Sucks to have to be posting an issue less than a week after I got the bike, but here it goes. Two nights ago I took the bike out to dinner, about a 20 mile ride to Princeton. Bike ran flawlessly the entire way. About 2 hours later, I went back out to head home following a buddy through some backroads.

I got about 8 or 9 miles when the bike started to sputter like it was running out of fuel. I wondered if, when I had the tank off the other day, I reversed the Low Fuel indicator light....but I doubt that would even do anything. The bike then died, and luckily my friend saw and turned around. For whatever reason, he also had a fuel can in his car. I put a gallon of gas in, bike started up, and we parted ways.

Here's where the problem continues:
I got about a mile down the road and the bike sputtered and died again. I sat there on the side of the road for about a minute, cranked the bike a few times, it caught and I was off again.

I went about another mile down, and the same thing happened. I repeated this cycle for the remaining 8 mile ride home.

The next day I popped in some new plugs and a new fuel filter, and aside from running smoother when it is actually running, it still dies out while riding. Some weird things:

1. The bike will idle all day long if I just let it sit there.
2. While riding, if its about to stall I can clutch in and let it idle for about 15-20 seconds. It idles low, but eventually settles down and then I can continue riding for another mile.
3. I followed the harness for the fuel pump and disconnected it while the bike was running. The bike kept on idling. I did not try to ride it anywhere at this time.

So what's the problem? I'm thinking fuel pump is gone. The bike still running miffs me, but I'm assuming that since its carb'd, its got some small amount of fuel being gravity fed through the fuel lines.

Thanks for the help. Anyone.

Cliff notes: Bike dies off while riding about a mile, it will restart about 30 seconds later, and stall again about a mile later. New fuel filter, bike idles forever if left just standing there. Unplugging the fuel pump made no difference in idle.

Im not for sure about this deal and I havent been down your road but it sounds like to me that it might be the fuel pump to. idle is very low rpms but riding the pump might keep pace for a little while then just die out since the bike needs more fuel.

yep! sounds like the fuel pump.

Sounds like you're up north, where it snows, and bikes sit for a really long time, with fuel in the carburetors. Clean the float bowls before you replace the pump. Could just be deposits clogging the jets.

test the fuel pump first. Have you downloaded the service manual yet? there is a test where you hotwire the pump for like 7 seconds or something like that and pump the gas into a pitcher or glass flask with measurements on it. That way you can see how much it pumps and verify its actually the pump and not the relay, faulty wiring, clogged carbs, bad plugs, etc... the list goes on and on. Ive got 50k miles on my f4 and 100% all self maintained. If it can go wrong I've pretty much fixed it.

yep,and you know what, it's the first real winter this bike has seen i got it last august from FL. thanks, i will try that.
dam it seems like 1 thing after another (fix 1 thing and 2 more things go wrong).

ORIGINAL: jonld

test the fuel pump first. Have you downloaded the service manual yet? there is a test where you hotwire the pump for like 7 seconds or something like that and pump the gas into a pitcher or glass flask with measurements on it. That way you can see how much it pumps and verify its actually the pump and not the relay, faulty wiring, clogged carbs, bad plugs, etc... the list goes on and on. Ive got 50k miles on my f4 and 100% all self maintained. If it can go wrong I've pretty much fixed it.


thats pretty clever, i have 3 manuals that i will look thrue for this test. thanks

I did actually test the fuel pump on Friday afternoon and verified that it is working and pumping out the proper volume as specified in the service manual.

I also just returned from my parents' house where I got the multimeter needed to test the couple of relays and wire runs. I'm hoping it just boils down to a relay. I put a good 200 miles on the bike before it started doing this, so I don't think its bad from sitting. When the bike is idling and I'm loping around the parking lot at low speeds its perfectly fine.

When its light out again tomorrow I'll poke around and report back with more results.

Thanks again for all the input thus far.

I was able to poke around with the multimeter last night. I was on page 5-12 of the service manual when I got to a possible issue.

"There should be continuity while the 12V battery is connected to the Black/White #1 (+) and Pink/Yellow (-) terminals of the relay and no continuity when the battery is disconnected."

I was still seeing continuity with the battery disconnected, so apparently the Fuel pump transfer relay is faulty. I have a new one on order from the Honda dealer and it is supposed to be in for me to pick up on Thursday. I hope this is it!!

For anybody who cares or for anyone who may have this issue in the future, I have replaced the fuel pump power transfer relay and the bike now runs like a champ. I put 50 good, hard miles on her yesterday and it ran beautifully!