New addition... [John's '01 VFR Thread]

**JohnC** · 08-11-2006, 11:45 AM

.paul Wrote:do not lie, you know you want it to be pink, and it will just be a test run for the penis pink you will be painting the VFR

Beating you at Laguna affected me in strange ways, what can I say...

.paul · 08-11-2006, 12:41 PM

you dominatrics you

Dragon · 08-11-2006, 01:07 PM

I don't think I want to know what went on in the RV after I fell asleep.

Feersty · 08-11-2006, 04:51 PM

I see Red. Congrats man!

**JohnC** · 09-03-2006, 01:36 AM

3 weeks and 1,000 miles later...

[Image: IMG_4594.JPG]

Had a nice little ride up to Afton and back today to celebrate. Tomorrow, valve inspection....

.RJ · 09-03-2006, 01:57 AM

JohnC Wrote:Tomorrow, valve inspection....

The results will be "yep, all the valves are there, time to drink another beer"

**JohnC** · 09-08-2006, 01:06 PM

And almost a month later, I finally got the title and lien release paperwork from the seller. Karma at work...

**JohnC** · 03-11-2007, 11:26 PM

So at the end of last year, the VFR was having some serious issues keeping a battery charged. I parked it in December, and finally dug into it this afternoon.

"Well theres your problem..."

[Image: IMG_4687.JPG]

I'm not an expert on these things, but I *think* that stator looks a little more cooked than it should... I'm sending it to Rick's Motorsport Electrics on the recommendation of the VFR boards, for a rewind and rebuild.

Maengelito · 03-11-2007, 11:44 PM

just put some 'tussin on it. should be good as new

Ginger · 03-11-2007, 11:50 PM

Wow.

I really wish Honda could sort out the charging problems on their V4's. I see the rectifiers go out more frequently, but charging problems are chronic on VFR's, stator, RR, or both. I'm not done with my project VFR yet, but I'll be surprised if it's electrical system holds up to more than 10,000 miles of punishment. That's 10,000 miles on a harness I'm building from scratch. It just seems silly that the charging system on a bike focused on long rides can't take the heat of them... pun intended.

Good luck, John, keep us posted on it's goings.

PGK · 03-12-2007, 12:01 AM

From a technician's point of view, rebuilding electrical components is a waste of time and money. In this situation I can see it being the way to go.

I agree with Andrew. what gives on the charging system issues? Hubris has kept Honda from dropping the V4, but hubris has also kept them from seeing it grow to its full potential. Chocolate camshafts, charging system issues, heat issues. If they had recognized problems and rectified them quickly and early in the motors lifetime our CBR1000RR's would be V4's.

I would like to say that there is obviously some other reason for the failures, maybe isolated lemons, but when it's 2 out of 5 bikes that have the same problem there is much more at work.

Ginger · 03-12-2007, 12:16 AM

I think I went through 3 R/R's and 5 batteries. Mike's VFR had a bad R/R practically from the day he brought it home, and now Chapin's has a bad stator. It's even worse than 2/5 for this club, we're batting one hundred.

Meanwhile my F4 hasn't ever given me a problem. RJ's F3 didn't, either. None of the RR's putting around us have. I mean, it can't seriously be vibration and heat - Honda's too smart for that. Or are they? Are V4's just being ignored - sales resting on legacy and the faithful few? Harley doesn't seem to be burning up electrical components left and right, nor do any other big twin makers. What gives?

**JohnC** · 03-12-2007, 10:08 AM

PGK Wrote:From a technician's point of view, rebuilding electrical components is a waste of time and money. In this situation I can see it being the way to go.

Yup. Considering this OEM stator burned up within 16k miles, I'm not buying another OEM one. Rick's apparently rebuilds their stators to handle a little more abuse, they cost less than OEM, and most importantly, carry a 1-year warranty.

And, FWIW, this is the second battery I've had in the bike since I bought it last August. I feel like a sucker, because the $500 Kawasaki sitting next to it in the garage runs like a champ (and always has), while this $4k Honda can barely stay running between my house and work. Like Andrew said, its supposed to be a long-distance bike, but I'm scared to take it more than 20-30 miles from home...

**JohnC** · 03-13-2007, 03:49 PM

So Rick's quoted me $140 to rebuild the stator and the attached wiring harness (had to cut it to get it out of the bike). I should have it back late next week Sad

**G.Irish** · 03-13-2007, 04:03 PM

asteele2 Wrote:Meanwhile my F4 hasn't ever given me a problem. RJ's F3 didn't, either. None of the RR's putting around us have. I mean, it can't seriously be vibration and heat - Honda's too smart for that. Or are they? Are V4's just being ignored - sales resting on legacy and the faithful few? Harley doesn't seem to be burning up electrical components left and right, nor do any other big twin makers. What gives?

Well the V4 is a particularly challenging engine configuration for motorcycles which is why there are very, very few that made it to production. I wanna say in the last 20 years Honda is the only one who has made one, other than Ducati with the Desmosedici RR.

Back in the 80's the V4 Magnas had a bunch of valvetrain problems but since then there hasn't been something catastrophic wrong with any of them but I'm not really surprised at the cooked stator thing.

Ginger · 03-13-2007, 05:01 PM

G.Irish Wrote:Well the V4 is a particularly challenging engine configuration for motorcycles which is why there are very, very few that made it to production.

That's true.. but these are electrical systems. The extra challenges posed by the V4 from a charging system viepoint are just heat and vibration. If Honda can't solve those problems (and the RC is a pretty good example on the same problems) then what gives? It wouldn't cost hardly any money at all, on a production scale, to more properly damp and isolate the stator and R/R... they're simple components.

Sijray21 · 03-13-2007, 05:50 PM

is this a typical problem on the newer VFR's?

Ginger · 03-13-2007, 05:52 PM

Sijray21 Wrote:is this a typical problem on the newer VFR's?

As far as I can gather... they're typical problems on all VFR's.

**Mike** · 03-14-2007, 08:58 AM

asteele2 Wrote:
Sijray21 Wrote:is this a typical problem on the newer VFR's?

As far as I can gather... they're typical problems on all VFR's.

yep, although RR seems to go bad more often than stators. i replaced mine with an updated part; the difference in cooling capacity (based on looks) was night and day.

[Image: lr_rectifier.jpg]

**JohnC** · 03-14-2007, 12:04 PM

I'm probably just going to replace the R/R as well, with an upgraded unit (even though the already '01 VFR has a better one than the other 5th gens). Bad stator can fry a R/R, and vice versa - might as well change them both at the same time.

After all, its only money...

Login




Remember me Lost Password?