VFR Electricity Stopped!

Hi All,

I was out riding my 98 VFR800Fi on a sunny day, parked the bike for a few hours, started her back up (without a problem) started maneuvering out of the parking lot and she died. Just lost electrical power all of a sudden. In a couple of seconds after dying the front headlamp dimmed out and died too. I thought the battery might be dead but it's showing a charge (haven't pulled out my multimeter yet to know specifics but will later this week). When I try to start the bike there is no response, not even a click, or the customary hum that normally happens when I power the ignition and turn the kill switch to run.

So, anyone had a similar problem? Are there any major fuses I could be overlooking or a fusible link somewhere that could cause these symptoms?

Thought I'd ask here in case anyone's gone through this already, otherwise I'm pulling out the factory manual and tracing wires this weekend till my baby runs again.

Thanks for the help! I'm in love with this bike so it was painful to have her towed home.

-Phaedrus54

 

There is a "master" fuse that will kill your bike on the starter solenoid. Might even be a spare on it too.

 

Battery is bad and won't hold a charge. It will show 12 volts with no drain. But try to start it and I bet it will drop to about 6V. Time to replace.

Master fuse would keep everything from working - including the headlight.

 

Check your charge system after battery repacement. I'd hate to see you kill a new battery because your stator or R/R wasn't doing it's job.

 

Yeah, what Vlad said! Seriously, that is what happened to me and it was the R/R. Get out that multimeter and check the charging system after you either charge or replace the battery. There is a flowchart to help diagnose it on the Electrex website. Good luck and keep checking here for more advice and help.

 

Thanks!

I'm going to try the fuse mentioned in the first reply this afternoon (nothing lights up right now on the bike so this is a strong possibility), then I'll pick up my multimeter from work tonight if that doesn't work and troubleshoot more of the electrical system tomorrow.

Btw, this bike has about 90k miles and it's seen some abuse, but it still runs like a champ

 

Same thing happened with my Intruder. Turns out the battery connections were loose.

Wow, and I thought my 99 had a lot of miles at 45k.

 

My Sabre did the same thing. Turned out to be the connector to the R/R. I cut it out, hard wired it in, and problem gone.

 

Dude, another one bites the dust. Just what is this all about? Seems maybe we all should take a stand and go after Honda for a permanent fix. Sheesh!! this has gone on long enough for those engineers to figure this out Yea, as noted check the RR, seems to play a major role in this.

 

While we're getting Honda to fix stuff they screwed up, maybe we should mention the 1st gen cam problems. To have them reworked and installed will run nearly 2Gs!!!

 

She runs !!!!

Turns out goinfaster was right! I pulled out my factory manual and there's a starter solenoid relay fuse 30amp. I got my hands in and pulled the fuse which was totally shot. Replaced it and she started back up.

I'm ready to start getting her back in shape, my project this weekend is to solder back some of the wires damaged during her last crash with the former owner.

Thanks everyone for your help and glad it wasn't the R/R.

 

Be careful! the Fuse went for a reason, My dad's R/R went and in turn blew the fuse, it's the only reason I know about this. Good luck though, I hope it's just one of them wires......
Ride safe, and don't forget to replace the spare fuse before taking off

 

Yes to that, ^ make sure you replace that fuse and yep something caused it to go out, so be ready for it to happen again. good luck.

 

Blew again

Couldn't resist taking my bike out for a quick spin but it blew the starter solenoid relay fuse. Same story as last time, I'm looking into the possible wiring problem this weekend as well as considering replacing the R/R.

UPDATE : Ordered R/R, will replace this weekend. I'll troubleshoot with a multimeter first and then if it's bad I'll replace it. Otherwise I'll keep the R/R on hand and eagerly await it's demise.

 

My dad said that half of the R/R going was because of the small, loose fitting connectors Honda uses. When he replaced his R/R after the main fuse went he cut both connectors off (R/R and the connector from the bike) and used a terminal block as a beefier, solid connection platform. His R/R still hasn't blown since he replaced it 25K miles/8 years ago.......

 

Thanks everyone

I replaced the R/R and while doing that checked out my wiring. Looks like there was some wiring peaking out through the insulation b/c the guy before me didn't take the time to properly take care of things. This is now fixed (soldered and sealed). I'm going to take one posting's advice and replace the honda connector between the R/R and the relay with a new piece so there's a better electrical connection and hopefully I'll get 25k miles/8yrs + on my RR too.

I've taken her another 200 miles now and everything's working right. Now I just need to find a tool kit for her or learn to delicately adjust the chain with a hammer and brass punch.

 

Don't forget to check out your 'stator' as well. This same thing just recently happened to me too. Both the R/R and Stator were not working properly. I used the Flowchart that is available thru 'electrosport.com'. However, I got the R/R & Stator thru Honda. Turns out electrosport didn't have the actual replacement parts.

 

new electrical problem

bike was running quite well for a couple weeks there after replacing r/r and straightening out the wiring but on a run to napa with my girlfriend it died 1 mile from our destination!!!!

felt the way a vehicle feels when the alternator has died, not able to rev past a certain point and gradually pulled off onto the shoulder. now it has no electricity and no juice whatso ever. we could hear a high pitched whine from the battery as steam leaked out.

had it towed to our destination and will replace the battery in the morning. can anyone explain why my battery was steaming and died all of a sudden?? just a matter of it being 3 years old??? i've never seen catastrophic battery failure before today.

thanks all, other than that, and despite the excitement today this is a wonderful bike, love the torque.

 

Steaming? Sounds like it was drastically overcharged.

Recently I saw a great article somewhere here about a heavy duty aftermarket wire harness that takes care of a lot of VFR electrical problems.

Here is the website:

http://www.wiremybike.com/page3.html

I think adding a new 2006/2007 RR and Radio Shack fan to the mix is the way to go.

 

If you can get it started, check the voltage at the battery while at about 4000 rpm. I'll bet it's crazy high. Get this under control before ruining another $50.00 battery. I've had lots of batterys croak on me, but never seen "death by boiling" being the battery's fault.