This week's puzzler - why would the VFR not start? ...and an airbox SURPRISE!

Monday night my bike wouldn't start. The fuel pump would not run and the FI light stayed on. There was no voltage at the pump.

Tonight the pump ran and it fired right up. Anyone have a guess?

This worries me much more than if I had found a problem and fixed it. All I did was poke at it a bit with a meter.

ANY GUESSES? Any connections, etc... I should check?

Possibly unrelated? - I did find this:





yes, that is dog food. and not the kind I give my dog so it must have come with the bike 1,700 miles ago.

 

Well, that looks like rodents carried it there cause it seemed like a good place to camp. I would start looking closely for some wires in the area of the airbox that may have been chewed on a bit. They don't allways chew all the way through the wiring, they just want a taste!!! This may cause you're intermittent start/no start/no crank etc. Rodent damage sucks, be sure to clean up any suspect areas cause rodents tend to piss and shit where they eat and sleep without a care. Good luck sir

Edit: My 6th gen gave me the same problem a while ago, check the inline fuze holder under the seat near the battery if your 5th gen has one same as mine (I really don't know if yours has one, just a guess). It will look burnt and slightly melted, this is a common problem I hear with the VFR.

 

"This Weeks Puzzler"...I like the Car Talk reference. Anyway I have nothing of real importance to add...Metallican summed it up pretty good.

 

You'll probably find their home under the air box.

 

hmmm...hadn't thought of that. I guess I will be pulling the whole thing to check.

I did take a good look at the wiring and it all looks ok, no visible damage.

 

Yeah I love that show, and I remember hearing one where someone called in who had dog food coming out of their car's vents when they drove around...apparently the dog really liked going for a ride in that car.

 

Kibbles n Bits or Alpo??

 

Did the bike turn over and not start? or did the starter not turn? If your FI light came on there may be info in the memory of the ECM self diagnostics. Consult a shop manual, or do a search on how to read it...no special tools required. It may give you a clue as to what circuit was acting up...or got chewed on.

 

Rodents tend to set up camp in the valley under the throttle bodies, even worse their hobbies include chewing up the wiring in their spare time.

 

A lesson for all in the country... or anywhere for that matter because they are everywhere.

Last season I stored my 919 in a shed. When the weather warmed I dragged it out and was geared up / ready to go. Just before I pressed the starter button I saw flashbacks to the frozen tundra that was just a few short months ago. I had a vision of retrieving an old shovel from the same shed after having negotiated the waist deep snow. As I open the shed the light that entered revealed a single mouse running down from what appeared to be the top of the tranny on the bike. As the flashback subsided I decided to take a closer look at my airbox before I scootled down the road. When I opened the cover, there it was - a complete G dawg pimpin crib in my airfilter. The intricacy with which the disco balled ceiling and furniture had been made from the filter media were astounding. The sound system and art hanging from the wall were ready, at the turn of a crankshaft, to be sucked into the engine below. There was nothing left of the airfilter.

Check your airfilter before you ride if you have rodents!

 

Metallican and Dizzy are pointing you where you need to go. Check wiring and see if the ECU will give you a code to track down. You're going to find a loose, bare, or cut wire somewhere that led to this.

 

you gonna eat that? if not, dibs