2000 VFR 800 no start

Hi all. Long time VFR fan, had a mint 91 VFR 750 back in the day, always wanted another. Rode a friends 1999 VFR and had to have one. Today, I bought a damaged 2000 VFR 800.

Here's the story...

Bought it from an older guy who rear ended a car. Damage is fairly minor really, usual stuff (upper fairing, gauges, fairing bracket, headlight). I bought it cheap expecting some issues. From the bars back, it's in great shape. Not a mark on the tank, both mirrors fine, even the windshield is good. So I know the impact wasn't severe. After he hit the car, the bike fell on it's right side scuffing the stator cover. No other damage.

The bike has a new battery in it. It cranks over fine, but is not getting spark and the fuel pump is not running. No Voltage to fuel pump connector under tank with key on. I can jump the fuel cut off relay and get the pump to run, still no spark. I removed the bank angle sensor and tilted it from side to side and you can hear the engine stop relay clicking, I also measured at the relay and its 0.5 V at rest and goes to 12V when bank angle sensor tilted. So that works. I am getting 12V at the red wire on the ign switch when key off and 12V at the red/blk and blue/red wires when key on. All fuses in fuse box ok, as well as fuses A and B. Sidestand switch and clutch safety switches both operating normally.

The bike has no guages on it right now, connectors are not damaged. Wiring at area of impact seems fine. So here's my question (s):

Does the bike need guages to run? i'm wondering if the ECM does not see oil pressure (oil pressure switch sending info to guages and then to ECM), so not allowing fuel and spark. What voltage should I see on the pink wire at the ignition switch (goes from switch to ECM)? I am unable to download the service manual from here for some season, so will be using an old school paper manual, picking it up tomorrow.

I hate for this to be my first post, it won't be my last and i'll post some pics and let you know my progress. Any other input would be great!

 

I can't remember for certain, but I thought I remembered reading a post a while back about their bike not starting when the gauges were unplugged. Something to do with the neutral light and the side stand safety switch. Hopefully someone will chime in soon with a definitive answer.

As for the manual download problem, I too had an issue downloading the manual. When I tried to do the download at home on my laptop, the download failed twice. The next day at work, I tried the download again but this time on my desktop computer which is hard wired to the router (my laptop at home uses a wireless router) and the file downloaded fine. Not being a computer expert, I can not explain why, but maybe the file was just too large at 186 MB and took too long. My computer at work is older than my home laptop but it does have a LOT more RAM. Maybe this was the difference. If you have access to a different computer, maybe try downloading the file on a different machine and then saving it to a USB drive so you can load it on your computer. Just a thought.

 

Thanks for the reply. It makes sense that it won't start without gauges, looking at the wiring diagram the Neutral light and oil pressure switch both feed into the cluster and then to the ECM. If the computer can't see a signal from the gauges, it may not provide the ground path for the fuel cut relay.

I have purchased a set of used gauges as well as a used ECM and should have them soon, I'll post back my findings.

 

I do have to remove the upper fairing on my bike at some point this week as I have a burnt out bulb for my speedo. When I get the upper fairing off I'll unplug the gauges and see if it starts. Not sure if I will get to it until this weekend, but I'll let you know.

 

I got my used gauges and ECM today (thanks again ccrunner) and rushed out to the garage to try them out. First I plugged in the gauges and turned the key on. Still no fuel pump or spark. Damn. The I swapped in the new ECM. The fuel pump ran and the bike came to life. So life is good! I still can't figure out how the ECM got fried, all of the impact was at the front of the bike. The only thing I can think of is when the guages took the hit they shorted out and back fed the computer somehow.

Thanks for your comments zoom-zoom

 

It would still be nice to confirm whether the bike will start without the gauges, or not. If it's not too much trouble.

 

No trouble at all! The bike will start and run without guages.

 

I have not dismantled the vfr. Does it have a tps(tip over sensor)? My rc51 does. I got it cheap po dropped it and couldn't get to start. Tps was stuck. I fixed it and fired right up.