VF500F early deaths

Discussion in '1st & 2nd Generation 1983-1989' started by jrodrims27, Sep 30, 2015.

  1. jrodrims27

    jrodrims27 New Member

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    I know this has probably been beaten to death somewhere before but...

    I have an old 84 vf500f that I'm in the process of getting back on the road. Everything is in good shape, just changed out the head gaskets due to a minor leak. I've had this bike since new and I scour ebay whenever I can to pick up good spare parts. One thing I have noticed is the high number of dash units for sale with very low miles. So many of these bikes were obviously rarely ridden or just died an early death and have sat around somewhere for decades. I've had mine since new but it has had it's down times mostly due to crappy carb jets getting clogged. Is that the primary reason maybe? Carbs clog up way too easy and it's just way too expensive to pay somebody to clean them? I know that getting them off and on is no easy feat and takes practice to even make it practical. I remember waaaaay back in 1984 when after only a few months of riding my new bike, my carbs got dirty enough that the bike would only idle with the choke on. That was within the first 4 or 5 thousand miles. Since then, my bike has sat for very long periods of time as it only has 13,500 to show on the clock. Since I bought it, the carbs have been cleaned 4 times, the last two, due to inactivity, the first two from only normal use. Bad carb design? is this pretty typical with carb'd bikes maybe? Keeping this bike alive has been less than easy and frustrating at times and only somewhat rewarding. Within only the relatively small mileage, I already had damaged valve tips on 3 valves (probably due to paid for but undone valve adjustments) so I replaced those along with all the valve springs and stem seals while I was in there. CMS-NL has the valve springs right now if you need any. All the cams looked great though. Anyway, my point is that sometimes I'll see a dash for sale on ebay with over 40k miles on the clock but it's very, VERY rare. I'd say the vast majority have somewhere between 10 to 20 thousand miles with a surprising number with less than 10k. I haven't kept stats but I do remember saying "damn!!, those are some low miles!" quite a few times.

    Does anyone out there still have a well running vf500f? How many miles? How long have you had it? How often do you have to pull the carbs to clean the clogged pilots and choke circuit? Why do you keep yours alive? I'm just curious. BIKE PIC.jpg
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2015
  2. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    If riders would only read and follow the instructions in the owners manual alot of carb problems wouldn't happen. :disturbed: The manual states that the carbs should be drained prior to storage. Even better is to turn the petcock off and run the engine until it stops and carbs are (almost) dry, then open the float bow drain screws. In practice, with ethanol in our fuel, carbs can clog if fuel stays in the bowls for anything more than about 3 weeks.

    The most frequent cause of VF500 major mechanical demise, i believe, from what i've learned on this forum, is dropped valves due to ruined valve tips (due to high-speed valve float) caused by weak or inadequate springs----as you observed.
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2015
  3. jrodrims27

    jrodrims27 New Member

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    Hi Squirrelman, I've enjoyed many of your devil's advocate-type but accurate insights here when it comes to the vf500f. I see your stable is full of mostly aged carbed bikes. Your VTR 250's are certainly a close junior sibling to the VF500F. I was just wondering, do you use any fuel additives that have helped or have you just become a very adept carb rebuilder? Do you drain your carbs if you know your bike(s) might not see any action in a couple of weeks?
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2015
  4. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    No fuel additives for me but Stabil is something to try if you don't want to pull the drain screws. Yes, i usually drain the carbs if the bike is going to sit for more than 2-3 weeks.
     
  5. Poligrafovich

    Poligrafovich New Member

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    I have an 85 I bought in early 2012 with 53k miles. After going through it once it's been in my regular commuting rotation for most of four riding seasons. It just turned over 64k and I've had no trouble at all with it (he stupidly says out loud).

    What I do:
    • Run it regularly 8-9 months of the year, usually not more than 1 week idle in a stretch.
    • Feed it ethanol-free gas unless in a pinch.
    • Park it over the winter with a full tank of same, with stabilizer. I don't drain the carbs. Does this make me a bad person?
    • Add Seafoam to the first couple of tanks each season.
    • Don't flog it. I rarely take it over 9000 RMPM.
    • Change oil and filter every season. Rotella T6.
    • Adjust valves and change coolant every other season. Honda coolant.
    • Regularly remind it that it is loved.
     
  6. RobVG

    RobVG Member

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    + 1 on non-ethanol gas.

    Haven't had a carb problem on my 84 700 since running only no e.
     
  7. jrodrims27

    jrodrims27 New Member

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    Nice! I really enjoyed your previous posts on your 85 Poli. I'm glad to see one with a long, relatively high mileage life. I'd only seen one other one with anything over 40k+. Congrats on finding and keeping your gem alive. I'll most definitely heed your advice and suggestions going forward and hope those nasty valve dropping demons stay away!
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2015
  8. jrodrims27

    jrodrims27 New Member

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    I don't know of any non-e gas here in San Diego, I'll have to take a look, thanks!
     
  9. jeremyr62

    jeremyr62 New Member

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    If ever a bike needed copious TLC, the VF500 is it. Plenty of high milers in the UK though. They come up on Ebay every so often. They can do high mileage but can explode too.
    The highest I have seen is 100K on the belt conversion model that was sometimes referred to on here a good few years ago.
     
  10. jrodrims27

    jrodrims27 New Member

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    Yes, I did see the "belt-o-ceptor" out there. Anyone willing to engineer a belt drive system for his bike is probably overly attentive to maintenance by nature. I think perhaps the carbs being so hard to work on for the ordinary Joe or way too expensive to have cleaned and Honda's silly 8000 mile oil change interval recommendations might have contributed to so many early deaths. My problems to date have been mostly just carb related but also damaged valve tips due to bad (or no) valve adjustments and/or maybe crumby valve springs. Most recently a head gasket has me down at the moment due to my own ignorance of the corrosive, old (but nice looking) coolant.
     
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