whirring noise when bike is off

[Gravisman]

I was trying to do some electrical and pretending to know what I was doing when I accidentally shorted a 12v wire and blew my FZ-07's ignition fuse. Upon replacing the fuse, things returned to normal, except for one very odd side-effect: there's now a whirring noise coming from somewhere near the throttle bodies. Some servo or electric motor is spinning for a second, pausing for a second, spinning for a second, pausing, and repeating ad infinitum. Even stranger, this effect is happening while the bike is keyed OFF, and it stops when I key ON.

Anybody have a clue what I might be dealing with?

 

[DucatiHoney]

Your bike is closeted and wants to "come out" as a cat so it's purring?

 

[scootergmc]

Pull the tank, look/listen/feel.

 

[Gravisman]

Sounding to me like a small fan going off and on, but can’t find the fan

 

[Gravisman]

Also, I lied. It was the efi fuse not the ignition fuse.

 

[DucatiHoney]

Is it triggering a pump? You might dig into the elect schematic and see what the starting sequence is. (Pulling all this outta my butt... not proclaiming to actually *know* anything, but this is what I’d do as a starting point—instead of merely celebrating your bike’s newfound catness.)

 

[Gravisman]

I unplugged things until the noise stopped, and the magic plug was right in the middle of the throttle body between the injectors. At least my initial gauge of “sounds like it’s coming from the throttle body” was right.

 

[Gravisman]

Turns out the engine seems to run fine with that plug unplugged. How important could it be?

 

[Gravisman]

I identified the part as the stepper motor.

https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/yamaha/motorcycle/2015/fz07-fz07fcw/intake-2

Anyone know the purpose of that?

 

[scootergmc]

https://fz07.org/thread/8907/question-about-start-up/

 

[DannoXYZ]

Friend came home from day out with friends to find this note on his bike. Was then told by roommate that Animal Control was there earlier holding pieces of salami under bike cover trying to coax "it" out... The famous "meowing" gas cap!!!

 

[Darkness!]

The stepper motor is for an initial fast idle when you start a Fuel Injected bike. It usually keeps the throttle bodies open and "fast idles" the bike at a slightly higher than usual rpm to allow the bike to warm up faster. You might have to "reset" the ECU to get the motor back to normal.

 

[Gravisman]

So now I think the stepping motor whirring is just a symptom of an electrical issue. I have accessories that used to power on when the key was turned on which now are powering on even when the key is not on. Probably what’s going on with the stepper motor is it keeps running because there’s 12v power but there’s no ecu on telling it what to do. When i key on the ecu starts directing traffic and it’s fine. So then the question is, how do I go about finding what needs replacing in the electrical system? (not something I’ve really worked with in the past).

 

[DucatiHoney]

Maybe you made some stuff melty screwing around in there and created a short.

 

[scootergmc]

I'd start by disconnecting the battery for a little while and see if the problems persist once it's hooked back up.

 

[Darkness!]

I'd start by disconnecting the battery for a little while and see if the problems persist once it's hooked back up.

OP: I'd start by seeing if you have a parasitic draw with the key off. Would tell you if you have a short. Lots of Youtube videos showing how to do this.

 

[seadog]

Maybe you made some stuff melty screwing around in there and created a short.

This. It sounds like you may have shorted a relay that is normally open with the ignition switch off. Since it's now shorted (like a light switch being closed) the circuits are powered even with the key off.

DH you some kind of engineer or what?

 

[Gravisman]

I spent quite a while poking at things but I suspect that locating exactly where the short is may be beyond my depth. I’m currently thinking I may just attach a battery kill switch to turn off the power when not in use. Would like to get to the bottom of it though; if anyone knows a mechanic near San Francisco who is good with electrical triage, then I’d take recommendations.

 

[ST Guy]

I spent quite a while poking at things but I suspect that locating exactly where the short is may be beyond my depth. I’m currently thinking I may just attach a battery kill switch to turn off the power when not in use. Would like to get to the bottom of it though; if anyone knows a mechanic near San Francisco who is good with electrical triage, then I’d take recommendations.

Do not do that. If something is running all the time when it's not supposed to, then it could fail and leave you stranded. Or worse, overheat and cause a fire. Find the problem and fix it.

 

[scootergmc]

I spent quite a while poking at things but I suspect that locating exactly where the short is may be beyond my depth. I’m currently thinking I may just attach a battery kill switch to turn off the power when not in use. Would like to get to the bottom of it though; if anyone knows a mechanic near San Francisco who is good with electrical triage, then I’d take recommendations.

Did you do a lengthy battery disconnect to see if the problem persists?