FI light on with brake light or turn signal

Discussion in 'Mechanics Garage' started by Jasonmbiggs, Jul 16, 2015.

  1. Jasonmbiggs

    Jasonmbiggs New Member

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    She's a 99 VFR800 with 18,000. The FI light came on dim then went out. It did this for about 100 miles off and on. Performance never suffered. Later on the way to work I turn on the turn signal and the FI light begins to flash with the signal light but still runs fine. Next morning on the commute the light turns on solid and when I hit the brakes she dies. Starts right back up and dies at the next braking point. 1 mile from work she dies. Sit 30 seconds, fire up and ride 1/2 mile and dies. Finally to work I play with her and if I turn headlights off the FI light goes off. If I turn on blinker and brake light and headlight at same time she dies. Any extra load kills her. I troubleshot the charging system and stator and voltage regulator are working properly. charging 13.2 at idle, 14.2ish at 3,500. Please tell me whats up. I can't really afford dealership serive fees and my wife is going crazy wanting to ride. She watches the weather everyday and this weekend is her birthday. I hate to borrow my buddy's bike.
     
  2. rjgti

    rjgti New Member

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    bad ground block maybe, any fi codes set?
     
  3. Jasonmbiggs

    Jasonmbiggs New Member

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    I haven't figured out the code thing yet.
     
  4. OZ VFR

    OZ VFR Member

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    99% sure its the earth block.
     
  5. Jasonmbiggs

    Jasonmbiggs New Member

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    That makes sense. Where's the ground block located
     
  6. OZ VFR

    OZ VFR Member

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    Its taped up in the main harness next to the R&R.
    Search the forum and there will be pictures.
     
  7. OZ VFR

    OZ VFR Member

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  8. Pliskin

    Pliskin New Member

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    What Oz said. See post 17 in that linked thread.
     
  9. Jasonmbiggs

    Jasonmbiggs New Member

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    DAMN
    the ground block looks absolutely beautiful. Zero corrosion or signs of arcing.
    Suggestions?
     
  10. Darth Vader

    Darth Vader New Member

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    Charging 13.2 at idle seems low ?
    RR it's always the RR.
    Fit a yam R1 and be done with it
     
  11. tinkerinWstuff

    tinkerinWstuff Administrator Staff Member

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    It's the ground

    13v is normal at idle.
     
  12. OZ VFR

    OZ VFR Member

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    I hunted for this problem for a while.
    My ground block looked great as well.
    Eventually I got rid of it and soldered all the wires, adding a new thick gauge earth wire directly to the frame earth point.
    All my problems went away.
    That was 2 years ago and all is still good.
    It is worth a shot IMO.
     
  13. Jasonmbiggs

    Jasonmbiggs New Member

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    Guess I should update.
    I cut the ground block out and found one wire that was dark and had trouble taking solder. 500 miles later I think the problem is fixed. Thank you guys. My wife is happy again

    Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
     
  14. Pliskin

    Pliskin New Member

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    Glad it worked out. And thanks for posting back. Good to know that even through the block looked all pretty, there was some gremlins lurking behind. Seems an all to common occurrence with VFR electronics.

    Always nice to get some closure to a thread.
     
  15. Pete's black vfr800

    Pete's black vfr800 New Member

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    Im having the same problem with my 5th gen
     
  16. Pete's black vfr800

    Pete's black vfr800 New Member

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    Im having the same problem with my 5th gen vfr. If I use the blinkers the light flashes same with the brake even turning on the brights triggers the fi light. Only thing different is it's not dieing when braking. Can you help please?
     
  17. Terry Smith

    Terry Smith Member

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    This does sound like another ground block problem. The ground block connects lots of earth wires together, on the 5th gen it is an orange plastic block located on main wiring loom on the left rear of the bike, but covered in black tape. If the connectors there get dirty you can start to get some random electrical glitches. A permanent fix is to solder all the wires together and run a new heavy gauge earth wire to a good earthing point on the frame.
     
  18. Pete's black vfr800

    Pete's black vfr800 New Member

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    Thank you so much for replying to my call for help. I wanted to give you a little more info and see if you still think it is my earth block that is the problem. I haven't noticed that the fi light is emitting any codes and if it does when would I see a code? I am not very mechanically inclined but im not stupid and with the pictures in the original thread it looks like something I can manage to accomplish. Are all the green wires attached to the orange connector ground wires?
     
  19. Pete's black vfr800

    Pete's black vfr800 New Member

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    I read more of the original thread that was posted and I am experiencing another symptom that I forgot about. My vfr is also running less than desirable. When in gear and decelerating the exhaust pop and back fires very loud sometimes. Is this also associated with the bad ground or could it be a dirty fuel filter or vaccum leak of some kind. When the bike idles warm or cold it seems to be off and it seems to skip a beat and reset if you will. It has died when it does this but only twice in the last 2 weeks of almost everyday riding. I don't know how else to describe what it's doing. If you have any questions for me, don't hesitate? I'm sorry for all the questions. I guess I'm hopeing you will be able to answer them all with a single answer. Thanks again
     
  20. OZ VFR

    OZ VFR Member

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    The VFR earth block can cause all sort of strange electrical problems.
    When there is no earth on a circuit, it will not work. But when there is partial earth, all sort of things can go weird.
    It will often earth through another circuit, this is why lights that have nothing to do with another, can come on and off.
    It is an easy thing to fix, on a known issue with VFRs, so why wouldn't anyone try it first.
     
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