Fixing my VF500F

Actually, this is a very common situation with the VF500's and it's not electrical: it's the carbs. In fact, there was a TSB put out by Honda about it. There was a service kit to adjust the idle mixture and that was supposed to fix it. I think it richened up the mixture, but don't quote me on that.

 

Attached are the pages from the TSB I was referring to.

 

you'll never get used to it, i died alittle inside

 

Holy crap !! They changed just about everything!

I'm pretty sure the rear vent tube could be rotated (as directed) by merely loosening-- but not removing --the rear carbs from the airbox bottom, so no need to fool with the synchro springs.

 

Mine is a 1985 so it shouldn't be affected? I also pointed both vent tubes to the back of the bike when I put it back together. Not sure if it was like that when I took it apart, but it makes sense to have the hoses running to the back of the bike.

 

So, based on the info in this TSB, which jets do you recommend? I have the 105/102 mains, and I forget which slows, in the carbs now. I also have a set of carbs that have the ones in that TSB. This is only my second bike, and the first was a 250 Ninja, so I have no idea if it's making the power that it should be, or not. I do know that it seems to pull much stronger from 7000 RPM up, and I don't feel much of a difference between 3/4 and full throttle, until getting up around 9000 RPM or so.

It's looking like I may have a project on my hands, changing the cam chain tensioners, adjusting the vales, and if need be, the jets. While I'm at it, I should recheck the sync, since last time I had to sync them one at a time to the main one (#4) from the fluid being gone from a couple tubes in my carb sticks. It would be nice to see them all 4 at the same time!

 

In reference to your problem with the bike dying then restarting later, take the filter out and see what happens. My bike did the same thing to me, and it ended up being the filter. I finally got a grasp on what was going on, and had it running long enough to test things (when I was syncing the carbs the first time, and lost the fluid out of 2 tubes of the carb sticks, and made things worse than before...)

My bike would die after running for a while, acted like it was running out of fuel. Happened a few times, all close to home, since I didn't trust the bike enough to go far. Turns out, it WAS running out. When I had it running for a long time in the driveway, I had it happen. Pulled the fuel line and nothing came out of it. I had already eliminated the vacuum control of the petcock, and the fuel pump was disconnected. I pulled the line to the filter, and had good flow. I put the pump back on it, and left the filter out. It turns out, the pump was in ther backwards when I got the bike! All is well now.

 

Thanks jporter but I actually removed the fuel filter because I couldn't fit it in the line that I made. I didn't have any problems with it before, I merely took it out because it would cause the line to turn too sharply and restrict flow. I plan on adding it back later.

I am thinking that the problem is the temporary spark plug wire I made. It seemed like it was misfiring. It makes sense because things expand with heat and that might have caused it to lose contact. The ends are not soldered they merely touch each other.

I need to go back to Romania for 2 weeks soon and visit my relatives - haven't seen them in years. I will get on this again afterwards.

I plan on making a new spark plug wire myself since I don't have a ETA on the part I ordered. I think I can do a pretty good job on it, I will post a guide here after I'm done. Also I will be taking the carbs apart and checking floats again and use real gaskets this time.

This is gonna be a winter project now.

 

Ok I'm back from my vacation. I took the carbs off again and much of the silicone that I put swelled up with gas and turned green. It also started floating around the float bowls. Putting silicone was a very bad idea, haha. So I got my work cut out for me cleaning that crap up now. Fortunately it didn't clog any of the jets as it seems to be soluble in gas.

But on the other and very bad hand I checked the float levels and they are all within .01 mm of what they are supposed to be which is 6.2 mm or .24 in. Carb #3 is a little off but not by much at all, only .3-.4 mm. I'm saying this is bad because, if they were off I could be like "oh here's the problem" now I can put it back together and test it, but no. I am totally clueless.

So............. I don't really know what to do next. I think it needs some experienced mechanic magic. I'll probably end up taking it to a shop. But not until spring anyway.

The only good news is that I got that ignition cable from Japan, finally.

I need some new ideas.