5th Gen acts as if someone turned the key off then on...

a little more detail:

This is regarding a 2001 5th Gen

This just started happening today throughout an 850km ride from Port Hedland to Exmouth I found that occasionally while coasting to a stop either in neutral or by pulling the clutch maybe 4 out of 9 times the bike would shut itself off and the dash would reset, but not the clock or the trip meter. and on one occasion the kill switch was off with the key turned to "on" and the dashboard reset. it would turn back on no problem and seemed to run great. when I try to replicate it of course I can't trigger the symptom. additionally (though hopefully* unrelated) one of my dash lights went out today. I was a bit too tired to mess with it after the ride so I'll check her out tomorrow, I'm thinking maybe the kick stand safety sensor is a good place to start? I'm curious to see what you guys have to say. any recommendations? and no FI light popping up either.

 

Do yourself a favor and strip the bike of the body panels and look at all of the main wiring harness connectors, particularly the frame ground and the Stator/RR. Also check the battery terminals to make sure those are not corroded and the connections are tight. While you're there do 'The Drill'. Considering you only have 5 post as of this one, so unless you just been lurking for some time, you are probably not familiar with the issues the VFR (and other bikes for that matter) suffer through with electrical gremlins.

Unfortunately I'm on my iPad so I don't have my short cuts to some of these threads, but doing a search for 'The Drill' should produce at least a handful where the process is described. You'll need a volt meter and basic tools to do the job, you have the forum here if you have more questions. There are a few members down under that might be near you if you don't have the means to do them yourself. Could be a nice cold beer or two could entice one of them to come by and lend a hand.

 

Port Hedland is a long way from anywhere. I'm in Oz, but I'm over 5000km away. If it's any consolation my 5th gen behaved exactly the same way. It had the usual fried connectors you'll read about in ' the drill'. I now have an R1 reg rect all hard wired. Good luck with it.

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I should have mentioned I also have a switched voltmeter meter mounted on the triples too.

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yup! been a long journey. I've got a new r/r in there and I actually have a spare in transit. it just landed in Broome last night (I missed it by 2 days, damn). I keep an eye on the connectors which look fine, I just went through the drill in Mount Isa about 3 weeks ago and it turned out my brand new battery was the culprit. but I'll check it all again and see how we go. the confusing part is the clocks don't reset. last time it happened to me the clocks would reset to default.

 

and yes, I lurke, i search, I read, you guys have solved so many problems for me the past 8 months on this trip with my 5th Gen without me even asking. much thanks for that!

 

Sounds like a brilliant trip. Very Jealous. The one Achilles heal of the VFR. I fried one battery and an RR, hence the voltmeter. If you ever have the chance it'd be great to hear of your trip. And if you're ever on the east coast again, I'm in the Blue Mountains just out of Sydney. Give me a shout and I'll show you some roads to enjoy around here. Best of luck.

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alright so we're back to the drill and while cold she seems to reflect the proper numbers across the battery terminals, I checked the diodes on the r/r and what I'm finding is a little confusing for me. connecting the two red terminals (either way) results in a 001 on my multimeter, connecting the two greens (either way) results in 001. connecting the positive to any green and negative to any red results in

it is to my understanding that should read between 500-600? according to all the videos and documents I've reviewed.

 

The lack of the clock reset sort of tells us that the circuit to the dash was not interrupted, which is typical of battery/stator/RR issues. So that may also tell us that the issue could be at or along the ignition wiring. There was one post that someone did where the wires going to the ignition were frayed and were shorting out or loosing continuity, can't remember, but ultimately it was the wires going tot the ignition.

 

Was in the Blue Mountains in May, a day in the 2 weeks we spent on the Eastern side of your country. Bought two hats there, a baseball type with the Three Sisters embroidered on it, and a proper big-brimmed hat that was made in AU.
That was before I bought the VFR, or I'd have looked you up, to tip a beer if nothing else. Lovely place to live, I think.

 

Small world. I think it's pretty special. I've climbed the Three Sister's few times, before they banned it, and when my bones were younger. There's some great riding roads not too far from here with nice views. Plenty of good places to eat and drink along the way, although I'm always 'dry ' on the bike. If you are ever back this way...

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it's the wires going into my ignition barrel, thanks for the replies, time to dig into this sucker

 

Pull off your seat and fairings. Then check all your connections. Particularly the:

Main Fuse holder
Big blue connection
Big Grey connection
Orange ground block
Ignition key switch to main harness
and the already said rr to stator (but being as you have a voltmeter and didn't mention a voltage issue, this doesn't sound charging related)

 

found it. it's the wires going to my ignition barrel. gonna get in there and take off the shrink wrap tomorrow and tape em up.

 

Yeah I burnt the connector going to my ignition barrel a few years back. Same issue and symptoms.

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