Mikus11

hey is there a difference using hot or cold 10W-30 or 10W-40? Just kidding LOL nothing like a good oil war thread

thanks again all - have been riding the bike for a couple of weeks and so far so good. Cleaned out all that goop, ox gard and a new fuse (old looked a little melted). Checked it after each ride its not getting hot.

Well to be fair it was main fuse B was replaced fairly recently and I had no reason to suspect it. Not sure if I should just try to clean it up (literally packed with dielectric grease or vaseline) or cut out and replace. For whatever reason it completely quit while I was fiddling with the other stuff.

Things appear to have gone from bad to worse. Now the headlights have died and the fuel pump won't run. I noticed yesterday that the pump did not cycle when I first tried the ignition but then it came to life. The lights appear to be a new issue. All I have done today is to take apart the orange ground block again to have another look at it. I even took some of the pins out of the orange housing and I don't see any corrosion in the crimps. However, I checked resistance to the battery -ve and some had no continuity at all Should all these grounds be alive all the time or are some of them switched? This is really frustrating!!!! Update main 30A fuse under seat was the no light/pump culprit. Previous owner really went to town with dielectric grease in the connector I think the fuse just wasn't making a good connection. OK so 1 step forward, 2 steps back, 1 step forward LOL.

Yes that is exactly the orange grounding block that I opened up to inspect and clean. I did find and clean that M5 hex bolt with the grounds under the tank (looked fine) and will get to the battery ground under the hinge as well after the F1 race. And yes this is a 2008 ABS model.

Thanks all. The orange coloured block of green (earth) wires in the same covering as the blue and white connectors shown. None of the pins or sockets were burnt. Yes I put a tiny amount of ox-gard on the pins. Unlike dielectric grease this stuff is conductive so you want to be careful not to short out anything.

Update: As you can see the blue connector definitely has some issues on the side with the black/white stripe wire. Damn these are quite small but hopefully hitting it with some Deoxit contact cleaner and a selection of toothbrush, q-tip and a piece of copper wire is enough to get it all cleaned out. If there is a better way to clean this side of the contacts I am all ears. For tracing the battery power on black/white stripe wire, the probes on my multi meter aren't nearly small enough. Also are you back probing it with the connector plugged together, or just measuring with it unplugged on the connector above? Might be able to carefully stick a short wire in and measure off that. Orange ground block was spotless. Cleaned it anyway. Working through to the grounds under the tank so no verdict yet. It may take some time to confidently know its fixed with the problem being so intermittent. But at least seeing a potential problem spot is encouraging. Also, I cannot for the life of me find the relays for the headlights and engine stop. Does the front cowl have to come off to access these? Service manual picture makes it look like they should be accessible without doing that.

FI light comes on when you turn on key and then goes off in a few seconds. I believe this is the normal behavior for a bike without any codes stored. So I got a quick break from a busy day and took the bike out for a 20min shakedown ride. Of course at one of the busiest intersections in the city, the FI light starts flashing and the bike stalls as soon as I touch the throttle and just before a green light. Key cycled on/off, bike starts and I'm on my way again. Got home, plugged in the diagnostic wire and there are no codes stored. No time to look at anything more have to get back to the day job but will have a look at the grounding/earthing and have a look thru the wiring later.

The light blinks kind of randomly. Hard to estimate brightness as its flicking on and off. The codes did not re-appear after clearing but I've only had the chance to run the bike for 10 min in the garage. If I can get the bike to act up again I will re-check the codes. Hopefully will have some time over the weekend to go thru the grounds and connectors. I own an old british sports car and even the Lucas "Prince of Darkness" electrics seem to hold no candle to a VFR!

The FI light starts blinking sort of randomly, the bike dies and when you restart you don't see the FI light. Yes main fuse is all good. Previous owner did the wiring harness/stator/RR work for me LOL

So the bike had a bunch of codes but honestly I have no idea if any have ever been cleared. So I recorded them on my phone and cleared the codes. Started up and ran the bike for about 5 min in the garage and of course it did not act up. Checked codes again still clear. Think I will take it for a blast later and see if I can make it flake out, then check codes again.

I watched the video here on how to read the codes. That video was confusing because he pans quickly to the late gen6 style connector you that jumper and it doesn't even appear to be in the same place on the bike. Where is the service connector on a 2008? I can jumper it to be sure there are no stored codes. Update I found it right side by ECU but damned if I can figure out how to get the red plastic cap off it. Finally got it off have to lift the little plastic tang on the bottom while pulling.

Battery was tested with a FOXWELL Car Battery Tester 12V Automotive 100-1100CCA Battery Analyzer Health/Faults Detector BT100 Pro. If the battery was bad would you expect it to flake out right after coming off a tender and would you expect the bike to have no problem with the electric starter? PS thanks for the other info as well

Hopefully somebody can help with this issue. It is really making the ownership experience poor enough that I'm losing confidence in this bike. 2008 VFR800ABS Canadian model (lights always on) Problem: when idling for some period of time (e.g. a stop light), the FI light will sometimes start blinking, idle starts to sound off, and the bike will stall as soon as I give it any throttle. Bike will start again if I cycle the key and then run fine for a while until the next period of extended idling. I'm not sure if its in my head or not, but the engine doesn't seem too smooth at lower RPMs while underway. Battery tests good. Put battery on tender last night and the bike stalled just a few minutes into my trip this morning when I let it idle for a couple of minutes. Battery voltage is good and charging system is confirmed working with a multi meter as per service manual. I have read about gen 5 bikes having a grounding block issue that can cause some electronic flaking out behaviors. Anybody ever have a similar issue to what I'm describing on a gen 6?