FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

The FZR won't start.. at first it was the main fuze.. I replaced it the bike ran for 30seconds and pop the fuze blew again.. This happend 3 times consecutively then it stopped blowing the fuze and i have a series of electrical issues.. (the initial short was a wire against the frame causing the short)

The battery and VR were fried.. the bulbs in the dash and low beams also fried.. I swapped the battery from my R6 and replaced the VR and i have the bike firing turning over but no spark to the plugs.. I'm now thinking the digital ignitor is my next step..

Any opinions? think i'm on the right path?

SO i need a digital ignition for an 89 and where can i buy a cheap new battery?

When the main fuse blows, it breaks the circuit from the battery to the red wire on the VR, when the engines running since the VR has nowhere to dump its DC voltage (battery) the diodes in the VR get fried.

The red battery cable snapped on mine @ the battery, blew the h/light and dash bulbs, it was late at night on a unlit country road i jammed the cable in to the + terminal then rode home. I had to replace the battery also boiled that, i checked the charging voltage it was 19 Volts luckily the TCI (digital ignition) survived.

So yes your on the right lines, it could of possibly fried your TCI.

Mawler, thanks for the sanity check.. It's the next logical thing to me..

If you're semi-lucky (full-lucky being an intact TCI and a minor problem elsewhere), the power spikes / surges only fried the ignition power transistors, and not the PCB traces. This would make the TCI repairable. You might replace the dead transistors with Bosch BIP373 IGBTs - the kits are $8 each from DIYAutotune, and the BIPs have thermal overload protection. That way, the next time your electrical system explodes, the transistors go into safe shut-down, not melt-down!

Good luck!

thanks Don.. Thats a job bigger than Me.. and hopefully i will be able to pickup a igniter cheap on the board. Thanks for the advice!

I've thought about this before, that main fuse is bloody stupid. If you get a short as you did the fuse blows KILLING THE VR.

I've recently done the R6 VR mod, i've relocated it infront of the battery tray. I unwound the loom and pulled the white VR wires back towards the engine, i spliced the VR red wire directly to the same red wire it was originally connected to in the loom, if the main fuse blows then my VR will still die. I now intend running the VR red wire direct to the battery, with a new seperate in-line 30 amp fuse. The VR will still be fuse protected, but if the main fuse blows no dead VR. All power will lost to the electrical system, engine will stop, lights will switch off e.t.c. not good at night. When my battery cable snapped at night the VR blew the h/light bulbs and the engine cut out anyway, so not a big difference.

Wired as i intend, main fuse blows = no fried VR no fried TCI no boiled battery no blown bulbs.

old_school wrote:thanks Don.. Thats a job bigger than Me.. and hopefully i will be able to pickup a igniter cheap on the board. Thanks for the advice!

O_S,
don't you have a mate who is into that kind of thing ? If not when you get your next one you can ping me and I will take a look at doing it for you (mind you I will have to ping my name sake in Romania as to how he got the lid off the TCI unit without breaking it LoL)

I've just ordered a 30 Amp inline fuse holder with 12 AWG cable £1.70 with free PP (shipping) 12 AWG cable supports up to 41 Amps. I will be fitting it between the VR red DC output and battery positive ASAP.

The position of the main fuse on the FZR600 is either a cost saving measure, i.e. if manufactures can save 1p+ in production costs they will, a we don't care policy, manufactures make more money selling spares than they do selling the cars/bikes e.t.c. or a very bad design error. Fuses are supposed to protect electrical system components!!!

If the main fuse blows on the FZR600, or in my case the battery positive cable snaps, connection between the VR DC output and the battery positive is broken. The VR gets overloaded and commits hari kari, and as we know will kill other components!!!

If your lucky like i was, you may only need to replace the VR, battery and whatever bulbs blow. Cost me £30 for the VR, £35 for the battery, H1 h/light bulb £5, H3 h/light bulb £5, 4 dash bulbs £5. How much do TCI's cost? Thankfully i repaired things myself, no labour costs. A 30 Amp fuse is 25p

The red DC output from the VR is spliced (soldered) into the red cable, (close to the turn signal relay, unwrap the loom/harness) that supplies the ignition switch. So its a simple inexpensive modification to wire the VR direct to the battery positive terminal. Possibly saving a lot of heartache, expense and

The fuse should be placed as close to the battery as is practicable. If the main fuse blows caused by a short circuit the cost is 25p for a fuse and the repair of the damaged wiring/cause of the short circuit. Not a possible £100 + for the additional damage caused by the fried VR.

my

My bulbs, battery, and TCI, are now protected. Main fuse blows, or battery cable snaps = fix any short replace the main fuse, or repair the snapped battery cable, = minimal cost.

Cost £1.70 (i have bullet connectors self amalgamating tape e.t.c.) labour time 30 mins

I checked out my main fuse, glad i did. The shows signs of overheating!!!!, that's next on the list of repairs. Over heated fuse = a blown fuse.

The way the FZR main fuse is wired, if it blows kiss goodbye to your VR and anything else it decides to kill.



VR DC output fuse protected direct to battery +

that setup looks great, thanks again for the info.. Is your VR getting enough cooling in that location?

old_school wrote:that setup looks great, thanks again for the info.. Is your VR getting enough cooling in that location?

OS,
looks to be mounted in the breeze behind the engine about half way down so theoritjically it should Ok providing he does not go to the Mojave desert to ride. :-}

The reason i mounted it there, I had a cut down R6 tail fitted and i went through 3 or 4 VR's, 2 batteries, and numerous bulbs in 12 months, i figured it was lack of airflow causing the VR to overheat and burnout. I'm in the process of fitting a new R6 tail e.t.c. relocating the VR there also gives more hight on the R6 tail, so haven't had the bike on the road yet, and cant comment on the cooling, but i think it should be ok.

It's and easy job on the stock VR position, unwrap the loom/harness to find where the DC output red wire is spliced, de-solder it, then fit the new inline fuse. I pushed the new wire through the rubber insulation cap @ the battery + terminal (the other red connector is my alarm/immobiliser) so i don't forget to reconnect it should the battery be disconnected, don't wana kill any more VR's.

I got my VR fitted on the lower triple clamp. If that position doesn't keep it cool, no other position will.

trifgeorge wrote:I got my VR fitted on the lower triple clamp. If that position doesn't keep it cool, no other position will

Yo T_Geo.
see you have the cyclops FZR headlamp too (a single housing with two headlamps with big magnifier lenses )

You know guys i gotta tell you we've all heard nightmare stories about the FZR VR.. Are we causing these ourselves? I've also put a custom tail on and mounted the VR in an area that doesn't get much airflow.. Still looking for a cheap digital igniter if anyone has one..