FI light on & bike jerking. HELP this is my transport!

Hi all,
As stated this is my only transport. I om only on a small pension & had been wanting to get back on a bike for years but couldnt afford both a bike & car so i sold my car & bought my 99 VFR800 which i absolutely loved.
Now as of yesterday the FI light has come on & the bike stalled when i pulled the clutch in at an intersection. it started back up fine but upon lower revs its jerks, like when i go round a corner it stutters & im afraid it will either die mid corner or cut in hard & throw me out of the corner.

The bike seems to start back up & idles fine but when start riding the light comes back on & its starts jerkin at lower revs again. hard accelleration seems fine too. I thought i could hear a slight rattle noise too but cant be sure cause ive just changes helmets & everything soulds a little different with new helmet.

Please help me get back on road. Thanks.

 

In your manual it tells you how to do a self diagnostis by shorting out a plug under the seat. This will cause your fi light to pulse a certain # of times (giving a code) and is most helpfull in a situation like this.

 

Thanks for your very quick reply, its reasuring to know there are people quick to help.
i only have the small owners manual that i got with the bike & i have read it through 3 times & only thing it states about the FI light is that it lights when theres an abnormality in the PGM-FI system & if it comes on when riding to reduce speed & take to a honda dealer as soon as possible.

If someone has a pic of the workshop manual page regarding this or detailed info on what im to do it would be greatly appreciated.
I have near no mechanical knowledge but always keen to learn & have a go. Thanks

 

Also i have on a couple of occasions used E10 fuel (contains ethanol) to save money as its almost 10cents a litre cheaper. Is this bad? & could this have cause this problem?

 

Ok go to this page= http://vfrworld.com/forums/specifications/3161-downloadable-parts-catalogs-service-manuals.html= and download the 3rd down service manual(181mb), in that go to chapter 5 part 10 and it'll take you threw it-failing that i can email you the manual if your stuck!

 

Awesome. thanks for that. Unfortunately being on a pension i cant afford broadband so i am still restricted to dialup so downloading large files are not a good idea unless u got a couple weeks to wait lol.
I did some searching & found out how to do the test & this is what it comes up with. 1 short blink, 9 short blinks, 1 long blink, then just keeps repeating that.
So now im lost. is that 3 different codes or it all add up to one?
Thanks for all help so far

 

It will be three different codes. There is a pause between the series of flashes and I believe it will continue to loop through the stored codes that are in there and repeat them... that is how you will tell you've read all the codes.

What codes did it throw you?

As far as the E10... I'm pretty sure you are ok. The owner's manual says something about it and I think it either says 10% or 15% is ok.

 

By those codes, it looks as if you should clean all of the connectors.

 

I just saw that above my post you had listed the codes already.... my bad, I was really tired.

What is your temp when running at speed for a while? I recently went through the exact same codes with my 04... and it was dumping fuel down the cylinders. It wasn't causing issues running but my MPG was way way down. In the end, it turned out to be a stuck open thermostat. The FI system was telling the bike to use more fuel in an attempt to get the engine up to a higher temp for optimal emissions bullcrap. Once I replaced the thermostat, everything was fine.

The IAT and MAP sensors RARELY fail as they are solid state electronic parts. Check your connections like Benny said but you will likely find that something else is causing both of those sensors to be reading outside normal values and throwing you those codes.

The one long blink means that it has reached the end of the stored codes if I remember correctly.

Simply because you do not know how long those codes have been there, you may want to follow the steps to clear the memory and then go ride the bike a bit and see if they come back... Then you will know for sure that you have the correct codes and tracing down something current... not a random code that the computer corrected in the past yet was still stored.

I had a pretty long thread about this somewhere and it took me a few weeks to narrow it down.

 

Thanks guys,
I did clear the memory & took the bike for a quick run around town for a bout 10 mins. Bike ran fine & no light came on. So i dont know if i need to take for a bigger run.
I will try to locate where the sensors are today & clean the contacts anyway.

On a cool day on highway temp can sit about 78 from memory, warmer days low 80s & in & around town on warmer day low 90s although on a real hot day (42degrees) i was stuck in traffic & it got to 110.
Dan

 

ok. went for ride yesterday after clearing the codes. the FI light has not come back on but i still have some jerking. The jerking or missing occurs just on the very edge of accelleration. just at the point where ur not backed off but ur not accellerating, ur just holding it there slightly to keep ur momentum. On acceleration its fine.
Dan

 

Read the codes again and see what is there... Many times the system will store codes despite the FI light not coming on. Since they were just cleared, you will know that the codes are recent and related to your problem.

 

Oh... and your temps are spot on what the should be. When it is warmed up, the temp should stay at 78C and above. Its when things stay below 75 even after warmed up that it will start giving you issues.

 

ok. update. went for 40km ride yesterday & FI light came back on & continued jerking upon slightest acceleration. got home & found out i had to go to sydney (400km away), with only half hour to get ready i was nervous about the bike breaking down halfway. so since light came back on i did quick check & came up with 1 falsh so seems would be MAP sensor. other flashes previously would have been from old issues before i got the bike.
Any i located what i believe was the MAP sensor & with no time to clean contacts i just unplugged it & pushed it in & out a half dozen times & reconnected it hopeing it was better than nothin.
Well im now in sydney & the bike ran smoothly all the way here (5 hours ride). The light never came on & there seemed to be no issues at all.
Im hoping it was just a dirty connection as yous have stated. Will see how the trip home on monday goes.
Thanks to everyone who have helped & who have helped teach me the VFR way.
Dan

 

The MAP sensor is attached to the bottom right side of the airbox via a single screw. It has a single round electrical connection, has a spot for a vacuum line, and the body of it is square. Sounds like you've got it. When you get home, buy some electrical contact cleaner and give both the wiring harness end and the MAP sensor a good cleaning to make sure you have a good contact for the long term.

Glad to hear things are working well again.

 

Well done- sounded like fuel starvation alright! Fair play!

 

CHECK YOUR GROUND CLUSTERS....CUT THEM AND TAKE DIRECTLY TO BATTERY ( - ) had the same problem after doing all above i check the Ground cluster under tank and had one bad connection......the ground for the ECM..... have never had a problem since for 30,000 km +

P.s Use Bigger wire to the negitive of the battery to handle load
the bad news is if any of the above dont fix it u need a new ECM

 

Read above....

 

Well i did reply when i returned from sydney but it seems to have dissapeared or maybe i just dreampt it.
Anyway i did the 400km trip home from sydney without a problem & have since done 2 more trips to sydney & back (3 trips in 3 weeks, approx 2500kms) & have had no more problems at all. I was thinking of unplugging the map sensor & cleaning out the contacts properly but while the bike is runnin fine i dont really wanna touch it.
I lowered the bike about an inch front & rear before the last trip & feels great. I love the look of a low bike. Would like to go lower but dont want it to bottom out.
Anyway the bike is runnin great so now just need new front tyre, hopefully santa will bring me one but i highly doubt it LOL