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2006 VFR800ABS Battery Problems


iamgregarious

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Hello all, this is my first post on this forum ever. I have a few concerns about my 2006 VFR800.

 

First of all, I bought it used at 44,000, it has racked up to 62,000 in a year. Do standard maintenance and all to it.

 

The first thing is the first gear engine squeal. Is this normal? Is this an indicator of being in first gear?

 

Second thing, before my first battery died out which was still OEM, I heard these secondary squealing noises from all gears above first at all RPMs. I could not trace this problem to anything. 

 

Now for the real question, the first time the battery died it seemed as though it all happened suddenly in a day. No hiccups at all until I stopped at a gas station to fill it up. Then it refused to start at all, but luckily people are saints and pushed me to jump start it. After reading all causes, I switched out the battery for a Shorai 18 amp variant, replaced the R/R with Rick's, swapped all lights for HID LEDs. It died again today after the replacement of about a week of riding. I have not checked the stator, fuses, all wirings to ground, dash, harnesses, or other leaks. I am trying to narrow down possibilities to save time and even money, this seems like a specific piece of equipment that burned out, hoping you guys can help pinpoint the dilemma.

 

Thanks in advance.

Greg

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Hi Greg.

Welcome to the forum sorry to hear of your bike woes. Squealling from any gear is definetly not normal, wonder if you might have a clutch issue here. Not an old very dry chain by any chance?

 

A 2006 with the OEM battery, that's a great effort, and yes it's not uncommon for a battery to die suddenly, a shorted cell will do this.

 

You've got to check your charging voltage which should be in the high 13's to say 14.5 volts. The most common electrical failure on a 6gen with your mileage is a shorted stator. An easy check is to unplug your stator connector with the three yellow wires at the R/R. Measure the 3 wires for continuity then measure the 3 wires referenced to ground, there should be NO resistance to ground, however this is the common way they fail - shorted winding to Ground.

 

You can download the Service Manual for your bike from this forum, if you don't already have one.

 

Confused, did you fit HID's OR LED's ?

Good Luck.

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Infinite(total) resistance to ground, in my experience, is the desirable condition. Slight continuity between all 3 “legs”(yellow) output wires tho. Search this forum for”the drill”

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Thanks for the responses, everyone. I appreciate the community reaching out.

 

@Grum The chain is a little worn, I have not replaced it yet since 47K miles being under 63K now. I did not know batteries could drain that quickly, but I had an experience today after I charged the bike overnight. The battery was dying out about 5 miles out from home, my commute is about 85 miles a day. Kept the engine running through sheer will power. I have been researching into this more, and you mention the stator where many others have as well. If I replaced the battery and RR, the only large hardware replacement left is the stator. I will not ride for a few days to check those wires, thanks for those troubleshooting tips.

 

I fitted LEDs from SuperBriteLEDs, not HIDs (I think it is a full LED conversion). I changed the low beams, high beams, and all signals. I have heard of LEDs having a parasitic current issue. That could also be a factor?

 

I also have a wire coming out of my dash, coming out from the bottom, that I cannot comprehend where it goes. It seems like a wire to ground.

 

@VARIABLE9 I am not sure how I could accomplish this, but I'll try to get my GoPro footage uploaded to YouTube. The best representation is almost like a tiny mosquito buzzing around your ear, high-pitched, variable almost like a slight vibrato, and very pervasive. Cruising in any gear, acceleration, deceleration all cause it, but it actually stops when I get to around 12 mph or less going into first coming at a stop light. Revving back up to 12 and over produces it again.

 

@airwalk  Infinite resistance to ground and slight continuity between the stator and RR? I will check that gorum as well.

 

Thanks everyone,

Greg

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Welcome to the asylum. When I installed LED headlights several years ago, I was told because the headlights draw less power than OEMs they would increase the load on an R/R. (To combat this, I added and aluminum heat sink between the R/R and the subframe.)

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