6th Gen Wiring- Un-Commanded Engine Shut Off

6th Gen Pilots, I encourage you to check out the pictures below and make sure you are not affected by a wiring issue that can cause your engine to shut off with out warning. This happened to me four times over the course of regular commuting in San Diego.

My 2006 had 44,600 Miles when this occurred. The Highlight was when I exited the freeway and at the top of the ramp the light turned green and both lanes behind me were filled with cars wanting to make it through. The engine stopped, would crank but did not light off, and no FI light. Thankfully my emergency flashers worked. Fiddling with the fuses (Main Fuse B was HOT) I limped home on surface streets, staying close to the right side ready to get out of traffic if I had problems again.

The below pictures are of my buddies 2007 with 25,000 miles, exhibiting the same issues as my bike- fried wires feeding MAIN FUSE B (M/F-B for short). A little background for those who do not know the difference between the main fuses; Main Fuse A feeds all chassis electrical like starter, horn, headlights, stop lights, dash, turn signals etc- just like they did back when VFR's had carburetors. M/F-B powers all the Electronic Fuel Injection components like the computer, fuel pump, injectors, and ignition system. Much like when your battery cable is loose, the EFI won't operate correctly if there is a contact problem feeding power to the system. Hence an un-commanded shut off of the engine, and subsequent inability to restart the engine. getting so hot the wire turns from red to brown certainly doesn't help.

Hopefully the pictures below paint a better picture of what is happening.





If your M/F-B wire B is brown, then the wire and insulation have cooked enough to get brittle- don't go bending it because if you do the insulation WILL crack, and then you WILL have to replace it before riding again.

My first cure was to buy a new Main fuse wiring harness off a low mileage younger model 6th Gen (2008 I think- but don't quote me), and the wires on that harness were the same diameter as wire C in the pictures above. I rode around like that for a bit, but the fuse holder was still getting toasty to the touch so I cut the fuse holder out, and past the connection point that goes to wire C, and hard spliced in a heavy duty fuse holder with the same gauge wire as wire C. **warning, this will permanently alter your wiring harness. to include the main harness- get help before undertaking this if you don't know what your doing!!! I am getting ready to do this for my buddies 2007.

I want to apologize for two things: 10 my tardiness in sharing what I had found months ago, and 2) any mistakes in this post. its nearly 3 am, and I am forgoing bed to get this out.
If I get the chance to dig up some before and after pics from the replacement wire harness I used, I'll get them on this post.

If enough of you find this problem, I highly recommend filing a Vehicle Safety Complaint here: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/
Honda won't do anything simply because you E-mail them, but if the NHTSA starts talking about a number of issues being reported...... Maybe we won't need someone to die before this gets corrected... and yes, I did...

 

Yep. Very common issue lots of posts about this already on this forum.

Feel free to check out a thread entitled The Drill, as well as my electrical loads thread.

Honda issued a recall on the wiring harness. My 02 was updated Ann hunsicker wiring there. My previous 02 did not and I had to upgrade it myself. It's not a big deal to replace that wire and fuse holder.

 

Interesting to see this post.
I just went through similar issues commuting in NY and I went to find my ignition cut-off switch was a bit dirty and dingy where if rolling over a bumpy surface the motor would turn off. I noticed the ignition kill switch was VERY sensitive where if I just touched the rocker ever so slightly it would turn the motor off. Took it apart and cleaned/re-lubed the contacts with di-electric grease and it is good as new.

I did check the connections under the seat recently and all good so far.

 

http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthread.php/51258-Bike-Stalling-while-riding-ABS-light-flashing

been there, done that

 

The only Wiring recall found was at the front fairing sub harness. nothing at or near Main Fuse B.

 

Welcome to the club!

My repair...