93 VFR unkown electrical issue

Hello everyone, so I know electrical problems are always popping up with these bikes and I have been able to keep them at bay for the most part but recently I have been struck by a problem that I cannot figure out.

I only take my bike out once or twice a week if I am lucky and the initial start up is fine but that is when the random problems start. Either it will start up and run fine until it is warm or it will make a sort of electrical popping noise and go dark. When it starts up and runs it acts normally until it gets warmed up and then when I come to a stop or red light it will die and not start back up. Once it dies the first time the battery seems to be completely drained and will not have enough power to crank over. It can be bump started but will not last long, it will die as soon as I slow down or stop.

When riding for a while I also notice the dash and headlights going dim.

I thought I had a bad ground but I checked the battery and grounding wire and everything is tight. I also checked all the starter relay connections, stator connections, and most other connections. There is no sign of burnt wires or corroded connectors.

The stator was also checked following the procedure on wiremybike.com

I have a new battery and a new reg/rec from wire my bike so those are not an issue.
Also ordered a vfrness but with the current wiring looking good I don't think that is a problem.

Sorry for rambling and jumping around but I am just trying to get most of what I can remember written down. Any pointers or thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the help!

 

Look for a short. Before starting the battery should have some charge to it. With the bike off put an ammeter between the negative terminal and negative cable. This should measure < .003 Amps or 3 mA. If higher pull fuses until it drops. That is the problem circuit. If no dice there could be a short in a circuit the key activates like the starter circuit.

For a thorough procedure follow "The Drill" thread on this website. I blogged the Drill post so you can find it by looking at my blog entries.

 

Thanks for the input. A short could definitely be it. Funny enough I just had to chase a short in my car a few months ago so I am familiar with the procedure. Can't believe I haven't thought to do that yet.

Another piece of information, when I was checking the voltage of the battery to make sure it was alright, it had a solid reading of 12.4 with the key off and when I turned the key on it dropped verrrry low. Can't remember the exact number but it was extremely low, less than a volt I think. So a short somewhere in the starting circuit could definitely be the culprit

Edit: I completed the drill last weekend and everything was in order.

 

Battry dropping that low to me sounds that it is buggered for whatever reason.. The fact it drops does not indicate a problem in the starting circuit, it is an ignition circuit problem

 

I discovered that voltage drop before I replaced the battery, but I still don't think the battery is the issue, I think the old battery was still good. Definitely leaning towards thinking some sort of short. Hopefully I will be able to pull fuses tomorrow and see if I can figure out what system is the problem.

Any tips on trouble shooting the ignition circuit?

 

If a battery will drop that low that fast indicates a short and a short that severe would start smoking things up really fast. Battery voltage just doesn't vanish, unless there is a bad battery connection somewhere

 

Wanted to give an update on what is going on with the bike and hopefully learn a little more. So I went to start the bike up this morning and everything was great, battery was reading 12.4 at idle and 13.7 at 5000 rpm. I let it run for a little while and then turned it off. At this point everything was acting normal and I thought I was in the clear.

I then installed the vfrness that I have been holding onto for a couple weeks. Checked everything again, and voltages were all the same(normal).

I am still cautious about being stranded so I took it for a couple laps of the neighborhood to see if it would die on me after about 15 minutes. Sure enough once it was hot and I slowed down for a stop sign the idle became very rough and then it died on me. Dash lights became very dim and the bike would not crank over. I let it sit for a few minutes and was able to bump start it and make it back home, only 100 yards or so.

It seems that the longer it sits now the higher the voltage in the battery which is strange. I checked the battery voltage when i made it back to the house and it was right at 11 volts, it is slowly increasing as it is cooling down, currently at 11.7.

I pulled every fuse and checked voltage at the battery with ignition on and off and besides the headlight fuse voltages were basically the same with ignition on or off.

Also checked current for a parasitic drain on the battery and read 0.000 mA. Not sure if that is normal or should I be seeing some sort of current.

Any thoughts or input will be greatly appreciated. It is very strange to me. It seems that some component fails or shorts when it gets hot and I have no clue what it may be. Im sure once it sits for a few hours it will be able to start up again.

Thanks!

 

Since a brand new battery is at around 12.8 Volts, then 12.4 V would mean power is being lost and would not sustain the battery where it needs to be.

Things like the clock and the resistance of the wiring harness mean a slight loss at all times, so there should be some current. The maximum acceptable drain is 3 mA, and the bike is typically near that, between 2 and 3 mA.

 

I have no clock on my bike. And I figured that having no current was a little bit strange. I am just frustrated that I am coming up blank on fixes for this issue.

 

Do you have the factory service manual to troubleshoot the ignition?

 

Go back and do the drill, with the motor hot, seems like the stator is sucking the power after it warms up

 

Howdy. Figured I would give an update now that I have everything sorted out. Turns out all of the issues I was having was due to a bad stator. I took my bike to a shop to have them figure it out and after about 6 weeks of waiting and headaches the bike was finished and fixed. They also replaced the thermostat and temp switch.

Powersports Rockville. DO NOT GO THERE. Such a pain in the ass to deal with. I had to basically become the project manager for this, they would rarely answer phones and never pick up after transfer. I was told my bike was done and drove 2 hours to find out it was not ready. Seriously dysfunctional.

Anyways the bike has been running great and I took it for a 2 hour cruise to a lake and about 10 miles from the lake the bike died with the same symptoms as before. Luckily I had some tools with me and was able to trace it back to the connector of the new stator and wiring harness to the R/R. The clip had such a poor connection that it fell apart while I was riding. I got it put back together and wrapped it with electrical tape and it was able to get me the rest of the way with a jump start.

Basically I am good to go now sort of. And dont go to Powersports of Rockville.

Thanks for all the help guys!! Hopefully this will help someone further down the road.

 

Don't think you are out of trouble yet, that connector will screw up your new stator, get rid of it before you walk home again

 

Absolutely, that electrical tape fix was just a temporary fix so that I could limp home. I am working to get it properly wired up now

 

If any of those three yellow wires contacted eachother your stator is toast. You need to eliminate all the plugs associated with the stator to the regulator rectumfier, or your gona be calling Uber or Lyft, or SoW...:loco: seriously though, mabye a new r/r is in your future too. Just saying.

 

No wires have contacted, they are still installed in the clip itself. Also I have a back up regulator on standby just in case. Thanks for the concern though and I will definitely avoid any wires coming into contact with each other.

 

There few words associated with your problem, 1. Cut - 2. Apply Shrink Tubing - 3. Solder. End of story. I use butt-connectors with solder and shrink tubing. I have lived with one of these bikes for 23 years which has 80,000 miles, the other one I got and brought home on a trailor, I applied all the knowledge I learned from the original bike I owned. I still learn stuff, never stop learing. Think of the plugs on these bikes as a resistance, resistance goes up = heat. Heat adventually melts things and bad things happen. Some pictures would be good of your bike too btw

 

Here are a few recent pictures. And yes the plan is to soder them together this weekend. I haven't ridden the bike since the breakdown.

 

Love the side stand fairing, you wana sell it? :lol: I got a slip on Yoshimura and a slip on V&H on my two bikes. I was never big on the "white" colour until I owned one. Good Job posting those pictures! These bikes are amazing, total love affair with them really. My 91 is the shizzle, even with all them miles it still goes 150 and is so well mannered from the idle to the shifting. Just a beautiful piece of engineering. eace:

What state you live in?

 

It really is a great bike! And funny you mentioned the side stand fairing, it just gave out on me 6 days ago. When I got home from the whole bad connector ride it fell off as I pulled in the driveway. I do still have it but the plastic where it is attached is getting very weak. I am hoping to epoxy it and get it back in working order but it isn't a very high priority.

I am in Maryland