Hey guys, I am new to motorcycles and just purchased a 2003 VFR800 as my first bike. It has no modifications to my nor the previous owners knowledge. The only problem is, it has a potentially large issue, it idles fine, starts out in first fine, and rides fine... for the first mile or so. At the first stoplight i hit (a mile down the road) i look in my mirrors and cant see through the plumes of white smoke coming from the exhaust. I turn around to take it home and half way back come to a stop sign and no smoke. I continue on my ride back home and it starts surging/cutting out on me. when i get home, i change the oil and put some PI in the tank and hoped that would help, but it didnt. I called the local Honda dealership and they said to bring it in for the recall on some wiring harness and the pcv, so I did. i go back 2 days later and they said that there were no more issues, so i ride it home and low and behold, on the highway, it starts surging and smoking again, not all of the time but intermittently. I called the dealership and told them of my issue yet again and they said they tried to run a diagnostics test on it but didnt return any codes. I also noticed that i am running through fuel at an alarming rate... like 10mpg. I am in a bit of a conundrum at the moment and would really appreciate the assistance
That's an odd issue, Not sure where to start. Has it sat for a long period of time before you bought it?
Had a F4 with some crossed vacuum hoses(carb's) that caused similar results as it was sucking fuel in thru a vacuum line.. Can't think how that would be possible on the Vtec though?
White smoke, eh? Put the bike on the centrestand and tell us if the oil in your sight glass window is a nice dark black or a milk chocolate brown (or even white).
White smoke would normally indicate water in the cylinders, potentially also into the crankcase.
How thick is the white smoke and what does it smell like? If it is coolant it will be a definite smell. It is odd though. I would think with 10 mpg you would have black smoke from running very rich. Have you looked at your plugs? Are they black?
Edited by AndyB, 12 November 2011 - 08:18 AM.
I called the dealership and told them of my issue yet again and they said they tried to run a diagnostics test on it but didnt return any codes.
"No codes found" is the biggest cop-out ever given by a mechanic. And they all seem to do it, whilst having absolutely no idea what the actual error conditions are for a code, nor that many problems can occur that don't throw a freaking code!
well, i tore it down and checked the plugs and they seemed fine, they weren't black or anything and i called the previous owner and asked the last time they were changed and he said it was about 8 months ago and that was the last time it had been ridden, before me that is
Edited by pmoney3825, 12 November 2011 - 06:20 PM.
OK, now that I have a bit more time to answer all of the questions, here it goes. The smoke is thick enough that i can't see through my mirrors, it doesn't happen all of the time and smells like gasoline. When i changed the oil, it was a rich black, no grey or white to it. Looked at the oil today and it is still that clearish, tan color. the spark plugs are fine, no black to them. My FI light is not on but it did come on yesterday for about 2 seconds. I did look at my air filter and the metal mesh has 4 slight burn marks directly above the intake ports or throttle bodies? I am not sure what you call them on bikes. It doesn't get up over 180 degrees Fahrenheit, nor does it kick up to 2500 RPMs for the warm up, I read somewhere that it is suppose to. I am still trying to figure out what is going on with it but to no avail.
You mentioned it had been sitting for 8 months. Did it have the same tank of gas when you rode it? Maybe the owner put in an additive like Sea Foam to the gasoline. When it burns it goes all grey like a cloud of smoke. Could it be as simple as old gas with too much additive?
He said that he put something in it, but I have filled it up 6 or 7 times in the past 2 weeks but only gone abut 280 miles, wouldn't it have burned out of it by now?
Mate if you're getting an FI code this is FANTASTIC news. It means your problem should be easy to trace.
Please follow my video on getting your FI codes and tell us what pops out:
OK, so I jumpered the connector and turned the ignition on, the FI light came on while the fuel pump activated then turned off, waited 20-30 seconds and nothing...
which is normal, that's just your fuel priming
odd set of circumstances hope you can get something figured out. Have you checked your stator and battery voltage? Not related to the gasoline smell but if the bike was running off just the battery that could be your surging issue
[image: View Post]pmoney3825, on 13 November 2011 - 09:11 PM, said:
OK, so I jumpered the connector and turned the ignition on, the FI light came on while the fuel pump activated then turned off, waited 20-30 seconds and nothing...
If there are no codes, the light should stay on. Did you have the sidestand down and bike in neutral? You also have to make sure you jumper the connector properly - sometimes it doesn't contact very well.
I think I got it to work, i jumpered the connector, turned the key and the FI light stayed on, then turned off the key removed my jumper wire and turned the key back on, the FI light came on while the fuel pump was going and then turned off.
[image: View Post]pmoney3825, on 14 November 2011 - 08:03 PM, said:
I think I got it to work, i jumpered the connector, turned the key and the FI light stayed on, then turned off the key removed my jumper wire and turned the key back on, the FI light came on while the fuel pump was going and then turned off.
If that's the case, you have no codes stored and the ECU is not aware of anything wrong. Don't trust it though - it's a dumb ECU and has very little diagnostic capability aside from "the sensor is unplugged!".
At this point, I think your problems can only be diagnosed hands-on by a mechanic.
My 98 did that a couple of times after I worked on it, luckly I worked backwards and figured out my error. The first time I just did not seat the vac hose on the map sensor all the way and it was leaking, smoked like hell for a while. Then I got a pickup sensor installed, the pulse generator came loose and it started smoking after I replaced my clutch cover, did not tighten it down tight enough. In the absense of FI codes?
In the absense of FI codes? With your bike I would suspect the fuel pressure regulator, either the vac hose is not seated or its cracked, smoke AND poor gas milage I would start there.
[image: View Post]HispanicSlammer, on 15 November 2011 - 02:41 AM, said:
In the absense of FI codes? With your bike I would suspect the fuel pressure regulator, either the vac hose is not seated or its cracked, smoke AND poor gas milage I would start there.
Fair diagnosis there! As long as pmoney is happy to get his hands dirty he should be fine checking those out.
Ok, so i have established that my fpr is leaking fuel into the cylinders and i have gas in my oil, so now i am having trouble finding a new regulator and i have no idea what to do about the fuel in my oil