Helping my son solve his 99 F4 problem. He was on a road trip yesterday for 3 hrs, bike ran great until his return home. The engine began to die on him, difficult to keep rpms up, until it stalled. Seemed like it was running on 2 cyinders. Wouldn't start, had to get a $180 tow home!!

This morning the bike starts easily and runs great, but he's reluctant to take any more road trips.


I suspect fuel starvation but where do I start to look to solve this problem?

 

i havent experienced any of the warm engine stalls or fluctuations people have had issues with, but this sounds similar to those issues. try starting it, and run it till it gets nice and warmed up and see if it acts up again. if it does, then search around or ask about the hot engine stall issue. if not, then maybe someone else may have better answers for you. maybe could be just a bad batch of gas. ask him if it happened about 5-10 mins after he filled the tank. if thats the case, try draining the tank and refill it with fresh go go juice.

(if it turns out to be the gas, maybe go after that gas station and try to get them to pay for the towing charges. most gas stations will pay up if you can prove that it was their gas that caused the problem, like a gas receipt and a letter from the towing company on when and where you were towed from)

 

Hmm... I'm assuming it wasn't overheating. Did he look at the temp gauge when it was dying? The post above might be correct. Could have been bad gas or have the fuel pump inspected. But, if it started when you got home no problems, the fuel pump might not be the issue.

Try the post above... if the problem persists... hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

I've read a lot of posts about the poorly designed R/R on the F4. Since the tach was going haywire when the bike died I'm going with a failing R/R. Whats the best replacement R/R to buy?

 

Well the best needs some wiring on the bike to be altered but you can replace it with the F4i's R/R and be just fine. The best is the MOSFET style with the wires replaced with thicker gauged wires in place of the OEM ones. There are kits vailable but the R/R is not cheap

 

I'm looking at these two, first one has Mofset technology and the second looks like a stock replacement but has cooling fins:

HOT SHOT REGULATOR-RECTIFIER

REGULATOR RECTIFIER

Mofset must be better as its twice the price!

 

I'd suspect fuel pump before rectifier. If the r/r was bad, chances are the battery would be dead.

I had a similar issue with my F4 when I first got it.. After riding for a while the bike would starve out and stall.. Had to let it sit a few minutes and the it would be fine.. For like 500 miles and then it would happen again. I replaced the fuel pump with a new and it was great after that.. No more issues.. Change the filter too while you are in there.

Might be the rectifier.. But I'd doubt it.

 

The more I think about it, you may be right. Where's the best source for a pump besides the high prices from Honda.

 

Get the OEM Honda pump (if that's your issue).

As for the R/R... I've written about it about many times... Get the redesigned & upgraded finned factory Honda R/R that superseded the old flat prone-to-failure R/R that came on the F4. The new finned model R/R is an excellent part & comes w/a factory warranty.

If I was going to get an aftermarket R/R, I'd get the Electosport.

 

i dont think its the fuel pumpe... as the pump wouldnt cause the gauges to go funky.. that sounds more like a loose/bad connection now. maybe in the ignition harness somewhere. i say this because if it is fine at an idle or at lower speeds and then acts up at highway speed, then its a possibility the wind from high speeds is moving a loose connection enough to make it want to kill out. ive seen it happen on the lighting in the front, so i could see it doing it to the ignition also. or bumps could be at fault for it too.