As I begin to prepare the bike for a new season of riding I have discovered an electrical outlet on the bike that I am not familiar with below the rear fairing. Anyone know what this is?
Hey, thanks! It is a "Powerlet outlet," as you said. It has a "Battery Tender" hookup on the other side. Glad the previous owner added a permanent voltmeter on-board as well. Now it's up to me to get this thing cleaned up. The running gear around the swing arm is filthy.
Just realized this was your first post, so with that, Welcome Aboard! As far as your bike goes, I usually do a full fluid flush/fill with any "new to me" bike. If you're not familiar with the site, there is a downloads section where you can find the Honda Service Manual for the 5 Gen (1998-2001), among other manuals and other useful documents. I would recommend grabbing the manual and go over the sections you plan to tackle so you can see what is involved and what tools you might need or want to have on hand,
One place I would recommend you look at is the linked brakes, these can be intimidating at first but ultimately once you see what's involved, it really isn't. There are also several post on how to bleed the brakes if you find yourself a bit lost.
One place I would recommend you look at is the linked brakes, these can be intimidating at first but ultimately once you see what's involved, it really isn't. There are also several post on how to bleed the brakes if you find yourself a bit lost.
Thanks for the welcome and tips.
As I will be doing a bit of commuting in the city from time to time, I'm worried about the notorious VFR cooling problems. My old 87 would get unbearable to be on in city traffic on hot days with that rear exhaust directly under your butt.
With this in mind, I think that flushing the cooling system and trying to remove and flush out these radiators would be a good idea. The bike has 48k on it at present.
It came with a Haynes manual, but that FSM is even better. I've still got six weeks to restore/refresh since the NY registration period for motorcycles isn't until April 30th.
The radiators are side mounted on the '97+, and the cooling fans are made to suck air *in* while sitting traffic (so it doesn't roast your legs).. Under normal speeds (>25mph) the fans shut down so the vents can do their thing.
The radiators are side mounted on the '97+, and the cooling fans are made to suck air *in* while sitting traffic (so it doesn't roast your legs).. Under normal speeds (>25mph) the fans shut down so the vents can do their thing.
That's sort of right.
There is only one fan on the gear shift side, it doesn't shut down until fluid temp gets below 98*C, it starts at 112*C from memory.
If fan is running, once you get to certain speed, the airflow overcomes the fan and it will flow through the fairing vents, but the fan doesn't actually shut down.
They run hot in traffic due to poor airflow through radiators at anything below 60kmh.
I've installed a fan override switch so I can run it before it gets too hot, this helps stopping it getting to above 100*C.
But in hot days in traffic, it will run very hot, it's how they are.
The other reason that 5th Gen VFRs run hot is that nobody ever cleans off the many years accumulation of filth and goo that builds up on the radiators. Not to mention the effect of many tiny rocks and other bits of unidentified road debris jammed in between the fins of the radiators.
There is only one fan on the gear shift side, it doesn't shut down until fluid temp gets below 98*C, it starts at 112*C from memory.
If fan is running, once you get to certain speed, the airflow overcomes the fan and it will flow through the fairing vents, but the fan doesn't actually shut down.
They run hot in traffic due to poor airflow through radiators at anything below 60kmh.
I've installed a fan override switch so I can run it before it gets too hot, this helps stopping it getting to above 100*C.
But in hot days in traffic, it will run very hot, it's how they are.
15 hours ago, GreginDenver
The other reason that 5th Gen VFRs run hot is that nobody ever cleans off the many years accumulation of filth and goo that builds up on the radiators. Not to mention the effect of many tiny rocks and other bits of unidentified road debris jammed in between the fins of the radiators.
Appreciated. I'm definitely cleaning out the radiators. I must have read 100 forum posts about cooling these, RC51s, and Superhawks this week.
This bike has to do NYC traffic all summer and deal with at least an hour of it for any ride I take, so I'm taking my time and testing out a few different things until I find the best solution.
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