This series has turned into a great community service - makes us all feel alot better about our own current bike projects 😎.

I think Jim is the South Main Auto of motorcycles. True expert-level approach to every problem just like Eric O.

Blimey Jim this is more rivetting than Star Wars was in 77 and far better than my video on black box voltage drops and wobbly teeth that no body watched. My guess from the beginning was an aging electrical system causing a voltage drop at the black box, normally this cuts out all sparks at the plugs and the rev counter needle starts to bounce around on electrical tachos. Black boxes on late 80's throu to late 90's bikes needed about 9.7 volts, (check the manual for the vmax) ageing starter/ign/charging and lighting circuits rob volts,, old positive leads, solenoids and terminals let alone the starter motor itself. Once an old 12v system loses a couple of volts it's game over at the plugs and good black boxes get swapped out unnecessarily because nobody checks the power that's supposed to be going in. Intermittent cutting out and misfiring is the black box ' cutting out ' due to a lack of power ( volts ) going into the black box/CDI unit). Black boxes on modern bikes now only need 4or5 volts to power up, this now helps to compensate for age related electrical system deterioration and electrical component wear and tear. That eBay black box was horrendous, total bummer, when you get the next one check for wobbly teeth ( the blade terminals ) with a small screwdriver and make sure you've got the sufficient voltage going in. Your carb rebuild was really impressive and what you found was shocking but when it didn't make any difference my jaw hit the floor...jeez talk about no mercy. Hopefully those block connectors that go to the black box are ok as you know they're notorious for filling with crud. I think the dealer changed that black box because they didn't check the starter circuit which was probably starving the black box in the first place, they then put an incorrect /faulty box back in. Getting a good black box is essential, I've often bought 2 or 3 second hand ones before I got a good one and id always highly recommend everyone carry a known good spare one at all times on the bike or at the very least keep one at home. A quick note, black boxes can wreck havoc with your ign coils too and vice versa, check for overheating coils by touching them with your fingers and remove from heat source if you have to as most are always being cooked as they're sandwiched between cyl head and fuel tank. Each coil should be the same temp. That starter motor was a mother to get out no wonder no body had been near it in 40years...and on that note it's always my first port of call when I smell a rat, always find the key player that nobody can be bothered to remove or knows how to replace, seems to me that every old/older bike problem stems from a component that's difficult to access and thus avoided until the bike becomes unusable.Old type voltage reg/rec that are JIS screwed to the underneath of battery boxes that you can't get to are a typical example.....headlight bulb blows... battery overcharging...reg/rec fault...you go to replace it and then find out how difficult it is to remove ...so the real problem is not the fault but the difficulty in replacing the component...not every body has the skills or facilities to rectify all of their bike's problems which is why they end up in your very capable hands, any way, I'm waffling now, bye

I'm probably the least mechanically minded man in the world and haven't got a clue what you're talking about but love your vids👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼

Best bike maintenance vids on youtube.... fact

Jim you always go into such detail ,starter motor and motor windings ,brings back memories of school physics lessons and how motors are built. Excellent stuff . Keep it up .

This starter motor is a very old type. They were using this type on cars back in the 50's. I did my training as a forklift truck engineer back in the late 70's. Part of your training was working in the service exchange department, we're you refurbished starter & alternators. This is just a smaller version. We never had oscilloscopes back in the day, just a clamp Amp meter and an AVO and a thing called a shunt, it was a calibrate metal strip you put inline of the battery cable and contact the AVO to, for the younger viewers an AVO, it was an analogue test meter, [Amps volts ohms] When I was a field engineer, we would repair starters and alternators in the back of my van, in all weather's. It was basic repair work, now days you throw it away, not good.

This series of videos makes me feel better about my electrically troublesome RC8! It’s good to know that even Ninja mechanics have the same thoughts about motorcycle designers and wanting to slap them when it comes to component removal 😂. Please keep doing what you’re doing, I learn a lot and and find your channel very entertaining 👍

Great real world content of working on older bikes Jim 👍🏻👍🏻

I've learnt something from your video. Not too bye old v max 😅 am I making sense. 😂 keep the videos coming brilliant suf Jim.

Gutted for you, love the tenacity and persistence though. Good luck!

Fascinating stuff when watching from the comfort of my settee 😉🔧👍🏻

Buying a 40 year old ECU is suicide. Get a Dynatec3000 and be done with it. As for the bad starting… earth cable on the starter motor is corroded. Most common on the Vmax.

Glad to hear from you again. Sorry about your troubles and strife but very happy that you are feeling strong enough for the fight again. God bless you Diff

Incredible dedication to proper diagnosis Jim, keep up the awesome work and thanks for all of your help on the Discord. totally worth the couple bucks!

12:57 I have a few big and small but none as well used as your Thor. Anyway this is a fascinating and brilliant series on this V-max repair. “If that makes sense”

I feel your frustration, a mate of a mate dropped me off a 78 UK model XS1100 that had sat in a damp shed for 20yrs, he wanted it restoring to original or as close as I could. It was rough as toast, did turn over, I cleaned the carbs, the TCI was missing, 2 available in EU for crazy money with wrong part numbers, I ended up buying a correct used one from the USA for £50 plus £75 shipping, no idea if it was any good, it arrived in 10 days and looked good, then I found one of the pulsar coils was dead, sourced a used set for £75 from a ebay guy who was breaking an engine, the bike fired up a runs great first prod of the starter button, still loads to do but the owner is happy, I was lucky I guess.

Thanks for this vid. I am a backyard mechanic, It is good to see the pros suffer the same things my unskilled self has to go through. Also the no wrench turners that think " It was just a ECU , it should not take weeks to fix and 4 hours labour, its a 5 minute job". teaches them realiries of a mechanic life.

That board would have come right out if you had removed the screw in the centre of it lol EDIT just watched the end of the vid LOL 😁

Enjoy watching your videos. Almost makes me miss having my bike shop. Ended up closing the shop because of endless shit I got from customers who knew faaaar more than I did. I like very much how in depth you go with fault finding, something the bike owners in my neck of the woods would never put up with. To them you should know the issue immediately and have it sorted in the blink of an eye for a next to nothing price of course. With this bike, the starting issue was it present from the beginning? How much shit do the customers give you if, during your fault finding another issue arises? 1 issue I had(of many) I had a customer bring me a k8 gsxr 1000 for jumping gearbox, so I needed to either replace or undercut gears. Bike was dropped of with a van without the key. I asked the customer for a few weeks I wanted to key so that I could run the bike and see what was going on. I got a million and 1 excuses about dropping the bike off and after being screamed at and sworn at I eventually decided to just pull the motor and start the job. Once motor was pulled the gearbox was beyond repair so I told the customer it need replacement which they agreed to. Did the replacement and put the bike together aaaaand magically they turned up with the key but had someone else drop it off with me..... started the bike, ran through the gears while on the padock stand. All seamed good. Go for test ride and within Less than 5 minutes of riding the bike would cut out and give and error for the ICV. Informed customer and of course it was now all my fault and the screaming and swearing matches started. So dick head here puts in hours of testing and fucking around and I end up borrowing an ecu from a friends bike. The bike ran 100% after that. Inform the customer and I get sworn at and told I fucked it up. While this was going on the previous owner of this k8 walked into my shop and said oh yes I know this bike it was mine. He then told me he had sold it with the cutting out issue. I then put the old ecu back in and told the customer to fuck off. Just 1 of the many horror stories I had to put up with that led me to closing the shop. Now I am the one waffling 😂. Cheers

Cracking video,can't wait for the video next 👌 Jim , can you do a quick video on how you got started , places worked etc?

Jim, you’ve the patience of a saint and the perseverance to match!

Most of the new automotive starters are now fitted with ferrite magnets to add cheapness the motors are very high speed and low torque with an plastic epicyclic reduction on the output end they have to be cheap as they are now a service item because most modern cars have start stop function so when your starter has covered enough start stop cycles it will be replaced at service time Shit ain't it just like dual mass flywheels and twin clutch setups

Brilliant, what a gift these videos are. Got my honda 900 boldor starter motor in bits and it looks just like the one on the vmax. Love to hear how to test it. I'm damned if I know how it works. Armature windings are all commoned, some clever magic makes it work.

That was a minger of an ecu hope you get it sorted asap, loving the vids, I’m currently suffering with a weak starter motor on my 2008 R1 and debating pulling it out and draining the carbon dust out of it but i think you’ve convinced me that while I’m in the bowels of the fkking thing I’ll just replace it

“Somewhere there’s a human that designed this” 😂

Try to find some old tv technician, those ecu are fairly easy circuits. That water corrosion can be cleaned and if the micro controler in the pcb is still in good shape it can be repaired. Sorry my bad english, im from Portugal and i love your work.

Good work with the Starter Motor. And as for that ECU - couldn't have been any worse a condition if it tried. Someone well and truly sold you a dud. Luky eBay will refund money if parts are faulty & don't work. Still doesn't hepl you get the bike running. Can you go aftermarket ECU and get into programming it.

I'd be throwing things........

This has been a very enjoyable series. However, something doesn't ring true. The bike was apparently taken to a Yamaha main dealer who diagnosed a faulty CDI. The customer was then charged and took the bike away (not working) with a cheap pattern CDI installed. Since when has a main dealer installed parts that are not supplied by the manufacturer? If Yamaha UK didn't have a replacement CDI, a search would have been conducted via Yamaha Europe, then finally Yamaha Japan. If still no part was available, then advice would have been sought from Yamaha Japan. I doubt they would have advocated fitting a cheap replacement, and sending the customer away with a large bill and a non operational motorcycle. Surely the customer would have complained to Yamaha UK about the poor service provided? Personally, I would contact the Yamaha dealer to see if they remember the motorcycle and customer. They may even still have the original CDI (if indeed the tale is true). Looking forward to part 5... Keep up the good work Jim.

Shit Jim, not a lot of luck with the V-Max. Been seeing a lot of video’s including the V-Max, you”ll fix it like always 💪🏻🛠 good luck and appreciate the depth of you’re video’s

Waiting on this one, nice one.

Just for infomation, I think you will find that motor is series wound i.e. the field winding is connected in series with the armature. Series wound motors produce a high starting torque and therfore ideal for use as starter motors.

Love the vids 👍

I know you've mentioned previously that you don't watch bike channels much but never the less I have a couple of recommendations 'Brick House Builds' for vintage Hondas and mods. ''2Vintage' for 2,3 and 4 wheel offroaders. Both channels show excellent fault finding and repair down to complete rebuilds.

Brilliant stuff

That pcb has been under water...an Earth strap would help perhaps not this time. Good luck Jim , hope you get a valid replacement.

Interested in the next process of programming up an aftermarket ECU, Hopefully the information in the manual will be enough to get it running.

Just a thought on the Vmax Just check, pick ups. The timing of the pick ups are out IF the crank pick up is lose or the hall affect pick up is lose / bent / broken you would get a signal out of phase

great job lad looks like cdi bin sitting in river don not good at all keep at it lad ul getthere next video please

I feel for you mate. If that wristwatch of yours monitors stress I'll bet its off the scale

DYNA TECH in the states. I got one for mine , fully programmable upto 8 maps with all the wiring outputs for launch control and a bunch of other stuff £300 in 2019.

What brand is your smart watch. Love the videos especially all your self criticism on camera lol.

From my experience it's sometimes better to just replace parts. I had a problem with my VTR years back. I replaced the ignition pick up and ECU. I don't have the skills to test components like you can but if you balance labour costs chasing a faulty part against just replacing it can work out cheaper down the replacement route.

uncle fester went to Chester i had a vfr 800 that would not start it was the same sort of thing a crusty connector in the injector loom plug i got it going by shoving some silver foil in the connector it ran like a top so i changed the injector loom it is still running today

Arrgh! What a hassle. Until seeing the very last seconds of the video, my first thought was "Gee, it's too bad you couldn't do a collaboration with one of the KZfaq electronics fixing dudes like BigClive, or someone". But I think even he would have gasped at the nasty shown inside that ECU, yikes lol

Sounds like the fluffle combobulator and pick ups need a good service. 🍻👍

Glad it's not just me that has totally shitty luck with bikes. Think this actually all adds to the suspense and makes the videos better lol I have a GSX 1400 that chucks out smoke when off throttle when revving and hot but doesn't do it while riding or cold and not under throttle. I have changed all the valve stem seals myself and checked all the sensors and everything looks fine. It has 8k mls and in showroom condition but for the life of me cannot figure it out so feel your pain. It smells rich but smoke is whitish/blue done it since I bought it last year so gutted. Can't wait for the next Video 🙂

Jim, get an ignitech ecu from Sean Morley at Morley’s Muscle in USA. They’re ready programmed for the Vmax !!

I have ordered Ignition (CDI) for Yamaha Virago from China and upon arrival strange clicking sound appeared ,after opening of casing power Darlington transistor fall out ,so you are not the only one get fooled .

I recon I saw the heart monitor on your watch flat line for a second or 2 Jim......🤔

Love the show. Your best bet is a programmable CDI / TCI from Ignitech. Don't bother with that old eBay junk.

This is craaaaazy

Just had a look online Moto matrix do ECU repairs and the vmax is on the list of potentially repairable ones👍

Waiting for parts is soul destroying, especially so when your mrs knows you have time for all the chores you've been putting off

the relative compression check youve done would show a tight big end or such like. i wouldnt have thought you could determine a short in the starter with it

Been said elsewhere, surely the original ECU removed by bike dealer is still in existence and available? As its possible the original fault was carbs you think, its possible the original ECU is fine. Could it be obtained, fitted and tried? Cheers for great educational content. Stuart

"Don't want this video to turn into a dc electric video" ☹

"Can't help myself" yay 🤤😁😁😁😁😁

So what happened to the original cdi unit?

Ha mate starter is polling

There is a screw in middle of ECU board still while you were trying to pry it out.

Is the 100amp draw for the starter typical on most bigger capacity machines? Suffering starting issues on an R1 and itll be in my list to check next...

Time to buy a microscope and a hot air station and get deep into component-level repair of microelectronics!

It might be worth having a look ( clean/remove) at the engine earth terminal and mounting bolt at the crankcases anyway and inspect the engine earth lead from the engine to the battery despite what the graph says (apologies if you've already done this ) normally difficult to get to and neglected and cruddy, if a bike's 40years old, generally id do a full lead and terminal overhaul, regardless what the multimeter says and if funds allowi bung a new solonoid on it and renew these Engine to battery earth lead Battery to starter solenoid lead Starter solenoid to starter motor lead Battery to frame earth lead. ( I call these the 4 main arteries to the heart ) I was wondering whether a starter motor continually turning over slowly causes excess brush dust to build up and although your new motor spins up nice there might still be a lingering problem with residue resistance left in the starter circuit leads and terminals not just because theyre old but because the engine earth lead and terminal at the engine end could do with a refresh as you know without it neither the pick up coils, alternator of starter motor will function as well as they should do

New T-shirt slogan "Are you F***king kidding me"🤣 What are the chances that the new ECU was the one taken off the bike recently.

I don't know if it helps, but I had problems with my 1999 v.max. It was the water temperature sensor. Run lovely when cold, as soon as it got hot, Run like a pig until over 1/4 throttle

I had the same starter motor issue on a KZ1000 the other day rebuilt motor went to start and it wouldn't fire no spark slow cranking ,,, starter motor issues ( high current draw low volts )

Nothing worse than getting DOA parts.

That cooling system needs to be thoroughly cleaned. Also rust on the starter terminals would cause voltage drop, no?

Stezstix fix likes a printed circuit board to take a look at

Jim .can I call you Yoda?.

Akira Araki is the mad man to blame for the vmax design

the ecu is toast and a good replacement is silly expensive, this is a carburettor engine so hardly an ecu just an ignition system, if it were mine I would be looking to adapt a pair of ignition systems from a similar indervidual cylinder capacity twin

Steve taylor from taylor made wheels has a lot of contacts with v max people , may be worth a call.

Vmax are a pain in the arse to work on I feel your pain

Get Mat from Dirty dong garage to help, he is the motorcycle god apparently. He knows all 😂

Ditch stock ecu & fit full MSD ignition system.

24:20, if you don't laugh, you'll cry!

pro tip NEVER buy anything electrical off fleabay....

Don't get a second hand ECU. Because of their age it is very likely that the capacitors will be bad in them at best, ignoring the fact that they are likely corroded. I feel for you.

got a copper hide looks just the same jim

Try "Do you follow me?"😂

Hard starting . Over advanced?

Fuckin hell, did that all make sense or did we end up down a massive rabbit hole? Regardless, great video 👍

i bet that Ebay seller lived near salt water!

I know it's not really related but do let us know how you get on with ebay returns.

Well wasn't that a bugger.

When its cranking it sounds like it's got a low compression

What a bloody nightmare. Yamaha had to put an ECU on a carby bike didnt they

I didn't see permanent magnets in starter motors until about 1998 and they were cheap motors the motor you have infrastructure of you is no different to the motor on a heavy truck or dozer a quality item that can be rebuilt more than once. You only need to look inside a modern vehicle starter to see how poor they are today

Friday = waffle time❤️

Theres a screw in the middle of the icu board

Far less experianced than you. But appears similar to a proplem I had with with my 03 955i Tiger , which was down to a starter current draw similar to that and as it pulled the battery voltage down to below 11.5v it caused all sorts of ECU problems and sometimes non starting even with a new battery. But once running it settled down unlike this V Max, It was the advice of some very nice people on a Triumph forum and someone letting me have the use of a known good starter solved it for me.

FWIW, you put the cover back on the ECU backwards. You know what I am saying?

i purchased my first ever new bike in 2016 a gsx-s 1000 while on a trip to Spain the thing refused to turn over every now an then clicking like a flat battery i went through everything when i got it home it wasn't the battery or not charging starter solenoid it was the starter motor put a second hand one on an have had years of trouble free riding new bikes ehh

So the ecu came out of a pond.

28:36 Did you get a result on your return?

BB Reman get it repaired

Like first then watch the episode.