Recently purchased a 84 vf1000f. Drove it home with no issues (3.5 hours) and been driving it for about a week with not one single problem. Took it out for a drive today and got about 2 kilometers and it started sputtering and quit as if it was out of fuel. checked the tank and there was plenty of fuel. After about 20 minutes of sitting it started fine and drove it home, let it idle in the yard for another 15 minutes and no issues so i took it for another drive… this time I got about 20 minutes out and same thing, sputtering like it was out of fuel and quit, again sat for 20 minutes and it started up. decided to hot foot it for home and its did the same thing 100 feet from the drive way…
Could this be the ignition module? carbs? I’m at a loss
I had a similar problem about 3 or 4 years ago, one day I could do 50 miles or just 2 or 3, and it would shut down as if the fuel supply was shut off, it turned out to be the pulse generators {pickups} when they got hot, resistance dropped {or whas it vise-versa} the ignition module sensed it and shut down the fuel supply, to check them, you will need to connect up a meter, warm them up with a good hairdryer, then watch how the resistance behaves, better details are in the clymer manual, or someone else on here may be able to help better, Phil.
Thanks for the advise. im charging the battery right now and hopefully it will start. Right now the pulse generator is testing ~490 Ohms. I will test them after the bike is warmed up. I guess the next step is to test the ignition coils if the generators are fine.
She wouldn’t even start last night after i pushed it home 
Would low oil pressure also cause these symptoms?
electric fuel pump might be stopping like my bike
rust in fuel pump
rust in petrol tank
check the fuel filter only £6.00 for a new one
will keep watching thread[8D]
Charged the battery and started the bike first click, let it run and warm up and tested the blue/white and yellow/white wires for the pulse generators… cold they are measuring ~490 ohms and hot they are measuring ~630 Ohms. also it seems that the engine is heating up quite a bit more than it should be. checked the reserve coolant tank and the fluid level is within specs. checked the oil level and it is down.
Tank is clean, I’ll probably replace the fuel filter and check the fuel pump as well. I’m thinking it is more an electrical problem than a fuel problem though.
Thanks for the advise
when I got my VF I drained the coolant and refilled it 50/50 mix because I did not know when it was changed last
it came out rusty colour so its a good move to make sure the engine will not overheat plus I fitted a manual override switch on the radiator fans.[8D]
I’m going to drain the coolant and refill it in the next couple days… I started the bike this morning and disconnected the battery while it was running, the bike quit instantly, shouldn’t the alternator keep the bike running even if the battery is disconnected?
On these bikes the battery is needed to energise the coils
then once the engine is running it charges the battery and runs everything on the bike.
On old mopeds when you kick started it the rotation from the magnets produced electricity for the spark and when it was running it supplied enough power to run the lights Just.
Its the same as a car alternator but producing 3 phase then its rectified to DC to charge the battery,The lights and everything runs off the battery so dead battery dead bike.
Lloyd[8D]
I think i isolated it down to either the fuel pump or the fuel relay. how would I go about testing the relay?
I tried the jumper wire between the wires (black and white i believe) and turned the key on and the fuel pump clicks repeatedly. there is no noise from the fuel pump at all when you turn the key on and the relay and everything is hooked up…
to check the relay you only have one option replace
as for the pump take it off and get a jar of petrol and some tubes and let it pump for a while to see if it flows continuously
if it works fine then its good to go.
when connected normally the pump stops when the carbs are full.
I’d do a fuel flow test as per Windy’s suggestion, the manual will tell you what sort of flow to expect, the clicking is sort of how they sound they’re a diaphragm type of pump.
Fuel pump relays are known to cause problems, you could leave it bypassed (with the wire in place) and do a few test runs and see how it goes. I wouldn’t recommend leaving it that way though if you find it is faulty.
Good luck!
Forgot to add, the fuel pump will only run when turning the engine over while starting and when engine is running.
The fuel pump is definetely bad, going to see if I can track down one and a relay as well. Will replace the inline fuel filter as well
good news
just went for a summer burn from Norwich via Wroxham via lowestoft and home to Norwich.
Got on the Acle Straight at GT Yarmouth and 1 mile up the road the bolt that holds the selector rod on the engine dropped out cause the nylock nut fell off ,had to get home in top gear (good job it pulls from 25 all the way up to madness.)stopped at my mates boat yard and he supplied a new nut.cheap motorcycling.[8D]
Must have been enjoying myself too much,the sun was shining.[:D]
Is there a different fuel pump that I can install? having troubles locating a replacement fuel pump and relay.
Also i know these pumps are a very low pressure fuel pump, is it possible to gravity feed these bikes?
Have you tried to run the bike with relay bypassed, i.e. wires jumped ? With this method you can isolate the problem to relay or pump itself. Please note, that when wires are jumped, the safety feature is missing and the pump is pumping when there is power. No problem in normal use (rubber side down), but in accidents not safe. You can also replace points of the pump as an article written by me here http://wiki.sabmagfaq.org/FuelSystem/ReplacementContacts shows. I still believe that mechanical problems are rare in these pumps. Somebody said, that Interceptors can be run in gravity feed, but the tank should be over half full, never tried that by myself.
Well Asking around today looking for someone with a fuel pump I stumbled across an interceptor that is all together but hasn’t run in about 8 years. It looks to be in alright mechanical shape and it was running when they put it into the bushes. He agreed to sell it for 500 CDN. I’ll be bringing it home today.
Because the previous owner had not fitted a filter inline on my vf[8D],rust from the tank reached the pump.
my pump was intermittent so it was replaced as there is nothing worse than a part that sometimes works