no power for my '00

I have a '00 and it has never run quite right. I did not know how bad it was until I swapped with a friend that has a '98. His made mine look silly.
Symptoms are that it has a flat spot EVERYWHERE. I am guessing that it's down 10-15 HP. Noticed that the plugs were wet after a short run yesterday. Has anyone had a problem with ECM, O2, or other fuel mgt that might make ECM go into "limp" mode? I have checked for pinched tubes. Air filter new. Bike is stock.

Thanks,
Eric

 

If both bikes are stock, they should have almost identical power. Did you actually pull your spark plugs and inspect them? By wet do you mean clear fluid or oil? The plugs should be bone dry and a nice tannish color on the electrodes.

You have to have the essentials for power.

1. good clean adequate supply of fuel.

No crap in your tank? Which octane are you running? There is a big difference in power between the higher and lower octane fuels. The LOWER octane fuel will give more power. Unless your engine is knocking due to preignition, there is absolutely no need to run higher octane fuel. You are paying more for less power. The detergents in the premium are identical to the regular for most every single brand of gas.

Your injectors may be clogged. Try running an injector cleaner additive for a few tanks, then ride the bikes back to back again for comparison. You won't need a full bottle for each tank.

2. Adequate supply of air.

Be sure that the air filter is clean. If you have more than 16K miles on your bike and that is the OEM filter, it should be replaced. It may look clean, but you'd be surprised at the crap it will still be holding. Blowing it with a compressor really won't help much. I recommend a K&N. They are about the same cost as the stock and will last the lifetime of the bike. They need to be removed and cleaned about every 12-16K miles. Very easy. This will make your throttle response feel much crisper.

3. Adequate spark.

The plugs should have been replaced at 16K miles. If you don't have 16K, these should still be fine. If you have removed them, I would check the gap to be sure it is correct. Don't have the numbers handy, sorry.

"Wet" plugs can be serious. Lots of oil on the plugs could mean that the piston rings are experiencing "blow by." This means that as the piston approaches the bottom of its' stroke on the intake cycle, oil is getting past the piston ring into the cyclinder and contaminating the plugs. The only solution is a rebuild of the engine. However, this is pretty rare for the VFR motor.

4. Compression

This is related to the "blow by" issue. If in fact the piston rings are not making a good seal against the cylinder wall, then you are not reaching optimum combustion chamber pressure and will lose significant power. When combustion occurs, it starts from a lower pressure. Also, on the combustion stroke, gases will be blowing by the ring into the crankcase (area behind the pistons where all the oil sits). This means you are losing more cyclinder pressure. The pressure is what shoves the piston down to produce the power, lose that, lose your power. Remove the air filter and look to see if there is a lot of fresh wet oil under it in the bottom of the airbox. Some oil is normal. Lots of oil is not.

A compression test is a simple way to check this. The plug in each cyclinder is removed one at a time and the engine is cranked over while a pressure gauge is screwed into the plug socket. It will set at the highest pressure the cyclinder sees. Compare this to the indicated pressure in the manual. It should be real close.

The last thing that might affect your compression is one of the intake or exhaust valves not seating properly. Again, this means the seal on the cyclinder is compromised and you are losing pressure. If the bike is near 16K, you might want to have the valve inspection done.

I don't know if you are mechanically inclined. If the bike is not under warranty, this kind of work could get expensive pretty quick. Also, most dealership mechanics suck at trouble shooting. They have to be told what is wrong and then they fix that one thing. I think if I had to take it in, the one thing I would ask they do before much else is the compression test. That will tell you a lot right off the bat! Also, it should not cost too much.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the response.
Everything seems to check out OK. I replaced plugs with NGK platinums, new air filter (stock). I want to put on a K&N, but am going to wait until it's running right to eliminate all variables. Inside of tank is clean - I only run name brand fuel, and use stations that look relatively new (I assume that their tanks are in the best shape). I am going to order a fuel filter. I am also going to do a compression check this week, although I do not anticipate a problem at 23k miles.
The plugs were wet with fuel after short rides. On longer rides, the plugs seem to burn a little on the rich side, but don't look too bad - no heavy carbon.
Also, there are no fuel injection errors. I am planning on taking it to the local dealer next week. They said that they can test the fuel system and also check the sensors. The only other thing that I can think of is to swap out the ECM.

Thanks again.

Eric

 

Changing the fuel filter is a real pain. You have to drain and remove the fuel tank. Then you have to pull the fuel pump out from the bottom of the tank, be very very patient and careful with this step. Also, there is a gasket that goes around the big hole in the bottom of the tank where the pump is inserted, you are supposed to replace it everytime you pull the pump

This is not a hard job to do. But it will take some time. You really want to be sure most all of the gas is out of the tank, otherwise it can get a little messy. Also, getting all those freaking little hoses reconnected under the tank will drive you nuts. Honda made them exactly as long as they needed to be and not a 1/2" more! >

Have fun! Let us know how things go for you!

Adios,

 

Have the bike checked at a shop that has an EGA (exhaust gas analyzer) and compare it to specs.  A failed O2 sensor defaults to a full rich mixture which will put black fluff on the plugs.  Also check to see if your bike do not have a Californai ECM in a 49 state bike; that will make it run like a dog. Any ECM faults should light the "FI" red trouble light on the dash.