silverbullet132 Posted September 16, 2011 Posted September 16, 2011 (edited) 1998 VFR 800, previous owner said he swapped in a 2000 wiring harness Rode fine for about 8km, got to a red light, died. Tried to start and only got a click from under the seat. Pushed it off the road onto the sidewalk, waited a few minutes, clicked the starter again and it started idled and revved fine. As soon as I moved it about 5 feet and got ready to get on the road it died again. Got a jump start a bit later from my Grandpa (his car was off), started and idled fine until moving about 5 feet again. Towed it home, when I got home I hooked it up to a multimeter which read 17.5-18.3v with the bike turned off. While cranking the starter it would drop to 15 then go back up to 17.5-18.3v. Hoping that my multimeter is not broken, ideas? The R/R connectors were melted and the stator wires charred, re soldered all of them and taped them back up. Checked all the fuses and all were ok. Now when the starter is pressed I only get a click. Jump starting did not work, battery swap did not work (other battery starts my other bike fine). Swapped the starter relay with the one that came spare with my bike, did not help. All the lights on the bike come on no problem. Ordered a VFRness, stator hardwire kit, and new R/R connectors. This is my only mode of transport now that insurance and plate was taken off the other bike :( UPDATE: Now the bike runs ok with no break light bulbs plugged in, as soon as you turn the bike off, plug them in, and turn it on, it wants to stall. Mechanic thinks it is the R/R as someone at honda canada told him that the stock one controls the fuel pump?? Edited January 13, 2012 by silverbullet132 Quote
mello dude Posted September 16, 2011 Posted September 16, 2011 Your got some pretty funky numbers for voltage. You sure with the bike not running you got 17.5 Volts? Crazy weird. Check again. But what obvious going on is your R/R is toast, and its been frying all the nice wires in you bike. --Dont ride it anymore untill you replace it. In the mean time, go through al the wires and check condition. Fix anything that looks burnt. - Check out the stator too. - Charge battery and take it to be load tested. Chances are the R/R fried that too. http://www.vfrdiscus...__fromsearch__1 Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 16, 2011 Author Posted September 16, 2011 (edited) Your got some pretty funky numbers for voltage. You sure with the bike not running you got 17.5 Volts? Crazy weird. Check again. But what obvious going on is your R/R is toast, and its been frying all the nice wires in you bike. --Dont ride it anymore untill you replace it. In the mean time, go through al the wires and check condition. Fix anything that looks burnt. - Check out the stator too. - Charge battery and take it to be load tested. Chances are the R/R fried that too. http://www.vfrdiscus...__fromsearch__1 Buying a new R/R local soon, yes I am sure it was not running the key was not even in the ignition. -Already fixed the only ones that looked burnt, and ordered new connectors/hardwire kit/VFRness -How do I check the stator if the bike does not run? (just read your link, grr wish i tried that before I soldered the connections) -Canadian Tire (battery is a Motomaster Eliminator 12-BS) offered an exchange already but don't have the exact battery in stock. What other batteries will work on the vfr? Edited September 16, 2011 by silverbullet132 Quote
mello dude Posted September 16, 2011 Posted September 16, 2011 Start with getting a good battery. Generally batteries are based on size. There are a lot of options. Stator checks - pull connector and check pin to pin. Set for resistance. Should be less than 1.0 -- Check each pin to ground. - Should be infinity. Next you need the bike running. Pin to pin, volts VA. Should start 15ish and rise to 60ish + with revs. If the bike wont start, you may have other problems. Btw - dont waste your money on a Honda OEM R/R part. Check into previous links. You should look into a MOSFET style or a Compufire part. GL Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 16, 2011 Author Posted September 16, 2011 Start with getting a good battery. Generally batteries are based on size. There are a lot of options. Stator checks - pull connector and check pin to pin. Set for resistance. Should be less than 1.0 -- Check each pin to ground. - Should be infinity. Next you need the bike running. Pin to pin, volts VA. Should start 15ish and rise to 60ish + with revs. If the bike wont start, you may have other problems. Btw - dont waste your money on a Honda OEM R/R part. Check into previous links. You should look into a MOSFET style or a Compufire part. GL Getting a SHINDENGEN FH0122AA. Will try a new multimeter, but my current one reads 1.0 on all 3 for resistance and the battery was too low to check the grounds Quote
Member Contributer YoshiHNS Posted September 16, 2011 Member Contributer Posted September 16, 2011 Getting a SHINDENGEN FH0122AA. Will try a new multimeter, but my current one reads 1.0 on all 3 for resistance and the battery was too low to check the grounds ...? You don't need voltage to make sure that your grounds are good. Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 16, 2011 Author Posted September 16, 2011 Getting a SHINDENGEN FH0122AA. Will try a new multimeter, but my current one reads 1.0 on all 3 for resistance and the battery was too low to check the grounds ...? You don't need voltage to make sure that your grounds are good. I meant the battery on the multimeter Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 16, 2011 Author Posted September 16, 2011 (edited) Changed the battery in my multimeter, it now reads 0.7-0.8 ohms on the 3 wires coming from the stator and 0 continuity on all 3. Battery also now reads 12.5v. Edited September 16, 2011 by silverbullet132 Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 16, 2011 Author Posted September 16, 2011 Another update: -Battery reads 12.75v -Leak tested, meter reads 0.8mA -The harness side of the R/R connector positives read 12.75v (positive lead on the red/white and common lead on the frame) -Continuity between the harness side of the R/R connector negatives and the ground connector on the right side of the frame Quote
timmythecop Posted September 17, 2011 Posted September 17, 2011 Did the fella tell you why he swapped the harness? Was it done right? Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 17, 2011 Author Posted September 17, 2011 (edited) Looks like it was, and he said it was done because the lights etc would randomly not work which is supposedly very common Edited September 17, 2011 by silverbullet132 Quote
Member Contributer Ranger77 Posted September 17, 2011 Member Contributer Posted September 17, 2011 Sounds like the R/R is kicking the bucket. Mine will get hot and sometimes when I pull in the clutch, the bike will just die. It'll act as if the battery is dead until it cools down enough. Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 17, 2011 Author Posted September 17, 2011 Sounds like the R/R is kicking the bucket. Mine will get hot and sometimes when I pull in the clutch, the bike will just die. It'll act as if the battery is dead until it cools down enough. Someone local has the FH0122AA, so I will add that in once my VFRness gets here. How long does wiremybike typically take to ship them out? Quote
Member Contributer Ranger77 Posted September 17, 2011 Member Contributer Posted September 17, 2011 I dont know. Thats Tightwads site. Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 17, 2011 Author Posted September 17, 2011 Hopefully not too long...and hopefully VFRness/new R/R/new battery fixes this problem, the few minutes it did work this bike was PERFECT Quote
Member Contributer swas Posted September 17, 2011 Member Contributer Posted September 17, 2011 I hope the crook batteries in your multimeter meant the charging figures were wrong? I believe the PGM FI controller is not too fond of high voltages (not trying to panic you but it has to be considered). How many K's did the previous owner rattle up on his 'new' wiring harness before you picked it up? Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 17, 2011 Author Posted September 17, 2011 I hope the crook batteries in your multimeter meant the charging figures were wrong? I believe the PGM FI controller is not too fond of high voltages (not trying to panic you but it has to be considered). How many K's did the previous owner rattle up on his 'new' wiring harness before you picked it up? Not too sure how many he put on the harness, and the multimeter was never hooked up while the bike was able to run. As so, I have no charging voltages. Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 19, 2011 Author Posted September 19, 2011 Swapped the battery with a known good one, still just a click. Hopefully the new R/R fixes this, if not, what could it be? Have already swapped the starter relay. Quote
enzed_viffer Posted September 20, 2011 Posted September 20, 2011 By the way - Shindengen is stock Honda (but I'm not sure of the model number for a VFR800). Quote
timmythecop Posted September 20, 2011 Posted September 20, 2011 If a know good battery won't start the bike, it cannot be the R/R (although it too nay be bad) because if it us nor running it has nothing to regulate or rectify. Sounds like it is the harness to me. BTW... My 5th gen has 43000 miles with stock everything. No failures. Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 20, 2011 Author Posted September 20, 2011 If a know good battery won't start the bike, it cannot be the R/R (although it too nay be bad) because if it us nor running it has nothing to regulate or rectify. Sounds like it is the harness to me. BTW... My 5th gen has 43000 miles with stock everything. No failures. I hope that it is not the f'ing harness... Quote
Member Contributer swas Posted September 20, 2011 Member Contributer Posted September 20, 2011 If the bike has started and run with the new harness I would be checking for loose connections around your starter motor circuit, battery and all earth points. There are earth conglomeration points (generally concerned with engine control and instruments not starting circuits) taped into the harness near the RR and battery area, the replacement harness may have a corroded one of these. I think you are looking at some poor workmanship from previous owner. Take a piece of heavy wire and touch to your battery directly to the starter motor input connection to confirm the starter will run and confirm a problem between battery and starter. Careful though this could lead to finger burning, use pliers to hold the wire. Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 20, 2011 Author Posted September 20, 2011 If the bike has started and run with the new harness I would be checking for loose connections around your starter motor circuit, battery and all earth points. There are earth conglomeration points (generally concerned with engine control and instruments not starting circuits) taped into the harness near the RR and battery area, the replacement harness may have a corroded one of these. I think you are looking at some poor workmanship from previous owner. Take a piece of heavy wire and touch to your battery directly to the starter motor input connection to confirm the starter will run and confirm a problem between battery and starter. Careful though this could lead to finger burning, use pliers to hold the wire. Ah crap. So I use a piece of wire to connect the positive battery terminal to the other lead on the starter relay? Quote
silverbullet132 Posted September 21, 2011 Author Posted September 21, 2011 Installed the FH0122AA with some help, and diagnosed a bad starter motor (has a dead spot) so now on the hunt for a new one! Quote
VFR4Lee Posted September 21, 2011 Posted September 21, 2011 You might be able to temporarily fix the starter motor by taking it apart and cleaning it out. Worked for me a couple times years ago with an old Yamaha before I finally got a rebuilt one and replaced it. Lots of black dusty grunge in there. Quote
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