kaldek

Still needs a bigger tank.

I'm a 6th-gen man...

lol if i donnt sort this out soon i may well also be a 6th gen owner! and i have just race replica'd it! looks fab but goes nowhere!

Trust me, they have their own problems to replace the one you're suffering. Better the devil you know.

Really does sound like bad ground wires to me. A bad ground which is shared by multiple different devices can appear OK when there is a small current passing through it but can severely degrade when the current increases.

I'm not personally familiar with the ground locations on the 5th-generation bikes though, so I can't tell you exactly where to look! I'm a 6th-gen man...

You need to perform a full electrical test. It sounds like your regulator is over charging AND your stator is failing (an interesting combination).

You'll need to repeat all the tests listed below on a hot and cold engine.

http://www.electrosport.com/media/pdf/fault-finding-diagram.pdf

At this point I'd bring out the lab scope. This is what I'd use if I was doing it. http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/dso-nano-v2-p-681.html?cPath=174

High resistance = low fuel gauge reading. An open circuit reads totally empty.

So, it's either a bad connection at the fuel level sender or a float issue. My money is on electrical gremlins, so raise the tank and check the plugs and pins for any signs of corrosion. Also look for damaged or pinched wires.

Ayup, when things go wrong with your VFR, take it to the place you can trust: VFRD.

In fact both the main grounds are there so I should clarify. The low amp grounds (accessories, ECU, etc) are bolted horizontally to the frame and it's a bunch of green wires. This is unlikely to be your issue.

The *main* ground for the battery (which is how the battery is hooked up to the frame) is bolted vertically to the top of the frame, under the tank and just forward of the tank mounting bolts (under the rubber flap). Problems here will stop any high current devices from working properly.

The starter uses the bike's engine, and subsequently the frame, as its ground (only one big positive wire goes to the starter).

Check under the rubber flap which covers the rear coils, have a look at the master ground point to the frame. It's right there, under the tank....

I would change the Pulse Generator and see how it effects. Sounds like its the main problem here.

Less resistanse gives higher voltage , and high voltage burns, right? Just my 2 cent...................

The pulse generator could well be faulty, but there's no risk of voltage issues caused by it. Pretty much all Honda pulse generators are Variable Reluctance Sensor (VRS) AC voltage generators using two wires. As the teeth on the metal timing wheel pass by the pulse generator, it generates an AC pulse. At idle it's about 0.7 volts peak, and it increases as rpm rises, but it's only something like 10 volts AC - pulsed!

The voltage pulses are seen by the ignition computer, which calculates engine rpm and crankshaft position from these. A programmed map within the computer sets ignition advance and dwell time for each spark based on engine speed

Common problems with pulse generators is the breakdown of the coils inside them. A low resistance reading would mean the coil is shorting and therefore it would generate much weaker pulses. Pretty much similar to a stator failure, really.

I'd either grab a waveform of the pulse generator output using a Digital Oscilloscope, or just replace it. 2nd hand ones are cheap.

Question, what happens a 7,000 rpm that makes this bike really move? At lows rpms it is fairly docile but when it hits 7k, wow!

The engine switches to VTEC mode. Basically under 7,000 rpm it's only using two valves per cylinder (1 intake, 1 exhaust) and above that it opens up all four.

I have a 2002 recently purchased. 100% stock, about 15K. I checked on the mileage, and see that I am getting 25mpg, thats running mostly highway miles, say-75-90 on the highway and I was keeping RPM's say 6-7.5k. The engine runs hot in the Phoenix summer (say 220-235)) but other VFR guys in town tell me they experience the same.

Any ideas of where to look for an issue, or is there a diagnostic check that would be able to tell why the gas mpg is so bad?

I hate to say this but at 90 miles an hour, the 6th-gen VFR eats fuel. Especially once you click over into VTEC, it's gonna get very thirsty. It actually eats it more than bigger bikes. I've seen back to back Blackbird vs. VFR fuel consumption at 120mp/h where the blackbird was drinking way less than the VFR because it wasn't working anywhere near as hard.

The best "is something wrong check" is to fill up close to a freeway and zero your trip meter, then do a good 100 miles at 60mp/h while keeping the bike in sixth as best you can. Then, get to another gas station and measure how much it takes to fill up. From there you can run the fuel consumed through a consumption calculator.

I'm betting you'll hit 45mpg.

After talking to the guy at the inspection station, we decided a place to start would be testing the ignition system and checking for vacuum leaks.

I performed the entire ignition inspection procedure per the manual and found that everything was good but the ignition pulse generator.

What I read at the CDI box plug was 320 ohms and I am supposed to read 450-550 ohms.

At the pulse generator plug I am supposed to read 200 to 400 ohms, but I am getting 3.4 mega ohms and on the second check its reading as open.

How would this effect how the bike runs?

If indeed the pulse generator has failed, it will cause the bike to not fire the coils, either permanently (no start) or intermittently. This would cause an emissions failure for sure, as you'd be dumping raw fuel out the exhaust on occasion.

They're harder to pick up on earlier bikes because the pulse generator only sets ignition timing whereas on EFI bikes it's used in conjunction with the cam pulse generator to fire and time the injectors.

great advice! will try

what colour wires go into the regulator plug and the stator .....?

One connector block with three yellow wires - stator

One connector block with two red, two green (and possible one black) wires - Regulator.

Unplug all of those and test.

Well technically it's not an ECU but an ignition computer with a programmed timing and dwell map.

Can bad ground fry these? I would have thought they'd mostly be damaged by issues with the coil packs. Something to do with flyback voltage spikes for example.

I mounted it behind the left fairing, near te front. I used a very thin metal bracket to hold it into place...held by the mounting screw near the front left of the tank. I'll post pictures when it's all finished.

My Banshee Horn video (same horn as the Stebel I think) has a good pic of this.

A small pair of vice grips might be able to grab it and get it out.

What kind of discharge can these batteries take? Is the battery going to be damaged now and give me issues in the future?

Generally the kind of damage done to these cells affects capacity. They stop holding as much of a charge and won't deliver as many peak amps. Each cell can end up being damaged differently so the capacity of each cell might be inconsistent, which leads to the battery voltage becoming too low to be usable even when 3 of the 4 cell packs are still good enough.

These batteries are 12-cell, made up of 4 x 3-cell groups. In the biz this is called 4S3P (4 batches of cells wired up in Series, each batch made up of 3 batteries in Parallel). The series gives you your voltage, the parallel gives you your capacity (amp/hours).

As you can see there is basically twelve different cells which can possibly be damaged. Thankfully the LiFePO4 cells don't blow up or catch fire like LiPO cells do, even when damaged.

It seems strange that the harness has been recalled and fixed in the US but Honda UK have no idea about the issue or have done a recall.

Sure about that? Pretty sure they recalled the Aussie bikes and they're functionally similar to the UK models.

i will measure the voltage later and report back. i am wondering if its the rectifier?

Simple test for this. Unplug the regulator from the wiring harness and start the bike (also unplug the stator from the regulator). Make sure your battery is fully charged first of course, but if your bike dies when you turn the lights on then, it's not the regulator causing your problem.

What does the voltage drop to when you turn the lights on, and what happens if you remove one globe so only one headlight is on?

I tried it in my 5th gen. The propylene glycol has too high of a specific gravity to circulate through the side mounted rads and plumbing. 6th gens are going to have the same problem. The stuff is really thick compared to ethylene glycol and water.

What he said. I was seriously considering Evans back in 2003 but I'm glad I never did it. It gets expensive fast! For example, you need to use their special flushing liquid to remove all traces of water from your bike BEFORE you can put Evans in it. You're also supposed to cut the spring pin on the radiator cap or buy a no pressure cap, because you don't need to maintain pressure in the system anymore (Evans boils at a much higher temperature).

And if some numpty mechanic ever decides to top your system up with water, you have to flush the whole thing again and refill it with fresh Evans coolant.

And if you spring a leak somewhere, you're hosed because you can't just patch it up and top up with water. But if you did, you have to flush the whole system...etc.

Because the rear reservoir is separate from the master cylinder, you can probably just re-fill it. You'll probably find that there is enough fluid in the line between the reservoir and the master cylinder to keep it working. If you add fluid to it, the air in the line (low pressure line remember) will just float to the top and everything should be good.

It's only if you get air past the master cylinder and into the high pressure line that your brakes will stop working.

but isn't it high at 14.3 V, idle?

Nope that is *awesome*. It means your stator is top notch and your regulator is set to regulate at 14.9 volts. Basically 14.3 volts at idle and 14.9 at revs means it's not regulating at all, just rectifying the AC to DC.

Coolies, can you give me a thanks by clicking on the green arrow in one of my posts. Cheers!