TR650 Engine Immobiliser - EWS

[nev..]

Hi all.

I've been lurking in this forum for a few weeks now, and just before xmas the Australian dealers finally got their first shipments of TR650 Terras. I really liked the look of the bike, and took one for a test ride just to make sure there wasn't something I didn't like about it, but I would have been happy to buy one without testriding if that was the only option. Anyhow, last Saturday they finally had my bike ready to go and I collected it and rode home the long way, about 175km including about 50km of dirt mountain roads. I couldn't have been happier with my purchase. After I got it home it sat in the driveway for a couple of hours and when I went to take it for a ride it said "EWS" on the dash, and would not start.

Has anyone else seen this error? I'm guessing you would know if you had, because the only option is a tow back to the shop. It's a well known error in BMW circles, indicating that the bike is not starting because the immobiliser has some sort of error. I have seen exactly the same error on my wife's F650GS BMW a few years ago. It seems that BMW have exported the same issue to Husqvarna !!

Anyhow the bike went back to the dealer today (after sitting in my garage untouched during an entire long weekend of perfect riding weather here in Melbourne Australia, sunny and temps in the mid 20s (that's about 75F for the people who can't talk metric) for 4 days. No word from them yet so either they haven't got to it or they're still scratching their heads. They have the MOSS diagnostics so hopefully that might shed some light and make the discovery/resolution simpler. Since the bike has been in the wild over in the USA longer than there I wonder if any similar issues have been noted with the bikes sold there?

Hopefully by this weekend it'll be sorted out and I'll be back on the road and posting some happier stories. I have really found some useful information in this TR650 section and thanks to all those who have contributed some great ideas here.

 

[HuskyDude]

Welcome Nev..
Have you heard back from your dealer yet?

 

[nev..]

Welcome Nev..
Have you heard back from your dealer yet?

I stopped by there yesterday. Unfortunately after he loaded the latest updates into his MOSS diagnostics computer the MOSS system went into meltdown and he had to run a diagnostics on the diagnostics and send that off to Germany to get the MOSS system up and running again, so he hasn't plugged my bike into it yet. And the Australian Husky importer is still closed down for their Christmas holiday, so they're not available until next week (the TR models are so new in Australia that although a few of us have received our bikes, I doubt the dealers have any spare parts in stock yet).

 

[PARTSDUDE]

I was told the bikes in the USA do not use the EWS system , the Huskys or the single cylinder BMW'S , this came straight from the dealer , on the multi-cylinder BMW bikes , I have been a BMW auto parts manager for over 25 years and their EWS system sucks...

 

[Highfive]

A bit of an educated guess.....I think the EWS on the Terra is most likely being caused by a weak battery. Put your battery on a trickle charger and see how long it takes to top off. Mine took 2 1/2 days to stop blinking and go totally green (full charge). I was in no hurry, and did not interrupt it while charging.....just to see how long it took (as measure of battery status).

I notice my bike starts much faster now. There was some delay between engaging the starter button and the engine turning over....and it seemed to be a slow turn. Now, she starts as one would more normally expect.....fires right away and strongly.

Just my thoughts on the passing scene. I've not had the EWS show up on the Terra, but have seen it on my F800 under a weak battery situation.

HF

 

[nev..]

I was told the bikes in the USA do not use the EWS system , the Huskys or the single cylinder BMW'S , this came straight from the dealer , on the multi-cylinder BMW bikes , I have been a BMW auto parts manager for over 25 years and their EWS system sucks...

Interesting. From what I can find, EWS is short for "Elektronische WegfahrSperre" which merely translates to "Electroinic immobilizer", so makes sense that the same error code "EWS" might display even if the immobilizer system was completely different to the shonky system on larger BMWs.

 

[nev..]

A bit of an educated guess.....I think the EWS on the Terra is most likely being caused by a weak battery. Put your battery on a trickle charger and see how long it takes to top off. Mine took 2 1/2 days to stop blinking and go totally green (full charge). I was in no hurry, and did not interrupt it while charging.....just to see how long it took (as measure of battery status).

I notice my bike starts much faster now. There was some delay between engaging the starter button and the engine turning over....and it seemed to be a slow turn. Now, she starts as one would more normally expect.....fires right away and strongly.

Just my thoughts on the passing scene. I've not had the EWS show up on the Terra, but have seen it on my F800 under a weak battery situation.

HF

That's not applicable in my situation but good info to know for the future. The bike was brand new and had been charged and ridden for 100 miles immediately prior to the error appearing. I did try a few things like disconnecting the battery for 24 hours to see if that might be long enough to reset the system and remove the error code but that didn't make any difference. While the battery was disconnected I did put it on trickle charge and it hit full charge within seconds, as expected.

 

[Highfive]

Hhhmmm.....interesting. Double check all the primary electrical connections to make sure they are tight, especially the Starter Relay. I'll have to pull my seat and dig around myself. I've not really inspected the electrical layout yet. Maybe the wire connection terminal to the back of the key switch. Just brainstorming out loud. Its my impression that the EWS is flagged on display when there is an inadequate electrical connection to the starter circuit. In the case of an F800GS, if the proper key is not inserted (or embedded transmitter gone bad) then the starting circuit never gets energized....thus EWS flag.

I know a good (ex) BMW Tech....Joel Wisman. I'll send him a note, maybe he can shed light on the situation.

HF

p.s. It would be interesting to see if the bike will "push start" when the EWS is flagged. I need to see if it can be push started normally, anyway. Think I'll try that today...

 

[nev..]

Spoke to the spanner man at the dealership today. They got their MOSS diagnostics running again and it has identified a faulty ECU.
Could be a few days or a couple of weeks away from getting it back, depending on whether the importer has any replacement in stock. Apparently the ECUs are programmed to the individual bike, something to do with the coded keys which makes the process a bit more complex than just pulling the parts out of one bike and popping them into another, both for diagnosing problems and resolving them. I note there are a couple of Husky dealers in these forums, maybe they can elaborate on that. I am only repeating what my local dealer has told me.

 

[Highfive]

Finally heard back from Joel Wisman (former BMW Technician) regarding this "No Start....EWS" issue. Here is his opinion:

****************************
I don't know about this particular issue, but generally BMW loads programing for every conceivable option or future option into the ROM of their ecu's. In fact they are moving towards having only one ecu for all of their bikes and the difference being burned into static re-writable ram.

ROM is completely stable, probably wont even be fried with a high level nuclear detonation but also very slow.

Battery hooked up, ROM loads into static ram as well as parameters that tell it what kind of bike it's in and what options it has. Forever more the RAM is kept live and retains its memory unless battery is unhooked for a very long time.

Static RAM is buggy and can easily be corrupted by EMI or even electrical noise on the bike ESPECIALLY if the battery cables are loose or a low quality HID lighting ballast is installed.

Each time the key is cycled (off for at least 5 seconds) the RAM is checked and this will usually catch corruption and reload if found.

Sometimes the corruption isn't detectable and the battery has to be disconnected for a very long time depending on ECU model. (bolting the battery connectors together speeds things up)

My guess is the RAM is getting corrupted. It COULD be a bad ECU or random occurrence but its more likely an issue on the bike.

extremely weak battery.

Faulty voltage regulator

bad ground shunt to voltage regulator

loose battery terminals or large ground or B+ junctions

Faulty spark plug wires

faulty coil

#1 most common cause, shit as Chinese HID ballast causing electrical noise or bonehead mounting near an ECU causing EMI.
***********************************

That gives us a little more insight to what may be going on. Make sure your terminals are tight at the battery & voltage regulator, and the battery is fully charged (put it on a Tender or slow charger, if you haven't yet).

My bike has not experienced this problem, but if it does and will not restart, I think I'll remove the battery terminals and bolt them together (directly to each other) then take a short nap. Maybe that will help reset the ECU. Sounds like it might be a neat trick.

Of course, Joel is only guessing at the probable causes based on his experience with the BMW electrical systems. He is personally not familiar with the specific TR650 model (though very familiar with the G650GS it is derived from). Hopefully, this additional insight may be helpful to someone.

HF

 

[mario33]

Happened to myself once while in Hungary with my F800GS. I arrived to Budapest, experiencing electricity problems, as my acu would not re-charge while moving. I tried to start it next day but i would not. It was Saturday, so it was good I had assitance to cover my stay in Hungary for 3 more days. Got it serviced on Monday and was told EWS antenna was faulty (common for F800GS). Also battery was destroyed - they told me it couldnt be recharged ! Well, it was a costly problem....

 

[Trapperj]

It happened to me too. I can manipulate the "EWS" message to come on by leaving my LED lights on while trying to start the bike. About half the time..the EWS meassage will appear and the bike won't start. If I turn off the LEDs and cycle the key off & back on she will start every time. Makes me wonder if its a battery power issue...?
I have Adv. Monster model 60s wired up through a fuse block under the seat. I have the lights powered on the switched side..(only has power when key is on) first time it happened it took me awhile to figure out..but it's never happened without the LEDs being turned on and trying to start.

Maybe the adv monster lights..(they are Chinese made) create some "noise" that the ECU picks up on and causes the EWS ? Either way...I'm not worried now ...but I could see this really ruining your day in the wrong situation.

 

[BigDog]

Trapperj--------------I've had the same thing---and I have the ADv.Monster 60's too. And now that I think of it-----my problem started about when I put the LED's on. Good to know---I always got it restarted by turning the key off and on----but if it happens again I'll turn my LED"s off and try to start it.

Thanks so much-----I'm not taking my LED's off the bike-------I love them---but may turn them off for starts. I have the dimmer on mine when on low beam---but have the option of turning them off with the dimmer if I want too.

BigDog

 

[Trapperj]

Well it really wasn't a problem for me until this past weekend. My brother in law and I were on the skyway in Tellico and I got the dreaded EWS. I turned the lights off but the EWS was still there. It was later in the day and getting cold! He suggested we roll it off..( I knew better ...but tried anyway) ...no start! Now here I am on a new bike..80 miles from home on the Skyway...in the middle of the road....and then it hit me....in my panic mode I had forgotten and left the high beams on! So even though the LEDs were turned to the off position ...the trigger for them to go full on with the brights was causing my EWS. One little thumb swish of the high beam button to low beam and she started right up!

It embarrassed me and I was all red faced from trying to get the bike to roll off...but if I'd just taken a minute to get my head right I'd been fine. I am not taking my lights off either...but this sure could ruin someone's day if they didn't know better. I bet there's some kind of resistor or gizmo of some sort that could be wired in to prevent this "noise" from the LEDs that causes the EWS.? Might be worth a call to the guy at Adv. Monster. I've always been treated well by him. I may send him a PM to just see.

 

[Coffee]

Trapperj--------------I've had the same thing---and I have the ADv.Monster 60's too. And now that I think of it-----my problem started about when I put the LED's on....

Anyone got a link to these LEDs?

Curious, because by default, LEDs produce no electrical noise at all.

 

[Trapperj]

Adv monster sells them & there great IMHO..maybe the dimmer is the issue? I have a email to the head of adv. monster. He emailed back with a few questions. It may be as simple as moving the dimmer further away from the instrument panel?
I am not unhappy ...but if there's a easy fix I'll do it. Just knowing how to over come the EWS is good to know. I just forgot Saturday that the trigger for the LEDs was hooked to the high beam...once I calmed down and figured that out she started right up.

 

[Trapperj]

Well I got a email from John from Adv. Monster lights. He has two things that may fix us up...1 is to install a 10k capacitor across the +/- power supply...the other is to move the dimmer further away from the key switch...I am headed to radio shack and will report back...I am crossing my fingers that this will be a fix!

He explained that moving the dimmer away from what may be the antenna ring..( does the little husky have this?) may fix us up but wasn't sure. I am not sure the Husqvarna is equipped with that.antenna rig but similar issues have affected BMW 800/1200 machines so equipped.

 

[nev..]

He explained that moving the dimmer away from what may be the antenna ring..( does the little husky have this?) may fix us up but wasn't sure. I am not sure the Husqvarna is equipped with that.antenna rig but similar issues have affected BMW 800/1200 machines so equipped.

Yes, the keys are coded and there is an antenna ring around the keyhole. Lose both keys and you have to replace all of the components linked to the key authentication, the keys, the antenna, the ECU and even the entire instrument cluster apparently.

 

[Kawagumby]

I use a std metal blank-made key in my Terra - no key authentication from that - never have a problem starting. Mebbe USA models are different?

 

[Motosportz]

Yes, the keys are coded and there is an antenna ring around the keyhole. Lose both keys and you have to replace all of the components linked to the key authentication, the keys, the antenna, the ECU and even the entire instrument cluster apparently.

I don't think so on this model.