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Starting Woes


Stuarty

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Having a slight issue with my 03 Vtec, it always starts however sometimes it turns over and over then starts but it struggles to run for just a few moments. It will do it three or four times on the bounce then it will start fairly normally again for a number of times then back to the problem previously described. To be honest its never had the same "starting sound" as any of the three other VFRs I've owned but it runs well enough apart from a noisy clutch. It's regularly serviced and the plugs are very recent. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Stuart

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I can't say I've got any precise explanation, but in your place I would spend some time going over the electrical system specifically all of the connectors, making sure these are free of corrosion and properly joined. It may be that you are getting a little corrosion somewhere that is reducing the voltage being passed. I would also suspect the health of the battery and/or charging system, and it might be a good time to join the legions of VFR owners who have fitted a voltmeter so you can monitor things on the fly. 

 

Another possibility could be in the fuel supply/pressure and there I would start by checking the vacuum line to the fuel pressure regulator; if the diaphragm gets a rip, you may see abnormal fuel pressure and one symptom is liquid fuel in the vacuum line. 

 

The starter system for your bike includes an automatic fast idle initiated by the wax unit which opens the starter valves. Does your bike have normal cold start/fast idle behaviour when it gets going?

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The battery connections are clean, my feelings are that it might be fuel as there is no issue with the bike turning over it just sounds like its not getting fuel.  As I said it doesnt do it every time but it does do it regularly but when its going its absolutely fine.  I'm going to check the starter valves are in balance and replace the fuel filter as thats probably never been done since it was new.  Yes the bike idles normally ie a little faster when its cold then back down to normal idle speed.

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If it's intermittent, the problem is most likely electrical.  A mechanical issue would appear and gradually get worse and is consistent.  Meaning it won't run well one day and run like crap another day.  

 

Check your battery's voltage at rest.  If it's older than 4 years, replace it with a fresh, fully charged battery.  Check your start/stop switch.  Does the bike die when the start/stop switch is touched or just gets some finger pressure applied to it?  If so, check the wires for continuity, or just replace it.  Many folks including myself ran into this problem and I went around and around with the fuel injection system....turns out it was the electrical start/stop switch.  I also read another post on VFRW similar to your issue and the battery had a bad cell (still strong enough to start the engine though) but was sending insufficient voltage, which affected the opening and closing of the injectors enough to make the bike behave badly (won't idle, loss of power, etc.).  

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Do you let the fuel pump prime fully, before hitting the starter?

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Lots of good suggestions. Another that could help would be to solder all the common grounds at the connector at the front of the bike. Remove the whole ground strip, solder all wires together and make sure the one grounding wire is properly grounded. Many strange electrical issues are caused by poor ground connections. Jus a thought!

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