The CRF1000L Africa Twin problem thread

Hi Swimmer, surging, cutting out and poor low speed running, high fuel consumption are the symptoms, air filters changed injectors cleaned.

Hi Smittyrunner , yeah surging , cutting out, high fuel consumption, just general bad running.

Just noisy. Mine had more black stuff than the above photo but without the chunks.

Happy to say that the problem on my bike has been found, i have a Scottoiler chain oiling system fitted and the connector that takes the vacuum feed had split, so it was drawing air in from that , just a silly wee thing that caused big problems!

That's why after having a Scott Oiler on my previous bike I decided to go with a Tutoro oiler on my Africa Twin - no electrical connection and no vacuum connection required, but still automatically oiling my chain.

So if it's not electrically or vacuum operated, how does it know to stop the oil flow when the bike is off? Or does it just drip oil onto the garage floor?

Look it up. Mechanical weight. When you move it moves. When you stop it stops. The flow.

Exactly, no drips on my garage floor. I bought this system because it is so cleverly simple for a fully automatic system. I just have to top up the reservoir every 1,000km or so.

I've been looking into an oiler kit for the chain, been seriously considering the Tutoro.

My 2016 DCT got stuck in 2nd gear today. Turned off the bike, and the dreaded "-" came on instead of neutral, and it wouldn't start. Jiggled all the switches and nothing. Waited 10 minutes till the bike cooled down, pushed it backwards for a few feet, and then the "N" came on and it started. Got home, but it stuck in "2" again before I pulled into the driveway.
Have 40,000 miles on it, and this is the 1st time the DCT gave me trouble.
Any idea what's causing the problem?

I think it's the shift motor. Look for posts by @twinrider, he had those issues to a point where Honda bought the bike back.

Anyway, I had it happen several times. No big deal, moved the bike back and forth and recycled the key. Once I decided to make a point to always shut down in neutral, never had the issue again.

Good luck

One to many clutches and one to few clutch levers?

Have you changed the battery? My 2016 DCT was giving me fits until I swapped the original out.

Thanks for the info. The battery is three years old, and I had a fair amount of electrics sucking on it today. On battery charger now, and I'll see how it is tomorrow. Will definitely have the dealer check it.

You can reset the trans. .

That helped with my problems I has having a couple months back. Took 300 miles and a buncha resets. But your problem just a reset will do.

Thanks SO much! Will do that the next time I take the bike out. Has to be warm to do it, right?
I also am going to change the battery. It is 3 years old, and I suck a lot of juice out of it during the winter months with the heated grips, heated vest and heated gloves. I think most batteries should be changed every three years if you are riding a fair amount. I have 40,000 miles on my original battery.
If that doesn't work, I'll take it to the dealer.
Love the bike and the DCT. It has been trouble-free for the three years, and is spectacular in the deep sand of the Pine Barrens in NJ. Hopefully, I'll get another trouble-free 40,000 miles. It's a Honda, for goodness sake!

Good info! I don’t have a DCT, but I am usually in awe of it. I wonder how many “easy recalibrations” there are for this bike that I’ve never even thought to look for (manual like War and Peace)?

You definitely can do it cold. I did it cold the first time, well in a garage in California.. so no where near how cold your bike will be.

I started to have the problem around 48k miles. But now I have 56k and it's back to normal.

Thanks! I have to re-set my desk-top computer modem once a month, so having to reset the computer on the AT once every three years and 40,000 miles isn't that bad! Especially since this was one of the 1st ones in the US.

So the chain was making a little noise when I turned the rear wheel by hand. I pulled the cover off the engine sprocket and found rust that did not make me happy. No grease and the sprocket was not clamped tight. Even though the bolt was tight the sprocket could float around on the shaft and there was some play on the splines. Interestingly both sprockets show wear on the inside(engine side) with shiny teeth. The spline wear was mostly on the sprocket, probably 90%, so that is good news. The new sprocket is snug on the splines. Everything cleaned and greased. I made a very thin spacer so the bolt and washer really clamp the sprocket in place. I suspect the left side chain adjuster was a couple mm farther forward causing the one sided shine on the sprockets. Front sprocket had 27,000 miles on it. Chain has 18,000 miles on it and shows about 1-1.5mm wear over 12" of length and has only needed adjustment once. I'll add check the front sprocket lube to my to-do list at tire changes.