The Honda Owners Club

Hi, I have a 1990 Honda CBR1000F-L. When I purchased it second hand I rode it about 70 miles and filled up with petrol literally half a mile from my house, and then rode home. A few days later when I went to use the bike it would not start and over about a 6 week period having changed the plugs, battery etc and generally played around with it trying to jump start it from my car I took the petrol tank off and drained the petrol which I then transferred to my scooter... which immediately started to splutter and I realised it was dirty fuel! Having refuelled it it started almost immediately (from a jump start) but every since it has had trouble starting on the its own battery (very lazy engine turning and then it will eventually fire). But the worst thing is that it now won't start when it is hot! You press the starter button and nothing happens and the ignition lights just go dim (although all the other electrics work, ie indicators, horn hi and low beam!). When it eventually cools down (ie cold) it will start, but again very lazily! I have changed the starter motor for a second hand unit and also changed the starter relay and the regulator/rectifier (again second-hand units). But this has made no difference. It will start fine on a bump start when hot (virtually the second you release the clutch) and once it is running all the electrics work fine and when you rev from tick-over with the lights on they will get brighter. When cold, the lazy turn-over is worse when the choke is out so I usually keep the choke in until the engine rotation eventually picks up and then put the choke on and this seems to work. I have also checked the battery connections etc for loose/broken connections but there is nothing obvious!

Do you have any idea what the problem may be? Could I have over-loaded any of the electrical components by jumping it from my car? One last thing, I notice that my key ignition switch is sometimes a bit temperamental; when I turn the key I sometimes have to jiggle it before the ignition lights come on! I then jiggle it a bit more to ensure they don’t go off and then proceed to start it.

Many thanks for any advice you may be able to provide.

Best regards, Indiemegs

Hi Indiemegs, and welcome!
Only just seen your post, and have not had time to think much about it (and it's time for beddy-byes anyway, it is 11:50 pm....), but wouldn't this be better asked in the "Help me" section?

Hi Red V Four, many thanks for your advice, I have now re-posted it.