Omg! Flashing fi light no fuel pump, intermittent, and away from home

Yesterday on my way home I turned the key on and turned kill switch to run, waited for fi light to go out and pump to prime, except, it started flashing and didn't quit, I cycled the key and kill switch several times, pump primed and bike runs fine. It's doing it this morning too. Sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't. I don't have my books, and I don't have funds for honda garage. I'm thinking maybe kill switch or fuel pump relay, either bad or loose connection, but I know there could be other things wrong..,. Any wise words?

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Update. I went out to start up to go to job site, and no fi light for about 5 seconds then fizzled on. Sounds like bad connection, but still very limited with tools and info and have a 150 mile ride home this afternoon! And still blinking rapidly too

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Do you have a multimeter with you to check the battery voltage?

 

I do now. I'm a sparky by trade. Just got to work, won't be able to check it till we take our coffee break. Static or running should be what 13vdc, and running u said should around 15.something right?.,,if I can get it running that is, I putzed around with the kill switch for about 20 min this morning before the pump kicked in, flashed a few times and locked in btw

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If you can give us the flash sequence someone could look up the fault code for you.

 

There's no sequence. It's flashing 2 times a second or so, steady flash, until the relay latches and kicks the pump in. If it was a code I woukdbt be that worried, but while it's flashing the fuel pump doesn't work

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Your voltage spec does looks good for charging at idle & at 5,000 RPM. However if you can check the battery voltage after sitting that would be good. If the bike is charging but the battery is low, time for a new battery. (Something like 12.8 V = new, 12.2 volts = dead.)

Might as well check for a short. With bike off put the ammeter between negative cable and negative terminal. Should be < 3 mA.

From your thread title I thought you may have been stuck out of town. It sounds like, even though the bike is stuck at work, that you are safe, so I am glad about that.

 

I was asking about the voltages. I haven't taken a meter to it yet. If I can't get this thing running again, I will me stuck out of town, I'm the only guy on the site who lives in my direction, and of course today is turn over. Lol. It just worries me that the fuel pump circuit is what giving me probs, and I also read last night that the flashing light could point to a bad edu (gen 5)

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Sorry I meant by spec that yes, you can test the bike against the numbers you provided. But check the battery voltage before starting the bike, and check again with the key in the on position. The best thing that could happen is that the voltage would plummet and you pick up a new battery and be on your way.

EDU? ECU? I wouldn't worry about a computer at this point. They are quite robust. Unless the bike has a history of problems.

I see you are currently on a remote job site.

 

Yes ecu. Stupid auto correct. So I checked voltage.. Key off is 13vdc. Key on is 12.8. Also took a video of the flashing light...

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It won't let me upload the video.

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It appears it takes urls from some of the common service like Youtube, but probably not a video file. Don't know if this helps you.

If ECU related, some of the wires going into the ECU shake loose over the years.

 

I am assuming this is a 6th gen? Anyways I would start looking at the big blue connection (that is where all the fuel cut grounds run through, under the left hand side fairing). I would take that connector apart and clean/inspect it. I would do the same for the orange ground block, all the fuses and any other connection you can find, like the main fuse under the seat.

 

Yes. 04 6th gen. I think I just managed to link a video

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my money is on it being a bad electrical connection. Pull the bike apart and start checking.

 

Could a bad kickstand switch be causing this?

 

The kickstand switch was previously eliminated, I did check it tho and it's not the issue

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Well I got the bike home in the back of somebody's pickup truck it's still flashing on and off at speed there's no fuel pump turning on I checked every connector accessible with the Plastics off without removing the gas tank I just haven't gotten that far the day is done I need to sleep I put a different battery on it I jumped out the kill switch on the handlebar I trace the brown wire all the way to the blue connector I have good continuity ground has zero resistance from the fuel pump connector to ground I Tracy brown wire all the way to the blue connector I have good continuity I Tracy brown wire all the way to the blue connector I have good continuity ground has zero resistance from the fuel pump connector to ground I am really starting to worry about fuel pump being bad and overloading the circuit because I'm sure that the ECU has a thermal protection and I am also very worried that the ECU is bad I guess we'll find out tomorrow thank you guys for your help any other Insight you have would be greatly appreciated

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This probably won't help, but for future reference: I bet the VFR manual says to only use the key to turn the bike on and off, same as my 600RR manual. The fuel pump cutoff switch should only be used to cut the fuel pump for some reason. The reason I say this, is that on the 600RR, which has used the same or very similar control pod, people that use the kill switch as an on/off function, have the switch go bad and cause issues like this (I guess the solder inside the switch is not great and using the switch often exacerbates it's deterioration.) I don't think this is your issue since you said you jumped that connection, but hey, thought I'd add this for folks experiencing something similar.

 

Thanks for this tip! Don't use the kill switch and it will last longer.


The mfrs recommend not using it because one may leave the key in and leave lights on, and thus get stranded from a dead battery. I never worry about that. But I do worry of when this switch goes bad and none are available to replace it.