The hits just keep on comin....
03-01-2013 | 08:38 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Space Gangsta
Squid
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 11
From: Among the wretched hives of scum and villiany... aka Jacksonville, Florida
The hits just keep on comin....
I never was able to solve the stalling problem (After the bike would idle for 5-10 minutes it would shut off and did not want to start up again until it cooled down. Then when it did run... it would die at some of the most "fun" moments. i.e, traffic, in a corner, at the Taco Bell drive thru. Boy... that was embarrassing.
I finally got tired of it (Not to mention taking the damn thing apart and putting it back together about 7 times) so, I caved in and took it to a bike shop.
It has been there for three weeks going on four now.
First thing was the choke assembly was broke and was enriching and was fouling my plugs. (FIXED) The Petcock assembly was bad and had to be replaced (FIXED) Carbs synced / Coolant flush / Oil Change / New Battery / New Plugs (ALL DONE)
Then when they started her up.... SAME DAMN THING. Got up to running temp and died.
Come to find out it was the Pulse Generator. The only one they could find was on E-Bay. After they put it in..... DIES AT RUNNING TEMP.
The freaking PG went bad. Thankfully they contested it and got their (My) money back. Now.... here's the kicker. Ready????????????
The part I need (30300-MBB-640) OEM is on back order from Honda, Japan and will not be shipped to the US until 3/19/13
They actually have to manufacture the damn thing.
I guess this part goes bad a lot or something.... I dunno.
Now, my Regulator/Rectifier is acting up and we just ordered the part yesterday. Got one of the new, bigger ones that will bleed heat like a champ.
So far... I have put $850 bucks into this thing and for a bike I only paid $1900.00 bucks for.... I am very unhappy.
Not to mention the $1700.00 bucks I have spent on various aftermarket gear for her.
Am I a dumbass? Perhaps...
Anyway, what I am wondering (And please forgive the tirade) is, has anyone else ran into this type of electrical problem with their VTR?
I could really use some feedback, ideas, opinions (Please no negative, lol BS) cause I am about to take my SPAS-12 to this thing if anything else goes wrong with it in the near future. Well... after 3/19/13 that is.
Hahahahahahahaha......(cries)
Also... the bike shop is not screwing me. They have been really awesome with all of this and I am not getting charged for the OEM/PG and labor for it.
I finally got tired of it (Not to mention taking the damn thing apart and putting it back together about 7 times) so, I caved in and took it to a bike shop.
It has been there for three weeks going on four now.
First thing was the choke assembly was broke and was enriching and was fouling my plugs. (FIXED) The Petcock assembly was bad and had to be replaced (FIXED) Carbs synced / Coolant flush / Oil Change / New Battery / New Plugs (ALL DONE)
Then when they started her up.... SAME DAMN THING. Got up to running temp and died.
Come to find out it was the Pulse Generator. The only one they could find was on E-Bay. After they put it in..... DIES AT RUNNING TEMP.
The freaking PG went bad. Thankfully they contested it and got their (My) money back. Now.... here's the kicker. Ready????????????
The part I need (30300-MBB-640) OEM is on back order from Honda, Japan and will not be shipped to the US until 3/19/13
They actually have to manufacture the damn thing.
I guess this part goes bad a lot or something.... I dunno.
Now, my Regulator/Rectifier is acting up and we just ordered the part yesterday. Got one of the new, bigger ones that will bleed heat like a champ.
So far... I have put $850 bucks into this thing and for a bike I only paid $1900.00 bucks for.... I am very unhappy.
Not to mention the $1700.00 bucks I have spent on various aftermarket gear for her.
Am I a dumbass? Perhaps...
Anyway, what I am wondering (And please forgive the tirade) is, has anyone else ran into this type of electrical problem with their VTR?
I could really use some feedback, ideas, opinions (Please no negative, lol BS) cause I am about to take my SPAS-12 to this thing if anything else goes wrong with it in the near future. Well... after 3/19/13 that is.
Hahahahahahahaha......(cries)
Also... the bike shop is not screwing me. They have been really awesome with all of this and I am not getting charged for the OEM/PG and labor for it.
03-01-2013 | 09:10 AM
#2
Senior Member
SuperBike
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,707
From: Essex, UK
Funnily enough noticed this on fleabay yesterday
Honda VTR Firestorm Ignition Pickup | eBay
30300-MBB-640
http://www.ronayers.com/Fiche/TypeID...STARTER_CLUTCH
Even closer to you... Just search for 'superhawk pickup'
http://www.ebay.com/itm/98-05-VTR-10...00f06c&vxp=mtr
Honda VTR Firestorm Ignition Pickup | eBay
30300-MBB-640
http://www.ronayers.com/Fiche/TypeID...STARTER_CLUTCH
Even closer to you... Just search for 'superhawk pickup'
http://www.ebay.com/itm/98-05-VTR-10...00f06c&vxp=mtr
Last edited by Wicky; 03-01-2013 at 09:17 AM.
03-01-2013 | 09:13 AM
#3
Out of my mind, back in 5
MotoGP
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 6,109
From: Skurup, Sweden
I never was able to solve the stalling problem (After the bike would idle for 5-10 minutes it would shut off and did not want to start up again until it cooled down. Then when it did run... it would die at some of the most "fun" moments. i.e, traffic, in a corner, at the Taco Bell drive thru. Boy... that was embarrassing.
I finally got tired of it (Not to mention taking the damn thing apart and putting it back together about 7 times) so, I caved in and took it to a bike shop.
It has been there for three weeks going on four now.
First thing was the choke assembly was broke and was enriching and was fouling my plugs. (FIXED) The Petcock assembly was bad and had to be replaced (FIXED) Carbs synced / Coolant flush / Oil Change / New Battery / New Plugs (ALL DONE)
Then when they started her up.... SAME DAMN THING. Got up to running temp and died.
Come to find out it was the Pulse Generator. The only one they could find was on E-Bay. After they put it in..... DIES AT RUNNING TEMP.
The freaking PG went bad. Thankfully they contested it and got their (My) money back. Now.... here's the kicker. Ready????????????
The part I need (30300-MBB-640) OEM is on back order from Honda, Japan and will not be shipped to the US until 3/19/13
They actually have to manufacture the damn thing.
I guess this part goes bad a lot or something.... I dunno.
Now, my Regulator/Rectifier is acting up and we just ordered the part yesterday. Got one of the new, bigger ones that will bleed heat like a champ.
So far... I have put $850 bucks into this thing and for a bike I only paid $1900.00 bucks for.... I am very unhappy.
Not to mention the $1700.00 bucks I have spent on various aftermarket gear for her.
Am I a dumbass? Perhaps...
Anyway, what I am wondering (And please forgive the tirade) is, has anyone else ran into this type of electrical problem with their VTR?
I could really use some feedback, ideas, opinions (Please no negative, lol BS) cause I am about to take my SPAS-12 to this thing if anything else goes wrong with it in the near future. Well... after 3/19/13 that is.
Hahahahahahahaha......(cries)
Also... the bike shop is not screwing me. They have been really awesome with all of this and I am not getting charged for the OEM/PG and labor for it.
I finally got tired of it (Not to mention taking the damn thing apart and putting it back together about 7 times) so, I caved in and took it to a bike shop.
It has been there for three weeks going on four now.
First thing was the choke assembly was broke and was enriching and was fouling my plugs. (FIXED) The Petcock assembly was bad and had to be replaced (FIXED) Carbs synced / Coolant flush / Oil Change / New Battery / New Plugs (ALL DONE)
Then when they started her up.... SAME DAMN THING. Got up to running temp and died.
Come to find out it was the Pulse Generator. The only one they could find was on E-Bay. After they put it in..... DIES AT RUNNING TEMP.
The freaking PG went bad. Thankfully they contested it and got their (My) money back. Now.... here's the kicker. Ready????????????
The part I need (30300-MBB-640) OEM is on back order from Honda, Japan and will not be shipped to the US until 3/19/13
They actually have to manufacture the damn thing.
I guess this part goes bad a lot or something.... I dunno.
Now, my Regulator/Rectifier is acting up and we just ordered the part yesterday. Got one of the new, bigger ones that will bleed heat like a champ.
So far... I have put $850 bucks into this thing and for a bike I only paid $1900.00 bucks for.... I am very unhappy.
Not to mention the $1700.00 bucks I have spent on various aftermarket gear for her.
Am I a dumbass? Perhaps...
Anyway, what I am wondering (And please forgive the tirade) is, has anyone else ran into this type of electrical problem with their VTR?
I could really use some feedback, ideas, opinions (Please no negative, lol BS) cause I am about to take my SPAS-12 to this thing if anything else goes wrong with it in the near future. Well... after 3/19/13 that is.
Hahahahahahahaha......(cries)
Also... the bike shop is not screwing me. They have been really awesome with all of this and I am not getting charged for the OEM/PG and labor for it.
No, the R/R did not "start acting up" before the other electrical components failed... It most likely fried the other components becuase it was slowly failing...
So, if you had checked the R/R to be within spec ASAP like every newbie coming to this forum is adviced to do... Then you might have saved yourself a fair headache... Now, I'm not saying the other components wheren't bad by the time you got the bike... But it's possible...
Oh, BTW... Do you wanna save yourself more grief, and a whole lot more money? Find the reason why the R/R failed... They don't fail without reason... Usually there is a bad wire somewhere, causing resistance and heat... Corroded plug, or similar... Find and fix that, and the new R/R will last much longer, and not **** you off in a year or so, by taking out something else that costs a lot to replace...
Just saying... A bit of time spent with a multimeter, a bronze brush and spray vaseline will save you a lot of money and grief... However, paying a shop to do it, will be costly... Takes time, but it's easy work...
03-01-2013 | 09:39 AM
#4
Senior Member
MotoGP
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,871
From: Phoenix, AZ
First, return the R/R that you ordered unless it is a MOSFET unit. Any plug n play option to date is a shunt based R/R and is more prone to fail again. Like Tweety said, when it goes out, there's no voltage regulation and it can damage a lot of things.
Read up on the MOSFET thread by Tweety. You can splice in a much better one.
I may have an extra (used but functional) pulse generator back at home. I'd have to check, I may have got rid of it already. If I do you can have it, just pay for shipping.
One step at a time... you'll get it back running. Unfortunately you hit one of the two Achiles' heels of an otherwise low maintenance bike, but you hit it hard.
Read up on the MOSFET thread by Tweety. You can splice in a much better one.
I may have an extra (used but functional) pulse generator back at home. I'd have to check, I may have got rid of it already. If I do you can have it, just pay for shipping.
One step at a time... you'll get it back running. Unfortunately you hit one of the two Achiles' heels of an otherwise low maintenance bike, but you hit it hard.
03-01-2013 | 10:51 AM
#5
Thread Starter
Space Gangsta
Squid
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 11
From: Among the wretched hives of scum and villiany... aka Jacksonville, Florida
I may be a newb to the forum but, not bikes.
I have never had anything like this happen and I owned a 69 Triumph Bonneville (Rigid Frame) once and that was always breaking down.
I have never had a problem with Pulse Gens or R/R ever and the worst electrical problem I have ever had was some blown fuses and a head light that would only run with the Highbeam on.
Of all the bike I have owned, this one is really pissing me off.
Was gonna be a project/theme bike and hopefully it still will be.
Tweety... Thank you for the advice.
I should have gotten with you on this earlier. Sadly, I don't have a lot of time and my patience has pretty much come to it's end.
They ran a consistency test on the R/R and it was at factory specs, then it started going bad but... cause and effect eh?
I am not going with ANY used mechanical parts from E-Bay anymore.
Ohh well... live and learn right?
Thank ya'll for the input and advice.
I will keep it in mind.
However... the fairing is coming along nicely though and I ordered my lights.
Just got to get it back to make the mounting bracket for the lights.
ORDER 66 will be complete... maybe not on schedule but it will be done.
Once again, thanks all.
END OF TRANSMISSION!
I have never had anything like this happen and I owned a 69 Triumph Bonneville (Rigid Frame) once and that was always breaking down.
I have never had a problem with Pulse Gens or R/R ever and the worst electrical problem I have ever had was some blown fuses and a head light that would only run with the Highbeam on.
Of all the bike I have owned, this one is really pissing me off.
Was gonna be a project/theme bike and hopefully it still will be.
Tweety... Thank you for the advice.
I should have gotten with you on this earlier. Sadly, I don't have a lot of time and my patience has pretty much come to it's end.
They ran a consistency test on the R/R and it was at factory specs, then it started going bad but... cause and effect eh?
I am not going with ANY used mechanical parts from E-Bay anymore.
Ohh well... live and learn right?
Thank ya'll for the input and advice.
I will keep it in mind.
However... the fairing is coming along nicely though and I ordered my lights.
Just got to get it back to make the mounting bracket for the lights.
ORDER 66 will be complete... maybe not on schedule but it will be done.
Once again, thanks all.
END OF TRANSMISSION!
03-01-2013 | 05:06 PM
#6
Senior Member
Superstock
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 397
From: UK
There's a good link here that explains electrical tests you can do on the R/R. It on a triumph forum but the principles are the same.
Charging System Diagnostics - Rectifier/Regulator Upgrade - Triumph Forum: Triumph Rat Motorcycle Forums
When it comes to electrics/electronics Tweety seriously knows his stuff.
It will all be worth it in the end when you back out again riding
(:-})
Charging System Diagnostics - Rectifier/Regulator Upgrade - Triumph Forum: Triumph Rat Motorcycle Forums
When it comes to electrics/electronics Tweety seriously knows his stuff.
It will all be worth it in the end when you back out again riding
(:-})
03-01-2013 | 05:54 PM
#7
Former Superchicken Owner
SuperBike
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,607
From: Ft. Worth, TX
You know the old saying, You get what you pay for. For 1900 bucks you aren't getting a trouble free machine.
For 4000 dollars you do:
https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...wk-sale-29371/
For 4000 dollars you do:
https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...wk-sale-29371/
03-01-2013 | 07:35 PM
#8
Seasoned tech
SuperSport
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 576
From: Issaquah, WA
I've seen a few pulse generators go bad. Not on superhawks but on other bikes. It's not common at all but it does happen.
The rectifier side of the R/R is easily testable. The regulator side not so much other than checking voltage while running.
Tweety are you suggesting that a bad R/R would take out a PG??
The rectifier side of the R/R is easily testable. The regulator side not so much other than checking voltage while running.
Tweety are you suggesting that a bad R/R would take out a PG??
03-02-2013 | 12:29 AM
#9
Out of my mind, back in 5
MotoGP
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 6,109
From: Skurup, Sweden
A bad R/R can take out a lot of stuff...
There are two ways an R/R can fail, by shorting out and giving low voltage, which is relatively harmless, only damaging the battery at worst...
The second way it can fail is when the diodes fail open, and start conducting when they shouldn't... Then the voltage spikes higher, and higher the longer the process continues... I have seen R/R's that put out around 16V constant, with spikes up to 20V and above...
Considering that the parts are made to run on 14-14.5V constant and sustain peaks of around 17V at worst, hopefully more (common practice when designing for automotive/bike), that's enough to kill anything from the gauges, to the ECU/CDI to just about anything in the wiring harness... Most of which costs a lot of money...
So... measuring your R/R every now and again isn't a bad idea...
There are two ways an R/R can fail, by shorting out and giving low voltage, which is relatively harmless, only damaging the battery at worst...
The second way it can fail is when the diodes fail open, and start conducting when they shouldn't... Then the voltage spikes higher, and higher the longer the process continues... I have seen R/R's that put out around 16V constant, with spikes up to 20V and above...
Considering that the parts are made to run on 14-14.5V constant and sustain peaks of around 17V at worst, hopefully more (common practice when designing for automotive/bike), that's enough to kill anything from the gauges, to the ECU/CDI to just about anything in the wiring harness... Most of which costs a lot of money...
So... measuring your R/R every now and again isn't a bad idea...
03-03-2013 | 11:58 AM
#10
Seasoned tech
SuperSport
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 576
From: Issaquah, WA
Agreed Tweety but I'm specifically asking about the pulse generator, which was found to be the problem here. The pulse generator doesn't have any system voltage going to it. It makes it's own power so I don't see how in this instance they could be related.
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