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Rear wheel locked up on a 2012 650 Exec w. 2500 miles

23K views 147 replies 28 participants last post by  Buffalo 
#1 ·
First post, hi to all.

So I bought this scoot less than two weeks ago and barely put 100 miles on it.

Last night as I was riding home from work the rear wheel just locked up and wouldn't budge. It turns just a little, maybe like 1/15th of a turn. Things were kinda hectic for a while in the middle of an intersection during rush hour traffic..

The final drive has been kinda whiny all the time I had it but since I read that it's normal with the straight cut gears, I thought nothing more of it. I did change the final drive oil to synthetic Mobil gear oil as was recommended here last Saturday and it did seem to quiet down a bit. Not sure if it's got anything to do with the lock-up.

So right now I'm asking if anyone that has more experience with these have an idea on where to start looking and what would be the most like culprit. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Oh and by the way, if you're in San Diego county DO NOT use ASAP towing, it took them over four hours to get me home :eek
 
#2 · (Edited)
sorry to hear about that, sucks when it happens.

I would start by checking the fluids, making sure that there is oil in the engine, transmission and most importantly in the final drive.

hopefully no uninvited guests have found their way into the CVT housing, may want to take look in there either via the PPS opening or the CVT exhaust.
if there is debris in the CVT housing, the belt / primary pulley could have locked up.

Another thing to consider and check is the clutch, hopefully it has not seized up.

You can also drop the rear wheel to check the splines and inspect the wheel bearings.

You will have to do a bit of diagnosing and go through a process of elimination to find the cause.

all the best.
 
#3 ·
^Thank you for a quick reply.

Engine and final gear drive have enough oil, have to check the transmission.

The engine runs fine and the bike tries to move when I "twist the grip." Would it do that if the clutch was seized up? I'm hoping it's the wheel bearings but since the thing only has 2.5kmiles on it, I'm wondering could they really get that bad that fast?

Otherwise the bike is like brand new, this sucks hard. :(

Oh and I've got no problems wrenching, I've owned many bikes over the last 25 or so years including ATV's with CVT so I do have some sort of rough understanding on what's going on in there. However, the Burgman's setup seems a bit odd to me still. Guess i'm going to get more familiar with it soon..
 
#4 ·
Maybe pull the rear brake caliper off and see if its locked. I would put it on the center stand, but it is hard to do with back wheel locked.

The power flow is kind of backwards for most bikes. The engine power goes first to the CVT, then to the wet clutch, then the (Reduction) transmission, then out to the swingarms final drives 5 counter rotating gears to the wheel.
 
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#6 ·
It is cable activated and is mounted right on top of the rear caliper so yes it could also lockup.
 
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#9 ·
My first suggestion is the same as Dave-J's. Pull the rear caliper off and see if the wheel will turn. If it does you know the problem is the brake caliper. If it doesn't then you need to track down where the lock up is occurring.

If the engine is running then the CVT is not likely locked up. You can confirm this by pulling the CVT filter off and looking inside to see if the fan is turning.

Based on your statement that the bike tries to move when you give it throttle it sounds like the clutch is functioning. That leaves the transmission, final drive or rear wheel bearings as possibilities if the brake is not locked up. Pulling the rear wheel would tell you if the bearings are OK.
 
#12 ·
Thanks again everyone.

Yes I do know the handbrake is there. As I'm growing older, I've even taken up a habit of doing the RTFM thing :)

I'll check the handbrake and pull the caliper as soon as I get home but I wouldn't bet on it being the culprit here, the disc was cool to touch right after I got it to the side of the road (and the wheel turns a bit [maybe it has some play though]). Also agree on the wheel bearings, I'd expect them make a screeching noise before seizing.

Called Suzuki USA and then the stealership, they're picking the scoot up tonight or tomorrow on a flatbed.

I really appreciate all the suggestions guys, thank you.

I'll post an update after I check the brakes. Oh and I loooved scooting around in the traffic until this happened, best commuter bike ever*!
(*when it actually works :p )
 
#13 ·
First post, hi to all.

The final drive has been kinda whiny all the time I had it but since I read that it's normal with the straight cut gears, I thought nothing more of it. I did change the final drive oil to synthetic Mobil gear oil as was recommended here last Saturday and it did seem to quiet down a bit. Not sure if it's got anything to do with the lock-up.

The fact that there was a change in the sound after changing the oil in the final drive concerns me . I hope for your sake you don't have a CVT full of acorns like one member here had . One acorn totaled his bike . Good luck !


TheReaper!
 
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#17 ·
Here's the update guys.

Nothing wrong with the bakes as I suspected, it's way worse; When I opened up the transmission oil level check plug, it was bone dry. Poked a piece of wire into the hole and it came out bone dry too.
So I'm pretty sure I've got a totaled transmission here..

Haven't heard from the dealer yet, let's see what they say. When I got the bike, they said that they did a check on it and that everything's fine. Well obviously not, damnit!
 
#18 ·
If it is the transmission then your best bet for a repair may be to acquire a used low mileage engine and swap it out. You can get complete engines in good shape for a reasonable price. I picked up one complete with a good CVT for $700.

To repair the transmission requires a complete tear down of the engine as it is located inside the crankcase. That will first require pulling the engine from the bike which is the same work as doing the engine swap. Add to that the labor to tear the engine down and reassemble it and labor cost will more than offset the difference in parts cost.
 
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#19 ·
^Thanks Buffalo but I'll see what the dealer and Suzuki USA say first. Looks like someone drained the transmission but never filled it back up.

If anyone has any experience with a case like this, please let me know. I'd like to know what's the most likely outcome (w. dealer / Suzuki).

If worse comes to worst, I'll try to find a low mileage donor scoot.
 
#21 ·
JaL3, I hope that you can get help from the dealer. The problem seems to be that the tech that does to oil changes forgets that there are 3 sumps to empty and fill. The engine is a normal one and final "shaft drive" bikes get their final drive changed too so also a normal. But having a separate "transmission" sump is NOT NORMAL and can be over looked.

I do my own service so a screw up is 100% mine. I changed the oil in my transmission and put what I thought was 10W40, but my son had drained what was left over from a gallon jug of 0W20 oil into one of my empty 10W40 quart bottles. I got about 2000 miles (2 weeks) on it before it started to squeal. When I dumped it it was dark brown and REAL thin so I checked what was left in the bottle and it too was REAL thin and that is when I found out it was 0W20. Changed to 10W40 and still squealed after 200 miles so I parked it.
 
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#22 ·
Well you can count on Suzuki USA to deny any responsibility. You might have a chance w/ the dealer to either step up in full or in part before you threaten a suit. Otherwise you have to threaten a suit. It will be an expensive repair and must be done correctly or you will pay further down the line.
 
#26 ·
Yes, it would be pretty hard to get those two mixed up, what with the one being next to the engine and the other at the rear wheel.
Also checked LeDude's awesome video first of course to minimize the chance of screw-up :wink
 
#24 ·
I doubt Suzuki USA would do anything about it. The responsibility would fall to whomever drained and did not refill it. If that was the dealer then the hope would be that they would step up and make it good.

I do have a friend that had this happen. The dealer drained but did not refill her transmission when they were working on her CVT. She picked up the bike from them and that weekend she joined a group ride I was on. I was following her and about 30 miles into the ride her bike stated making a loud high pitched
squeal. I could clearly hear it riding about 100 feet behind her. We pulled over to the side of the road and isolated that the noise was coming from the area of the transmission by using a screwdriver as a stethoscope. We left the bike and got my trailer then trailer it back to the dealer. They never admitted not refilling the transmission but they absorbed the cost of repairing it so you can draw you own conclusion.
 
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#25 ·
I've often wondered why there is no sight glass on the transmission side , or at least a low / no oil sensor ? All that said , repairing the transmission is at the very least as expensive as a CVT rebuild . In other words deep do-do . TheReaper!
 
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#27 ·
Obviously, the bike was bought used. The OP changed his fluids, which was a good thing to do. For me, the most obvious thing to do is to look at the brake/caliper. The second thing I would check is the fluid levels and /or drain them, to look for any metal. Being a used bike, who knows what went on before. Then, I would pull the rear wheel, carefully checking the gears for proper mesh, bearings , etc., and work forward from there. BUT, sometimes mechanical stuff happens and things break. I hope that's not the case and it proves to be something simple(and cheap). Good luck!
 
#29 ·
Obviously, the bike was bought used. The OP changed his fluids, which was a good thing to do. For me, the most obvious thing to do is to look at the brake/caliper.(extra text deleted)
It has already been confirmed that the transmission is bone dry, that the OP (JAl3) has not messed with it, and the professional seller claims that all fluids were checked prior to the sale.
 
#28 ·
JAl3 FYI , this is what the motor looks like split open , the gears on the left are the transmission . Not a whole lot of parts involved , but a lot of work getting to them . To get to those gears the entire bike needs to be disassembled . It took me a good 10 to 12 hours to totally disassemble this bike to this point .


TheReaper!




 
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#30 ·
Any evidence to show that the shop changed the transmission fluid? If not, did the PO drain and forget to refill the transmission? That might be tricky. But at only 100 miles since purchase it would seem the shop must have some responsibility. Did you ask the shop when you purchased about their warranty? Do you have or can you get the name and number of the PO?
 
#35 ·
I asked about the history of the bike when I bought it, several times actually, but did not get a straight answer. So no, I don't know who did the initial 600 mile service (guessing that's when the transmission oil was supposed to be changed).
The dealer has gone silent, I think I have to go there again.. :angry5:
 
#31 ·
I'd be surprised if the transmission has locked up after running for only 100 miles without fluid. I had a situation when offroading in the desert and discovered, by pure luck, I had lost the transmission drain plug and ALL the oil (my fault completely as I was the one who changed the oil - I obviously didn't tighten the drain plug sufficiently).

Once I found this out I had no option but to ride around 100 miles to the nearest town where I could replace the drain plug (I ended up using an old sparkplug as it was the only available object I could find with the correct thread size). That was around 5 years ago and the bike seems to have suffered no ill effects as it is still going strong. There were no unusual noises, then or now.
 
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