V Belt Light on at 77mph only

Hi Guys,

My V Belt light comes on if I burst from 60 mph to a little beyond 75 mph.

It's perfect up to about 72-74 but if I reach beyond that it comes on.

Otherwise the rpm's-to-mph look alright with 60 mph showing revs of a little over 5000.

Before I start to look in the belt department I'm just wondering did anyone else have this problem?

You havent mentioned the amount of miles you have on your SW. The V belt light is programed to come on at 16,000 miles and again at multiples of 16K thereafter. Usually when the belt comes on it stays on.

That said, possibly if the belt is approaching one of 16K intervals it may have just enough wear that it (the belt) slips a bit too much when you crank it up for that burst. The V light will come on when the meter module detects a disparity between the RPMs and the rear wheel speed. With a slipping belt that disparity may trigger the V light. HTH

Tim

Thanks Tim,

I don't really know what mileage is on the belt. It's a well used bike but was serviced well, however the records are not with it.

It's a little strange that it only slips at that rev region, and although I did say a burst up to a little more than 77 mph, actually a spurt would describe it better. In other words not opening the throttle wide....all the way.

Anyway I suppose I will have to 'go in' and have a look.

New Gates belt on it's way for $59.66 (€46.16) plus shipping $15.50 (€12.93)

Total €59.09 or $76.64

Good price?

I'd check out the pulleys to make sure you don't have any ridges that could be getting hung up on. It's probably worth (if you have the tools, instructions, and expertise) taking a look at the rollers too.

Also, your bike can do several different RPMs at 77MPH (because of the helix mechanism in the back - it's not a fixed RPM-to-speed ratio, as for any given speed you can have RPMs varying by several hundred RPM or so). What RPM is it doing it at? Does it do it when you both accelerate and decelerate through 77MPH, or just one way or the other?

Do you have the standard Honda variator and clutch pieces, or any aftermarket stuff?

Donie it's always best to let people know the year and mileage and any modifications of your scooter when you ask for help. You can put the year of your scooter in your scooter in your profile and you'll not need to tell us that each time. After giving the above information we can began to figure out your problem.

PS
You've replied as I was typing but even though you don't know the mileage on the belt you should still give the mileage on the scooter. And the information I asked above.

Donie wrote:

New Gates belt on it's way for $59.66 (€46.16) plus shipping $15.50 (€12.93) Total €59.09 or $76.64. Good price?

Sounds like a great price to me. We can't get Gates belts for the SW here in the US. We only have the option of Honda OEM belts, and they seem to have a list price of ~$150.

If the belt has been changed when recommended it's almost time to change it so I think I would go ahead and change it or at least buy a new one before you open up the CTV case so you have it ready. You say the light comes on. I take it that you have reset it and it came on again if so that would lead me to think it's slipping because if you reset it then it shouldn't come back on for 16,000 miles under normal conditions. You're lucky as Cosmic_Jumper pointed out you can get a belt for half the price we pay. Most used belts I've seen still look good, I've seen a few that looked bad but not often. They are kind of hard to get a good measurement on an old belt so I've always just changed them after 16,000 miles to be safe. I assume you know how to reset the V-light but just incase you don't I'll go ahead and say. With the key off hold both buttons on the dash in and hold them in then turn the key on and after the V-light blinks leave the buttons go. Turn off then back on and the V-light should stay off.

Roger,

I'm resetting the V Light every time it comes on, which is why I can tell at what point it lights up.

The new belt should be here in a day or two, and then I will investigate the condition of the belt and variator pulleys.

After installing Dr pulley sliders,My V light would come on every time I would go for a ride,and the V light would come back on.My problems went away after I replace the drive variator,and face plate at 30k kl.now with 68 k kl and no more resetting the V light. Partsfish and Partzila has everything you need for swing parts at a good price. the belt is $108.00 ,the variator under $200.00. Check it out.

To inspect the belt, you need to use the procedure in the service book - not just measure the width of the belt. FWIW, half a millimeter or so of wear on the belt (it'll probably still look nice) is too much for this machine. It's not that it is slipping, but that it's changing the ratio. It'll look nearly like the new one unless you look very, very closely. (that said, if you pull it out and it looks awful, certainly replace it - but my guess is that it doesn't even if it is worn)

Donie wrote:

Hi Guys,

My V Belt light comes on if I ....

After about 60,000 miles of SWing riding I have concluded that the V-Light is much like the elusive G-Spot: you never are really sure what lights it up, or if you do light it up, what you need to do to make it go away (or back on!). My V-light comes on a lot and I no longer bother with it (other than changing the belt after 16,000 miles) unless my SWing 'drive train' is vibrating, making 'drive' noise, is slipping, or doing something unusual that impacts my ride. The SWing 'drive train', when maintained as per service manual, seems to be 'bullet proof'. THe V-light 'being on' used to bother me (Why the heck is that light on!) when riding but now I can ignore it as easily as I ignore my high beam light. If seeing it bothers you, then turn it off (easy to do) or cover it up with a bit of tape - but, IMHO, I do not recommend that you continually dis-assemble your drive train looking for some problem which is not going to impact your riding- and, as others on this forum have told me - Just Ride It!

Something that has not yet been mentioned in any of the posts above - The on board processor works based on a stock configuration, if the variator has been modified in any way the change may result in a disagreement in the processor about speed and variator/belt travel.

Not saying conclusively that this applies here, but this may be a cause.

+1, I agree with Dimond.

jdeereanton wrote:

Something that has not yet been mentioned in any of the posts above - The on board processor works based on a stock configuration, if the variator has been modified in any way the change may result in a disagreement in the processor about speed and variator/belt travel.

I would agree that if the variator has had anything done to it that will allow the engine to spin more rpm than in stock configuration, it's probably going to trigger the light sooner than it should.

I've never been one to operate any kind of equipment that has a warning indicator of some sort and just ignore it or disable it. So riding around with the V light flashing on and off would irritate me to no end and I wouldn't be able to stand it until I got the root cause of the problem, even if it's in the warning circuit itself.