Guest eadc Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 For some reason I'm just now seeing that there's a sub-forum just for electrical issues, maybe some folks here can help: rode for a few hours on two Wednesdays ago. Thursday afternoon I go to start the bike and it's dead. Put it on the tender, read through some threads on the R/R, figured I'd get it started, ride out to get some parts and voila. I go out the next morning and even with the charged battery (tested it and got 12.89), none of the lights / meters come on. I take out the battery, go to the starter relay to check the main fuse - but it's not blown. Looking around the starter relay, it looks pretty corroded. The red plastic part looks somewhat melted, the green plastic part just looks pretty beat down, and there are two tabs where connectors / collars slide on (opposite side of the fuse, still part of the green plastic section) and one of the metal sides is loose / off. I order a new starter relay and a new R/R to be safe (figured if it wasn't bad, it might be at some point!) - I've put in the new starter relay, the new R/R, went through all of the plugs / connectors on the wiring harness (including battery connectors, connectors to the R/R and starter relay) with steel wool, a wire brush and added dielectric grease. (note: none of the connections looked dirty or bent except for the starter relay area. I'm starting to wonder if it's the connectors from the harness) - checked the ground wire from the negative terminal, cleaned it for good measure - checked the fuses up front, all were fine. - been testing the battery every day, it stays around 12.7. Tried a friend's battery to see if it was any different, but it wasn't. Still no lights, no nothing. All of the threads I've been reading have electrical tests to run, but all of them include having the bike on, and I can't even get that far. Two things that have been suggested, and are next on my list are: 1) clean the grounds for the coil packs 2) check all the switches Can anyone give me any guidance on how to do either of those. I'm flipping through the manual now. Also, if any of this gives anyone ideas on what might be happening, I'd love to hear. It'll be two weeks this Thursday, going a bit nuts. Oh, and I'm about to order new connectors to the starter relay. thanks. (oh, this is a '96) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tightwad Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 No lights to me says the problem is either in the ground circuit, or through the switches. You should be able to trace power from the battery, to the headlight relay, to the headlights, etc. When you hit the starter you should get power across the starter relay. Check the voltage at the battery with the key on, that will give a starting point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 I checked the battery with the key off, turned it on, then pushed "Run" just in case, but the whole time nothing lights up (headlights, meters, etc.) The whole time it comes up 12.7 this is Eric, btw, who just ordered those replacement connectors to the starter relay. I checked the ground from the negative terminal, and another ground on the R/R side of the bike (close to the front end of the seat) and both seemed fine. Are there others I should be looking over? No lights to me says the problem is either in the ground circuit, or through the switches. You should be able to trace power from the battery, to the headlight relay, to the headlights, etc. When you hit the starter you should get power across the starter relay.Check the voltage at the battery with the key on, that will give a starting point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2008 Share Posted July 26, 2008 Any update on this and what happened? I'm having the same problem with the same year VFR. Was riding home, bike died as I pulled in the clutch to turn into my driveway. Noticed that all the instruments and lights had gone dead. Checked the main fuse and found it blown. Installed the new fuse and the bike started. Turned it off, turned it on, and tried it again...no nothing but no blown fuse. A few days later when I had the time to tend to it, I pulled the battery and put it on a charger. Charger seems to tell me there's a problem with the connection, so I pulled the battery on my VTX and tried that one. It blew the fuse the second I touched the negative lead to it. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 In my case it turned out to be the starter / relay and the connections to it (4 wires). When I went to check the main fuse it was fine, but the four tabs on the starter / relay were rusted to hell and coming loose. Replaced it and still nothing. After cleaning every connection on the bike, the only one that still looked bad were the wires to the S/R. Ordered some new wires, replaced them, and I'm good to go! but... it ran the day I got the wires on (I didn't ride, just let it go for 5 minutes or so), but a few days later it won't turn over. With full throttle, it sounds like it wants to start, but then doesn't. With no throttle it just chugs with no hint of starting. still in the garage... Any update on this and what happened? I'm having the same problem with the same year VFR.Was riding home, bike died as I pulled in the clutch to turn into my driveway. Noticed that all the instruments and lights had gone dead. Checked the main fuse and found it blown. Installed the new fuse and the bike started. Turned it off, turned it on, and tried it again...no nothing but no blown fuse. A few days later when I had the time to tend to it, I pulled the battery and put it on a charger. Charger seems to tell me there's a problem with the connection, so I pulled the battery on my VTX and tried that one. It blew the fuse the second I touched the negative lead to it. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 In my case it turned out to be the starter / relay and the connections to it (4 wires).When I went to check the main fuse it was fine, but the four tabs on the starter / relay were rusted to hell and coming loose. Replaced it and still nothing. After cleaning every connection on the bike, the only one that still looked bad were the wires to the S/R. Ordered some new wires, replaced them, and I'm good to go! but... it ran the day I got the wires on (I didn't ride, just let it go for 5 minutes or so), but a few days later it won't turn over. With full throttle, it sounds like it wants to start, but then doesn't. With no throttle it just chugs with no hint of starting. still in the garage... Any update on this and what happened? I'm having the same problem with the same year VFR.Was riding home, bike died as I pulled in the clutch to turn into my driveway. Noticed that all the instruments and lights had gone dead. Checked the main fuse and found it blown. Installed the new fuse and the bike started. Turned it off, turned it on, and tried it again...no nothing but no blown fuse. A few days later when I had the time to tend to it, I pulled the battery and put it on a charger. Charger seems to tell me there's a problem with the connection, so I pulled the battery on my VTX and tried that one. It blew the fuse the second I touched the negative lead to it. Any thoughts? Ack, that sucks. Well, in my saga, I've gone through all of the electronics the best I can. Everything looks like its tight and in good shape. As far as I can figure out how my multimeter works, everything seemes to be alright. Then I decided to connect the new battery. Bike fired up fine. I was amazed. I unscrewed the positive lead on the battery again and walked away since it was late and I didn't have time to put everything back together. When I came back the next afternoon, I screwed the positive lead back on and started remounting the fairings. As I was working on putting the right middle back in place, I realized that I was smelling heated plastic. Not melting, but certainly something was getting hot. I started touching wires and connectors and almost burnt my hand on the ones that run from the RR to the alternator. This is with the bike off and cold! I reached around the other side of the bike and put my hand on the stator cover; it was the temperature of a fully heated engine. So, I have no idea what to test next. With the battery attached and the RR disconnected, the bike will start and the wires don't get hot. The second I put the RR back into the picture, things start to heat up really fast. But, since the wiring diagram seems to show the alternator as a device that only connects to any part of the system through the regulator/rectifier, it makes perfect sense that taking the RR out of the picture would stop the heating issue, since everything eventually flows back through it. But, if I remove the alternator from the system, the bike starts fine and doesn't heat up. I cant decide if it is safe to assume that I have a problem with the stator...like a short, or if I shouldn't rule out the RR just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 The story of my 96: 42k miles, the first RR blows. I replace it. 500 miles later, the entire bike shuts off. Turns out the main fuse blew. Got it towed home. New RR tested bad. Got a new one. Battery wasn't charging. Went through the standard electrical system troubleshooting...stator possibly bad. Replaced that. Didn't help. Ended up adding wires between the RR and the battery for power and ground - that fixed it... so yeah, I'm guessing a ground problem somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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