2019 Tour DCT Totally Dead

[baumedagn]

I have a 2019 Tour DCT with about 8K miles on it. A couple of weeks ago, I went to start the bike, the display flashed on and off a few times and then just died. Like the battery totally quit. It wouldn't do anything. I couldn't even open the trunk or saddlebags. I checked the battery and it was at 13.2 volts. The battery in the bike was replaced about two months ago with the same Yuasa that came with the bike. I replaced the battery in the fob at that same time. I tried the spare fob with the same results. The display wouldn't even come on. We took the other bike and went about our ride for the day. We got home 5 or 6 hours later and I checked it again, and everything worked just fine. Well, it happened again this past week. Battery checks fine. I had to use the key to get the saddlebag open so I could remove the side cove to check the fuses and connections. Everything checks ok. Bike is still dead. Came back after doing some yardwork, everything lights up and it starts just fine. So I talk with my local dealer and he tells me I'm not within the area that the fob can be recognized. He couldn't explain why the saddlebags or truck wouldn't open when I was standing right in front of them. It happened again today. It started up just fine. We rode to meet the rest of our group. When we went to leave, same thing. Like the battery was stone dead. Waited about 10 minutes while we had another cup of coffee. Turned it on and everything worked just fine the rest of the day.

I'm sorry for being so long-winded, I'm just trying to give all of the information I have in hopes that someone out there has had this same thing happen and can offer some guidance. I could take it back to the dealer, but it happens randomly and I'm not sure they'll be of much help. Particularly since he's already convinced that I'm not standing in the right place. Or wearing the right color shirt, or whatever.

TIA

[AZgl1800]

Unfortunately,
that is not something the dealerships are NOT going to be able to fix for you, unless they just happen to be looking at it when it does occur, and then what? they have never seen it happen before, in fact, if they call Honda Tech, they will claim that "never happens"....

All Factory Techs are ingrained with that speech before they leave the tech schools. Cars, big trucks? don't matter, " We have never seen that, or heard of it "
Yeah, right. they just want to garner 100s of hours of labor off of you

IMO, it is related to the CANBUS system and you are going to have open it up and search out all of the interconnects and wiggle them to clean out any debris that might have crept in.

Like water, hope you never use a High Pressure sprayer wand to clean the plastics??
that is a sure fire way to accumulate problems like you have now.

[AZgl1800]

have you rode it in rain?

the first place to go, is to eliminate the handlebar switches, then the other switches, brakes, clutch, shifter.

if all of those prove out, then it is a wiring harness problem.

[Rambozo]

Since the battery was recently replaced, that would be the first connections I would look at. Then keep a meter handy so you can do some testing the next time it happens. Did it lose the radio presets and such?

[baumedagn]

The bike has never been in the rain or pressure washed. It hasn’t even been hose washed. One of the first things I checked was battery connections. Battery load tested good as well.

[raven41951]

Sounds like mice. You're gonna have to check the whole harness. They are using biodegradable additives in the wire insulation now. My daughter had this problem with her CVR. Two years old and all the insulation eaten away.

[WingAdmin]

Sounds like mice. You're gonna have to check the whole harness. They are using biodegradable additives in the wire insulation now. My daughter had this problem with her CVR. Two years old and all the insulation eaten away.

Yup. Specifically, they are using soy to make the wire insulation on vehicles nowadays, and the mice and squirrels find it mighty tasty. It's a huge problem everywhere on vehicles made in the last few years. There are class action suits in progress over it.

[Praeth]

make sure to avoid your fob being very close to your smartphone, or other stuff that might disturb the communication between fob and the bike

[ralphdud]

Hi All, long time I have not posted anything, as I am not much of a poster on anywhere...BUT, I have had this same issue with my 2018 Goldwing / DCT. I found that having a fresh battery in the fob helps a lot of the weirdness that crops up, and cycling the "Red Winged Button on the fob" usually clears issues with fob recognition. I've also experienced issues with being able to open the luggage compartments what with the fob resting right on top of them, and resort to the silly exercise of going thru the manual open the luggage starting with the manual key behind the rear center panel between the tail-lights, etc. I am never really sure what cures these issues, between pushing the fob buttons, new fob battery, swearing at the bike and Honda's zeal for "convenience". Although I really like this motorcycle, when this stuff happens it is very irritating, and causes me to wish I had my 2013 F6B back. That was one solid reliable bike. So, long post concluded, at least for me, changing the fob battery at the start and mid-way thru the season seems to help. My two pennies worth, Thank You!

[doxbike]

This is a problem with many bikes using fob's. The frequencies they use are quite common and therefore can get interference from other nearby transmitters. Many reports of bikes not starting after getting gas, stopping at the store, etc. Sometimes moving the fob to get yourself between the offending source and the fob, moving the fob to the other side or front of the bike, sometimes just moving the bike a few feet will solve the problem. When you come back and it works fine, perhaps the offending transmitter has moved, not in use, or....? Who knows, but try that next time

[Zyxt]

I have not seen anyone speak of a battery tender . i found out a 2018+ MUST be plugged into a battery tender anytime you park your Wing for any length of time . Meaning over night , two or more days of sitting . Because of the electronics running ALL the time battery will run down fast .

[IdahoHacker]

I never, ever, put my '18 on a battery tender until we're so deep in winter that I cannot ride.

That means that my bike is NOT on a tender for a minimum of 9-10 straight months. I've never had a problem.

[doxbike]

my 2018 dct would go for weeks unplugged even if I wasn't riding it. I'd start to worry and plug it in and it would take seconds before it showed totally charged. But I always turned off my fob so it was not trying to communicate

[tinwacker]

I'm sorry but what is a tour DCT

[doxbike]

2018+ gold wing with rear trunk is the tour; without trunk (bagger) is just called goldwing. DCT is the dual clutch transmission (sometimes referred to as automatic as no clutch)

[cjack63]

I have a 2019 Goldwing DCT Tour that has been triked. The very same thing happened to me several times. The first time it happened was in a fast food line and the bike just shut down and would not do anything. I pushed it over to the side and after about 15 minutes it restarted. A similar event happened 3 times after that. It is very frustrating to hear Honda say they don't have a clue. As for the CANBUS, everything that I added to the bike electrically has now been placed on a Show Chrome isolator. I will see if that helps. If ANYONE has a resolution I know I would be very, very happy to hear it.
CJACK

[DHA2018Wing]

Not sure if related but I had a rodent issue which caused the bike to be inoperable. See viewtopic.php?p=369647#p369647

[raven41951]

As far as using a battery maintainer goes, I have left my 2021 wing for over a month with no tender and no problem. The point of a battery maintainer is to keep the battery at peak charger to prolong its life. There is a chemical reaction that uses up the battery components and the more you can minimize that reaction the longer the battery will last. This is especially important with older batteries as that is when it will die without warning.

[Fatboy46]

RE: Battery Tender- if you have a lead/acid battery then a tender may prolong the life. I use AGM batteries- they are able to be recycled after running low- be re-charged fully- and hold a charge over a long time of being idle- I still use a Battery Tender. It is smart. Smarter than my memory. With all the electronics on GW's today- there is a constant- small, but constant drain on batteries- ditto cars and trucks- in order to maintain the electronics and firmware. For some folks the expense isn't worth the extra inconvenience down the road. If your battery is older than 3 years and you don't use a battery Tender- good luck

[AZgl1800]

REF: Battery Tenders

I use them on every thing that I own that has a battery in it.

• Golf Cart ( the instant I park it, on goes the battery tender )
  Water pump for the trees, uses an OFF Grid AGM ( the instant I park it, on goes the battery tender )
  
  
  
  Bad Boy Zero Turn mower ( the instant I park it, on goes the battery tender )
  motorcycle ( the instant I park it, on goes the battery tender )
  Suburban ( sits idle for weeks at a time

single exception is my daughter's car, a 2007 Pontiac Vibe that is driven on Mail Routes 5 days a week.

......... this water pump, pumps out 200 gallons of water a day at 50 PSI ......

[baumedagn]

Well, the saga continues. Weeks have gone by with no issue. Then, out of nowhere, it won't recognize the fob again. There is no rhyme or reason to when this is happening. The last time this happened, we had ridden someplace a couple of hours from home. We had a few stops on the way with no problems. After having lunch we came out, opened the trunk and tried to turn the bike on. Nothing. Totally dead. It recognized the fob long enough to open the trunk but that was it. Walked away from the bike and waited about 15 minutes. Came back and everything worked as it should.

[ninjaNTN]

So has anyone foudn a solution to this issue? I have a 2019 DCT Tour and was left stranded last night, an hour from home. The issue started the night before when one of the 2 fobs didn't work. I was in my garage. I took the "working" fob with me. Rode about 500 miles yesterday and stopped to gas up. The bike would not come on. I was at a Quick Trip. I thought it was the gas pump transmitters interfering with the fob so I pushed the bike away. Nothing. Unfortunately all the bags were locked. I tried the emegency start procedure but the left saddlebag would not open. After about 4 hours and many cancelled tow truck calls (not in their service area or some lame excuses), I Uber home and left the bike there. I'm waiting for the local Honda dealer to open up at 10AM as I'm posting this.

[ninjaNTN]

Issue solved. It was the battery. Completely dead without any warnings. As stated, I rode over 500 miles that day without issues. With a completely dead battery, I was unable to unlock the left saddlebag to access the battery. I eventually was able to pry open the lower side cover enough to charge the battery using jumper cables attached to a couple of screwdrivers. The emergency startup procedure didn't work to unlock the left saddlebag.

[baumedagn]

Well, the issue has been resolved. But I don't believe the diagnosis. I took the bike to the dealer since it's still under warranty. After having it for a few days, they said the positive battery cable wasn't connected to the battery. I'm sorry. I call BS on that. If the cable wasn't connected, how has the bike been running? Wouldn't I have had other problems? Wouldn't it have been cutting out on the road?

Here's what I think. The dealer had installed the OEM CB months (almost a year) before the problem started. I believe something was left loose, or not completely connected. They found it and didn't come clean about it for some reason. At any rate, I've put over 2,000 miles on it since with no issues.

[Fatboy46]

I have had similar issues with my Toyota Avalon 2002 remote. bad battery in the remote. mine would refuse to work at ONE location- ONLY.. had battery changed... works fine.