Bought used 02 F4i
 

I bought a used F4i recently and made the rookie mistake of overlooking a few things that revealed themselves later on :icon_doh: . This will be my 3rd bike so i'm kicking myself in the ass for it, but I got the bike at such a good price that I drove out of state to buy it. Here is a list of everything big or small that i've noticed.

There is an on off switch for the fans to manually turn them on. (I noticed this one, with plans to correctly wire the fans back into the harness)

Fairings scratched on one side indicating it had been laid over but not wrecked

idle is a bit higher than it should be

ignition button sticks

oil light is on and there is a slight burning smell that I think may be related

Cranks and runs no problem, but when trying to restart it, it gives a humming sound with no turn over. Turn the key off and back on it will start again

So far this is all I have noticed. I drove it before buying and it sounds great, and drives great. No loss of power or control of any kind. Again for the price I got it for, I was expecting it to have a few cosmetic and maybe a general lack of maintenance. So all of that being said, I'm hoping that some of you can shed some light some of the problems if any of you have had any of the same problems, or know what the best route for repair would be. How much money do you think its going to take to make this a great bike again if I do all the work myself? I found a full fairing kit for around $150.00 and that will cover the cosmetic side. I'm going to change the oil this week, and see if the burning smell goes away. The idle i'm hoping might be fixed after a full maintenance service.

Heya dude! Welcome to the club. I went through a fair bit of maintenance myself fixing up my bike recently too.

The on/off switch on the fan is kind of strange, and I don't know why anybody would want to turn the fan off seeing as it keeps your engine within proper ranges. Definitely worth fixing up the wires for that. Fairings you might be able to either ignore, or find a paint matched marker and touch it up. Worst come to worst, buy new fairings.

You should have an idle adjustment screw coming down the left (if you're sitting on it) side of the bike, near the engine. It's generally known more as the fast idle wax unit, as it's connected to the wax unit which is on the upper left of the engine block, underneath the airbox and beside the fuel fail. Has a couple of hoses running to it. There's likely extra lines that come from the gas tank and the likes for overflows, and it's down there. Little plastic knob you can turn - make sure you get an online copy of the owners and service manual. Counter clockwise can decrease your idle - just turn the bike on and let it warm up for a bit before adjusting it. It takes a fair number of turns, and the idle change doesn't show for a couple of seconds, so take it easy. I ended up backing my idle too far off trying to get it ready for my TB (starter valve) sync and ended up stalling it out. Had to hold the throttle and try to turn it back... It was a nightmare, so take it easy.

Ignition button sticking shouldn't be too hard to fix. You can disassemble the plastic assembly rather easily if I had to guess, and clean out and crud in there. I'm not sure if WD40 or Brake Cleaner would interfere with the internal components, but they're good for fixing stuck things here and there. Look for screws or clips on the assembly.

The oil light is a bit more complicated. I'd advise that you really inspect the engine for any leaks, and replace the oil/filter. Be thorough and see if you find anything out of whack, and be sure that you're not just mixing up the smell of exhaust or the catalytic converter heating up (if there's water or the likes, it'll steam up and smell kinda strange). Somebody else will have to help you with this if it turns out to be something more intensive, like bad seals and the likes.

For restarting and having a hard time with hot restarts, I'm at a loss here. Could be related to a number of things, but it's hard to say. It could even be gummed up spark plugs from the bike idling so much, maybe running rich, but it's hard to say. Check your plugs. I'd advise that you invest in some basic tools and look into doing a good chunk of maintenance yourself, since you're looking at a big chunk of cash to pay a shop for what in a lot of cases is relatively simple stuff. I did my valves, replaced 9/10ths of the hoses on my bike, fixed the leaking CCT, replaced my fuel filter, and did a TB (Starter Valve) sync for the idle and it wasn't all that bad. If you want to consider basic tools, get a wrench/ratchet set that's got imperial and metric (I've got a big box of Stanley stuff that works great), some screwdrivers of varying sizes, a small torque wrench, and some feeler gauges. None of those are particularly expensive, compared to what you'd pay for a shop to do it for you. You'll also learn a hell of a lot, and get a good chance to see what's what for yourself!

Anyways, I'll try and help with what I've learned, and the others here will be able to help you too. Likely more than I can.

Hey, thanks for the reply. I'm definitely a DIYer for sure. Working on bikes is a bit new to me since its the first one I've owned that is over a year old, but I can work on cars all day long. I'm already a step a head of you on downloading the manual, and I got a diagram of the wiring as well. Weather here has been horrible and it even snowed today so needless to say I haven't had much of a chance to play with the bike and pull it out but hopefully this weekend will bring some sun.

I might have given a bad explanation on what happens when I try to start it. Its almost like its the starter but it will work sometimes. You can hear it kick on but its like its not grabbing because the motor doesn't even attempt to turn over. Hopefully it isn't the starter but if it is, its just one more thing to replace.

Thanks for offering your help, i'm definitely going to need it! Glad to have help from all of the cbr family here.

Glad to hear it! I've never done any major bike wrenching myself but it all went without a hitch following the manuals. Keep us posted on what you find along the way!

Welcome to the forum Joe!

Good advise so far from Zealot. That should get you pointed in the right direction...

Just to add a few things: check your battery and cables. It's the heart of the system and can cause some weird things to happen if it's not in good order.

Also, DO NOT USE BRAKE CLEANER on plastic parts and switches. It tends to melt plastic... A quick shot of WD40 will free up that sticky switch. Just don't overdo it.

I have seen alot of by pass switches for guys that ride alot in town.
In THEIR case it skips the realy so it can be turned on on-demand, but yet will still kick on with the really.

double check the wiring to ensure this is the case.

As for the not starting back up, are you using the kill switch to shut it off?
EX. running, us kill switch to shut off, hit kill switch back on. Fuel pump kicks on, then then it just cranks and cranks?

one of the major things i would look at is the main wiring harness PLUG. its above the front tire. I have seen a handfull (to includ mine) get brittel to the point some wires make no connection.

ok, so here's the update.

Changed the oil and that took care of the idle issue. The guy I bought it from must have used regular oil or something. I changed it with 10w40 racing motorcycle full synthetic oil and she purs like a kitten now. As for the "restarting" issue, it just hasn't happened anymore so for now that's being put on the back burner. I used contact cleaner for the sticky starter switch and it doesn't stick anymore but it still doesn't move as smooth as I like so I may end up taking it apart. The fan switch I currently have gutted out right now and i'm redoing it, and replacing the simple on off switch with a rocker LED switch and correctly rewiring the ground.

NEW discovered issue. There has been a bit of a bounce coming from the front when riding, and I thought it could have been a fork seals or maybe a suspension issue. Turns out the rotor is warped slightly but its enough to be an issue and potential safety hazard so i'm going to be replacing those. BTW these rotors are ridiculously expensive! I'm on the hunt for a good price on a front set, so if you guys know a good place to look let me know. After that, all that's really left is to get a good set of fairings and shes good as new!

My bike has warped rotors I think too. I get bouncing when applying the front brake.

If you find a group buy, let me know!