Out of Ideas

I always have to take a deep breath and do the whole *sigh* thing whenever I hear that someone reworked the wiring on a bike to make to run better or to accept a replacement part that isn't OEM. My buddy has me working on his '90 VFR750 right now that was dying out after 20 mins of riding... consistently. The battery was toast, the non-OEM regulator burned out (now replaced) and now I have the fun of going through the mess of the wiring adaptation that the previous owner left him after fitting a 'cooler' one piece paddle saddle with integrated lighting, and some intense rewiring of the main lighting harness. It's got a ground somewhere in the system and was drawing nearly 9 amps with the key on. The system just couldn't hold that kind of draw and burned out his R/R and completely sulafated his brand new battery.

I'd recommend checking as much of that wiring as you can, replacing old connectors as needed and trying to restore things back to OEM spec. They designed these things as they did for a reason. They may have bugs in em, but not every fix we come up with is 100% and without its own problems.

Good luck!

 

Rule #1

You cannot diagnose ANY electrical problem until you have a SOLID source of 12 volts.
Many people have worked many hours or days on a electrical problem and purchased many new electrical parts only to find out the battery was no good.

Rule # 2

A 12 volt battery is actually 13.2- 13.8 volts when charged.
Because each cell is about 2.2 volts x 6 cells.

Rule # 3

You cannot see electrons, but you can measure them.
Meaning you need a volt /ohm meter to work on electrical problems.

 

it is the white connector (i.e. what used to be white connector) and the need for a heavier gauge ground wire. If it goes beyond that, you know why the previous owner sold it.


.........

 

We do not know what a previous owner may have done. (anything is possible).
But grounds are almost always GReen or Black on a factory harness.

You need a workshop manual to look at the wiring diagram.
YOU CANNOT DO THIS JOB WITHOUT A WORKSHOP MANUAL WIRING SCHEMATIC. Read this again.

If you have a volt /ohm meter you can easily check to see if the wire is connected to ground. Set your meter on ohms x1000, and check for continuity.

 

I have got a multimeter, - and a new battery. It's giving 12.96v when charged, and having fitted the new harness last night, it's showing about 14.3 at idle.

I know you're trying to help n all, and I appreciate that the R/R heatsink is gonna get hot at times, given that its purpose is to radiate heat away from the internal components, but the R1 R/R heatsink I trimmed down still had at least 3 times the surface area of the OEM part after I trimmed it to fit.

I'll go back over everything, and check the state of the ground connections.

I don't wish to cause offence, or seem ungrateful for the advise, and I don't know if it's your intention or not, but the use of BLOCK CAPITALS to EMPHASIZE YOUR POINT can seem a little patronising...

 

Having fitted the VFRness and got it running for the first time in nearly four weeks, (bliss!), We got about a foot of snow here overnight, so I now still can't go for a ride.

 

Sounds like you are on the right track.
I only capitalize to emphasize something important - not to be condescending.
I AM trying to help you. Good luck. Sincerely. Don

 

Smart move not riding in the snow/ice?
You may get to be my age and still be riding motorcycles.

 

we TRY NOT to condescend here...although it happens.....besides your new enough , that we want to keep you around after you get your answers....that being said, you should hang out here more often ...
now get that "awesome" bike ridden so we can tell if the "brains" of tis organization has helped at all... oh yeah... feel free to post up any and all pictures of said beasty....We like pictures

 

Believe me, as soon as it thaws out, I'll be spending every spare moment I have on it - probably whilst grinning like a loon!

A couple of pics are attatched, as requested.

Most of the fairing panels are pretty tired, so there are many smarter Viffers on show here I don't doubt, but none more loved! (a risky comment, i'm sure...)

 

That's fair enough - thanks.

I'm still tinkering at the mo', as it's still a little too slippery here to be riding, tempting though it is....

Does anybody have any suggestions on what sorta resistance my ground connections should be giving?

Can't find anything in my workshop manual that gives a suggested ideal reading, though it does have a pretty extensive electrical section.

I guess "the lower the reading the better" would be a safe assumption, but what would be too high? I'm currently getting 0.4ohms between the neg' bat' terminal connector and the grounding points on both the frame and engine block. Is this o.k, or shockingly high?? My cluelessness shines through again...

 

All grounds should be ZERO resistance.

 

So if I were to replace my current ground connections, would it be ok to run a (smaller the gauge the better i guess?) wire directly from the neg' bat' terminal to the grounding points on the frame and engine?
currently, the neg' bat' terminal connetion runs only to the grounding point on the engine, and the connection to the frame is taken from further along the wiring harness.

 

Use a 6 ga. wire if you can . The bigger the better. Stranded wire.

The bolt in the engine is steel and the ground wire is copper.
Make sure the bolt in the engine has a good clean fit.
If you take the engine bolt out and the hole in the aluminum engine case is full of white powder (corrosion), Then you need to clean that hole out with a wire brush or file and hit it with a little WD40.

 

Many owners attempt to self-diagnose their electrical problems, myself included, when a relatively well spent hour or less of diagnostic time at a trusted mechanic or dealer will no doubt diagnose your electrical gremlins and prevent you from wasting time and money on non refundable electrical parts. Most credible mechanics have the proper meters and such to properly diagnose your charging issues. Just a thought and suggestion. I have been down this road many times in the past and it can be very frustrating. I have a mechanic that I trust and just bring my bike to him if need be. Although it is satisfying to be able to work on your own bike, sometimes it is cheaper, faster, and makes more sense to just bring your bike to a competent mechanic and have it done right the first time around. Not to mention causing more harm to your electrical system, which I have done in the past. There is a very good reason that electrical parts have a no return policy.
Good luck and I hope you can get back on the road as soon as you can safely do so.

 

In theory, you are correct. Getting absolute zero depends on many factors and is often an unrealistic goal. The quality of the meter and the leads are the most crucial point, which can be tested by simply connecting the leads together and remembering to subtract this value from all further readings. All materials have some resistance and if there is any corrosion, which is not always visible to the naked eye, and the contact of the leads is not perfect, a small resistance may be found.

With this in mind, 0.4 ohms would be more than acceptable, IMHO.

:crazy:

 

Tentative Good Vibes...

Thankyou all for the help and the suggestions. I joined this forum in the first place 'cause I figured that if anyone would have the answers I was after, it'd be the guys that rode (and loved!) VFR's, and the advice has been hugely helpful.

So...

I cleaned up my ground connections, fitted the new wiring harness, went over as much of the rest of the bike's wiring as i could, fitted an R1 R/R, charged my battery, tested the charging rate, crossed my fingers, and went for a ride.

so far, so good. I've only covered 150 miles approx' since then, so I'm trying not to count my chickens, but it's still charging correctly, and DAMN it's good to be back on it!

Hopefully all continues positively, but I'll post again in 1000 miles or so, to confirm if all is still well.

Happy riding people!

 

cool consider yourself lucky that u got through it without a stator change.