Test road a '91, seems to have problems

I found a killer deal on a 91 VFR 750. I test road it and absolutely am in love with it. However it has a few problems and I want to know everyone's opinion before I make a decision.

Problem #1: I went to start it and it took a while to fire up, it was cranking good. But It took like a solid 3-5 seconds of holding that button before she started. Possibly bad starter? Low compression?

Problem #2: She stalls if you don't give it gas at a stop. Could be a carb cleaning issue, or maybe idle is too low? How difficult are carbs to clean?

Problem #3: Chain is very tight and not cleaned, owner had the bike given to him from a friend a year ago, he's done virtually nothing to it (not even a single oil change) however he's only ridden it 400 miles since he bought it. The oil was nice and clean, but the chain worries me. My friend said he could hear the valves so they are not tight, so hopefully they're alright cause I don't want to mess with them.

The bike has 45k miles, no maintenance history that we know of. He wants to do a straight trade for my 1987 KLR 250 (I value my bike at around $1,400)

Is any of these issues anything I should be worried about? My main concern is how difficult are the carbs to remove and service (I have lots of experience with carbs, but never on a V engine. And how difficult can the valves be to adjust ?

Thanks for any info you can spare. I must say after riding this bike I am obsesssssed! And MUST have one, I am considering just to sell my KLR for about 1400 and to just put another $1000 in and get a newer fuel injected vfr 800.

 

To be honest, if it's a straight trade, I think you're stealing from the guy! Carbs can be a pain to work with but there are a few on the forum that know them pretty well and can help you. As far as valves go, unless you're talking about the VTEC, not much different than any other bike from what I hear. Chain, sprocket, tires, oil, coolant, clutch/brake fluid should be replaced once you take possession of it, unless you know that it was just replaced. That's my 2 cents.

 

LIke OOTV said, chain, tires, battery, brakes all are just bike stuff. sounds like other than a couple minor glitches, its a good deal. Valves, depending on your skill level aren't to bad. The carbs can by APITA so might want to make sure it's not a grabby clutch making it stall out too. Those 3rd gens are a sweet bike.

 

Hows the body work, its a 25 year old bike its not gona be perfect but you cant discount the condtion of the scooter. I bought a 93 that turned over but did'nt rraun with complete body work for $500 and I had to use my trailor to bring it home. Needed lots of tlc, when I work on the carburetors on these bikes, I go for OEM stuff except for chain and sprockets, which btw were replaced. Each carb kit is gona cost you $25.00 or so, you need the bowl gaskets and then you need the needles and assorted o-rings. Two different kits for each carburetor. Its easy to get to them, use a nice pry bar between the plenum and carb body and wha-lah. You have to replace the T-stat when your into the carburetors its just a prudent thing to do. My bike required break over-hauls, clutch slave (new) fork seals, regulator, battery, seat cover, list goes on.

These are solid engines, your test ride problem is carburetor related dollars to donuts. Valves stay in adjustment for the life of the engine pretty much, 91 80,000 mile bike never needed any adjustment, if it did, the cams come out fairly easy as they are gear drive with no cam chain or tensioner. I got my 93 as a labour of love and felt lucky to get it, as I said above, all I knew was that the motor turned over, if it ended up being a dud, I could have sold the rear 8 spoke wheel for $300 and cut my loss. Good luck and dont forget pictures. BTW I love the Kawasaki Sherpa, wish I could get one.

 

Thanks for the info guys! I am mostly concerned with how long it took to crank over, Although now that I remember it the choke wasn't on fully, but it was already warm from him riding it and it was in the middle of a hot summer day. Not sure why it would even need it. This is a bike I will commute 80 miles a day with so it needs to be very reliable.

 

Thank you for the detailed response! I took my go pro on the test ride so I may upload the video tomorrow and share with you guys so you can hear the bike. I am in love with that sound!!

 

Starting and stalling issues are most likely carb related and a thorough cleaning should cure them. Treated and maintained properly, the VFR name is synonymous with reliability. If the bike is nice cosmetically and runs well, he's a fool to trade you lol. Not knocking the Kawi in ANY way, just saying. Find the trigger and pull it.

 

Here's the Go Pro footage of me riding the bike, I start riding it at roughly the 45 second mark. I show some high RPM pulls, especially at 5:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACGrfuiQELE

One last thing I forgot to note is that the bike does "pop" quite a lot, you'll hear it in the video. I'm not sure if it's from the bike running rich? Or maybe bad cat? Idk. Doesn't seem like a big deal.

 

Nice video! My 93 with the yoshimura slip on is louder and burbles on decell only, compared to my 91 with a V&H slip on. Bike sounded good, 93 has more personality than the 91, but 91 is a member of the family as i had it for 20+ years. Be sure to post some pictures of your new scooter

 

Change out the sparkplugs.

 

Go for it. You will be happy you did. All those issues can be worked out easily.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

This is not a plug for sparkplugs.

 

I've had really good luck with Lucas Oil Fuel Injector Cleaner in a KTM 990 Super Duke. Evidently, the injectors were gunked up pretty badly. It took 2 one 3 tanks of treated gas. The ol Dukie starts right up now, and I think pulls harder than ever.

I don't know if Fuel Injector Cleaner works on carb'd bIkes. But I don't see why not. I'd throw plugs at it, also.

Green light!

 

Hard start, failure to idle and deceleration pops are all carb related, probably the pilot jet circuit is partially blocked, maybe also the starter enrichment circuit. That measn the bike has been allowed to sit for some months while fuel slowly evaporates, leaving behind gunk that blocks the tiny passages. The pilot jet and the starter circuit have the finest port sizes so get clogged well before main jet.

Deceleration pops are related to lean conditions during engine braking, and the Keihin carbs have air cut valves that allow an enrichment circuit to operate under these conditions. A clogged fuel circuit would prevent these from running.

If using some injector cleaner doesn't work (and if the jets are properly plugged, it probably won't), you'll need to get the carbs out and do some basic cleaning. You may or may not need new bowl gaskets, and that won't be obvious until you try and remove the bowls. I have a 1990 ST1100 which I had to do carb work on this year, and I only needed one bowl gasket. A wise investment would be the carb inlet rubbers that connect the carb to the engine, these get old and hard, make carb mounting tougher than it needs to be, and can give unhelpful air leaks. I bought OEM bits from Partzilla.



Here's a guide to cleaning carbs on the ST1100 which is also a V4 and uses a very similar layout the the VFR, so you can see what you might be getting into.

http://www.st-riders.net/index.php?topic=10249.0

 

Get a service manual. Free online.

 

Yeh, the insulator boots are gona be baked oot after years and heat cycles, should buy 4 new ones for sure. Plug plug ; ) rode my 93 today, i do 75 miles round trip. Its wide open roads and triple digit speeds most of the way, bike rides well. I have a Penske shock that controls the aft along with some traxxion dynamics springs up front. You can ride this bike over any irregularity at what ever speed you want and its still compliant. 91 got gold valves, race tech springs and a fox shock. That is a better bike far as rideability and just feeling like one with me :loco:

 

And? what's the verdict? trade or not? From the video that's a major up grade, even though there's some minor hic-ups. Chain pff, clutch pff, those are no biggie. Carbs, sounds like a cleaning could be in order pilot jets? also look at the ports for where they attach the sinc lines, those little rubber boot plugs cause some grief now and then, or maybe just run some quality fuel.

 

hes keeping us hanging, just took my 91 oot today, what a smooth put together scooter. Even with 80,000 miles its as good as the bike I got with 20,000+ miles. :vtr2: gota feed my infant, ound: Cheers

 

Hi guys! Sorry about the delay! Wow, I'm blown away by the amount of feedback I've gotten, I think i'm going to enjoy it here Because I pulled the trigger and am now a proud owner of a 1991 Honda VFR750!! I'm very excited to get things rolling with this bike I had a great day with her bringing her home, went through the twisties and the bike handles rather well, despite it's weight. I cleaned the chain and wow! It is GOLD! It was soo dirty that I thought it was black, haha crazy... Thanks for all the comments! I'm going to be a frequent here, and I'll make videos as I go along and reports, etc. Maybe a build thread. Who knows... anyway, here's some pics!

 

woot woot, nice score. I say the little details will be part of the adventure. It's amazing what a little tlc will bring out huh Now go top off the tank with some good ole premium, my version is Chevron, and see how it goes.