DfnsMn69 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 So for any that have followed my Electrical journey I apologize for the recap. So in June of last year I bought my VFR from a coworker who had piled her bike up and decided that motorcycles were dangerous and her husband needed to sell his bike as well. I took it in to my LMS for a pre-purchase inspection as I had never owned or admittedly heard of a VFR. Dealer called said everything looked good. Paid them their fee rode the bike back over and a deal was struck. Fast forward a couple weeks and I have found VFRW and VFRD both great websites with good info about our beloved bikes.. At this point I have completely fallen in love with the VFR. I'm reading post after post devouring as much info about our viffers as I can find. I come across post after post about the charging system woes and recalls. As a hmm I wonder I call the LMS that did the inspection and said here's my VIN number can you run it and see if there are any outstanding recalls on it. Service manager tippy taps on the keyboard and says yes in fact there are 3 outstanding but one is just a tech bulletin not a full blown recall. I take the bike and and they verify the VIN and order the parts I make an appointment to take the bike in for the recalls once they arrive. Couple more weeks and the bike is still running well but I've had a couple of issues where the bike wouldn't start after some general running around. Figured the battery was toast as it was well over 6 years old from the POs maint records. Recall parts come in I drop the bike off and they say it should be ready midday the next day. Couple hours later they call and ask me to come back in. Get there and we go back into the shop where she sits on the stand minus all the plastics. Mechanic shows me where the Blue connector is completely fried and there are spots along the main harness where the insulation on wires is so brittle that just touching it causes huge chunks to powder and fall away exposing bare wire. I'm right a truly spun up at this point. Not only did they miss the recalls on the PPI my bike is now completely In-Op. They tell me that they will take some pictures and send them back to the Mothership and see if they will cover the whole bike harness under the recall since the damage appears to be a result of the Blue connector melting down. This mollifies me some what so I say that's fine but if the harness is that BBQ then the rest of the charging system is probably compromised and I want them to test the entire system once the bike is back together. They agree and long story short Honda does indeed replace the entire harness taillight to headlight. Stator tests out faulty though so they give me a OEM stator to (make it right) for missing the recalls on the PPI. They can't install it but it's mine if I'll do the labor. I'm actually feeling pretty good at this point. New stator new harness everything is right in the world. I pick the bike up after 2 weeks in the shop and everything is right with the world again. ~300 miles later I'm running downtown to a meeting in rush hour traffic 5mph or less pretty much at an idle. Temp is stable between 223 (fan on) and 198 (fan off) finally get free of traffic pull up to a stop light and the bike just shuts itself off. No power on restart attempt. I'm thinking WTH luckily I'm across the street from a tire place they come out and jump start the bike and I tear ass for home with all but one headlight unplugged. Get it home and throw it on the tender. The next day I take the battery in and it load tests fine. Run the drill the brand new OEM stator is shorted to ground on all three phases. Call the LMS back up they order a warranty replacement stator. It shows up in a couple days go in to pick it up and not wanting to do this job again I ask for a multimeter and test cont. on the brand new one. It's shorted to ground on 1 phase and the other 2 are reading 20 and 25ohms respectively. I'm fed up pissed off and generally an unhappy camper. I talk them into ordering me in a Ricks stator with the OEM connector to match the Mosfet style R/R that I had purchased from RMStator. Here's where I screwed up. Rather than cutting off the OEM style connector and going with a Metripak I opted to stick with stock. HUGE FUCKING mistake. Fast forward to today new Stator is in R/R is in. Installed a Voltmeter to monitor everything and the bike is running like a stripped ass ape everywhere I go. Run over to have lunch with the wife this afternoon. Then a couple more errands, at the last stop I shut the bike off and can smell something burning. Quit sniff around doesn't reveal and smoke or flames but its definitely coming off the Rt. side of the bike. Jump on and race it home hoping to beat the fire truck to the scene of the crash if it occurs. I get home pull in the garage and the acrid smell is getting stronger. Toss it up on the Centerstand and start pulling the right panel. Get it off and what to my wondering and watering eyes should appear but THIS... Take this word of advice if you start smelling something burning check it immediately it's allot less of a PITA to pull the fairings and check than it is to pull the fairings and have to replace burnt up shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 That doesn't look like an oem connector unless in 03 they were different color Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted June 3, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted June 3, 2014 Wow. Simply amazing. Awaiting further developments. Is your machine haunted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DfnsMn69 Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 I guess I should have said OEM style connector both the Stator and R/R are aftermarket using the OEM style connectors. I don't know if it's haunted or not but I can guarantee that if the electrical gremlins continue it will die a fiery death rather than sell it to some poor unsuspecting schmuck to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted June 4, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted June 4, 2014 Bypass the connector .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DfnsMn69 Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 I used solder butt connectors and adhesive backed heatshrink also wrapped some good old #88 tape around each individual connector then used the stock vinyl cover wound around each individual wire for added protection. I'm going to run it for a bit and then pull it apart and inspect it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted June 4, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted June 4, 2014 This stuff always seems to strike suddenly and out of the blue. I do an annual inspection of the electrics and am using Oxgard on all connectors and grounds in hopes of avoiding meltdown issues. I've seen it at most decent hardware store and home centers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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