Troubleshooting 101:General engine troubleshooting: Difference between revisions

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* If you have no spark on one or both plugs, you need to figure out what's disconnected. It could be a really dirty spark plug (heavy black buildup on the plug nose), or a broken spark plug (rare, but possible), or a wire disconnected somewhere. It's unusual for components like the ignition module or coils to fail, but it does happen from time to time. Much more likely is that you have a disconnected wire (although it may look connected) or a corroded connection. Go through each of the wires and unplug and replug each connection. Try starting again. If that doesn't help, you're beyond the scope of this guide.

* These two sites are recommended for electrical troubleshooting:

::[http://www.hondavfr.org/faq2_1.html HondaVFR.org]

::[http://www.electrosport.com/electrosport_fault_finding.html ElectroSport Fault Finding Chart]

If nothing in this guide helps, then you're either doing something wrong, or your bike has been gradually getting worse and you didn't notice it. Gradual problems are likely to be the valves going [[How do I adjust the valves?|out of adjustment]], or varnish slowly building up [[How do I work on the carbs?|in your carbs]] if you don't ride very often. There's no easy way to check if it's the valves (but symptoms include running poorly at low speed or idle, ragged or variable idle, hard starting, etc.).

Side note: reading spark plugs. Since spark plugs are the only part of the combustion chamber you can readily remove from the engine, you can use them to see how the engine's doing. Spark plugs should be a lightish tan color if all is working correctly. If a spark plug is really heavy black, the engine's running rich. If it's white, the engine's running lean. If it's lightly black, that still suggests a rich mixture, but maybe not enough to freak out about. There are better [[Changing the spark plugs & brands to avoid|sparkplug guides]] out there, and Google will help you find them.

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 * If you have no spark on one or both plugs, you need to figure out what's disconnected. It could be a really dirty spark plug (heavy black buildup on the plug nose), or a broken spark plug (rare, but possible), or a wire disconnected somewhere. It's unusual for components like the ignition module or coils to fail, but it does happen from time to time. Much more likely is that you have a disconnected wire (although it may look connected) or a corroded connection. Go through each of the wires and unplug and replug each connection. Try starting again. If that doesn't help, you're beyond the scope of this guide.
+* These two sites are recommended for electrical troubleshooting:
+::[http://www.hondavfr.org/faq2_1.html HondaVFR.org]
+::[http://www.electrosport.com/electrosport_fault_finding.html ElectroSport Fault Finding Chart]
 If nothing in this guide helps, then you're either doing something wrong, or your bike has been gradually getting worse and you didn't notice it. Gradual problems are likely to be the valves going [[How do I adjust the valves?|out of adjustment]], or varnish slowly building up [[How do I work on the carbs?|in your carbs]] if you don't ride very often. There's no easy way to check if it's the valves (but symptoms include running poorly at low speed or idle, ragged or variable idle, hard starting, etc.).
 Side note: reading spark plugs. Since spark plugs are the only part of the combustion chamber you can readily remove from the engine, you can use them to see how the engine's doing. Spark plugs should be a lightish tan color if all is working correctly. If a spark plug is really heavy black, the engine's running rich. If it's white, the engine's running lean. If it's lightly black, that still suggests a rich mixture, but maybe not enough to freak out about. There are better [[Changing the spark plugs & brands to avoid|sparkplug guides]] out there, and Google will help you find them.