VFR 800 VTEC 2011 won't start

It was nice, sunny weather, 27 degrees Celcius, was riding back home from another city on the highway, 130km/h.

Once entered the city, some weird stuff started to happen on the screen of my 2011 VFR 800. First, the ABS light started blinking. Once I stopped at the traffic light, the LCD screen, as well as the RPM gauge, turned off, however, the engine was still running.

Green light, I moved forward, and the LCD and RPM turned back on. At another traffic light, the same thing happened again, LCD and RPM turned off, but the engine was still running. I started my prayer and had a strong belief that my Japanese samurai will get me home, as it was only 3km left.

Unlike the first time I started moving at the green light, the LCD and RPM didn't turn back on, nonetheless, the engine was running perfectly fine, and shifting gears was fine too. So now, I'm riding at an unknown speed and RPM.

At one more traffic light, I stopped. LCD is not working, RPM not working, after around 10 seconds of idling on the first gear with the clutch in, the engine shut off.

I tried to fire it up, but no luck. Moved off the road. For 30 minutes straight was trying to revive the bike - no luck there either.

The battery was replaced two years ago and was recently checked by a mechanic, he said it was fine.

Here's a video of me trying to start it - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R9RnKh7eCOJI6Xb4WVUWUUEgxwhGOIJY/view?usp=sharing

Any thoughts?

 

charging system/battery/ grounds/melted plugs

 

Battery was replaced in 2021
Plugs were replaced this year in June

So I would rather eliminate those two.

Will bring it to a mechanic today, let’s see what he discovers.

 

Agree with Squirrelman.
For the Clock Display to die at Switch On is a fatal power loss! Assume your headlights are also not working at switch On?

- You could have a Dead Battery potentially caused by a faulty charging system OR just battery failure - It doesn't matter that is was replaced in 2021, or recently checked by your Mechanic, charge it and have it load checked.
- Check your Battery Terminal connections are clean and tight.
- Check Main Fuse A 30amp in the Starter Relay and its Red Connector, closely inspect the Red Wire spade connection for overheating and melted plastic.
- Your Charging System voltage needs checking - Do this once the engine can be started.

Let us know what your Mechanic finds.
Good Luck.

 

Sadly I tend to agree with Grum and Squirrelman as the loss of the gauges is indicative of charging system failure. Search on here for "the drill" and you will find at least one enormous thread spanning 5th and 6th gen models basically grinding to a halt - typically after the RR has failed and killed the stator and once power left in the battery is drained the gauges go out and the bike won't start. See the drill thread (post #9) below which explains how/what to test.

https://vfrworld.com/threads/how-to-fix-common-regulator-stator-failures.39277/

One after thought - as the bike has the HISS system - it might be a sensible step to eliminate any potential interference as the cause of the grief you are experiencing.

Simply remove everything from the key ring - and see if it starts up fine with just the genuine Honda key.

It is a rare problem but if you try to start the bike whilst on the same key ring, you have a motorcar key fob which also incorporates and immobiliser chip then it can prevent the HISS disarming - so no fuel pump priming and engine will not run.

I have no idea whether similar issues can arise with other types of remote senders (like that large white remote visbile in your video) so its probably simplest to just keep everything but the Honda key well away from the HISS receiver ring.

SkiMad

 

Absolutely nothing works, even the horn is not working.

I took the bike to mechanic today and left just the key, that white remote you see on the video is a remote for the garage door, and the other key is for GIVI top case.

 

Hi Skimad4x4.

Just for info. The HISS system or a faulty Transponder Key will not stop you from cranking the engine over (it just won't start), or have any effect on lights, horn, Engine Stop Relay or LCD displays.
If, at Ignition Switch On, the ECM does not receive the correct key info, then both HISS and Fi Lights will remain On - Fuel Pump, Ignition and Injectors are inhibited.

He can't even get to this stage power wise.
Cheers.

 

The issue has been found, burnt out generator.

The battery was also dead, around 4V, so had to be replaced for a new one.

 

Yep had one just like that on my 6th Gen - thankfully Honda finally fitted a decent charging system to their 8th Gen VFR.

 

Any thoughts on why that happened? Was it me or it's just a common issue? I haven't mistreated the bike in any way, however did a lot of city riding, maybe in city it is too hot for the VFR as the cooling liquid gets up to 104C in the city and stable 78C at 6000rpm on the highway.

 

Have a flick through the thread I linked in post #6 above - which if nothing else shows it is a very common issue and you are not alone. Indeed a long while back in that thread you will see that I even tried to explain what was really happening to another 6th Gen owner and ended up getting so stressed that I realised I needed to reach for the Macallan...

Put simply the 5th and 6th Gen VFR which Honda engineers went to great lengths to make mechanically brilliant machines were sadly ruined by a bean counter decision to buy in a cheap charging system - that is what happened.