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I know, I know :) most folks say to postpone the valve clearance check for a long time, but I prefer to follow the maint. schedule. Maybe after the first check-up and everyone is within spec, I'll get a little lazy on future checks. Perhaps while the bike is all torn apart for the 16k service, I'll have them take a look at the O-rings and replace them...thanks for the suggestion.

thanks for the input...sounds like there isn't a hard and fast rule about replacement age of these things, but I'll keep on eye on them, and ask my mechanic's opinion when I take the bike in this next year for the 16,000k valve clearance check.

Apologies in advance if this seems like a dumb question 🙂 So... i've owned my '98 VFR for the past ten years, When I bought it, there was about 5,000 miles on the odometer, and I'm just now about to hit 16,000 (I know its inexcusable to only put 1,000 miles a year on the bike...just don't have much free time to ride). I've kept up on all the usual maintenance and the bike is stored indoors so its in great shape. Just curious though...even though my bike has ridiculously low mileage, at some point all the hoses and brake lines and other rubber bits are going to hit an age that they should be replaced, right? From a safety/reliability standpoint, I'd think I should have all the coolant hoses and brake lines replaced eventually, but maybe that is just throwing money away on something that isn't needed. Curious with you all think? Any recommendations would be appreciated. thanks

thanks again for all the info! I ordered the Oxford touring grips and installed them this weekend. Already had a powerlet plug and voltmeter lines running from the front of the bike back to my fuzeblock, so the oxford power line just followed the same path. No need to trim the grips for length or add any filler tape/heatshrink on the helibars...though I must've not used enough superglue initially because the left grip started slipping on the first ride out.... removed the grip and gooped on a lot more glue the second time around (definitely make sure to put towels under the grips to keep any glue drips off your fairing). Not sure why I didn't install these things years ago... might not need to ever use winter gloves again.

thanks!

I'm planning to install heated grips on my bike this winter...but I'm a little confused as to which model I need to get. I see that Oxford makes a 'touring' grip as well as a 'sport' grip. Is there any difference in size at all or is it just a different pattern on the grip? I've got a 5th gen and am using Helibars. Also, I was planning to wire them through my Fuzeblock on a switched circuit instead of wiring directly to the battery - I assume others have done this as well without an issues? One last stupid question.... the helibars put the grips up really close to the front fairing when making a tight turn with the bars all the way up at their locked position... does the wiring cord coming off the grips smack into the fairing when using helibars? I assume its a tight fit...just curious what to expect before I order the grips and start installing them. thanks for the help!

opted to pop off the console last night...curiosity got the best of me... didn't seen anything obviously wrong - minor scratch going partially across a couple of the copper traces but no actual breaks anywhere. Pulled all the bulbs and screws, cleaned the whole thing off. I'm stumped... guess the problem must be elsewhere.

There's only another couple months of good riding weather here in Seattle anyways, so I'm going to put the fairings back on and ride the rest of the summer...figure if the instruments conk out again, I can just use a smartphone GPS speedometer on my ram mount to get home. From what I've read, it sounds like if there's a problem on the circuit board, I should be able to see a hairline crack or something on it without needing to remove the actual instruments....so I'll pop the plugs off it and take a good look at the circuitboard this fall - and I'll post again if I've had any luck finding and fixing the problem. thanks again all!

thanks for the info! In order to see the break on the circuit board, did you have to take off the front instrument cluster (did you have to remove the tach, speedo, LCD from the circuit board)? I didn't do that... and I didn't pull all the plugs off back face of the circuitboard. I think I was a little intimidated when I saw the all the various plugs and wires coming off the back of it - didn't want to just start disconnecting everything, but maybe I need to have a clearer view of the circuitboard. I just keep thinking that since this problem has only shown up when the bike has been baking in the hot sun while I'm taking a break that its likely a circuitboard issue - its getting too hot and this problem shows up, then once i'm riding again and there's air flowing around it the temp drops and the problem goes away.

thanks again for advice! Just curious if I'm reading the wiring diagram correctly. The image below, I highlighted the negative wires from the Tach, Speedo, and LCD (highlighted in blue) . It looks like the LCD display and Speedometer join together on the circuit board (I assume when there's a junction, the wire junction is shown as a circle on the diagram) into a single line that feeds to the Grey 10P plug. The Tachometer (highlighted in red) runs direct to a different 10P plug on the back of the console. They all pass one another on the diagram but the tach stays separate. Maybe I'm totally wrong... thats entirely possible - wanted to confirm though that I'm reading this right. Anyways.... I doubt i'm going to be able to find the fix for this on my own - electrical troubleshooting is a little beyond my capabilities. and the thought of ripping apart the entire wiring harness sounds kinda awful. I did give the 10P plugs a coating of contact enhancer while I had the plugs disconnected - I doubt that'll make any difference though.

I finally had time to take the plastic off the bike and go hunting for this electrical problem, and unfortunately I didn't see anything glaringly wrong. From the circuit diagram, it looks like the LCD panel and the speedo share a negative path, the tach has a separate negative wire, which might explain why the speedo and LCD were failing but the tach was still running when this problem showed up. Anyways..guess I need to school myself on how to use a multimeter and check wiring - haven't had to do that before. I did check the plug on the back of the instrument console for the speedo and LCD - totally clean, nothing strange there, and I checked the orange ground block where all the negatives come together just left of the battery- that looked fine too.

In need of some advice on an electrical problem with my 5th gen … Last summer after riding for a few hours I stopped for a break, left my bike in the hot sun for about 30 minutes. Shortly after I started riding again, the speedo, tach, and LCD all died, I was going downhill at the time, so I didn’t even really notice if the engine was still running – I had assumed it shut down too. I pulled in the clutch, hit the starter, a few seconds later it all sprung back to life and was fine for the next 100+ miles to get back home. I had assumed it was the R/R, so I replaced it with a better aftermarket one, also put in a fresh battery, and I installed a voltmeter so I could keep track of the electrical system while riding. No problems until today…another long hot ride, several breaks but again shortly after leaving the bike in the hot sun for a while, the speedo and LCD blank out…this time the tach is still running and I’m going uphill, so I can clearly tell the engine hasn’t died. Voltmeter still showing that electrical system still charging properly. After about ten minutes of riding, the LCD and speedo start working again – trip meter and clock have of course reset. So… I think the charging system is working okay – but maybe it’s a bad ground connection for the front instruments (if that’s even a thing)? Anyone had something similar happen before where hot weather seems to bring out a problem? Maybe that’s just coincidence. I assume there’s not much to do but start a lengthy troubleshooting process with all the wiring up in the front end of the bike. Any advice would be appreciated.