99 VFR Problems Starting...

So my bike has been unable to start:

The first day I take the original battery out (1 year old) and charge it at home. When I reinstall it in the bike, it starts. One day passes, starts fine in the afternoon, but dies the third time I use it.

The sencond day I decide to replace the battery with a new one. I charge it and install it, bike starts up fine. Another day passes. After the 3rd start of the day, the bike is unable to start. So I recharge the battery at home, install it and ride the bike home.


I plan on charging the battery again and riding the VFR to the local shop for diagnosis but I have a feeling it's either the stator or regulator.

Other info: Clock reverts to 1:00am every time. R/R was is the SH-689DA version.


What should I do? Btw the only maintenance work I do myself is change the oil and apparently replace batteries...

 

Check your stator and install a FH020AA R/R.

 

You say that the only maintenance that you can do on your own is battery replacement and oil changes. Both might involve half the work needed to diagnose your charging system. If you have a multimeter and about an hour worth if time you might want to try diagnosing the charging system on your own before you take the bike in. Your problem certainly sounds indicative of a bad R/R but there could be other issues that can cause the problem, such as a bad stator, poor connections, bad ground, etc. If you are willing to give it a shot, check out the following thread and maybe you can find out what is wrong. I am not a big fan of doing electrical diagnostics but this thread helped me when my charging system went wonky and it was far easier than what I had thought. There are some instructions that can be followed and there is also a video on how to do the stator test which is helpful. The R/R is on the left side of the bike behind the rear cowl so you will have to remove the seat and the rear cowl.

http://vfrworld.com/forums/5th-gene...how-fix-common-regulator-stator-failures.html

Many thanks to Rubo for this post. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

Did the 5th gen bikes had the R/R issues?

 

Oh hell yea!

 

Dudeski - My mechanical ability is not much better than a monkey. However, even I was able to sort through checking the charging system and ultimately replacing the R/R. Prior to me tackling that job, all I did was change oil, adjust chain, and add air to the tires. All else was performed by my mechanic.

You can buy a decent voltmeter for about $20. Even less. Its invaluable. I had to ask the guy in the auto parts store how to use it. But again, I went on to replace my R/R, check resistance from the stator, make the repairs, and have been solid ever since.

Not to mention, its nice to be able to learn about your bike. Sure its great to pay someone to do things for you, but unless you ride with your mechanic, the day may come when something goes wrong on the road. Its nice to have a little knowledge of your bike.

Feel free to post here and ask questions. While its never easy to diagnose any problem on the internet, there are tons of knowledgeable people here that can probably steer you in the right direction before you go dumping hundred at the dealer.

 

What,....... you had issues with your electrical Pliskin. Noooooo. Oh Right, you helped me fix mine, sorry I forgot. Thanks again by the way. I also have a nifty little gauge now so I can watch what my electrical system is doing in real time. Now all I have to figure out is a heads-up display in my helmet so that I don't look at the volt meter while riding the bike. LOL

 

Thanks everyone, this doesn't seem too difficult. I work at a "home-improvement" store so I picked up a meter...will do the checklist tomorrow afternoon and report back.

-TheDude

 

When you do the tests be sure that the battery has been fully charged as a poor battery can alter the readings. Here is a link to the results I got when I did the check to my R/R system a while ago and a whole lot of helpful hints from everyone involved. This is a great site to use for reference and there is a huge number of people that can be of great help. Hope everything goes well and be sure to post back if you need any more assistance.

http://vfrworld.com/forums/mechanics-garage/39362-2000-vfr-r-r-question.html

 

Pardon my Newbness, but how do I take the voltage of the stator? I wouldn't even know where to begin finding it haha!

We all gotta start somewhere

-TheDude

 

The voltage on the stator can be taken at the connector (white 3 pin connector I believe). The connector should have three yellow wires going in on one side and the 3 yellow on the opposite side of the connector going in to the R/R. My bike is a 2000VFR not a 98 but if the same the R/R is behind the rear cowl on the left side of the bike and the connector should be easy to see. It is quite large and may be covered by a large rubber boot. If you find the R/R just follow the yellow wires to the connector. You have to unplug the R/R first and then perform the tests. When you are doing the pin to pin tests (stator resistance and the stator AC voltage) on the stator be sure that you do not to let the leads touch each other.

 

So here are my first battery tests that I performed on a fresh battery (2 hours off charge) while at work:

No load: 13.13v

Idle: 12.56v (steady)

3000rpm: 12.76

5000rpm: 12.76 (steady)

I won't have time to check the stator until the weekend and I'll probably redo the battery test again while I'm at it.
What do these numbers indicate?

-TheDude

 

They indicate your R/R is toast.

My GUESS is your stator is fine. Obviously it needs to be checked. But it will soon be toast if you keep running on a bad R/R.

Your voltage from idle up to about 2K RPM should hold steady, right in the 13v range.

Once you hit 2000RPM, you voltage should probably increase to somewhere around 14.5 to 14.7 and not really differ between 2K to 5K rpm.

You are way too low at 3K to 5K. That points to the R/R.

Keep in mind your standard battery has 6 cells on it, and each cell is designed to hold 2.1 to 2.2V. So a fully charged 12V battery should actually read a minimum of 12.6, and being at 13.2 is not abnormal at all. However, dropping below 12.6 is not good. The fact that your battery drops below 12.6, especially once you hit the 2-3K RPM range is a sign of R/R failure, not necessarily a bad battery.

 

Mello is right - you need to check out the battery with a true load test before assuming its the R/R. I should have mentioned that.