Stranded with 2015 DCT

[Chabon]

Stuck in Lone Pine California on first day of trip to Alaska! Pulled into town and stopped at red light. When I went to go it was in neutral, or not engaging. Walked to motel and checked in, by the time I walked back to bike it started and shifted fine. Rode it 3 blocks to motel and shut it off.

When I went to restart it shows as being in second gear, there is a click click click like it is trying to get to neutral but no luck. If I roll the back wheel it spins freely like it is in neutral or the clutch is stuck? 100 degrees today but bike has cooled down and same problem, oil and filters changed last week, 70,000 miles on bike.

Hit me with your best shot!

 

[Chabon]

I tested it again and it went to neutral from second after repeatable turning ignition on and off. It shifts fine on center stand, no road test yet. Maybe cooling off for a while helped. Not confident it will last 8000 miles for this trip.

Been reading all the DCT troubleshooting in here. Seems I might be looking at speed and/or neutral sensors, maybe shift motor.

 

[bigbird]

Battery or shift motor seem to be the most common causes for the behaviour you describe.

 

[670cc]

Shift motor overheating seems like a topic I’ve read on the forum. Maybe the hot weather aggravated a motor that’s about to fail?

Related thread: https://www.nc700-forum.com/threads/dct-shift-motor-failure.16372/page-2#post-252020

 

[Chabon]

Ya, trip aborted. Return to base, shift motor on order.

I did slide on the left side last week, not sure if that contributed. Could be packed with sand, might have to pull the cover and take a peak

Eatin sand

 

[670cc]

That seems like a wise plan. You wouldn’t want to take a chance on having a broken transmission in remote B.C., Yukon, or Alaska, especially if you’re riding alone.

Since your NC is a 2015 and I assume has tens of thousands of miles on it, I would suggest changing the DCT shift motor whether it is specifically the cause for this episode or not. It seems to be a high failure item.

 

[http404]

Man, I thought you might save it, well except the title was a spoiler. What tires are you running, street or dp? Sorry about your Alaska trip but of course, like Greg said, the silver lining is that it didn't happen in the middle of the Yukon where you'd really be in a tough spot. Blessing in disguise.

 

[Chabon]

Man, I thought you might save it, well except the title was a spoiler. What tires are you running, street or dp? Sorry about your Alaska trip but of course, like Greg said, the silver lining is that it didn't happen in the middle of the Yukon where you'd really be in a tough spot. Blessing in disguise.

I wasn’t too concerned about the wobble, thought it was recovering and then it dug into some deep stuff. Using Avon trailrider That was ready to be replaced. So basically a fat 17”, fully inflated street tire! Found the only deep dry sand/gravel on the 50 mile mining road. Had a set on new Shinko 705’s and new chain at home waiting for me to get back from this trip.

I felt a hiccup in the shift on my last trip, it only happened once or twice but I did notice it. That must’ve been the beginning of the end. Leaving early today and hoping to make it 200 miles home before it gets hot. Going past Death Valley. Haha

 

[Chabon]

Made it back home today without any hiccups, albeit it was 40 degrees cooler. I found a video on YouTube on how to rebuild/cleanup motor. Will attempt desert again tomorrow. Honda couldn’t really give me a delivery date on new motor - one to two weeks maybe.

 

[Deleted member 1183]

Looks very similar to a starter motor. Probably only needs a new set of brushes. I had a starter motor pack up on my former old Z1000J and that was all it took to get it right again.

 

[lootzyan]

...there is a click click click like it is trying to get to neutral ...

In your first post, you say: "there is a click click click like it is trying to get to neutral". This can only mean that the shift motor is working and responding to the signal from the PCM. The problem is somewhere in the shifting mechanism.
You can still clean the shift motor. If it doesn't help, it certainly won't hurt.

 

[Chabon]

Cleaning it up seemed to do the trick or maybe I just got lucky today. 500 miles across Nevada desert, a little cooler today -in the low 90’s. Thanks for the input.

 

[mercurydog47]

Also, make sure your electrical connections at the battery terminals are bright and tight...DCT won't work otherwise. Learned this the hardway.

 

[Chabon]

Also, make sure your electrical connections at the battery terminals are bright and tight...DCT won't work otherwise. Learned this the hardway.

Thanks Mercurydog, good point.

I’ve got 10,000 more miles on the old shift motor after cleaning it with zero problems. I did buy a shift motor from Aliexpress for $60 and carry it as a spare on long trips. I returned the shift motor to Honda that I paid $264 for!