5th gen RR swaps

[Mario98]

As most of you cats know i had some RR issues with my 98. thanks for all the feedback, it is well appriciated.

so here is something to ponder...
As you know im a millionare and cant afford a direct replacement for the RR right now and TOECUTTER being such a badass was very damn cool and sent me one from a 01 (thanks toe, you da man homie!) and i was not expecting there to be a difference being both 5th gen.
llil did i know they are different at the connecting harness, the harnesses are different. so now i ask for your help once again and Ghost is heading the calvary with a wealth of wire knowledge (thanks Ghost)
can these gen. 5 RR's be mated to make my girl purr again?
the 98 has 2 harnesses, one with 3 yellow wires and one with 2 reds and 2 grns.
the 01 RR has bigger harness connectors and also 2 connectors. one has the same 3 yellow wire conn. and the other has a connector with 2 red (1 with a wht. stripe) 2 green, and a black. so where does the black one go and are they compatible?
once again boys, thank you for all the info

[Ghost]

Bingo!

(I got you here buddy)

and check out how cool I am at answering your issue?

[Ghost]

****WARNING**** Honda has changed its electrical wiring std since the mid 80’s. I worked on an 87. I would like to double check the wiring diagram of the 01 R/R BEFORE you cut wires, just to be sure the black isn’t supposed to be a secondary ground, and the second Red goes directly to the Ignition.

For now, lets talk…


Three yellows vs Three yellow – they match up directly with the Pulse Generator

You “can” get these wrong, but its really not a big deal. I think the newer model VFR’s can be wired any way. My 87 cant, it has to be wired in a particular sequence, so that I get 14.4V out of the P.G. put a meter on yours, once you are done connecting stuff, and see what you get. If its not 14.4V, disconnect two and swap them. Tadah!

Your bike’s Green wires are ground… Green goes to Green (easy) Tadah!

Your bike’s red wires are simple enough, one is coming from your Starter Solenoid (or fuse panel) one of the two, and the other goes to your CDI… Tadah!

The R/R you have (01) now has 1 red, 1 red/white, two green and 1 black.

As stated, connect the Greens to the greens from your bikes harness, Whoot! Two down. Connect the Red/White to the red that goes to your starter solenoid (PLEASE use your meter to test continuity and ensure the proper red). Three down.
Connect the black to your Ignition (Might be shared with a red, or you may have to run a new wire to your CDI… sorry, this is gonna take some work. Hey, nothings easy right?) Four down.
Hey guess what you got one Red left, and one Red from your bike left! (ensure this goes to your CDI via continuity meter check, same as before)

Done.

Double check all your connections with a meter.

Bold your new R/R to a good location, so that it gets good air flow through the vent fins.

Make the proper electrical connections, I.e. spade connectors, electrical tape, heat shrink tubing, etc.

Again, I will get the electrical schematic for the R/R you have, and double check, so we are 100% certain BEFORE you cut wires. You get me the electrical diagram for your bike.

[Ghost]

oh, and although, this isnt exact, its still good rule of thumb stuff, and very well written for rewiring a R/R

Basic rewiring 101 for Honda bikes Regulator Rectifier

[Ghost]

Firstly, to all including Mario, the wiring I provided for your new 01 R/R is solid. Judging from the 98 wiring schematic, the two red wires from your R/R are BOTH tied to just a single wire (R/W) color. That one wire, feeds power back to the battery for charging, and the PCM, Ignition, and Fuel Pump system. The ground wire is the same, I.e. two wires into one. This is your main bike (G) color. The Black is Neutral. Connect it to the frame, or just tape it off.

Now, after doing some digging for Marios problem, this is what I have learned. The 98 bikes have a history of loosing ground to the fuel pump. It’s a BAD PCM board issue. I spoke to 3 mechanics last night, and each of them at a different source I use. All three stated, that if you are blowing your MAIN FUSE A, the problem could be just about anywhere, and that its related to a Grounding problem. I.e. either corrosion, or broken wire, or intermittent wire break due to heat, or water on an electrical board left to dry etc etc.

Mario indicated his MAIN FUSE A (30A) fuse blows when he hits exactly 5K PRMs. He also indicated that his original plug for his R/R showed signs of excessive resistance and heat, as the plug was a little melted. Unplugging his R/R and plugging it back in would allow him to restart. All the mechanics are in agreement, this is just coincidence. Once you blow the capacitor or the solid state diode inside the R/R, its toast. No going back. Done. Finished. Dead. See ya! Say “hi” to St. Peter for me! So unplugging it and plugging it back in would do nothing, if it was dead.

Now the bad news. My buddy Rusty (custom bike shop owner, and super bike God IMO), has seen this problem 2 times before. Both were 98 VFR’s. Not really knowing what the spark of the problem was, however, the PCM was bad. PCM’s cost ~ $800.00, ish. And to save some money, had opened the PCM, found the ground from the board for the Fuel pump, and soldered in a new ground wire, and ran it to the fuel pump. The problem is, that the 5 second priming the bike does when you key it, is no longer available. The fuel pump stays primed. To combat any potential over pressuring of the fuel system, the kill switch is used to turn the bike off, not the key. The suggestion is to purchase on Ebay a used PCM. Here’s why.

Money:
Trace down a ground problem on a bike due to MAIN FUSE A blowing = $65/hr for unknown number of hrs… then replace or fix item damaged, $120 to $1200. Total cost= could exceed ~$2000.00

Purchase a new PCM from Honda = ~$800

Purchase a used PCM from Ebay = ~$120

Sorry boss. So unlucky.