Need Help To Fix CBR
 

Hey guys I need a little bit of help. I bought my first bike which of course had to be a CBR. Wanted that bike since I was in 5th grade(21 now). Finally saved up for a 2000 cbr 600f4. She has a lot of dings and dents from last owner but I don't hold her last relationship against her. She had been running perfect when I bought her. Good health lasted for two weeks. She became harder to start. Only will start if I played with her throttle. Tried to ride her but felt like she lost tons of power. So I put her up. 2 Days later went to give her a go and nothing. Sat for a week. Got a mech to clean carbs and change plugs. Old plugs had brown liquid. Think was gas. But new plugs and still nothing. Read here about giving her the full throttle n choke and letting her crank for 15 seconds counted 15 Mississippi's. Nothing. Turn her off for 5 mins then tried to do until batt went out but after 7 cranks VROOM!!! Yes she still is alive.

Today that all happened. Only owned for a month so I know nothing of her. Past owner treated her wrong soooo. I ran some sea foam gas in her with some mobile premium 2 gallons of gas. With choke half on and idle up she will stay on and idle but the exhaust is like a leaf blower throwing out air. So I cleaned the air intake and filter. Thought I would run her and let some air hit her soul. Got on the bike and road 6 miles and after like 2 mile closed the choke and she ran fine no problems UNTIL. Once I did that whenever I grabbed the clutch to downshift for a stop sign or turn she would stall? I got use to it and while I was rolling and turning with stalled engine I just start her back up with a lil throttle lovin but cant take her on the real streets like this??? Need help to fix this conundrum.

Hi there, looks like you have a lot on your hands. First of all, the basics: servicing(has I do it).
Gas tank off, spark plugs off(replace if the porcelain is brown around the neck), air filter case has two small (sponge) filter see how they look like (good condition or tarring themselves apart as you handle them), check vacuum hoses (all hoses that carry air specially four little hoses hooked to the air filter box(the vacuum leads for carb synching), they stand a lot of engine heat and after 13 years they might need to retire)for cracks or some kind of puncture. The sleeves that hold the carbs should be checked too and that means removing the carbs out. As for the carbs if you don't want to mess up with fuel screws just drain them, remove the top and lower end( be careful and don't mix the parts removed) check for dirt inside. If there is any use some brake cleaner spray. While at it check for any damaged O-rings or joints. Since you have the bike thorn apart at this faze change the oil and continue the checking of water hoses and so on( that means getting your fingers to every part of your bike including wheel bearings electrical connectors for corrosion, brake calipers...)(it might not be related to idling issue but it might save you a future disappointment and for sure no one will know your bike better than you)... Good luck.

+1 to what Hondaowner said just dont get any brake or carb cleaner on any of the rubber bits of your new baby. First thing I would do is replace the oil, oil filter, coolant, and brake fluid just so you know that you have fresh fluids in the bike. Second (I would recommend) getting your battery tested by an auto shop like O'riellys and getting a battery tender to keep that battery in good condition. Either find a friend who has one or find a cheap multimeter and learn how to use it (if you don't already know). There are some great minds on here and they are more than willing to help! I'm providing a link to a PDF of the Service Manual and you can readhow to test your Regulator /Rectifier, Alternator and see if they are charging your battery. Finally what RPM does your bike idle at? You want it to be at 1300 +/- 100 RPM. Can you ask the mechanic if he sync'ed the carbs after they cleaned them? If not and your idle bounces around and when you come off throttle the RPM hangs for a second or two than sync'ing the carbs will help. Do you know if you are fully disengaging the clutch, ie is the clutch cable adjusted properly? Keep us up to date and lets that bike running tip top!! Oh and Welcome o the forum and more importantly welcome to the F4 section.

Service Manual

Service Intervals <-- Im including this for your reference in the future.

I gotta be honest with you all. I dont even know how to change the oil on my car let alone my oil on bike. Changing sparks seems crazy adventure even after seeing my mech do it. This is how limited my mech skills are and even I can take out the carbs. I ran out of cash so I grabbed the service manual and do what any other broke rider would do. DIY!!!! Took the carbs off 3 times myself since I posted this. Letting jets sit in carb cleaner. I even boiled water and put jets in. Used bread wire but wouldnt go through. The carbs came off a total of 4 times 1 time by my mech!!! I read on another forum just searching google for my problem and seen a guy said he took his off 3 times, I just said he sucked at the time and thought I must have had a different problems other than bad jets. But after I took it off once. It was easy to do over and over trying to clean the jets. The final time which was yesterday I let the jets sit in a mix of gumout(for carbs) and carb spray for an hour. Cleaned the carbs like normal. The thing I did dif was I did check and pull off air hoses and gas hoses using my mouth to clear them out and check for leaks. Decieded after second carb clean spend 22 bucks and get new fuel filter and just put it on. My original filter was umpa lumpa orange!!! Replaced with a white/clear one. Took a long time to start bike. Battery was almost drained and played with choke but eventually turned off not to flood engine because I was already holding throttle wide open when trying to start it. Eventually she fired up and reved SO HIGH. I quickly turned her off. Sat there for a minute and said well I guess I did nearly flood her so maybe she is just burning all the gas I dumped in the engine trying to start her. Turned throttle down by loosing cord to carbs and also throttle adjust. Tried again and reved still high but I let her stay on this time and just turned down throttle screw. Very sensative to that. She idle perfectly but kept burning white smoke. After 5mins of white smoke I rode her around the block no cut offs or stalling. Not even close to it. YES!!!! Kept riding and still nothing. Eventually put her up to go to bed. Will try when I get off work today and see if it was a fluke but so far so good.

Aaahh, older bikes, they can be such fickle old tarts when they decide to be.

Just logically work through the issues, post concise questions and I'm sure you'll get plenty of help around here.

You seem to be half way there, keep up the good work.

symptoms of a hard start and loss of power usually is tight valves, but sounds like you may have clogged carbs. or a combination of both.

How many miles are on the bike?

keep in mind that the valves, carbs and fork should be serviced every 11,000 or so. It seems like most older bikes end up with no maintenance other than an oil change. over time these things get out of spec and makes the bike not run properly.

Glad to hear you got the bike running! Yea the carbs can be daunting, especially if they are old or new to bikes but great job! When you start the bike you dont want to twist the throttle if the bike is cold, Just put the choke on and depress the starter button for a few seconds if it doesn't come on just repeat the process. it takes time but it works and it saves the bike. Dont worry changing the oil on your bike is incredibly easy! everything is right there. If you don't have an oil filter wrench grab a Phillips head screw driver and a hammer and punch holes to turn the oil filter after that all you need is a new crush washer, a 12mm socket, and 4qts of new oil (a lot of people use, and love, rotella t-6 synthetic oil, I use other stuff because I'm wierd). Tha hardest part about changing your fluids on the bike is having empty containers to put the old fluids in. What ever you need help with just stop by.

Edit: Hey take some photos let's see the new bike!

Thanks Always Learning
 

She has 26k on her. She is my first. From the look of the fuel filter and feel of the brakes im sure her last owner didnt treat her right. She has been down on both sides but I still see a Diamond so no regrets here. Took 3 starts to get her going to day. Wish I would have read not to turn throttle when I start her before I did. But she ran great. Starts no choke needed at all. :icon_werd: But works for me. Will start to NOT rev when starting. Thinking about it when I turn the key to my car i dont press on the gas to rev her so why to my bike.

Choke thing: I got an f4i owners manual and an "older" one(came with the bike) from an F3. So I have none of the F4. Tried to get one for my bike but even at Hondas dealer they told me it was not viable(instead they gave me an f4i manual saying its almost the same and maybe I'd change my bike for an F4i -they had one for sale! lol). So after reading here it goes what they say (even for the F4i that has "automated" cold start): Above 30ºC(think it's 86ºF)choke is not advised; slightly open the throttle and start the engine. In the F4i manual there's almost the same: "with the warmed up engine slightly open the throttle and start the engine. Below 10ºC (50ºF I think and not for the F4i-using Google converter here)fully open the choke lever start the engine and operate the lever to keep the engine running between 2.500~3.000(rpm), during the half minute after engine start fully close the choke lever, if idle is not steady operate the throttle slightly(again). But lets face it that applies to a new machine along time and engine wear out even how insignificant it may be, things change. So start is all about knowing your bike. Yours is a Diamond, mine is Plastic Pearl(I keep it shiny ;)) and she does "ask or not" for choke apart from weather temperature. Usually when I start the engine if it doesn't on the first time, choke is applied if it starts right away but coughs a bit just a small cuddle on the throttle is enough and she doesn't take almost any time to reach idle rpm. The care about cold starts on most bikes is related to engine itself, when compared to a car engine: it revs twice as fast even at idle: for a car 750~950rpm perhaps, a bike 1200~1500rpm? Sorry for the long post. P.S. - When you check something you don't know just keep one simple rule, things must stay as they were before(exception for that is dirt of course).