow" because it stays in the gear you were in (like you said) and that may be too high of gear for the bike to accelerate, just like on a manual bike if you slowed down in 6th, didn't downshift and then tried to accelerate from 20 mph (32 kph), the bike would bog down and slow rather than speed up. Anyhow, hope that's all it is and nothing to be embarrassed about. I know a certain rider who has in the past hit the kill switch by mistake while riding and had to pull off the road and scratch his head for a few moments wondering what the heck happened.

Edit: Ah! See, we are not alone L.B.S. also fessed up to making the same kill switch error while I was writing this.

Could it be low voltage? What shape is your battery in? Are the connections tight. Ifmstill the original battery on a 2012 may be time to replace.

The first two things that occurred to me was the voltage level of the battery and something the rider might be doing with the M/T switch. One more thought - Is the the wiring from the M/T switch secure? And another - I never touch the kill switch, I always turn the bike off with the key. Maybe something with the kill switch? Just throwing stuff at the wall here to see what sticks.

silverhound said:

I'll bet I know whats wrong. I believe you are hitting the AT/MT switch by accident and taking it out of automatic mode. My wife has done the same thing several times with the same symptoms. So try it and do it on purpose and see if the same thing happens.

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I'd have to agree with Silverhound on this one. I've hit the AT/MT switch once before accidentally. I used it occasionally and know where to find this switch and actuate with little to no thought required now.

kpinvt said:

The first two things that occurred to me was the voltage level of the battery and something the rider might be doing with the M/T switch. One more thought - Is the the wiring from the M/T switch secure? And another - I never touch the kill switch, I always turn the bike off with the key. Maybe something with the kill switch? Just throwing stuff at the wall here to see what sticks.

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I highly doubt that the voltage level has anything to do with the switch state or is causing the issue that you think you have. Lets ruler that out immediately.

The AT/MT switch wiring is isolated from any other wiring in the left control assembly.

You should never stop the engine in gear on a DCT or shut off the ignition switch while in gear. Alway swift into neutral first. The bike will shift itself back into neutral when powered up again, however a low battery will not allow the system to perform this required action.

The bike must be in neutral or the starter will not engage when the starter button is pressed. I've seen several post from other members that have experienced this issue.

I'd highly recommend that you switch the bike into neutral first, use kill switch to stop the engine and then shut off the ignition switch.

If the only thing that happens is the D and S not showing in the box, it most likely is an accidental triggering of the auto/manual trigger. Especially with bulky gloves it can be easy to do. That's my 2 cents


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I've accidentally hit the AT/MT, I agree it's the same symptom. Problem is you can't switch back to AT mode without coming to a stop and getting into Neutral.
I've become sensitive to hand and grip position because of the position of the switch. rather poor placement in the design. Probably should have been on left handgrip with other shifter controls.
best thing is to learn to stay away from the switch, and develop a strategy to deal with it, once it occurs. (always seems to happen while something else is going on around me)

the4Dman said:

I've accidentally hit the AT/MT, I agree it's the same symptom. Problem is you can't switch back to AT mode without coming to a stop and getting into Neutral.

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?? I can switch mine back without stopping.

Fuzzy said:

?? I can switch mine back without stopping.

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I can, too. That's one of the best things about the DCT, almost complete flexibility with some very minor limitations like never turning the bike off with the kill switch and always in Neutral never in gear.

kpinvt said:

I can, too. That's one of the best things about the DCT, almost complete flexibility with some very minor limitations like never turning the bike off with the kill switch and always in Neutral never in gear.

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It is a real pain to bump that kill switch in sixth gear and not realize it until after you are stopped with transmission in sixth. Don't ask me how I know.

The computer on all bikes require a fully charged battery, or certain functions may stop performing.

The clock on my prior ST13 would go the 1 AM, soon after start up. Reset the clock, shut if off and it would be back at 1 AM again after start up. Bike would start OK. New battery, clock problem solved.

I installed a Battery Bug behind/above the NC battery for monitoring. If voltage drops below 12 a soft beep beep starts sounding. When that happens the computer will shut down starting. Don't ask me how I know.

I think the battery condition (low voltage) was mentioned because ...........others have reported the instrument going blank or doing other funky things when the battery connections where found loose or the battery was failing.

Koolbikegirl,
I don't see any reason to doubt that you didn't hit the AT/MT switch by accident. I can see couple of other reasons to explain what is going on with your "beautiful bike".
First of all I'm assuming that after you turn ignition key on you don't see any blinking on the instrument.

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If yes - just stop here. That's totally another story.

Starting with the easiest, that what I think is happening:
- AT/MT switch malfunction or
- electrical malfunction - short circuit, bypassing of the switch or
- (malfunction of PCM module. That's bad and I would give it less than 1% of probability.)

What to do with that? Diagnostics and troubleshooting is a process of elimination and "yes no" answers.

1. AT/MT switch malfunction. Did you notice something different when pushing switch lever? Spring broken, too much loose? No? You may have to take off the switch of a handlebar and look inside. There are only two screws.
If nothing unusual unplug switch wires connector 7P (green).

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With harness disconnected, check connectivity with ohmmeter between black/white and blue/black wires. In normal operation there should be nothing (infinity) and close to 0 when pushed. Next you may check if vibration can cause circuit’s close. You may need low-voltage light probe with battery connected (ohmmeter wouldn't do it) and simulate vibration by hitting handlebar or just take it for test ride.
This way you eliminate any suspicion of mechanical malfunction.
Next:
2. What was the weather like in southern Portugal when you where there? Could you sense salty moist air more than in other places? How was your bike transported to and from Portugal? (You don’t have to answer any of this questions – that’s for your own ‘brainstorming”)
You don’t need much of salty moist fine dust to cause big electrical problems. It creates perfectly conductive paste. PSM module needs to receive only low current signal to change mode from Auto to Manual.
Did you notice any resistance's reading in a first step? It may change with air condition and temperature. If it was dry for a while there may be no reading. To eliminate suspicion of salt effect you need to give the switch and connectors pretty good cleaning. The best when switch is taken off. Depends if you notice any deposits around push lever and connectors I would recommend: WD40 with help of compressed air for coarse cleaning, next CRC QD Contact Cleaner and finish with CRC 2-26 for protection. You may have to go deeper and disconnect and clean main harness to PSM module.
That’s why I asked you before if you have service manual.
Good luck.

Fuzzy said:

?? I can switch mine back without stopping.

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I was reading somewhere that the going back and forth between AT & MT was added functionality starting in 2014. The 12 & 13 bikes would not allow this. Now I only have half a brain, so I could be confusing something else with this, but this is what I recall.