Got back in from a ride on my new 10R earlier and smelled a strong odor like burning wood chips coming from under the main seat area. I pulled the seat and could smell it pretty bad. Stopped by the local dealer and told the tech.
He asked if I had performed the wiring harness recall yet. I haven't so he gave me a copy of the tech bulletin. I tore the back of the bike down this afternoon and checked the two chafe points....looked fine. The bulletin calls for replacing one screw I'n the tail with a rounded shoulder Allen head and reroute the harness. I was sure this was going to be the problem but now at a loss. Visual inspection of the wiring has turned up no melted wires and all equipment appears to be working fine. Engine runs normally, all lights working and instruments. Could I have run over something and burned it on cat or headers? If so, why the smell showed up under the seat, makes no sense to me.My plan is perform the recall, button it back up and go ride, if something starts burning again then the bikes coming apart.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/15/2011 @ 9:26 PM *

Bugs in the headers.Wiring fine?No probs there.Look at where the pipes come together at the cat(or whatever).Bet yer gonna see a nice fat grasshopper or something stuck right in there.Had it happen with mine.If yer idling,it will come up about midpoint.Did you maybe clean those pipes under there or something,and a part of the rag tore off and stuck where ya didn't notice it?That's what it sounds like.

"Wiring harness recall?"....sheesh.Sorry man.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/15/2011 @ 9:32 PM *

I posted on ZX10r.net and one of the guys said it's the lower right fairing touching the Cat. I think I'll run down stairs and check it out. Could it be that simple ?

The harness recall looks like a no brainer, change a screw and relocate the harness about 1/2 inch. The recall notice scares the dickens out of you, do not ride bike, death or injury may occur, you know the wording.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/15/2011 @ 9:41 PM *

Imagine how minor that is. Yeah, just legal cigarette money, coffee spill lingo shit. An assembly flaw someone in the field [us] or QC caught it. May not apply to your bike. Same old thing with the knock over switch. Mine was not in the bulletin run. It is more a precaution, have a look see by your dealer or you. They follow the same pictures.

You may have kicked up one of 1bad's toothpicks on the road? Kind of caught an burning under the exhaust near the back? Lucky it didn't catapult you off the bike. Maybe it dragged the bottom of the road? I'd go and look way under now? Unless you can smell all around the back of the seat base, determine where it is the heaviest?

* Last updated by: Hub on 10/15/2011 @ 10:09 PM *

Ya....hopefully it is something simple like you say.Fingerscrossed!Kruz is right though,imagine leaned over hard and on the gas when suddenly....everything just stops from a burnt wire somewhere.And there you are,needing to line up that next twister.Yeeesh.Did I mention,you're travelling at 150 plus!Nice.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/15/2011 @ 10:11 PM *

Kruz; I found the weird burning smell that's been bugging me since 2007. A small piece of the stiff foam broke loose and was floating around inside the fairing. Sits on a hot spot, what the hell is that burning smell, ride a couple miles, it's gone. Bikes been torn apart twice, and never saw it. The other day I was looking at the ^&%$@ oil leak, and "what the hell is that?" A 3" roasted piece of foam.

Well, it appears I may have spoke too soon, the plastic tape they wrap the harness in is chafed through in the exact area where the bulletin says to look, imagine that. I peeled back the wrap to get a better look at the wires underneath and they appear to be OK. I may have gotten lucky and the odor, whatever it was, got me to do the recall. KHI routed the harness over a push rivet and it wedges up against the subframe casting. Fortunately the casting is smooth, no sharp edges, so it was wearing slowly. I have 1000 miles, another thousand it could have been adios wiring harness.

That leaves one question, what was the odor? The Cat heat shield is a black fibrous material like a hard plastic and comes within 3/16 inch of the CAT.
Could that be it? Iscratch and sniffed the shield but I cannot detect that odor..hmm.

Why not....start your bike..let warm up nicely,then check and see with a flashlight or something underneath.If it's in there somewhere,it's gonna start roasting again just sitting there running,you think?

Well, watt do you know. You could of had something down the road smoke a fuse, but that is about it. Has the bike been sitting long? Are we smelling more of a stale gas smell? Not burnt in the smell factor but aged? Are we smelling the corn mash in the gas mix? You ever smell that old stale gas kind of musk to it? We are not talking a burning wire harness tape, plastic cover and copper kind of smell? Wattever copper smells line? This is more a chemical call, not a burning call, not a wood chip call, foam going crisp, all kinds of smells, but are we back to a burnt smell again?

See, there is no breakthrough past the tape wrap, correct? No copper exposed, right? Therefore, no way for the copper to touch metal and cause heat [smells] before it smokes or blows a fuse; like right now. We have any rodents playing in the garage? Every have a nest in one of the bikes? They like chewing on things to bring back to make the nest more comfy.

Blue, you'll cook the bike down sitting there before you find the smell. The bike is still air cooled, not stuck stationary on a stand, built to pump fields full of water from the canals. The fan will be taxed. Might as well roll and stop, roll and stop.

The smell was definitely a wood smoke smell. Remember, I used to teach electrical classes at the aviation college, in the basic class the students would send wiring projects up I'n smoke on a regular basis so I'm pretty familiar with the burning wire stink. Something got caught on the headers and burned........I hope!

Then, I'm back to my original suggestion = Food Group.

Get out the tools. Get out the polish. Move parts away from the exhaust. Start looking around, but how you found the rear being the area of smell? I guess I would start from the rear and work forward.

Gotta say...some o' those bugs...at least HERE.. can be quite BIG.They get caught at the mipipe.Sit there and cook for a while.Not burn up completely.But cook.Can go on for a few days actually.I've had it happen.Smells anywhere from burning chemicals to oil smell to meat cooking.Wood chip smell would not be out of the ordinary.Depending on what they've been eating.Yer bike's fine.

I was gonna suggest maybe while you were cleaning under there,with a PAPER TOWEL based rag...that could be it,if a piece stuck in there somewhere.BUT...you didn't mention cleaning with any paper products...so......I've had THAT happen as well.Didn't see the piece,hidden up somewhere in there,snagged on a bolt or something.Started bike and ran a few minutes...got out there and stopped at a stopsign...WTF?My bike on FIRE?.Just that fast...it was gone.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/16/2011 @ 11:20 AM *

.Not burn up completely.But cook.Can go on for a few days actually.I've had it happen.Smells anywhere from burning chemicals to oil smell to meat cooking.Wood chip smell would not be out of the ordinary.Depending on what they've been eating.Yer bike's fine.

Agree. had a big fat ugly grasshopper stuck to the headers of my old Vulcan. I smelled it for days. Finally found it after someone suggested I give a thorough look.

IDT I would worry much. Ride a few days and see if it goes away.

Well I got the recall done, what a PITA took me most of the day. I would hate to see what the techs at the dealer would have done as they are allowed 2.3 hours total for disassembly, inspection and repair.

The issue is the wiring harness is about 1 inch too short, maufacturing flaw at KHI and the assembly techs routed the cable directly over a plastic push rivet in order to make the bend and get to the sensors they needed too. Problem is the plastic rivet shoves the wiring bundle right up against the subframe casting which quickly wears a hole in the harness and you get an electrical short. My solution was cut off the rivet boss to allow more clearance, reroute the harness, rewrap damaged harness tape and manufacture several standoffs from sticky back vinly sheet to provide extra seperation in key areas.

Secondary issue was the tail light harness was rubbing on a six point bolt head. The bulletin called out to replace it with a rounded head allen bolt, which I did and I did one better and added several layers of electricians tape over the head just to be sure.

Fired the bike up and took it out last evening for a road flogging, no issues, no more offensive odor and all equipment worked perfectly. Not sure what the odor was, could have been I ran through some liquid which splashed up on the header or cat. Good news I got the recall done and fixed teh problem before I damaged the main wiring harness.

Rub = Vibration, flex, torsion, movement. How much friction can I make I do not move my hand over a sharp knife?
Goop Glue = Held in place, no rub, no stink'inn weight. If I do not move over something sharp or whatever it is... Show me the rub, Dub? I mean, Kruz?

So the "offensive smell" actually was your wake up call for an inspection.NICE....I love stuff like this!!!!Glad ya got er fixed up right!Way to go Kruz!"For we walk by faith and not by sight" II Corinthians 5:7

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/17/2011 @ 10:16 AM *

That's the way I saw it too Blue, if it hadn't been for the odor I would have put off the recall until damage might have occurred, maybe another 1000 miles.

Here's pics:

I don't know what this thing is, but the main harness Y's off and runs over to it. You can see the main white wire is too short and is stretched over a bit, maybe one more inch and it would have a strain relief loop in it. This is on the left side under the seat. You can see the battery + cable (red) and exhaust servo motor below.

View from rear with everything apart. The main harness is right below the subframe casting and Y's off to the sensor thingie on the left, rest of the harness comes back to the tail lights/rear turn signals etc. The flat cable is to the tip over sensor at top right above subrame casting.

Here's the chafe, right at the Y there's a little bit of green/yellow wire exposed but did not penetrate the wire.

OK, here's a close up pic, yellow/green spec is the chafe, caught it just in time.

Here is second chafe point, allen head bolt lies in a channel directly below the harness where it passes back to the tail lights. Those black plastic spikes are harness guides, harness lays right on top of this bolt, bad design. I replaced with round head allen bolt and covered it with sticky back vinyl tape. The rivet boss is that black plastic half moon to the right. I cut it off and smoothed with a dremel tool to get extra room between the harness and the subframe to make the bend. This whole assembly is dropped down in the pic, assembled it goes up into the subframe.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/17/2011 @ 11:13 AM *

Good pics.Glad you weren't leaned in and rollin hard IF that would have just burned through just enough .