Why does my honda vtx backfire

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Why will my Honda r only run with the choke on? Study Guides. Trending Questions. Still have questions? Find more answers. Previously Viewed. Unanswered Questions. Which of the following events do not occur in prophase of mitosis? What structure does a baller.

All you need is a riding glove. The handle is numbered so you can count your turns in and out for more precise tuning. Check it out here! Want more how-to's, tutorials and other chop info for your Honda Shadow?

Visit our Knowledge Base! We're on Facebook and Instagram , too! Make sure you're following us! View Cart Checkout. Home News Backfire vs. Afterfire on Honda Shadow — and how to fix both! March 09, Select options. Process In order to get to everything to fix these grounds you need to be able to remove the seat and remove the gas tank. It also makes things easier if you remove the front spark plug covers 5mm allen and disconnect the spark plug boots so the coil can be taken loose later.

Now you should be ready to get started. Common Electronics Ground This ground is the most problematic of the bunch and is usually the culprit when most problems arise. Look on the left side of the backbone towards the front of the bike — just behind the handlebars, under the front tank mount and in front of the radiator cap and you should see the front ignition coil.

If for any reason you have trouble finding it just follow the spark plug wires from the front cylinder up, they plug into this coil. This is some of what I talked about above, many different metals all in one place with a current across them.

When you take yours apart you may already find corrosion throughout the connections. The easiest way to do this job is to remove the coil from the bike altogether.

This is why I said to remove the spark plug boots from the plugs earlier. There are 2 additional wires plugged into the rear of the coil. Remove them as well. With the 2 bolts, 2 plug wires and 2 electrical wires disconnected the coil and bracket should come right off the bike. Now with everything apart, start cleaning it all.

First take the sandpaper and use it to clean the ground eyelet. A quick sanding should remove any surface corrosion and get it nice and shiny. Next sand off the powder coat at the coil mounts until you have bare metal.

I find that using sandpaper to clean the ground eyelet works well, but it can take a bit of time for the powder coat. This is why I mentioned a Dremel or drill with grinding stone attachments. If you have an attachment like the ones pictured below, it can make this job a breeze.

You just have to be careful because they will also quickly remove paint and powder coat from other places where you still want them. At this point you should have cleaned the coil mounts and the ground eyelet so you can move on to the coil and coil bracket which you removed from the bike.

Look at the bottom of the coil on each end and you should see a 10mm bolt. Remove these 2 bolts to remove the coil bracket from the coil. Using sandpaper clean the paint off the coil bracket where the 2 bolts pass through it see pic above on both the inner and outer face. You want to be certain that when you bolt this back up, you have good metal to metal contacts. Also sand the coil bracket where the coil mounts to it — under where the nuts are tack-welded to the bracket. Now set the coil bracket aside and grab the coil itself.

Then get ready to put everything back together. If this is the case then go ahead and tighten the two 10mm bolts that hold the bracket to the coil. With this all reassembled cover the connections with more dielectric grease. There is no reason to be stingy with the grease because you are depending on it to provide a protective barrier around the connections, protecting them against the elements.

With the coil reassembled squeeze it back under the front tank mount and into place. Just like when you bolted the coil and bracket back together, think to yourself and be certain that you sanded, cleaned and greased each piece being bolted down.

If this is all done then bolt it back up, the shorter black bolt should be in front and the longer gold-colored bolt should be in the back with the ground eyelet under it.

Snug these bolts down well to ensure you have a good connection. You also want to squeeze most of the dielectric grease from between the pieces as you tighten everything.

The last part here is to once again liberally cover both bolts and the ground eyelet with dielectric grease to form a protective barrier around everything. If you look, the picture to the above right is what you should have when finished — everything bolted up and greased over. At this point you can reconnect the spark plugs put some dielectric grease in the plug boots before you reattach them and reinstall the plug covers.

With the common electronics ground completed, doing this secondary battery ground will be a piece of cake. You will have to dig around, move some wires and a few things out of your way to get to this. Under all this you will find a 10mm bolt with another ground eyelet under it see pic to right.

This ground is subject to the same problems as the common electronics ground — powder coat issues, multiple metals and electric current. With the bolt removed, use sandpaper or a grinding stone if you can fit it in there to clean the powder coat off the frame underneath where the bolt sits.

With the powder coat cleaned, use sandpaper on the ground eyelet and get it clean and shiny. From the factory the bike usually only has this one eyelet here, but Power Commander and some other accessories use this ground also, so if you find multiple terminals just clean them all with the sandpaper.

You can see an additional terminal in the picture below. Just like above, put dielectric grease on the frame, eyelets and bolt and reassemble everything. Snug the bolt down nice and tight to squeeze out any extra dielectric grease and then liberally cover the entire thing with more dielectric grease for protection. With this done you can put all the wires, etc. The short version is that Honda had a short run of C models where someone was placing the common chassis ground terminal under the rear bolt on the clutch cover rather than the proper bolt on the motor case.

This incorrectly located ground terminal resulted in all sorts of problems from things as simple as trouble starting the bike all the way to electrical fires caused by melting insulation on the ground wire. The picture to the right is the proper location for the ground cable but it can be slightly misleading because this picture was actually taken UNDER the bike, just in front of the rear wheel. Afterthoughts This is one of the most important things you can do to keep your VTX up and running well.

As mentioned above, and discussed time and time again on VTX forums all over, there are so many problems that can occur as a result of these poor grounds. All these and more can be solved by the ground fix. I consider this to be so important that I recommend doing it as a part of regular maintenance.

Every years, depending on mileage, riding conditions, etc get into the bike and check these grounds.