AK 550 ignition problem

[Michelle]

I own a 2018 AK 550 which I bought 2nd hand just shy of 1 year ago.
Great scooter but it has spent a great deal of time in shop as it has a glitch where you can start it day after day and then it won't light up at all.
The first time it happened it was still under warranty and i told the bike shop from where it was bought about it.
They thought it was the battery and we spent numerous days pulling the battery out checking it but believing it was not a battery problem.
Eventually I took it to the shop and made them look into it.
They had it for 9 weeks and no answer apart from they cleaned the ignition, sprayed silicon spray and it seemed to fix it.
I was not happy, apart from no bike for 9 weeks, $800 for nothing and not even a warranty job.....
I have now taken it to another shop and we put in a Yuasa battery, thinking let's start from bottom up and for 2 mths she was good but alas it was short lived.
It's now back at the shop being striped down to actually find the problem...this is going to cost $$$$$
I have contacted Kymco Australia twice and not once have they replied back.
I feel this is a warranty job as I informed the shop prior to the 2 year warranty running out about the problem but they didn't want to know....
Does anybody have any problems with the switch???

[mousejunks]

It is unfortunate for you to have a problem like this, but stripping the bike down is the best way to find for electrical problems. It could be anything from the keyless ignition, an ECU fault, a bad relay or a short somewhere.

If you believe that the fault occurred under warranty you should contact the your state's Fair trading ombudsman for a solution.

[Kadu1313]

I bought my AK in October 2021. After 2 months it started having problems with the Keyless. The keyless blue light flashes weakly and goes out for good, causing the AK to no longer recognize the key and not start. After some time, hours or days, she activates the Keyless again with the strong blue light and works again. It lasts for a month and works again. I also took it to the dealership and they didn't fix it. Annoyed, I bought a new Keyless set from china and am going to replace it to see if that fixes the problem. If not, I will sell the bike. VIDEO:https://youtu.be/5K79WMNYZRA Has anyone experienced this and managed to resolve it? please tell me the solution. Thanks.

[Stig / Major Tom]

I bought my AK in October 2021. After 2 months it started having problems with the Keyless. The keyless blue light flashes weakly and goes out for good, causing the AK to no longer recognize the key and not start. After some time, hours or days, she activates the Keyless again with the strong blue light and works again. It lasts for a month and works again. I also took it to the dealership and they didn't fix it. Annoyed, I bought a new Keyless set from china and am going to replace it to see if that fixes the problem. If not, I will sell the bike. VIDEO:https://youtu.be/5K79WMNYZRA Has anyone experienced this and managed to resolve it? please tell me the solution. Thanks.

Vespas/Piaggios have start issues which are often related to the 'antenna' near the ignition not recognizing the key. The antenna is replaced, at a modest price for the part....and the start problem is fixed. This antenna can fail like this on a pretty new scooter from what I've read. Just a thought.....

As Kymco owners, at least in the USA - we know that we will get very spotty tech support from the guys at our local dealer. So, we buy the most bullet proof models available from Kymco - knowing that WE will very likely be doing the servicing on them to keep them running.
That AK, the Mother Ship from Kymco -  may just be too complicated for an American Kymco tech to fix if something goes wrong.
Yeah - I wouldn't hang onto a scooter for very long after it becomes unreliable - and dealer cannot get it sorted! I'd be looking Japanese, due to their better trained techs, factory support, and reputation for quality.

Stig

[rjs987]

I have owned mine since early Nov 2021 but have not had issues with the ignition.

Does it make a difference if you place the "AK" embedded logo on the back of the keyless fob on the circle pattern over the right glove box? If the fob battery and radio is working then that would not do anything but if your bike "thinks" the fob is missing then that might work... maybe. That pattern uses the foil sticker inside the case of the fob at that one location to activate the bike to turn on the keyless switch and light up the dash.

[Neil955i]

Interesting that the OP says with a new Yuasa battery the problem went away for 2 months? Speaks to a slow degradation of the battery, maybe caused by some continual drain?  Not a fix, but would a battery tender help?

[rjs987]

Related to a known issue with the battery draining just a bit faster on the AK than most other bikes I've found that there are several owners of the AK 550 who turn the bike off by turning the keyless knob to the right OFF position instead of the left OFF position. Those 2 OFF locations on the knob are not the same. They are VERY different. I found on mine that when I truly turn it off by turning to the left OFF position the battery charge lasts almost as long as on other bikes. But it does still go down over a few weeks.

The right OFF position does not really turn the AK 550 off. It only turns off the dash and running lights and engine but many other stuff on the bike is still very much on. And also in that position of the knob ANYONE can come along and turn the knob back to the center ON position, start the bike, and ride away without ever needing the fob to be near.

I do keep mine plugged into the Battery Tender Jr when it is parked in the garage. But when I am on my 5-6 day camping trips I don't ever need to plug it in during the entire trip. Of course when I am on those trips I usually ride the bike every day if not every other day anyway.

Here is a post I submitted on the full operation of that keyless knob and switch. The knob is what you turn by your hand. The switch is the electrical device under that knob that interlocks when the bike is ON. When the bike it truly off then the knob will spin freely not connected to anything.
https://www.kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=32070.msg225011#msg225011