RR problems again, i think.

Hi. I'm just about to throw in the towel with my VFR 800fi 2001.I am close to selling it at a loss with the understanding it needs some work. I have had problems with the bike for a while. I spoke to a few helpful people here last time and i thought i understood what was going wrong. I decided i would take the bike to a mechanic, explain the rr problems that can happen with the bike, and ride off into the sunset a few pounds worse off.
Well i was about £150 worse off. And now 2 months later i have problems again.
I will just list my faults and hope someone can help.

1. Bike wouldn't start after getting petrol. Took to mechanic. Explained problem. New battery was put in. Stator was fine. Rode home. Next day bike wouldn't start. took back to mechanic. Rectifier had burnt out. Was replaced with new one. Problem solved?

2. week later bike cut out again. Phoned uncle. He took the battery home. Tested and the battery, it was low. He charged it up for me. Said perhaps the RR wasn't working when new battery was put in, causing the battery to not charge.

3. One month later, when idle the bike cut out after about 10 minutes. Everything reset, clock speedometre etc. Pluged battery to trickler and the battery needed reconditioning.

4. Battery reconditioned, started fine. Rode off, pulled over about 5 minutes later and turned bike off. Tried to start bike. Everything reset again. Pushed bike home. Battery needed reconditioning again. But started 2 out of 3 attempts.

I'm at the point of dispair. I don't know what to do. Am i going to keep having to buy batterys, stators and RR every month? Or can i get a proper fix?

 

you need a dmm and do the drill

 

It sounds like you're not that handy with tools yourself.
You either need someone who is to help you, or a mechanic that knows what he's doing.
These things don't just keep happening, unless the original problem hasn't yet been fixed.
VFR's are not the only bikes that suffer from R&R problems. Triumphs are also troublesome.
The most common cause of this problem on our bikes, is the connectors from the stator to the R&R.
The wiring size is marginal, and connectors are prone to moisture damage.
This causes bad contacts, cause hot joints, or can short out, it can also not charge the battery.
They also have failures on the earth block, that can cause the same sort of symptoms.
Neither of these things are that difficult to fix if you're good with tools.
There are many posts on this forum about these problems, search and you shall find.
You need to get a multimeter, and start checking things to know whats going on.
Replacing parts without knowing if they're shot or not, is not the answer.

 

Two things you can do, fault find the problem yourself or sell the bike, simple as that. Plenty of info here or answers if you get stuck trying to work through it and as OZ says, throwing parts at it won't always fix the problem. Getting rid of the problem stator connector is pretty much a must do or you will continue to have problems

 

This^^^^^^^^

 

Any mechanic who just tosses in a new battery and sends the bike out without first verifying that the charging system is working 100% is a blithering idiot.