Electrical Issue?? Please Help!

Discussion in 'Mechanics Garage' started by V4maniac, Jun 27, 2011.

  1. V4maniac

    V4maniac New Member

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    Hey Everybody -

    I've got a 97 vfr with 19k miles. The bike has been running normally until today. I took an advanced rider safety class today in pretty hot weather, with many stops and starts at low speed (much like stop and go traffic). The bike was fine at first then started acting very strange. It began to perform poorly as if down on power. It also seemed to have a very different exhaust sound - all of this made me think it was not running on all cylinders. It also lacked its usual pep when the throttle was cracked. I then sat out the next exercises to let the bike cool down. After a while I rejoined the class and it seemed to be a bit better but still not "right". Next, I went out and had no throttle response and the bike died completely. I still had all dash functions and bike would turn over but it would not start. I then parked the bike for over an hour to allow full cool down. When the class ended the bike started up and ran home like nothing had happened.

    I'm wondering if I've go some sort of electrical issue that cutting spark when in extreme heat. R/R issue? Not sure because like I said, all dash functions were working and the bike turned over like normal....

    Thanks for any advise you can give me!
     
    V4maniac, Jun 27, 2011


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  2. Spike

    Spike New Member

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    What year bike? Could be the dreaded R/R issue, although part of what you said doesn't jive with that. I know I had issues on my CBR when I took the ERC course years ago. You spend so much time at idle, and a lot of modern bikes don't put out enough juice at idle to meet the needs of the bike, so you slowly drain the battery. In my case, it caused the alarm to think someone was stealing the bike by draining the battery, so the alarm cut off the fuel and wailed away, while I was in line for an exercise.
     
    Spike, Jun 28, 2011


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  3. tinkerinWstuff

    tinkerinWstuff Administrator Staff Member

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    boiled off the fuel in the carb float bowls.

    sitting there in high heat without moving cooks the fuel in the carbs. you aren't burning enough gas to allow cooler fuel in. Eventually the fuel boils and evaporates away. Once it cools down, fresh fuel is finally allowed into the bowls without boiling off and the bike runs normally. The carbs are sitting on top of a 230degree engine (water temp anyway) and wrapped in plastic with no airflow.
     
    tinkerinWstuff, Jun 28, 2011


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  4. V4maniac

    V4maniac New Member

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    Thanks for the input guys. Hey TinkerinWstuff, is this normal or is something not functioning properly? Nobody else's bikes had any issues. Also, I've been stuck in horrible traffic in high temps before on other vfrs without issue. Just curious. I was thinking along same lines as you tho - what if my pilot jets are clogged not letting much gas in anyway, plus the extreme conditions....
     
    V4maniac, Jun 29, 2011


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  5. tinkerinWstuff

    tinkerinWstuff Administrator Staff Member

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    I haven't heard of it on a VFR but it's not uncommon in carburated engines. People used to make fuel chillers for their old muscle cars by running copper coils in a coffee can - then place ice in the coffee can.

    I used to have this happen on my Yamaha Grizzly 660 ATV which was water cooled. The carb tucked up inside the plastic would get hot even though the engine didn't over heat.

    Obviously it's impossible to say for certain over the interwebz diagnosis but it would be my first guess. I've been to those classes and know how hard it is on a full fairing bike idling in wait and hardly getting to move more than 15mph for 100yrs at the most. The temp that day, humidity, barometric pressure will all contribute to the boiling point of gasoline and conditions could have been just right to cause you a problem.

    If the bike runs fine normally - from idle to 1/4 throttle; then I doubt you have plugged pilot jets. If the bike has any issues on a daily basis, regardless of conditions, I'd give cleaning carbs a shot.
     
    tinkerinWstuff, Jun 29, 2011


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