Purchase from hell

[tbnj]

so i spent some time on this forum reading threads before i bought my 1996 fzr. the guy i bought it from was the second owner, and huge. the title says he put on 1k miles the bike sat for 2 years, so he decided to sell it because of his back problems. He got a new battery for the bike and it cranked over on a cold day, which was surprising. after a bit of the normal backfiring and sputtering it idled well (a little high), so i took it for a ride down the block. it kept wanting to stall when i tried to take off but i figured that was because it had been sitting. i got up to the higher rpms to try and blow out the carbs a bit and then i had no problems. the bike seemed like a good deal so i bought it for a grand. after 7 miles the brand new battery died on me and i was stranded in the middle of no where. the next day i had the bike on campus and it started but then the battery died again. the next day it fell over in the parking lot and the good side got all busted up and now i need fairings.. plus gas dripped out and ruined the paint. on top of all of that it got towed by the police as a stolen bike so i had to pay to get it back (i got it back with the title, but my 1000 dollar purchase has been slowly going up more then i expected). I'm really hoping it's the regulator, i'm taking it out tomorrow and going over some things and making a parts list. what should i definitely go over and then where should i buy?

[trump19]

when u get go and get one get the 02 conversion on its ez to install i think its the o2 one

[kilika2]

As a 96 it should have the upgraded vr. Search the wiki for 06 VR upgrade. If for nothing else get the flow chart, get a good multimeter for that. Mine's a 95 and the vr took a dump. I would link it but can't on the ps3. One thing the f.c. doesnt mention is to check the ground. Make sure it grounds to the engine. Also take off the air box and look for shorted wires to the frame. Put dielectric grease on EVERY connection.

Chris

[tbnj]

on a low battery, the middle black box next to a 20 amp fuse, and another black box that controls the blinkers i think (all within the same line as the VR), makes a ticking sound, but when the battery is full there is no sound. the wires are still taped and i see none touching the frame, how do u check if the regulator is bad? and how do i get to the air box?? i tried taking off the tank cover with the 4 bolts and it wouldn't come up

[tbnj]

oh and there is a shorted wire that connects to the frame from the VR, like the bolt taht holds on the VR has a ground on it

[fzraudun]

oh and there is a shorted wire that connects to the frame from the VR, like the bolt taht holds on the VR has a ground on it

That sounds just about right.


As to taking off the tank, loosen two of the allen\5mm hex bolts on the petrol cap, the ones at 5 and 7 o'clock.

Are you sure the ticking noise isnt the fuel pump building up pressure?

Do a charge test before you begin with the carbs, cause that can be a

[tbnj]

the ticking only happens when the battery is drained, i charged it again and it was running fine without the charger. then for an instant the lights got a light brighter, then went normal. that happened twice then it almost died, idled fine, then died. sounds like the VR needs to be replaced right? and i don't think its a shorted wire, its just a ground that is attached the same bolt that is holding the VR to the frame.

[reallyniceguy]

Alternator problem?

[kilika2]

The ticking is the ign box telling you that you don't have enough voltage to start the bike. With my multimeter on the bike I can show 12 v. Turn on ignition hit starter and it will make that sound. Quick look at the multi and it will say 8v or less. Your battery is probably draining some how. 2 possibilities. One you have a bad cell in your battery. (Ask me how I know, after many diagnostics.) or the VR isn't charging the battery. Go to this wiki page to see the flow chart for checking the VR.

http://fzronline.com/wiki/doku.php?id=v ... flow_chart

I will add that you need to check the ground to make sure the black wire from the battery grounds on the engine itself NOT the frame.

Chris.

[smokinbunta]

man...i had a similar problem... took me weeks to get it fixed...but we tried everything from runnin a ram air tube to the VR (thinkin it was over heatin) to checkin the stator, and all ignition plugs and the whole harness up front....finally redid all the wires that go into the VR and i remounted the ground wire TO THE FRAME (it was mounted onto the aluminum plate that the VR sits on) and it was finally fixed...and it hasnt had a problem since

[tbnj]

ok so i moved the ground to the engine itself and now i'm having a bit of an issue. after moving the ground i got the amps to read less then .1 ... now i'm on the step after that where you check the white wires and one of the wires looks like there was an electrical problem and the plastic shell is melted a bit. beyond that i don't quite understand how to check all the combinations of the white wires... and i just moved that ground wire to the engine and i'm still loosing power someplace, everytime i start the bike i loose some volts on the battery

[kilika2]

Can you take a pic of the melted part? Checking the white wires is more simple than the flow chart makes it. Just put the probe into the place where the male end of the vr would go it.
One probe in the left, one in the center. Read Meter
one probe in the left, one in the right. Read Meter
one probe in the center, one in the right. Read Meter

Then go from there. Probably the reason you lose volts when you start the bike is because the bike is in dyre need of a "deep charge" If you can get a 2 amp trickle charger on it overnight, I would take is to a battery shop (you can go to autozone if you trust their crap) and have them do a load test on the battery, 10amps is when I would start looking for a new battery. Of course I can use the battery I replaced to start the bike, because I bought a new one and then found out my VR was bad. Oh well.

Chris.

[tbnj]

alright i moved the ground the the engine from the aluminum plate that the vr rested on and it ran a lot steadier and more responsive. i trickle charged it all night and the battery held and i worked on the flow chart. i'm not sure if my amp meter broke, but after i moved the the ground the amps read .0 so i moved onto test the wires. i didn't take a picture and i'm back at school now but there is a bit of metal exposed out of the white piece that plugs into the vr. after checking the cables, the ohms were all at .4 and .5 so i'm looking around for an alternator now. the bike ran well but everytime i ran it the battery went down a bit and a bit. never took it out for a drive longer then my driveway though because i don't have insurance or plates for it yet. thanks everyone for their wisdom so far !!
now does anyone know where i can buy an alternator for a 1996? i googled that and didn't get any trust worthy results so far, and ebay didn't have anything... http://www.oldbikebarn.com/Yamaha-FZR60 ... tor-Stator
anyone know anything about them?

[kilika2]

I can't tell you much because I don't have the flow chart in front of me but I will tell you what yamaha george told me when I used the flow chart. He said in the 100+ times he's done this over the years it had been 1 generator every other time it has been the VR. You shouldn't have 0 amps at all that usually means the meter reads nothing. Whenever I have that reading it usually means I forgot to put the test lead over to the amp terminal. I'm willing to bet that you don't need the generator.

Chris.

[tbnj]

well the bike has been sitting for 2 years and according to the flow chart, thats my problem... i start the bike and the battery drops to 11 volts, rather then being around 14.. plus the ohm reading is too high