Honda PCX150 Randomly Stutters, then dies...

[Guest]

Hi,

 

I'll cut to the chase: for about a year now I've been having some really annoying problems with my PCX bike. The bike is about 4 years old and has just over 30K on the clock. I've taken good care of it and had it serviced regularly as per the service log that came with it. Unfortunately however, I live in Thailand, and both service quality and mechanic proficiency levels are often found wanting (at least in my experience).

 

The problems:

 

1. A really annoying high-pitched squeak has developed in the bike, and nobody seems to be able to fix it or care enough to fix it. It usually only squeaks when starting the bike and taking off at low speeds. The 'engineers' at my local Honda garage state that it's a problem with all PCX bikes and nothing can be done to fix it i.e. that it's a model flaw. I call BS on that. Any ideas?

 

2. Also, about a year ago the bike started cutting out randomly during journeys. It usually occurred between the 0-40 speed range, and never in the higher ranges. Initially the bike would start chugging or lurching, with the bike losing power on each lurch. This usually developed into popping or struggling sound, and deteriorated until the bike cut out and rolled to a stop. Starting the bike again would often lead to a scenario where the bike would be running but power was intermittent. It would chug and lurch but not move more than a few inches, and eventually cut out again.

 

I've taken the bike to the Honda garage on 3 occasions over the past year, and each time they said they would fix it, and that they had fixed it when I collected it. Yet, the problem was still there the very next day. Finally, after the 3rd attempt, they admitted that they did not know what the problem was and had another bike they were working on with a similar problem (no sign of any apology or refund were forthcoming however...)

 

So, I'm still driving around on a faulty motorcycle, down a couple of quid due to Thai incompetence and lack of straight-talking ability. Good news is, I think I may have stumbled upon a possible reason for the outage. I've noticed that when the bike stalls, and multiple attempts at restarting it fail, if I engage the side-stand, rest the bike and then disengage the stand once more to continue driving it always starts without issue and I can drive onwards as normal. At first, I thought there was an issue with the fuel in the tank (maybe it was dirty or congested with some foreign objects), as I thought the tilting of the bike when side-stand is engaged was dislodging something that could freely move about. My discovery that this wasn't so occurred when I experimented with engaging and disengaging the side-stand without tilting/resting/moving the bike from the upright position. The bike started as normal so I figure it wasn't something fuel-tank related, and that it seems to be an issue with the sensor in the side-stand itself. Perhaps a fault or something may be triggering it?

 

Have any of you guys heard about or had a similar experience? If so, any tips on how I may rectify the problem? And if it requires a replacement part do you know what exact part, is it costly, and can I trust a Thai mechanic to do a good job and not rip me off? I'm almost certain that it's related to the side-stand, do you think I'm on track with that assessment?

 

Thanks in advance for your help folks, I really appreciate it. This issue has been plaguing me for months...

 

RoadRasher

[Get Real]

Sorry, Not good at either cars or motorbikes. Please don´t take it negative, but why not just leave it to a motorbike shop that have a bunch of young guys. They usually have bikes as an interest and a hobby. Usuallt not much they can´t fix. The Honda shops with their garage are just a bunch of tired dead heads that not like what they are doing.

[watcharacters]

2 minutes ago, Get Real said:

Sorry, Not good at either cars or motorbikes. Please don´t take it negative, but why not just leave it to a motorbike shop that have a bunch of young guys. They usually have bikes as an interest and a hobby. Usuallt not much they can´t fix. The Honda shops with their garage are just a bunch of tired dead heads that not like what they are doing.

 

 

That's solid advice and it certainly couldn't hurt many budgets.

 

I'd detest not having reliable transportation.

 

[jchfriis]

If you live in Chiang Mai I can recommend Piston Shop. They know what they are doing and the owner speaks perfect English.

[ballbreaker]

I once owned a car that had same problem and replacing fuel pump was the fix.  Seemed to happen more often on hot days and required letting it sit for 10-15 minutes before it would restart.

[alx123]

The high pitched squeak usually will be gone once the clutch pads are cleaned, and then they will eventually slowly be back after a few weeks. I will try aftermarket pads to see..My 2016 has the same problem, older and new models same flaw. Rubbish

[guzzi850m2]

Yes sounds like the sidestand cut off switch is faulty.

Should be very cheap to fix/change,

don't know precisely what such a switch cost but perhaps in the 300-500 baht range I would guess.

[guzzi850m2]

Oh double post, sorry.

 

Regarding the squking sound, just gun it sometimes when taking off, my 6 years old pcx 150 is just fine, been excellent as a matter of fact.

[BBJ]

If the PCX has a floating front disc, check the bobbins/buttons.  If they are ceased, the disc will mount unevenly and cause squeaking and sometimes juddering.  This is often overlooked on all bikes, big or small.  The buttons should rotate.

 

Fuel could be side stand, or like my friends, dirty fuel caused the problem.  His filter was blocked along with injectors.  He's replaced 3 fuel pumps already due to fuel contamination.

[VocalNeal]

Get someone to hold the bike while you get down on your knees and wiggle the side stand around to see if it or the switch are lose?  And/or buy a new switch from Honda and take it to your local roadside Somchai.

 

Clutch squeal as has been said is because you baby the bike and so once in a while you have to ride it like you stole it.  Don't want to do that?  Put the front wheel against and try and ride away for a few seconds to work the clutch.  Or find a fat passenger and a hill and do a couple of hill starts.

[Agusts]

Sounds like you are onto something with the side-stand switch,  otherwise fuel system,  pump, filter,  EFi etc.  .... 

Another cause for squeak are bearings on back wheel,  but that sound usually keeps constant,  put on main jack have someone on front to stand and push down,  then turn the gas and listen to the back wheel.... It's like low pitch screech. 

[moe666]

Change your battery out, I would pull up to a light stop with the ideling off ingaged, I would hit the throttle to start and go and the engine would die but not every time. Finally changed out the battery fixed the problem

[Pinot]

On 7/22/2018 at 8:50 PM, moe666 said:

Change your battery out, I would pull up to a light stop with the ideling off ingaged, I would hit the throttle to start and go and the engine would die but not every time. Finally changed out the battery fixed the problem

I have the same problem as the OP. It's frustrating because I can't re[prodice the issue by the time I get to the shop. I just replaced the fuel filter which may be an issue but I think it's electrically related. (They didn't have a new battery in stock. So I'll try it with just the new fuel filter. BUT, the reason I think it may be battery related is that my stop/idle switch doesn't work. If I put a new battery in then it works. Next step...new battery.

[papa al]

√ air filter too