I think its dying.... : (

Just saying the Gen 2 don't worry me at all Honda spent the time to get the engine right. But as with any old bikes I've had I replace every piece of rubber in the fuel system and most other rubber parts, make sure the tank is spotless, new fuel pump and go thru all electrical connections and switches before I ever ride it, if it has high miles then checking engine condition comes first to see if it's even worth restoring or making usable. If your not going to do that stick with late model MCs or your rolling the dice. These bikes aren't that costly to make right compared to some, I'm buying a CBX next to restore and do some modern mods. From adding up what I need... alot of parts supplied from Tims CBX...I know my parts budget will need to be close to 10k to make it right. The VFR parts are a bargain in comparison.

 

Dutch and Hank.... I was born in 1988. :tongue: I didn't know what motorcycles were until I fell in love with a 2004 cbr600rr at about 15. Ran into the baby viff while looking at 6th gens online. Had the v4 bug ever since....

Bike was bought in 84 by a guy who put about 2k on it and then put it down. I think it scared him, so it sat in his barn for like 20 years. His nephew was helping clean out the barn found it and fixed it up (paint and stuff). His second baby was on the way and the wife said bye bye... So from what I know it was inside its whole life.

It was parked overnight at a church parking lot. I just went to look at it. Its leaking gas for sure. I cant tell if its leaking from the new fuel line I installed, or from the bottom of the carbs, but its dripping down on the engine. I didnt have tools and was in dress clothes, so I couldnt get the tank off. But I know for sure there was full fuel in the fuel filter.

 

See if you can get the engine to move with the bike in a high gear pushing it along the ground to see if it is seized.
Another thing to try is to rotate it with a wrench on the timing bolt (in neutral of course). If the engine didn't budge by then you engine is seized.

BTW, sitting an internal combustion engine anything is the worst thing you can possibly do, these things are meant to be run on a frequent basis.

 

Young whippersnappers... :tongue:

If you cranked it until your battery died its not seized...

 

Porkchop, get off the board, listen to Invisible Cities, he actually is a resource for the black holes that are VF500s. Do what he says by pm if necessary.

If it was me I'd run screaming from the damn thing and put it out next to the garbage cans, but there are some guys here that for whatever strange reason love those things and know what theyre doing with them.

Get it going and then visit your friendly bike dealer, they have lots of turnkey bikes both new and used that will take the bad feelings away......good luck.

 

My mom told me to put it out with the trash too. :lalala:

I just left a guy's house that is selling a clean 2002 VFR800 with 20k miles for $3200. Valves were already checked at 16k, and comes with soft bags and top bag. I was really looking to get a 5th gen, but I'm still drooling.....

 

Porkchop I have an 84 vf500 and Love everytime I get on it. sometime if will give you a fit, but it's a 25 year old bike. I'd pull the tank , plugs , and carbs. drain the tank pull the petcock give it a once over. make sure the tank does not have Junk in the bottom. see how the plugs look if need replace. then the carbs would get a once over cleaning. Reinstall. Slowbird I know you had your issues with your old 1 Gen, but when you look back Did U Not have Fun riding it ???

 

No disrespect, but it is a sad day when a VF500F with only 3,500 miles on its engine is considered salvage.

 

Finally got her home after three nights out in the lot. Ripped the tank, airbox, and filter off. Plugged her into the tender, so we'll see if it rolls over tomorrow. I'm going to empty the tank and refill with gas from a different station. If the starter is rolling the motor over but I'm not getting fire, I'm pulling the carbs and taking them in. I've been putting off getting them professionally cleaned and synced for a couple months now, so there is no better time I guess. Might as well check the plugs too, and then go from there...

 

If you can pull them yourself you can probably clean them better than a shop would, just use carb cleaner spray and blow out all orifices with an air compressor.

 

Using carb cleaner spray is way too harsh a technique when dealing with assembled carburetors as it may cause damage to the plastic bits.

Brake cleaner spray is a better option when dealing with assembled carbs.

 

I agree the engine is most likely not seized. With 3k on the clock, it probably still has good really good compression. Good luck trying to push start my VTR in 1st or 2nd with it's compression. The back tire will always lock up. When ever I want to turn the engine by hand, I just put her in 4th or 5th and turn the wheel by hand. My 86 500 is the same way. When I was waiting for starter parts one summer, I'd push start the girl myself in 3rd and she'd start no prob. 1st gear was next to impossible, especially if you have hard rubber or a slippery surface.

I had the same thing twice with my 500. First time, someone thought they'd "help" me by putting the petcock to "off". The carbs ran dry and it took forver to get her running again. The second time, the vaccum line to the petcock cracked and wouldn't hold the valve open. Same thing as when the petcock was put to off. Too bad the petcock don't have a prime mode.

When you got the battery charged up, put a quarter teaspoon of gas down each carb throat. She fire fire up, I prefer doing my first start of the season that way rather than using ether. Just make sure when you charge the battery, you either take it off the bike, or disconnect a battery terminal to keep from overworking the regulator/rectifier.

Good Luck.

 

Hmmm... yea i've always done it in 2nd gear with no problem. Never the slightest bit of lock up. I know everybody here has said to test it in a higher gear, but I wanted to get the battery charged a tad. I have the morning off tomorrow, and then all of thursday off. I'm going to test everything you guys have mentioned.

I keep thinking about that 6th gen I went to look at the other night though.....

 

id go for the 6th Gen and when it needs an oil change id get a 7th Gen and when it needs an oil change id get an 8th Gen OR you could fix the bike you have..learn a lot in the process so next time whatever bike you have when it breaks you can fix it and be riding instead of shopping..sorry but knowledge is king!

 

Shouldn't I start with the 2nd gen and work from there??? Why jump five gens when I am going to need a new bike every oil changed??? :heh:

ON a more serious note.... with some tinkering I have figured out that the motor and tranny aren't seized. It took a couple pushes in 5th gear down a hill to get the wheel to turn the motor around. So that is a GIANT relief. Time to do some yard work now.... but tomorrow is all about the bike.

Oh and Dutch, I got turned down on a loan for the 6th gen.

 

Established motor ain't seized, now just check if the carbs are getting gas. Easiest way I found was just open the drain valves on the floatbowls a smidge and see if any of that liquid gold drips out. If there be gas in there, then I'd try the squirt of gas in the carb throats. If she starts and then dies out, most likely time for a carb cleaning. Luckily many threads on that in here. The first 5 times I had to do it, the internet wasn't on computers yet (at least my commodore 64).....

 

I had a friend 'back in the day' who had a baby 'Ceptor that did something very similar. Something had caused fuel to flow into the engine far in excess of normal. The engine went into 'hydraulic lock'. Pull your spark plugs, then check that oil. If you have fuel in the oil and one or more wet plugs, this is likely your problem. A stuck carb float will do this.

 

Yup, plenty of gas in the carbs, still no fire. The carbs weren't sorted all year long anyway. Fueling below 4k rpm was very muddy. Throttle resonse was shit until it spun up past that point. And idling was a joke. They need cleaned and synced.

I already yanked them. They were stuck on the boots until I sprayed some wd-40 on the boots, and then they popped off with no problem. Now the real bitch was getting the throttle cables off. Not ever doing this before I didnt know what the hell I was doing. The shorter throttle cable came off kinda easy, but the longer one that wraps around the wheel was a bitch. It took me awhile to realize I was feeding the slack left... when I should be feeding it right. Doh.... I'm learning. Then I spilled gas all over myself.

While I had the time I took both mirrors off, and am going to bend them out a bit. They aren't wide enough to see around my larger frame, so I have to bend and move to see behind me. Then I took off my clutch lever which is bent a tad from leaning up against my shed wall. I'm going to heat it up and bend it back. Then I was in the process of replacing my bent shift linkage when I noticed our house's water heater had leaked a lake all over the basement floor. Great...

Tomorrow after work I'm taking the wheels off, because my BT-45s just came in on Monday. While the bike is ooc I might as well take the wheels into the Pony and have them put on.

 

If you plan on keeping the bike and will be maintaining it yourself I would recommend purchasing a lightly used copy of the Factory Service Manual. These can be found on eBay in the $25 range + shipping.

Also, if you are working on the carburetors I would recommend picking up a copy of Mike Nixon's book Cleaning the V4 Carburetor. This is really a must read for anyone tackling a V4 carb rebuild.

More info can be found here: The Motorcycle Project Book Nook

 

Is the clymer manual not sufficient?

I know everybody says that you should do your own carbs, but I'm just a tad worried about that. I took them in to an independant motorcycle shop and got quoted at $165. I'm just going to do that since I have so much other stuff to work on right now. Maybe down the line when the bike is restored a bit, and I'm not working so many weekends, ill take a stab at them.