CBR600F electrical fault

[Trylski]

Hi guys,

I've got an intermittent fault with my bike that I'm struggling to diagnose and would appreciate the input of some experienced BCFers.

Honda CBR600FX 1999 with 40k on the clock.

First time I experienced this I was riding along the A3 for about 30 minutes, the first thing I noticed was the headlights and dash lights became very dim. A few minutes later the bike started to stutter and slow down kind of like it was out of fuel. Came to a stop at the side of the road, bike behaved as if the battery was dead; no lights, wouldn't turn over on the button and would not bump start either. I called recovery and waited, when the guy called to say he was on the way he asked me to try starting the bike and the bloody thing started first time with no problems at all. It then rode fine the rest of the way home flawlessly.

It's happened a few times since, always just after I come off the motorway after about 15-20 minutes of riding. Each time the bike has started again after being left standing for a while but it's starting to happen more frequently now.

I've got the bike in pieces, and I did find one of the ignition coils was loose fitting on the spark plug so I've ordered a spare one from ebay but I don't see how one failing coil would cause a complete power loss?

Any one else come across this problem or know which components to start testing?[/b]

[sickpup]

Check the charge rate all the way through the rev range.

[jaffa90]

I would check if the bike is connected to the battery, also connections from the alternator to the reg/rec in and out.

[Fin]

Check the battery first of all, engine off and running, the rectifiers on a lot of old Honda's are known to break/go faulty.

As sickpup says, check how the voltage changes along the rev range.

When batteries are drained you can let them stand a while and they'll regain some charge.

From my experience the reg/recs go slowly although I know people who have become stranded because of it.

[colink98]

Exactly the same issue with my 2004 CBF600.
I mean exactly the same....

you have a bad connection somewhere.

I spent ages trying to find the fault.
while it was un-diagnosed i fitted a small volt meter to the handle bars and took to carrying a jumper battery.

one day when it did the same thing again on the M25.
Just died (ticking over barely but no throttle response)
Would not start again, any atempt to turn over the bike everything would die.

I followed all the cables from the battery to everything and it was when i pulled the cable off the small box that houses the main fuse and put it back the bike sprang into life.

a bit of a better look and it turned out the fuse holder was corroded to fuck.

gave the good thing a clean and all was well.
____________________
PCX125 (stolen) - CBF600 (current)
Ride it like you stole it.
ride sensible and not like an idiot and you wont get 6 points in one week.

[stinkwheel]

Yes, sounds like it's been failing to charge, running out of power then the battery recovers enough to fire up after a bit and it starts charging again.

As above, have a good look at the block connectors for the reg/rec, main fuse and the battery lives for signs of looseness, corrosion or scorching/melting. Also check the frame earth.

I've had two VFRs do exactly what you describe. The first one had a ropy connection in the connector block for the reg/rec. One phase was making intermittant connection so it was dropping between one and three phases of charging. This was evidenced by scorching and melting around the effected terminal.

The other was my second VFR, this was more odd. It would suddenly have a flat battery after a protracted thrashing then recover to normal afterwards. I eventually concluded it was a heat-sinking problem. The frame gets very hot when you thrash this bike and the reg/rec is bolted to the frame for heat sinking. It wasn't able to dump enough heat. I noticed the following years model had additional slots in the fairing over the reg/rec and drilled some holes in the same place. The problem went away.

Anyway, diagnostically, I found fitting a small LED volt meter did wonders for my confidence and helped dynamically pinpoint when the problem was happening in the scond instance I described.

Said meter cost about £2.99, I wired it into a switched live and epoxied it into the fusebox cover (which can be seen from the seat). It can be unplugged and has proved handy for checking faults in other peoples bikes too.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Trylski]

Sorry for the delayed reply, been a struggle getting round to the bike.

So I've checked and cleaned the frame earth, didn't look corroded or too dirty

I've checked the main fuse and it is pretty corroded, I cleaned up the fuse blades but I'll try to pull the whole lot and clean it up.

Current leakage test showed no loss of current, however the output test show no change in voltage across the rev range. The voltage sat at 12.85v regardless of RPM, voltage dropped to 12.5v with headlights on. So that means the battery isn't charging right?

Tested the resistance through the alternator and it was 1.2 ohms (normal range 0.1-1). Can I conclude from this I need to be inspecting the alternator, or is there any chance the reg/rec could be at fault?

Cheers guys
____________________
Current Bike: Suzuki Bandit N600 '99,
- CBT: Passed 02/2008 - Theory : Passed 24/02/09 Test: Passed 09/03/09 - 2011 33bhp over

[jaffa90]

Can you check the alternator (3) a/c voltage readings on the 3 same colour wires coming out, 1+2, 1+3, 2+3. At different rev ranges?

[Tdibs]

Take a look at the reg/rec in and out pins.
____________________
Previous : 09 Vanvan 125| 02' Sv650s || Current: 1999 Xj600n | 1992 DR650 RSE | 2005 Fazer 1000

[Hong Kong Phooey]

[jaffa90]

[stinkwheel]

[MUGIDUDE]

I have a VFR 750, and they say Rec/Regs are a problem, mine packed up so I bought a £80 jobby from a dealer and a £9.50 Chinese one, fitted both and they showed same readings on a mulitmete at tick over and 6000 revs.

I am running the Chinese cheepo and have the £80 one on board just in case.

Are there any horror stories bout cheepo rec/regs.

[Sister Sledge]

WTF is it with these old thread resurrections?
____________________
CCM 404 DS

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

noobs who don't get how message boards work
____________________
"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[colink98]

[MUGIDUDE]

Yes did google search and newb.

[MUGIDUDE]

Three people looked at this, resurrected old post, but no answers, just a ''WTF'' and a dig. But hey it's a free world and we're all different.

PS cheepo Chinese Rec/Reg is holding out fine to date

[stinkwheel]

Good for you. Thanks for reporting back.

Maybe nobody has tried one?

I have a CBR600RR one on my VFR which has proper heatsinking and I drilled some holes in the side cover to let the air at it. Been fine.

I'd imagine relocating it to the left side of the bike would also help because the right side of the frame gets bastarding hot when you thrash them. Not much to heatsink to.

I fitted a £2.99 Chinese LED voltmeter in the fuse box cover on mine so I can keep an eye on the charging.

Ideal would be fitting a mosfet type reg/rec.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.