mike5809

About a week ago i was riding and my f4i just died while riding. I couldnt get it to jump start. Also my headlights wouldnt come on. I tried push and jump starting but no luck.

I took the battery to advanced and they said it was completely dead. So i went out and baught a brand new battery. Installed it today and the same thing, the headlights wont come on at all. The rear turn signals come on but dont blink and the front turn signals dont come on at all.

When trying to start itall the guages works. When i try to start it just clicks. The motor dosent turn over it just clicks and clicks and clicks.
***edit...also it doesnt sound like the fuel pump is primering anymore on start up. that would deff not let it start. so do u think its a shorted out wire...

so i know its not the battery or rectifier. Also i checked the fuse box under the seat and all the fuses are good, it does have a full tank of gas and full oil.

what else do u think it could be?
loose wire/bad solinold/ or something else???

I just baught this bike 2 weeks ago and was only able to ride it 2 days so needless to say im not very happy, just want to get it running asap. also it only has 8,000 miles about


Modified by mike5809 at 2:11 PM 5/4/2005

famtrecrew

I had an f3 with the same problem... I ended up changing the voltage regulator (got it on ebay for like $80.00) and then it ran fine. Not sure if this is a problem with the F4i.... I never had a problem like that with my f4i or my 954rr. Good luck man

Etylorcen

When you bought the battery was it charged? Or charged recently? Yuasa and other battery brands ship those batteries dry so acid needs to be put in and charged. Sounds like a battery problem to me.

mike5809

yeah the battery is a sealed maintence free battery that comes pre charged.

i had the same problem with my f2 cbr died while riding...it killed the battery ended up being the rectifer replaced both it ran fine. (cant remember if my f2 headlights would turn on or not)

but see i think its that cause its the same symptoms as last time (died while riding, dead battery, wont start)

but i called teh honda dealership and he said it wouldnt be that. he said it soudns more like a starter solinoid or something. but i dunno if he knew what he was talking about.

any thoughts on the rectifier...?

thanks
mike

Ak2.5

dont panic, this is very simple problem with a simple and FREE solution.

all honda bikes are plaged by this problem


inside your right button console on ur clip on handle bar, there are 4 wires arranged in a square pattern this is for your engine start/stop button and ignition button.

one of these wires is a headlight dimmer switch this kills th eadlight to get more voltage to the headlight,

however, this wire tends to break loose especially if ur honda is not garage kept, or is ridden in the rain frequently,

my guess is this wire is shorting out over the other three wires and is subsequently killing ur battery and not allowing enough power to get to the starter

so before u buy some voltage rectifyer which u prolly dont need, open the button console and check those wires one will be disconnected

be sure to clean it well before resoldering, b/c after i fixed mine it came off again, about a day after i was caught in a brief rainstorm

mike5809

I looked at what u were talking about. all the wires where the ignition and cut off switch are in are all soldered down well and none are loose. so i dont think thats the problem. thanks neway.

***do u thhink it could be the starter motor? i was reading teh repair manuel and it says on the trouble shoot that if the starter is clicking and there is right about of voltage from battery to the starter motor then the starter motor could be bad or loose wire...but still even if thats the case why would my headlights not come on?

also i noticed with the key in the ignition it says that the high beams are on even if i have it switched to low beams (when the bike shut off for good i had the high beams on) and the red light that lights up when u have a fuel/air problem is on but it doesnt have the letter that goes in it it just lights up red all the time just like how the high beam is light up all the time

when i put the key in and turn it on. the tach goes all the way to redline like normal and back down like it always did and teh rpms counts down from 200mph like it always did. but unlike before when it counted down it would make a noise and now it is slient when it counts down. dont know if any of this helps or makes sense to ppl with out an f4i.


Modified by mike5809 at 3:00 AM 5/4/2005

40oztoFreedom

dude that f2 you sold my friend's a piece lol

gsrswapdcivic

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 40oztoFreedom &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dude that f2 you sold my friend's a piece lol</TD></TR></TABLE>

for some reason i laughed when i read this

mike5809

really&gt; sorry to hear that. i put over 12,000 miles on it, only had to replace the battery and the rectifer. and i also baught a new tire/plugs/filters/etc but thats standard stuff. Im surprised he is having problems with it.
Like i said i never had a problem cept for those two things.

40oztoFreedom

nah its cool he just sold a bunch of homegrown to get it and never hooked me up anyway so i just see it as karma coming back to him

Ak2.5

the voltage reg maybe shot, if u dont have a volt meter, u can unplug it and use a jumper wire, this wont hurt ur electronics, and check the headlight, DONT start the the bike. if it works that maybe ur problem,

if u have a voltmeter, check continuity


other than that, i would recommend checking for broken zip ties or areas where the wire could have worn all the way through, normally, this happens near the tripple clamp, or the seat side of the tail. i have seen shorts in both places by friction

Ak2.5

hey, u kno brandon smith in shippensburg?

mike5809

i dont have a voltage meter...wish i did.
is there any other way to check to see if the volt reg is bad?

my friend has a 01 f4i...and on friday hes gonna let me take off his rectifier and let me put it on my bike to see if that fixes it...if it starts then i guess thats the problem...but i dont want to wait till friday allready been sitting a while..


also there is a switch on the left side under the rear fairing it is a toggle switch with 2 wires comming from it neither are connected to anything. i doubt this is it, i figured the previous owner might of had neons under the bike and took them out?

and i dont know him sorry


*as for the old bike like i said sorry i didnt have anyproblems when i had it, i feel bad for ur friend. as u can see though im having problems of my own even on a 2001...sucks huh

40oztoFreedom

nah don't feel bad for him

mike5809

*edit about the fuel pump not primering.

mike5809

ok someone suggested to switch the fuel cut off relay and engine cut off relay. i switch them. it did same thing. just click fump pump didnt come on. also with both of those un plugged it did the exact same things even unpluged...just clicked

and here is a run down of everything not working
wont start. starter just clicks
fuel pump doesnt come on
headlights dont come on
front turns signals dont light.
turn signals dont blink (light in instument panel works)
all rear lights work, all instrument lights work (cept it says the high beams are allways on)


battery is good. bank angle sensor is good, check the wires in the kill switch box they are good. what else? startor, stator, rectifer, (see i just dont see why those would cause the other things not to work) so is it a short?

Also as soon as it died, i tried jump starting but it wouldnt. so then i tired push starting. i got it to start 1 time headlights worked etc but then it died within 5 seconds and i couldnt push start it again after that...any thoughts?

thanks mike


Modified by mike5809 at 6:18 PM 5/4/2005


Modified by mike5809 at 7:05 PM 5/4/2005

DaveF

ill give ya 50 bucks for it right now. j/k

cbrman

If the voltage is too low in the battery the starter will not turn over. The clicking noise that you hear is the starter relay engaging.

It is similar to a standard spdt relay where it accepts input from the ignition/start switch. When voltage is passed through this 'half of the circuit if you will' it completes a +12v circuit from the battery to the starter.

Your problem more than likely is a dead battery caused by overcharging/undercharging from the voltage regulator.

This is a common/notorious problem for most if not all hondas (probably second only to the noisy cct). Many people have actually started mounting dc computer fans to the voltage reg. heat sink to prevent the voltage regulator from overheating which will damage the electronics inside it.....

First thing you need to do if you plan on diagnosing an electrical problem is to get a multimeter. They can be had fairly inexpensively from radio shack. No you dont need the 100+ dollar fluke meter but they are nice.... The second thing you need to do is get ahold of the honda service manual for your bike. (the chilton/clymers are crap as they dont have wiring schematics and are lacking most information you would need for your bike.)

Set the multimeter to DC Voltage not AC.........

To test the battery look at the voltage across the two terminals (connect the red wire from the multimeter to the + on the battery, the black wire to the - on the battery). It should read around 12 volts. Next hit the starter with the leads still connected to the battery terminals. Watch the voltage, if it drops below 10 volts that generally tends to mean you have a bad/dead cell in the battery.


If you can get the bike running, start it up with the leads still connected to the battery as instructed above. Once the bike is running, the battery should be charging. The voltage should read &gt; 12 volts. To properly charge a battery, the charging system has to run at a voltage slightly higher than the rated value. (Note: for most cars, alternators tend to charge at ~14.4 volts for a 12 volt battery.) If it is alot higher overcharging can kill a battery just as easily as undercharging it....

Last but not least..... the lights should be on when you turn the key into the run position, however if I am not mistaken there is a relay in the light circuit to turn the light itself off when the starter button is being pressed. the headlight draws its fair share of power so it is momentarily turned off during starting. This happens on my 98 f3 electronics , and my 2001 929. I would assume it is the same on your f4/f4i or whatever it is.

Remember one thing, when testing voltage wire the multimeter in parallel. When testing current, you need to wire it in series.

If you dont know what that means, it may be best to take it in to the shop. If you are not careful you can damage it worse than it already is.....

There may be a process in the service manual to test the voltage regulator but I cant remember. I havent had one die on my f3 or 929 yet, however I have had friends who have had them go bad.....

Also to answer a few questions from your last post: the fuel pump does not come on until there is a signal from your tachometer. This way if you wreck, gas wont be pumped all over you if the bike catches fire.... Lights/blinkers not working... hmm check the fuse panel. Replace the one labeled lights/blinkers.... or test it for resistance to make sure that it is not blown. Some actually look good but can be blown.

IF/when the voltage regulator goes bad what will happen is essentially the bike will run fine for a few hrs. The headlight will start to die and eventually the bike will die on you. This is because the battery has voltage. When the charging system stops charging the battery will keep the bike running until the charge stored in the battery has drained. It will then abruptly die on you.

If you recharge the battery it will do the same... You will be able to ride for a few hrs then the bike will die again. Teh length of time is dependant on how much power the headlight/blinkers drain from the battery.

Steven


Edit:
Oh yeah and if you want to sell it I will give you more than $50 for it.

mike5809

i will sell for $75 firm lol

thanks alot i thought it was the regulator from the start cause what happened to my old f2. i checked all fuses and connections and wires...nothing loose, all fuses good, etc.

i have a spare ecu that im gonna plug into today just to make sure its not that. if it doesnt solve it im going to go buy a rectifier...and hopefully it works then. i cant wait to ride its been 75-80 out all week so im gettin kinda pissed lol.

but thanks alot for all ur help and time i will keep u posted on my results.