My '06 is Dead

IMO, Honda consistently uses the lowest gauge wire and connectors legally possible. Since most of the electrical problems happen after the warranty period has passed, it's apparently cheaper for Honda to deal with warranty repairs than use design specs that would prevent the problems in the first place.

WVFR, does your bike have the recall repair? If not, you may soon see the central ground clip burnout...

 

You think our wiring sucks, talk to someone with a pasta bike, holy tiny wires for EVERYTHING Batman!

 

The battery harness is under the seat next to the sarter connection

 

Arghhhhhh, you got that right about "pasta bikes."

I just spent $600 on replacing the stock regulator with a heavy-duty

one, with a heat shield, plus a heavy-duty wire harness on my '90 Ducati 851, which BTW,

I am selling on eBay.

Argggghhhh $$$$$

 

pasta bikes.LOL...... I would pull some voltage readings.try to figure out why it melted instead of blowing the fuse..(gay fuse )

 

The connector melts because: Honda dosen't want more than 30Amps flowing through that circuit, so they put a 30A fuse in a 20A-25A fuse holder, not very smart Honda. I imagine it was very cost effective to do it this way, for Honda!!

 

My '07 is dead too!

My '07 has been in the shop for the last 23 days and still isn't fixed. I've had ongoing electrical issues since it was new. Finally had a complete failure where the bike would die quite often and I have melted wiring and the 30A fuse holder near the battery has been replaced once and is toast again.

I have the extended warranty and Honda has been very slow to deal with the problems. First, they replaced the regulator/rectifier and that wasn't the problem. Now I hear they are replacing the wiring harness, but it's on backorder. The dealership doesn't know what the problem is and the Regional Honda Service Mgr was there and he doesn't know either. What the hell?!?!

I'm actually talking to the dealer right now on buying my bike, so I'm waiting on them to consider what price I would like to get from them. I have absolutely no confidence that this bike will be fixed the right way and that it won't happen again. Tired of jacking around with it. It seems well documented that the 02+ VFR is an electrical basket case that Honda never got right. I've had Honda cars for years and I love them. Don't think I'll ever buy another Honda bike since their reputation has been severely tainted in my eyes. Believe me, I was very loyal until this recent BS.

I'll soon have a Sargent seat, a Power Commander III and a set of blue hard bags for the '07 RWB (used once) for sale on here, so if anyone is interested, let me know.

-Brad

 

Sorry to see it go down this way. I love my VFR but she's on her 3rd shop visit for an electrical issue (RR fried), more that the previous 5 bikes I've owned over 26 years combined. The repair bill this time, 6 months after extended HPP expired, is gonna be $1100. If the mods (Aftermarket RR, stator and VFRness) don't put an end to the problems, The VFR and Honda are history.

 

Cyborg,

Sorry to hear about the same issues and you got screwed by Honda with being out of warranty. Your's must be an '05 and you had the 4 yr HPP? I have the same thing with my '07. It's really disappointing that Honda didn't fix this well documented problem. I loved my VFR and I put almost 25,000 miles on it in 3 yrs, but this latest issue is obviously not going to be fixed by Honda for the long haul. I was telling the dealer about the aftermarket fixes when I took it in there and they looked at me like I was stupid. They don't sell a lot of the VFRs and no one there knows what to do with them. They call the Honda Techline with no solid answers, then they just start replacing parts, with no understanding what the problem is.

Your experience and that of others tells me that getting rid of it while I can will save me some bucks in the long run. I had planned on keeping this bike for the long haul, but I'm not dealing with the BS when my warranty runs out. Best of luck with the bike and happy riding!

-Brad

 

Found out on 8/17/10 that there are no '07 VFR wiring harnesses anywhere in North America. They had to order it from Japan. Wonder why they are out of stock. Is it because so many have been replaced? The dealer has no idea what the problem is, as they are just installing new parts and hoping for the best. It's been 4 weeks now since those clowns have had my bike. Last Honda bike I ever buy.

 

some bikes (items) are just lemons to bad you have one. if the bags come up for sale let me know. Maybe we can come to a deal.

 

Farmboy,

I will be selling the hard bags. I only used them once in 2009 on a road trip and they are in near new condition, but I'm willing to deal on them. Let me look at what I paid for them and I'll send you a PM in the next day or so. The brackets are still on my bike, which is at the shop.

 

Sorry to hear about your bike, indy. I think farmboy is correct. Every once in awhile a total lemon rolls of the assembly line. In your case it may or may not be a lemon machine as much as it is a lemon dealership. I say that because any Honda certified mechanic ought to know how to work on a VFR, regardless of how many they sell. And they damn well should have known that it wasn't the harness on an '07. It sounds to me as though their confusion has more to do with the long down time than does a back ordered part.

 

indy, have they checked the center ground clip?

 

Yep, your 30amp fuse holder fried itself alright.

I'm utterly gobsmacked that somebody else here said they had never seen this failure mode before. It is probably the most common electrical failure on the 2002-2009 model VFR, next to fried stators.

As others have said, always check your main ground clip on the wiring harness. It's behind the left-hand side frame spar on the main wiring run between the front and rear of the bike. It is taped up - basically it looks like a square lump in the middle of the wiring harness. To check it, remove the tape and ensure that the connector box has clean contacts to all the wires. This little connector box is where all the smaller gauge earth wires converge and then connect back to the main ground point.

Some other excellent advice is to buy your own heavy gauge ground wire and run it directly from the ground wire on the regulator to the main ground point on the frame.

Nearly all of us have beefed up our positive wires and still suffered repeated wiring failures. It's time to focus on beefing up your ground wires.

 

It's just got REAL good. Got my VFR back yesterday. 20 minutes later and one mile from my apartment the bike died and I had to push it home. Honda says the Electrosport Stator is fried, VERY fried, including overload damage to the Stator's wiring. I will not know til Friday if there is any other damage but any ideas WTF caused a new Stator, in service 30 minutes, to go like that?

 

They didn't put the wrong size stator in did they? There are two sizes.

Earlier stators have a 107mm outer diameter, the newer ones have 115mm outer diameter (or thereabouts). If your bike is an '06 it will have a rotor which expects the larger stator. I know that a small stator and large rotor causes undercharging (and that's about it). I wouldn't even know what would happen if a too-large stator went in. Hell, it may not even fit.

I'm personally at a loss to explain your problem. Can you draw up a list of everything that has been changed or replaced?

 

She's an '05 and the shop tech did comment the stator fit was tight but it did work for the tech's test ride and after ride voltage test. Come to think of it, the inboard voltmeter was not working when I get the bike, I really hope that's not a bad sign, given where the meter's taps are. As for what's been done:

Round 1: The RR was replaced with an OEM and the stator with an Electrosport. The shop said of that other than the stator wiring there was no sign of harness damage and the RR failure simply caused power loss, no overload voltages.

Round 2: The Electosport Stator, including it's wiring to the RR, is fried and I mean fried as in crispy. I won't know more till new stator #2, an OEM unit, is installed and the shop can run tests...

 

Worth checking if your bike somehow had the wrong stator/rotor combination? All bikes from mid '03 onwards should have the larger units.

I'm not sure what the guy meant by "tight fit". He could be referring to the wiring run, which is indeed a tight fit. Other than that, nothing should be tight - the stator and stator cover easily fit on the bike. There should be no clearance issues.

I would make sure the electrosport stator is the right size for the rotor that you have fitted. And then I'd ask the shop to wear that cost if they fitted the wrong part.

Having said all this, I don't actually know what the failure scenario is when the stator/rotor clearance is too small.

 

I'm gonna hold the shop to the repair warranty. Thing is, they've told me Electrosport insists the stator is the right one. If this is correct, and the size difference is somehow the reason for Round 2, the shop's getting screwed. Also, I'll be honor bound to at least pay the difference between the KFC and new OEM, even though the parts manager said they'd "eat the cost". Right now, I would really like to either replace every single wire on that bike with 10 gauge gold plated or get a Kawasaki...

PS: Sorry for the late edit on my other post...