Tracer 9 GT Problem

[Holderfjr]

I got the throttle body replaced.  Time will tell.  I rode 200 miles yesterday and it was fine.  The problem hasn’t happened often in the past so it may be hundreds of miles before I truly know if it is fixed.  Yamaha customer service has not been very good.  You buy a $15000 motorcycle and it strands you on day two, it seems they would at least give me lip service apologies.  They could care less.  They have given some extension on the warranty but beyond that, they really don’t care.  I have been told Yamaha warranty and customer service was good.  My experience with Yamaha headquarters tells me different.  The local Yamaha dealer was great.

[BVEBRAD]

2 hours ago, Holderfjr said:

I got the throttle body replaced.  Time will tell.  I rode 200 miles yesterday and it was fine.  The problem hasn’t happened often in the past so it may be hundreds of miles before I truly know if it is fixed.  Yamaha customer service has not been very good.  You buy a $15000 motorcycle and it strands you on day two, it seems they would at least give me lip service apologies.  They could care less.  They have given some extension on the warranty but beyond that, they really don’t care.  I have been told Yamaha warranty and customer service was good.  My experience with Yamaha headquarters tells me different.  The local Yamaha dealer was great.

My bike was fixed in late January.  My wife and I were in Florida up until last night so I don't have it yet.  I will be picking my bike up from the dealer sometime next week when we get a decent day temp wise.  The dealer has ridden the bike over 170 miles with no issues and they believe the problem is solved.  Only time will tell.

I totally agree with you concerning Yamaha's corporate customer service.  As I stated before it sucks.  What they have done is extended my warranty by the time my bike was down, almost 6 months.  Based on a call made to them complaining about my experience they also issued me a coupon for $250 that can only be used through the dealer.  I had asked for either a comfort seat or a touring screen but the $250 was what I got.  Unfortunately nothing I want is available yet and Yamaha has no idea when it will be (per them).  This will be my last Yamaha as of right now.

[KrustyKush]

Sorry about the problems with throttle bodies. Hopefully, replacing the throttle bodies will actually fix the problem. Someone elsewhere wrote that it did not, for him. My 2021 T9GT now coming up on 2k miles and one month of ownership, with no problems apart from a handful of loose fasteners. Got my eye out for this throttle problem for sure, and so far the bike is superb, so glad I chose this one among the several bikes in this category.

I have owned quite a few Yamahas, including a 2014 FJR and two Road Stars, a Royal Star and a 2007 Venture. Probably put over 200k miles on these Yams and had my share of problems and interactions with Yamaha dealers and corporate customer service. I can say that Yam dealers have been mostly very helpful. Most of my complaints have been overwrought, the way people will get angry about these things, and understandably so.

Based on my experience, the best way to proceed is to be polite and persistent.  They will want you to quietly go away.  But you just stay on the doorstep.  Let them know by polite letters that you are spreading the word to your riding friends about this problem. If every morning Customer Service in LA has a letter waiting for them from the handful of sufferers, pretty soon they will find new bikes and new parts to make the noise go away. If your problem isn’t fixed by these new throttle bodies, demand a new bike. Keep demanding it until either they give you a new bike, or you dump it and go another marque.

 

[BVEBRAD]

59 minutes ago, KrustyKush said:

Sorry about the problems with throttle bodies. Hopefully, replacing the throttle bodies will actually fix the problem. Someone elsewhere wrote that it did not, for him. My 2021 T9GT now coming up on 2k miles and one month of ownership, with no problems apart from a handful of loose fasteners. Got my eye out for this throttle problem for sure, and so far the bike is superb, so glad I chose this one among the several bikes in this category.

I have owned quite a few Yamahas, including a 2014 FJR and two Road Stars, a Royal Star and a 2007 Venture. Probably put over 200k miles on these Yams and had my share of problems and interactions with Yamaha dealers and corporate customer service. I can say that Yam dealers have been mostly very helpful. Most of my complaints have been overwrought, the way people will get angry about these things, and understandably so.

Based on my experience, the best way to proceed is to be polite and persistent.  They will want you to quietly go away.  But you just stay on the doorstep.  Let them know by polite letters that you are spreading the word to your riding friends about this problem. If every morning Customer Service in LA has a letter waiting for them from the handful of sufferers, pretty soon they will find new bikes and new parts to make the noise go away. If your problem isn’t fixed by these new throttle bodies, demand a new bike. Keep demanding it until either they give you a new bike, or you dump it and go another marque.

 

Hey KK, thanks for your response.  I had a little over 2K miles on my bike when the issues started.  The bike was not quite 6 weeks old.  It's funny you mentioned loose fasteners, I walked out to hop on mine one morning right after I got it and my right handguard was hanging down with all the fastening hardware gone.  It took quite a while for those simple parts to get here.  As a matter of fact that was finally fixed while waiting for my throttle bodies.

In reference to the customer service, I'm always very pleasant when speaking to people on the phone up until the point when it's time not to be so nice.  I don't like being lied to and unfortunately I caught their reps in several lies during my dealings with them.  Just like when they're telling people they've never heard of the throttle issues before.  I've also owned many bikes before and have found the Yamahas to be the most trouble free.  My past Yams include a 1973 CT3 175 Enduro, a 1975 DT 400B Enduro, a 1980 XJ650 Maxim, a truly great bike, 2 1982 920 Viragos, the first one was stolen, a 2015 FJ09 and now my 2021 Tracer 9GT.  My plan is to end up on a Goldwing if I live long enough.

Ride safe!

[OldBikers]

My T9GT was picked up in June 2021, I now have over 3,500 miles and all is fine.  I had one issue when I picked up the bike, the throttle (grip) had a crack and would get stuck if in a certain position to the outside of the bars.  We used a wire tie to keep it from shifting to the stuck position until a replacement throttle came in which it did after three months.  It seems that Yamaha's supply chain is messed up.  I'm waiting for the side case inner bags and fog light set to become available.  I did give up waiting for the 39L top case and rack so I bought a SHAD SH45 and SHAD rack.

My previous Yamaha was a 2012 FZ-01 Gen2 and it had 48,000 miles on it without a single problem that wasn't user error.

[BVEBRAD]

19 minutes ago, OldBikers said:

My T9GT was picked up in June 2021, I now have over 3,500 miles and all is fine.  I had one issue when I picked up the bike, the throttle (grip) had a crack and would get stuck if in a certain position to the outside of the bars.  We used a wire tie to keep it from shifting to the stuck position until a replacement throttle came in which it did after three months.  It seems that Yamaha's supply chain is messed up.  I'm waiting for the side case inner bags and fog light set to become available.  I did give up waiting for the 39L top case and rack so I bought a SHAD SH45 and SHAD rack.

My previous Yamaha was a 2012 FZ-01 Gen2 and it had 48,000 miles on it without a single problem that wasn't user error.

My 2015 FJ09 was 40k+ miles without a single issue as were all my previous bikes.  I guess I was due.  I'm also waiting for their supply chain to start flowing.  I want a heated comfort seat and inner bags.  I am using the old bags from my Shad 36 side cases.  They fit but not very well.  Fingers crossed for all of us.

[KrustyKush]

BVEBRAD, yes I also had loose fasteners on the hand guards!  I noticed them after the first week, before anything fell off. I saw a pic recently showing one of these bikes being uncrated. Seems like they are shipped minus the handlebars and windscreen, so these must be installed by the dealer boyz and I do mean BOYS!  They forget so much!  Which is why I almost never visit them after buying a bike. They mean well but are in a big hurry. Not like me I take my time to check and triple check everything. 

[PavelZ]

I have similar problem on my Tracer 9 2021. It started after 18.000 km. When starting the engine in cold weather about 15 °C and slightly open the throttle the engine has tendency to stall. The other issue is when slowly accelerating and closing throttle a bit it jerks or vibrate.
And yesterday I lost the throttle during ride. I had to stop turn the engine off. After few minutes it was ok.

[BVEBRAD]

7 hours ago, PavelZ said:

I have similar problem on my Tracer 9 2021. It started after 18.000 km. When starting the engine in cold weather about 15 °C and slightly open the throttle the engine has tendency to stall. The other issue is when slowly accelerating and closing throttle a bit it jerks or vibrate.
And yesterday I lost the throttle during ride. I had to stop turn the engine off. After few minutes it was ok.

The fact that you lost your throttle probably means you need the throttle body assembly replaced.  That's what solved my problem.  Good luck!

[PhotoAl]

Hopefully parts supply is getting better.  Was talking to a Yamaha dealer at the Barber MotorAmerica races.  He said he has 2 Tracer 9 Gas for sale and would make me a deal on one of them.  Seems like I'm seeing more and more stuff back to normal or even over supplied so hopefully you won't have any difficulty.   

I'm tempted to trade my 2020 for a 2022 to get the new stuff.  I'm at 26,000 and the bike is doing well but the more miles it gets difficult to sell or trade.  

[BVEBRAD]

This is an update on my Tracer 9 GT, it's been several months now since the dealer has replaced both the throttle body assemblies and the front brakes.  I am happy to report that the bike has been trouble free since then.  When it's right I can't imagine a better bike for the price along with all it offers.  It still has a few quirks that I have learned to live with the main one being the flat spot while accelerating hard in second gear.

I feel that if you can only own one bike (like me) this could be considered the perfect choice.  I'm still pissed at Yamaha since hardly any accessories are yet available.  I want the heated comfort seat.

Looks like the 2023 will offer active cruise control along with a proper TFT.  I'm hoping they will include blind spot monitoring as well but that appears questionable.  Now if they would only give us a shaft drive option.  Ride safe all!

[OldBikers]

Here's my opinion on the "new" TFT screen.  It looks very cramped and the numerals are no larger than on the split screen.  I rode the 2019 Tracer 900 and found the dash difficult to read.  The Ducati Monster dash is even worse.  The bar tach I will admit is hard to see but then I usually shift by engine sound, however, you do have the option to display shift points on the current dash.  The colors of the rpm helps if you are looking at the tach instead of the road.😁

[BVEBRAD]

I agree with your assessment of the dashes.  The only time I can read my dash is once the sun starts to set.  Even then the text is usually to small to read.  It's funny, the old LCD dash on my FJ09 was perfect, clear, legible and everything you needed to see.  I wish they would have made a TFT version of that.

[OldBikers]

Same thing with my old 2013 FZ1 but that showed very little info and the tach was a large analog dial.  At least it had a usable fuel gauge. 

[ZigMerid]

3 hours ago, BVEBRAD said:

I agree with your assessment of the dashes.

Not that it will help current owners, but if rumors about the 2023 model are correct then the dash will at least be different and maybe even better!

I know digital dashes are cool and all, but at least we could read the old steam gages that used to adorn our steads. Mind you, I love all the extra info that's available, so it's kinda win-some, lose-some for me.