Intro and troubleshooting

Discussion in '6th Generation 2002-2013' started by Legnd, Apr 2, 2017.

  1. RllwJoe

    RllwJoe Insider

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    I have had the panel lights go dark when I pushed the starter button before.
    The cause of which turned out to be a weak battery.

    You might want to have it tested, if you haven't already.
     
  2. B6_Dolphin

    B6_Dolphin New Member

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    With putting it away last fall w/o an idle issue, I'd suspect the quality of the fuel in the tank, especially if Fuel Stabilizer was not used. If that's the case, I would drain the tank and re-fill with fresh fuel.

    Untreated fuel from last fall will certain be less volatile, especially in this day and age with 10% ethanol added, and likely has some water content in it if the tank was not stored full.
     
  3. skimad4x4

    skimad4x4 "Official" VFRWorld Greeter

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    Hi Legnd and a belated welcome to the MadHouse from the far side of the Pond:welcome:.

    Congratulations on owning a red VFR - which are always the fastest:potstir:. (Also good to see someone still running a Goose - great fun bikes).

    :focus:

    It looks like all the usual suspects have responded to most of your questions. But if the mini-service on Saturday does not sort things out just post up again and hopefully someone will be able to help.


    For my 2p - I too suspect bad fuel (and/or rust) may be an issue here.

    As for idle speed - you say the bike was running fine prior to it being parked over winter. I guess if the bike was stored outside or in an accessible location there is a chance someone has been messing with the idle speed adjuster? Sadly it is sort of accessible to idiots, the same sort of idiots who feel it is fun to flip the kill switch on a parked bike...

    As for the Neutral light - check the easy things first - is the dash bulb blown? However your discovery of a loose stopper chain suggests someone has been tinkering and may have inadvertently disturbed something or simply not re-attached the wiring to the clutch switch.

    Standard T30s have proved to be a great choice for my VFR. However if you are planning loads of two up high speed touring with the bike fully loaded, then the stiffer construction of the GT might make sense. The downside of the stiffer tyres is they will have a bit less feel and flex than the stock tyre when riding solo.

    Good luck and when you are done - maybe post up some photos of the whole bike! As you will soon discover the folks on here like photos!



    SkiMad
     
  4. COS_VFR

    COS_VFR New Member

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    For the Neutral switch, before I pulled it I would just short the wire to ground and see if the lamp illuminates. Looking at the wiring diagram, the lamp circuit is completed when the Neutral switch shorts to ground. I would disconnect the wire from the switch and short it to ground, then turn on the ignition switch. If the lamp turns on the switch is the problem, if the lamp doesn't turn on its probably the lamp.
     
  5. zoom-zoom

    zoom-zoom Member

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    A friend of mine had an older Ninja 1000 and he started it up one spring and it barely ran, which seemed odd considering how well it had run the year before. It started and idled very erratically, but once it warmed up it smoothed out a bit. When he gave it some gas it shot a dead mouse and a bunch of bedding material out of one of the exhaust pipes. Idle improved greatly after that, but was still not perfect. After finding a large mouse nest
    in the airbox and cleaning it out, the bike idled and ran perfectly. Not saying it's the problem, but if the bike was stored outside or even in a garage (my buddies bike was in his shed under a tarp) it can't hurt to look and it's easy to check.
     
  6. Legnd

    Legnd New Member

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    Hey all. Got a tiny bit ahead of schedule and did an oil change. Not sure if I'm imagining it but it smelled like fuel to me. I'm thinking older bike, low milage = rusty tank (good call Joe) maybe a fuel injector stuck leaking all winter long. I'm going to grab some fuel injector cleaner and some fresh gas and run that though. I'll keep an eye on the 'oil' level and make sure that I'm not gaining fuel in there anymore. I'll give an update and let you know how the bike runs/if I'm still having the dying issues.

    Next is the neutral switch. How the hell do you get that thing off!! It's got a wire over it so you can't get a socket on it and 20 degrees of room between the engine case and exhaust. I've already rounded off a tiny bit of the corner, anyone have a better way than mangling the nut to get the neutral switch out?


    Thanks for the info guys, this forum is a wealth of knowledge. I still promise I'll post pictures when I get her back together.
     
  7. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    No need to remove the neutral switch for testing; instead, check that its terminal is grounded when out of gear and not gounded when in gear. :loyal:
     
  8. Legnd

    Legnd New Member

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    I know it's probably silly but mind giving me the idea of what terminal?
     
  9. B6_Dolphin

    B6_Dolphin New Member

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    [​IMG]

    It's the center (only) terminal.
     
  10. Legnd

    Legnd New Member

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    Gracias dolphin. That made so much more sense. I tested it and it is indeed the switch that is dead. I connected the wire to ground and I get a neutral light! New switch is ordered and should be in sometime this week. <$20, not too bad.

    Got everything buttoned up and then RAIN :dread:

    Hoping to wake up early tomorrow and do some riding before the Easter activities kick in. Yes I'll take pics!
     
  11. Legnd

    Legnd New Member

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    Update you guys wanted! Again, thank you all for the help. I'm hoping to have this bike for a long while. It's a much appreciated upgrade after 5 years on my old GS500.

    Got out and about today for a short ride. Bike is working perfectly again! (Besides the neutral switch but that's already ordered)

    Bike fires right up, idles at 1200 perfectly and is back to her old pre-issue self. I'm going to keep an eye on oil level and run some injector cleaner through next tank, anyone have any favorites?

    As promised here are pictures. Probably can't tell but she is actually dirty too. No, clock is not correct.

    IMG_20170416_094059798_HDR.jpg IMG_20170416_094110488_HDR.jpg IMG_20170416_094121190_HDR.jpg IMG_20170416_094134264_HDR.jpg IMG_20170416_094146995_HDR.jpg
     
  12. RllwJoe

    RllwJoe Insider

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    I like SeaFoam to clean the fuel system.

    About 1 ounce per gallon.

    Good job with the camera by the way.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2017
  13. wiremanjon

    wiremanjon New Member

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    Excellent, now go ride! The season is upon us.
     
  14. Legnd

    Legnd New Member

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    Instead of starting a new thread I figured I'd continue my working with the bike in this thread. I have a couple bigger trips planned this summer and I'd like to get preventive with the electricals of the bike. I just want to double check here before I do something wrong.

    First: blue connector + green ground wires. Not too hard, Make a Y with the green wire on each side of the connector connected and then grounded to the nearby bolt.

    Second: Rectifier sense wire. Black wire coming from REG/REC going straight to the POSITIVE terminal of the battery. I plan on fusing it; 10A a big enough fuse or should I go higher? See picture of my thoughts. I'm gleaning info from http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/forums/topic/34762-6th-gen-monitor-wire-fix/ and http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthread.php/50566-Electrical-Loads post 10 (PS, thanks Jeff!)
    sense wire.jpg
    Third: 30 A fuse redo. This one I'm a little more lost on. Well, I just haven't read as much up on it as the others. From my understanding the stock wire is too small and fries the 30 A fuse holder instead of blowing the fuse. This thread seems to cover it pretty well, might as well do that while securing the electricals of the bike. http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/forums/topic/29737-how-to-replace-30amp-fuse-wires/


    Are there any other obvious flaws that I'm missing and would be better off just replacing/beefing up now. Would you guys want pictures of these? The threads linked seem to do a great job but is more always better? (More-so I found a lot of the threads that had links were 404'd. I could gather all the 6th gen electronic fixes in one spot as I plan to do them anyways.)
     
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