1999-2000 Honda CBR 1100XX FI Light Fix

Bezzer

I'll post it in full on here, it might help someone in the future, be moved to Technical or whatever. It's not "stolen" I wrote it anyway.

Ignore the 5 year part, it was written a few years ago

The 1999-2000 (FI with analogue gauges) models are prone to a fault within the loom. Symptoms are the FI flashing or staying steadily on for no apparent reason, the bike can still run but can also cut out without warning. You can also get the FI light coming on when you use other electrical items e.g. indicators, brake lights, horn etc. The problem gets worse with time, cuts out more often and then eventually totally shuts down.
The cause is a test block that comes out of the loom and is used when the bike is first built to test the various electrical systems, when done it is just taped up onto the side of the loom never to be used again, you wont find it on any wiring diagram in the official Honda or Haynes manuals.
The cure is a loom replacement which is covered by Hondas 5 year loom warranty or do it yourself if the bike is over 5 years old, the cost of an official Honda loom is in the hundreds
The cost of DIY is minimal and these are the two methods you can use-

Remove seat and rear cowling,take rear tank bolts out and raise the back of
the tank a few inches to give you some room to get at various connectors DISCONNECT THE BATTERY. This is the location of the connector a mound of insultation tape on the loom just in front of the left side rear passenger footpeg.
Attachment 424
Disconnect the nearby electrical connectors including the main earth wire just under the back of the tank as it will give you a bit more room to work as the loom is pretty tight at this point

Cut away the insulation and this is the connector, not a straight through male and female block to join wires up but a dead end 20 pole connector with 19 connected wires within the block.

Took the thing apart but it took a bit of persuading as the corrosion was binding it and this is what I ended up with, doesn't show very well but well furred up


Used contact cleaner, soft and brass brushes, emery cloth and needle file to clean the male and female contacts and it came up quite good

After cleaning, doused both parts in ignition sealer(Holts puts on a clear plastic coat), put them back together, covered the outside with it as well, followed by a spray of silicone grease. Taped it all up and instead of putting it under the loom where it becomes the lowest point and collects all the moisture (no wonder it fails) cable tied it to the subframe rail just above the loom making it the highest point.

Put everything back together after spraying and silicone greasing every connector I could see.
This worked for me for 3 months then the FI light started coming on again with the brake light, other people have done it and had no further problem to date, I think it all depends how far gone the connector has gone with corrosion when you do it so I went to Plan B

Bezzer

I ballsed up the first attachment above (414) this is what it should have shown



PLAN B
This is the hardwire method that you may want to use first rather than last as it is a more permanent fix.
The block has 20 poles, 19 wires go into it and within the male portion of the block it joins one row of 10 on the one side (all green earth related wires)and 3 lots of 3 on the other side with one unused terminal. All confirmed with a multimeter.
Cut the wires off the connector on the 3x3 side first..they are in their own colours so you don't get to mix them up.
When I stripped the insulation off the copper wire was black for a fair way up, there isn't really enough length to try and cut them back to perfect shiny copper so I cleaned them with a small wire brush and contact cleaner. Soldered the three wires together then used 2 layers of heatshrink tubing to seal them


For the main block of 10 the easiest way is to leave the main thicker earth on its own, solder the remaining 9 into three blocks of three. Used a small piece of heatshrink to hold all of them together then dipped them into a "thimble" full of heated/melted solder, sprayed a bit of water on it to cool it down and ended up with all ten soldered together.
Heatshrinked them, covered everthing in silicone grease and taped everything up to the main loom using self amalging rubber tape to seal it.

Started first time, FI light hasn't come on and hopefully thats it. I can see that when it does start to go you might as well hardwire it. If damp has got into the terminals it has also got into the actual wire and connections as well which you can't clean up so it is going to go again anyway.
Fairly easy to do, just take your time, it can be done on your own as I did but would have been easier to have an extra pair of hands to hold the wires in the right position when you are soldering.

chaserkeywest

Been there, done that!

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porterb123

Here's a link to the fix I did a few months back. Pictures are clear
Wire Loom Fix - Public Discussion Forums

Bezzer

much better pics, in my defence I was a digi camera virgin when I did mine about 3 year ago.

porterb123

I used your write up to start with, so thank you! I just tested the wire connections to make sure.

Porter

Bezzer

The "problem" has started to rear it's head now on later bikes in the UK. The test connector was not removed from 01 but moved back a bit further up the loom, it's still left hand side but now close to the starter relay. Looks like Honda just thought moving it from the lowest point would fix everything...yeah right
So if anyone gets similar problems to the 99-00 as above it is worth bearing in mind, it's apparently still obvious, a big ball of tape on the loom, looks like it all depends on who tapes it up and how well they do it as to whether you get the problems or not

Bixxer_Bob

You show up in the funniest places Bez

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ekasXX

I did this for HDXX and it worked great. Thanks for the fix.

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XXSTAR

I could not post in the tech part.

I was going to do the loom fix, I took the cap off the wire connector and it is clean no corrsion.

what do I do now? go ahead and do the fix? should I solder the wire while I am at it?

porterb123

If it's all clean, put some dielectric grease on the plugs and tape it back up really well with the plug positioned on top with the backside of the wired connector pointing downward so it will not hold water, if any gets in.

Or if your anal, solder it up

TangorXX

Mine started flickering on yesterdays ride. Going to go through the steps outlined above sometime this week. Glad you all took the trouble to post your fixes.

Thank you!

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XXSTAR

it is the fix your FI light comming on. it works.

WOLFCHIEF

Shouldn't this be covered by Honda in a recall?

CBR1100XDubIE

Beezer,

well thank you for that, i bought a 00 blackbird 2 months ago, 8k miles on it, not used much, but garaged, the second day i got it, the damn thing wouldnt start, had the aa out and all, couldnt find anything, pushed it and it started, the FI light comes on now and again does nothing to bike (yet) but it is annoying, looks like i have the problem you speak of, will try your cure to see what happens after that i assume its a loom, i take it the new ones DONT have the bad connector? the previous owner hadnt used the bike in 6months and said he knew nothing of the faults i had, thought it was a loosely mounted power commander but after that fxed same thing, this posts has been an eye opener many thanks.

Regards,
Derek
Dublin

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Regards,
Derek

NIFreebird

[quote=Bezzer;3293] "then dipped them into a "thimble" full of heated/melted solder, "


I've found that a 6mm cap head nut with the thread and some wall thickness drilled out makes a good "thimble"

spike

A lil' tip - I did the taking the damn thing apart bit, cleaned it all out, luckily the corrosion hadn't gone to far (even for riding in rainsville uk).
I dried the whole thing with a hairdryer, then a little WD40, and put it back together, filled the whole thing inside & out totally envelloping it in cillicone.
Wrapped it back up in elec tape and left it dangling, so that i can see if it's getting soggy. I've had it dangling (oer) for almost a year now and it seems to dry it self out and doesn't look too bad where it is.

mastersong

I put up the original post for F1 help!

I tried the fix - the connector under the seat was not corroded when stripped down - I blasted it with WD40 and cleaned anyway re - assembled and also cleaned all electrical conections under the tank.

After running the bird for half an hour on came the F1 light again. When I turned off the engine then re started the F1 light went off. So looks like the fix did not work this time.

Any idea what the F1 light actually indicates???

The guide book mysteriously advises 'when the light comes on please take bike to your dealer immediately' (so they can relieve you of your cash). Trying to avoid that fix for now.
Other than the annoying F1 light coming on - the bird still runs fine.

Any other ideas on the F1 light appreciated.
Cheers
Mastersong

spike

Mastersong...Sorry mate, can't help - it's a mystery. The multi plug is where they plug in at the factory before letting it loose to check everything is working. The Fi light indicates that your Fuel injection system is working. If it's not working - the engine wouldn't run!
When I first started having the light come on it didn't seem to effect anything, it was only a couple of thousand miles later when the light would come on intermittantly and then the engine would cut out. I'd switch the ignition off and on again (while rolling) and it would run as if nothing wrong. The only other thing I can think of is possibly taking it apart, cleaning it & drying it with Mrs Mastersongs favorite hair dryer, till it's warm & completely dry (it is a little moist in Southampton). Then put it back together again & fill the friggin' thing with silicone sealant, wrap it up in elec tape & leave it dangling. I think if you tuck it away again moisture could still get in.
You're right about the dealer - when I took mine to two Honda dealers - they didn't have a clue! But they did say that replacing the wiring loom wouldn't be a problem to them, as long as it wasn't a problem for me to give them £1,400 in beer tokens...(er... no thanks mate!).

good luck
Spike

mastersong

Cheers Spike for the tip.

When I stripped out the connector it was all clean inside with no corrosion - I am about to try a sloder fix mentioned from another bird site and cut off the plugs.

If that does not work I will cut of the birds 'knackers'.

Will keep you posted.

Mastersong

mastersong

Update on F1 solder fix

I followed the top notch instructions above and did the solder fix over xmas.

Have been out on the bird several times - guess wot? No F1 light comes on now!

Hats off to the solder fix - seems to have worked.

Just for the record - when I stripped back the terminated plug - there was no sign at all of any corrosion! Some wires there are a bit thin - one may have been slightly broken so obviously a weak point on the bird.

Either way - another fan here of the 'strip plug off solder the b*stard' fix!

Cheers

pasxalisa3

friends my in my own XX have turned on F1 and in the 4000 turns roughly do me something as interruptions! Concretely yesterday that it made a walk his my brother made him intensely and extinguished in the end and the machine! Any it knows what it can be [as] helps!

DragonXX

PARDON ???
Help me out here guys !!!

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