VFR800 Cutting out

I went for a ride down to Cooma in southern NSW last week. On the trip down the FI light came up a couple of times, but no obvious symptoms. It went out as quickly as it came up.

Arrived at a friends house and parked for a few hours, then went out for a ride. Once out on the open roads, up came the FI light again and the bike started to stutter. Turned around and rode back, but the bike was like a bucking bronco, cutting in and out as the FI light showed up and extinguished. There seemed a small delay following the FI light coming on and the bike cutting out.

Checked out as best I could when back at my friend’s house but no obvious fault.

The next day the bike ran perfect for about 100km then started the same tricks again. Stopped at one town and the bike would not restart – no humming from the fuel pump, and the FI light remained on when cranking. Off came the seat, lifted the tank etc and pulled out fuel pump connections – no start. Pulled fuses – all OK and no start. Fiddled around a bit more and next thing fuel pump hums and bike starts.
Rode back 60km to Cooma with the bike wanting to cut out frequently. The bike would still do 120kph though, despite the stuttering. It cut out altogether in the town, where I could not maintain momentum to restart, and I pushed it to my friends house.
Took the bike back home the next day on the back of his truck.
The battery is fully charged - this is no rectifier fault.

What is wrong with my bike????

 

Sounds like something electrical. Same thing happened to my 98 and it turned out to be a bad ground. I'd go over all the wiring starting at the battery.

 

Does having the head light on or off make any difference?

I had a problem with the Fi light glowing, then on constantly, and then the bike cutting out completly. If I had lights on it was worse. Turned out to be bad wire at the earth cluster which is located one left hand side of bike, between tank and RR, next to the seat subframe. A mass of wires come into and go out of it, and if one, or the internal conections, are bad then all sorts of strange things happen.

 

Thanks all,
I checked these wires - though I don't see a lot of green wires on the LH side just a couple, perhaps I am not looking deep enough.
I am beginning to feel it is the fuel cutoff relay. I have tested this on the bench and it checks out OK. However I note that when on the bike this relay is getting hot. It is interesting to note that the bike will run with this relay disconnected, but only for a few seconds before cutting out.

 

Found the earth wire cluster - it was covered in tape - cleaned it but still the same. I have determined my problem is not the engine stop relay nor the fuel stop relay by substitution. Nor is it the bank angle sensor (bridged the engine stop relay as the bank angle sensor cuts this relay when active)
I am at a loss now as all I can think of that is left is the ECM?? Has anybody any experience of the ECM failing???

 

At last I have found the problem – thanks to all on this forum who have previous posts and kept me looking in the right direction.
This morning I started the machine while I held the ECM in one hand. Just by moving the ECM I could simulate the FI light showing and the bike stuttering.
A small pink wire on the gray connector to the ECM had broken. Held together only by the plastic insulation, it was in a make/break status.
Now for the reason why this happened. I bought my bike (99 FX) 5 years ago with just 12,000km. A few months later I noticed the cover for the ECM was loose – all the clips were missing. Bought some non standard black clips but they also soon came adrift, so I just rode it. It would appear that with the ECM rattling around in the back of the seat, this wire has broken.
Moral of the story - ENSURE YOUR ECM IS PROPERLY SECURED!! I am now going to screw mine down – no more clips for me.
Some of the other connections were not so good either as the sockets had opened up a little. A spray of Electrolube fixed this. Reset the ECM and it is like riding a new bike. All the smoothness, power and economy has returned. I am again one very happy VFR owner.

 

Yeah electrical problems can be a bitch nice to hear you found it and you're on the road again!