Question about V-Tech - Termostat - Power

Discussion in '6th Generation 2002-2013' started by MrKielbasa, Mar 11, 2017.

  1. MrKielbasa

    MrKielbasa New Member

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    Hi Folks

    I had a few strange issues with my 03 VFR recently and I just wanted to throw them here to get some opinions, apologies if the post rambles.

    Issue #1

    So a few months ago I got local bike garage to install heated grips on my VFR , I had to bring it back to them twice as the left hand grip kept coming loose so they had to re-glue it. After the second attempt they told me to leave off the grips for 24hrs and then check again.
    I actually left it for 48hrs cause i forgot to check , put key in bike and turned on heated grips and after 30 seconds or so I thought wait, this is dumb , start the bike Martin ,so I hit the starter and the bike attempted to start but kinda clicked (relay) after a few turns and then when I tried again the bike lost power, clocks dead , nothing .......so i thought ooook wtf , turned the ignition off and on, power came back , tried starter again , click and power gone again , clocks dead etc ... i noticed the time/clock was on ok and the fuel indicator , tried a few more times, on some attempts the clocks flickered on/off but wasn't able to get power back to bike so I removed seat and had a look at connections , couldn't see any issues so i thought battery was fecked.. removed battery and hooked it up to a slow charge thinking id try it again tomorrow.

    After 30 mins I decided I would check the battery voltage with a Voltmeter I had ,disconnected it from charger and voila it was reading 13+ Volts so I thought OK well that's good , so maybe its not the battery...... decided to put it back in bike again , tightened up everything but this time I left off the heated grip connections just to eliminate them, turned on the key , bike powered up , started up no issues... ok .. so I turned it off, reconnected the heated grip connectors again , turned key , power on , started fine no issues, tried it a few more times no problems .......pulled and jiggled as many cables and connectors I could see and everything was fine .... so I am completely stumped as to what happened ...the only thing I can think is the main battery terminals where slightly loose from the visit to garage and there was a bad connection.

    Any ideas at all or similar experiences ?

    Issue #2

    Took bike for quick spin maybe a week after the power issue to make sure everything was ok ,no probs and stopped at a mates for a while, on way back home I noticed the bike was under powered and noticed there was no vtech kicking in , at all , I also noticed that the bike temp was low , like 55c which was new but the outside temp was quite cool around 8c so I thought ok maybe I just didnt let her heat up.....I knew the vtech relies on the bike hitting a certain temp so I got home, googled it and verified i was correct, went back out and let bike heat up on idle to around 70c and hit the road again and this time the vtech was kicking in OK but after a few mins of driving the temp was reducing back down again , 62c...58c...so at least I knew the vtech was OK but my thermostat is stuck open and bike is not heating up effectively so that's a job to be scheduled once a new thermostat arrives.

    However today I went for a nice long spin and outside temp was around 16c and average bike temp was around 72c but i felt overall the bike was still under performing. Before when I brought the revs up to 7k I used to feel like a 'click' or a 'jerk' as the engine thumped with the additional vtech power, but I didnt get this today , there was power there, just not an abundance of it .

    Could this still be related to the stuck thermostat (cool engine,bike running lean) or might I have electrical issue related to Issue #1 above ? Could my rectifiers be giving trouble ? Am I going slightly mad ?

    Sorry for the long post , just wanted to give as much detail as possible .

    Best Regards
    Martin
     
  2. Diving Pete

    Diving Pete Member

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    Battery for no1.

    How old is the batt?
    Sounds like it has volts, just no amps.
    If your clock resets during starting then you need a new battery - it happened to me last year!!!.

    Thermostat for no2.
     
  3. MrKielbasa

    MrKielbasa New Member

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    Thanks man , I am not sure I only have the bike around 6 months. The odd thing is it has been fine since , starting fine etc . Someone said to me alright it could be a faulty battery to replace it but why would it be OK now ?

    This was be causing the vtech 'kick' power issue ?

    Thanks again !!!
     
  4. Diving Pete

    Diving Pete Member

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    the batt starting the bike (as long as you have enough volts to fire the injectors) is all about amps.

    Mine would just click, then 5 seconds later would start it normally - voltage was fine.
    Sometimes it would start the bike fine - for a few days, then I might get the resetting of the dash 1 out of 4 trips.
    Drove me up the wall - fixed by a new battery.
     
  5. mello dude

    mello dude Administrator

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    Get the battery load tested.
     
  6. Terry Smith

    Terry Smith Member

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    Martin I think you will need a new thermostat, and a new battery.

    Batteries are sneaky little sods, you think they're well charged, but when asked to perform they can't deliver sufficient current. I was all set to call in an autoelectrician to fix my daughter's car, the starter solenoid, because it would just buzz, even after 'charging" fully on a charger, even with some jumper cables connected off a good battery. Turns out a dying battery is more trouble than it is worth, a new battery solved that one, and I suspect will also sort your starting issue. For sure, heated grips do have a reasonable demand for current, so in conjunction with a weakening battery, starting may be hit and miss. Still worth checking the RR and charging rate, you should see around 14-15 volts across the battery terminals when the engine is running with a few revs on. A trouble spot for me was the 3P connector with yellow wires from the stator to the RR, which was getting dirty and corroded and reducing available charging voltage at the same time as heating up.

    The VTEC system is looking for a minimum of 65C otherwise it won't engage. If the thermostat is working properly, you should see no lower than 76-78C when the bike is warmed, no matter how cold the air. Colder running can also lead to higher fuel consumption as the ECU is set to richen the cold mixture, maybe that would also decrease the power. Changing the thermostat is a rite of passage for all VFR owners at some point. We'll teach you the secret handshake after you've done one...
     
  7. MrKielbasa

    MrKielbasa New Member

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    Thanks for all the comments - much appreciated. I will change battery and thermostat and let you know the outcome , cheers guys !
     
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