Wounded Superhawk Help
 

New to the forums, been reading but 1st post. Wanted to start off by thanking whoever provides these forums.

Recently came into a 1999 Superhawk with 1900 miles on it. Original owner had kept it at a vacation home and as you can tell barely rode it. He had it gone through by a shop a couple years ago thinking he was going to start riding it more but ended up sparingly ridden again until I got it. The chop went through the carbs, replaced the floats, etc. and declared it fine. I put a new battery in it and it ran pretty roughly at the low end to begin with. Put several tanks of gas through it riding about 700 miles. Most of the roughness went away. Now two (maybe three) problems have cropped up in short order but I don't know if they are related and was hoping y'all had some suggestions.

As I said, new battery and it seemed to be performing fine. Not riding it for a few days, no big deal. Then it started draining the battery overnight. Could jump start it, ride it throughout the day including having several hour long breaks, no problem. But leave it for a day and pushing the starter button brought just a slight sound like the starter trying to engage but not even a hint of turning over. Then it started failing to detect neutral. Gearbox working fine but no light on and even though it was in neutral acted as if it was not for example wouldn't run with the sidestand down. So at this point I am thinking some sort of minor electrical problems possibly related. Jump it to take it over to a nearby Honda dealership. Starts and warms up fine, gets about half a mile from the house still feeling fine and then like a light switch went off and this may be totally wrong but it felt like it started only running on one cylinder. Turned it around and limped it home. Drove by the dealership and best they could come up with was the carbs need rebuilt to the tune of $6-700. Aside from the money, that doesn't sound like the explanation to me, but I have very limited experience on Superhawks (and this is my first twin). So I am hoping y'all have some suggestions.

Any suggestions appreciated. Hopefully I stuck this in the right place.

Check the side stand switch, they are known to cause problems.

Disconnect it and see what happens.


Definitely sounds electrical to me based on what you describe.

Regulator / rectifier plug needs to be looked at for corrosion, burnt wires or connectors, along with all battery and ground connections.
With a charged battery, start bike and check voltage at battery at an idle and at about 3k RPM.

Let us know what you find.

They are?

I had not heard that :shock:

Quick search of this forum gets only two hits, both water/ rain/switch related
https://www.google.com/search?q=site...m=122&ie=UTF-8

1999 with stock R/R and chances are it's done. Check voltage at idle and at aroun 4krpm like Marquez said. Upgrade to a mosfet unit and you'll be much better off:

https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...why-how-25117/

Also, if it has the stock CCT's in it (even with this low of miles) I would highly recommend replacing them ASAP with either new stock ones or Manual CCT's. The have gone out at mileage that low before on other bikes, and on this bike the result is often catastrophic. Replacing valves at a minimum.

Those two things are the main ones to look out for on this bike. 1999 is a little older, so don't be surprised if age related issues crop up. If the carbs are stock and clean, I wouldn't look there first, although eventually you'll probably want to sync them.

Or you can always drill and tap your original auto CCTs and install some bolts through them... Manual CCTs for about $13 or so.


James

I hope I'm wrong, but this part sounds like one of your CCT's let go and you lost one cylinder. You can check compression to determine if this is the case. If a CCT let go, you may have bent valves in that head. Hopefully, I'm wrong and it's elctrical related like the rest of your problem(s).

And, like 7moore7 and thedeatons said, rework the stock automatic CCT's, if equiped, or replace entirely with manuals. Don't be fooled by the low mileage. I think mileage has very little to do with CCT failure. It's an age thing in my opinion.

Where are you at? Might be a local experienced SH owner could offer a hand at diagnosis.

Thanks everyone. I won't be able to check any of it out until this weekend. I'll keep my fingers crossed it isn't that one of the CCT's let go. There wasn't any noise from inside the engine.

I am in Houston.

PS - I was really liking the bike while it worked. I can't be too pissed. Got it to pay off a debt I never thought I was going to collect anyway.

If it is a CCT, it's not the end of the line. If there's no cylinder or piston damage, you can get a used head and swap it out. A good head will run you, maybe, a couple hundred.

I am putting my money on RR. (regulator/rectifier failure)

I'll see you and raise you multiple problems.

Of course, I hope I lose this hand and it turns out to be all electrical.

I'm with this guy all the way! I had all the same problems as you did, changed out my r/r to a MOSFET one and, BAM!!! Problems gone. Do your research and get a good r/r, and you'll not have these problems again.

This is similar to the R/R I put on my SH, from a 2005 or newer ZX10.
$40, free shipping, and 10 minutes of wiring, done deal. Solved my electrical gremlins.

The RR causes a bunch of seemlingy unrelated and awful problems that disappear when swapped. You may have fried your battery but maybe not.

Sorry for not getting back to y'all. Life intruded but finally got to work on the bike last weekend and sure enough replacing the RR did the trick. Thanks for the help.

Happy to hear I was wrong. Suprised, too, since it's the first time.

So he popped your cherry? well we knew it would happen eventually, I'm proud of you :lol:

Similar Problem with my SuperHawk
 

Hello everyone. New to the forum today, and my recently purchased 2005 Superhawk with only 12,600 miles stopped on me cold. Interesting thing is I've been riding her for two weeks with no major problems. Left Interstate 4 here in Orlando, and as soon as I made the turn, engine shut down. This has happened a few other times, but normally she would turn right over and I would be on my way. I have battery power, tach is working, and starter is engaging. Engine refused to turn over. I didn't want to run battery down, so I attempted to turn her over only a few more times, before having her towed to shop. Only issues I had prior was it stopping on me a few times, and putting her in neutral, and into first gear was a challenge. I like to have some idea of my problem before letting the mechanic offer suggestions. Appreciate all of your help along with this thread and forum.

Could be the R/R, it may not be putting out enough power to turn the engine over. Like stated earlier, R/R's can do some strange things when they fail.


I live in the orlando area and wouldn't mind lending a helping hand if you need it in diagnosing the problem, before taking it to a mechanic. Just shoot me a PM.

Ahhh the Hawk forum never fails - everyone is here to lend advice & usually correct.

But I'm contacting my lawyer for a class action lawsuit against Honda for spec-ing the worst R/R ever. Were they run by GM back then? :)

Never let the accountants make engineering decisions.

Sometimes these bikes (and many other bikes) are hard to flip through the gearbox when the bike's not on, just the way it is when everything in there is static.

Sounds like fuel or maybe spark to me. If the battery is good and the starter is turning... it may simply be bad gas, but is more likely a petcock isn't working properly or the carbs need to be cleaned well. Maybe even the tank vent is plugged. Did you recently fill up?

Try turning it on with the gas cap open (or having the shop do this now I guess). If the vent line is plugged, it creates a suction in the tank so fuel doesn't want to flow out. This happens often if you fill the bike up too full. Next, make sure your petcock is working. Disconnect the fuel lines and introduce a suction to the small line attached to the back of it. Fuel should come pouring out (so be ready!) If it doesn't, the petcock is bad.

Thanks for the help everyone. SailorJerry, I would love to get together with a SuperHawk veteran to learn more ins and outs about the bike. I went to Leesburg, FL over the weekend and had a blast. Hope you had a chance to attend also! Bike is at Cycle Sports Center here in Orlando, so I'll run the diagnosis by each of you when I get word on Monday. Thanks again, SuperHawk fans.

Talked to shop today, and was informed she cranked right up. Good news, but still need to address why she is cutting off. Line of bikes ahead of me, so full diagnostic won't be done until Monday. Offered suggestion of R/R, so hopefully we'll get to cause.

Taking my Baby Home!
 

Shop checked R/R, wiring, and all major components. Bike is running like a top, so I had them only do general maintenance. Oil, coolant, bleeding brakes, etc. Previous owner took good care of this one! Riding her home today, and I'll let you know of any further issues. Appreciate the forum....

God Lord!! infantrycak I would have to go put on a fresh set of dry shorts if I could get some of the debts owed me for a SuperHawk with only 1900 miles on it bad R/R, dirty carbs or not, maybe even through in worn out tires and dead battery too. I understand the inconvience of it laying down on you (usually happens in worst place possible) but WOW!
You hit a home run on that deal.

nnjhawk02, you hit the nail squarely on head, management and accountants should be
shot on sight if caught in the same part of the country with engineering. To quote the
well worn saying "Do you want deal with the One in charge or the Ones that actually know what is going on?" Thankfully we have somewhat inexpensive fixes for shortsightedness or mere ignorance.

The Dragons Tails' in my backyard.