How long does an F800GS store error codes?

[trizzo]

I had a minor issue tonight with my F8, where the yellow triangle/! symbol came on, the engine icon on the LCD lit up, and the bike stalled under throttle at 45mph. i pulled over, restarted the bike, and under any throttle the same behavior happened. i noticed the tach/speedo werent doing their normal rotation when the key is first turned, instead were hesitating a bit and then swinging over and back to 0. i just put a new Odyssey battery in the bike last week, and this was the first ride although the bike started/ran fine in my garage after the install. only change was putting my wolfman tang bag on and tightning it down..... so i pulled the yellow cover, checked everything, reassembled and the bike was fine and was good for another 20 miles for my trip.

how long do those error codes get stored, and can i take it to the dealer to have them review the historical error codes and see what caused the bike to stall?

any help is appreciated!

[ScienceOfDirt]

I don't know for sure, but if it's like the BMW cars, 50 starts was what I was told. This is for soft faults. Hard faults stay until cleared.

[dalebor]

Originally Posted by ScienceOfDirt

I don't know for sure, but if it's like the BMW cars, 50 starts was what I was told. This is for soft faults. Hard faults stay until cleared.

A stupid question. What's the difference between a hard fault and a soft fault?

[nuland]

Originally Posted by dalebor

A stupid question. What's the difference between a hard fault and a soft fault?

A soft fault is more like an intermittent fault code that will self erase after so many driving cycles (how many depends on the fault) thus auto clearing.

A repeat intermittent fault that becomes persistant will need correction and once a fault becomes imbedded as not intermittant it will not self erase (hard fault)

A more serious fault will log as permernant from first detection, sometimes this require a replacement of the malfunctioning part.

[reinerka]

When I last checked the ECM during the 30K service the codes for each time the low beam went out was stored (that was like 3K miles ago due to a bad contact).

I would bring it to the dealer and have him check the codes or find somebody close by with the GS-911 and have him read the codes.

Reiner