85 VF700F Wont Stay Running??

I was riding my 85 VF700F the other day and out of nowhere it died, and now it just keeps dieing on me:frown:. For some reason the bike will run fine for a few minutes then randomly just die, and when I go to try to start it back up nothing happens when I push the starter button. I let it sit for few minutes then it will start back up and run just fine for a while before it dies again. If I keep the RPM high the the bike will stay running for longer but it still eventually dies. I've checked the fuel pump, replaced the fuel filter, checked the plugs, and made sure I still had a spark. Everything seem to be working so right now I'm at a loss. Has anyone ever had a problem like this before?

 

Seems like fuel starvation.......fuel cap vent???

If it won't even crank over, check your charging voltage with engine running.

 

I don't think that's it. My cap is relatively new and I tried running the bike with the cap open and it still does the same thing. I want to say it's an electrical problem since the starter button is also affected but I don't even know where to begin looking.

 

Check for burned wires going to top of starter relay/burned contacts..... and burned or partially melted main ground wire under seat.

 

No melted or burned wires but the plastic cover in the front of the relay is a little melted. The relay looks fine other than that.

 

the internal contacts can burn and not be visible from above

remove the connector plug, remove 2 10mm nuts that hold assembly together to inspect properly

 

Aside from a little melting around the contacts for the fuse band everything looks fine. My guess is the fuse has blown before and the band has been replaced.

 

NEXT thing to check would be the red connector plug between ingnition switch and main wiring harness......might need to remove upper fairing to access area.

 

well the connector seems fine but this time when the bike died and would not start I tapped on the ignition switch and I was able to start it again. It looks like my switch might be going bad and killing the bike.