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Update - DME & KLR were tested together at Specialized ECU Repair. Per the technician, it turns out that a component failure in the KLR delivered excessive voltage back to the DME which in turn damaged / destroyed components in the ignition circuit. Parts are inbound today arriving later today so I will hopefully be passing along good news. I asked the technician (Wade) if any engine components (sensors) could have triggered this failure. He said, no - the problem originated with component failure in the KLR.

THE LESSON LEARNED IS IF YOU SUSPECT DME ISSUES, SEND OFF YOUR KLR AS WELL.

The failure I situation I had was somewhat unusual. The tech said that this seems to be an emerging situation. Back in January before sending off the DME, in discussions, no one at Specialized suggested sending off the KLR as well. Specialized ECU (of course) honored the 5 year warranty on their work on my DME and repaired it for free. The KLR service was $350, but if this yields a running vehicle, I consider it money well spent.

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For those walking this path here are some supporting documents.

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Quick Update - Installed the rebuilt electronics and the engine fired right up. I warmed it up and did a preliminary bleed on the coolant system. Tomorrow after a bit more QA and assembly work it will be time for a road test. The idle is stable and the engine sounds good. Thanks to all for the suggestions and support. I will post a wrap up on the end to end process for others facing similar battles.

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For those climbing the learning curve, here is a short post event critique:

Initial symptoms:

1. Car lost power and died. Engine was able to start several times, but RPM would not go above ~ 2000.
2. Testing spark @ coil lead showed weak spark

Best practice should be to follow Chapter 28 (see "other documents" link in post 32). I do not believe any of my handling of the electrical system precipitated this failure, that said, be sure to heed concerns on pages 28-4 & 28-6. If you are questioning your DME harness, pages 28-14 & 28-15 (and the schematics) provide good PIN OUT descriptions to look for circuit issues. Page 28-16 provides a great fault matrix for running issues. Diagnostic efforts ended at Test Point 5 for me. Without access to an oscilloscope I was second guessing if I had enough spark or not. When all spark died, that became the break point to re-focus on the computer. I don't have a working timing light, but the following might have come in handy. Next time I order anything from Arnnworx, this will be on the list:

Ignition Tester

Lacking an oscilloscope makes it difficult to test the Mark Reference & RPM Sensors. Test Points 3 & 4 detail the process. Specialized ECU has a decent video for testing that can be done using a multi-meter.


Under the hood, I replaced a range of components based on things which were not in the best condition. Here is a full list of parts that went into this recovery situation:



Final Comments:

1. Having the spark tester would have gotten to resolution sooner.
2. I did the best I could given limited spare time to devote to this project.
3. Specialized ECU Repair did a decent work with a very fast turn around time.
4. Specialized handled the second rebuild of the DME (due to KLR damage) honoring their 5 year warranty at no additional charge. I would not hesitate to recommend them to others based on my experience.
5. TPS was bad (idle contact had failed open).
6. AFM was dicey in upper range of position, so a rebuilt unit was re-fitted.
7. Throttle Valve Seals were gone, unit was rebuilt using an Arnnworx kit.
8. Battery & Alternator Cable Harnesses were replaced pro-actively based on condition.
9. Lindsey Repair Harness kits are decent quality. On balance after going this route, I probably would have just bought a new OEM DME harness. Organizing the harness kit wires under the hood is a bit of a challenge.
10. The 24 year old Bosch wire held up in most of the DME harness.
11. Most of the Bosch connector boots were potted with epoxy, but wires outside the potting had insulation issues.

A post repair road test (last night) finds the engine running long and strong - Best its ran since I bought the car in 07. It idles well and has great throttle response. As part of the package with Specialized, I opted for their "chips". A very mild upgrade for what will likely remain mostly a stock daily driver. Thanks to all here for the help / advice provided during this process.