Hi guys. It all started last winter. On colder days, bike struggles a bit to start while cold. After it starts, and I warm up the bike a bit, no more problems. I can shut down the engine, start it again, no problems whatsoever, but every morning when I go to work and every night when I leave work, the following happens: Like I said, it happened last winter, then warmer days came, issue disappeared, only to come back when days turned cold again recently. About the bike, it's a 08, with almost 80.000km (50.000mi), I ride it every day to work, sun or rain, hot or cold. Bike is serviced every 6.000km (3.700mi) Regarding parts that may affect the performance of the bike, don't know if it could be relevant to the problem or not, but here it goes in advance, it has Yoshimura headers, Jardine RT5 can, Power Commander V with custom map, K&N filter, Bazzaz Z-Bomb. I'm from Lisbon, Portugal, so we don't usually get extreme temperatures, so in the winter temperatures may vary from -5C/23F to 25C/68F. Spark plugs are newish (6 to 10.000km). I don't think it's a battery problem, since the "power" never seems to go down, like it usually does then battery is weak. When I made the video, it was around 15C/59F, and it has been raining lightly in the last few days. Bike stays in the garage at night, during the day it's in "the open". Please note that when I say colder days it usually means days with more rain or humidity in the air, might be a factor too. Any insight on what may be the problem would be appreciated.
Have you checked your battery voltages 12.62v 90 percent. Charge it, then go ride. 12.50v 80 percent. Charge it, then go ride. 12.32v 70 percent. Charge it, then go ride. 12.20v 60 percent. Charge it, then go ride. 12.06v 50 percent. Charge it, then go ride. 11.90v 40 percent. Try charging it, but it might be toast. 11.75v 30 percent. Try charging it, but it might be toast. 11.58v 20 percent. Battery has converted to doorstop. 11.31v 10 percent. Battery has morphed into boat anchor. 10.50v No meaningful charge. Check to see if battery has been replaced with rock. Also can try a Crank voltage test - The starter should be running at normal speed. A good battery should not drop below 9.6 volts over a few seconds Hope this is a good starting point before you start checking charging systems, starter motor, etc
Thanks for the reply! The battery stays plugged into a charger over the weekend (I mostly only ride to go to work during the week ), so monday mornings battery should be full charge. However I did NOT test the voltages. I'll do it ASAP. Thanks again!
I had similar issues so connected a permanent voltmeter. Resting voltage should be as Andy's post, If it is too low you need to diagnose whether its just an old battery, charging issue or voltage leak. I connected a permanent voltage meter so I could see the charging voltage when running, they're cheap and will help diagnosis. If the voltage drops to anywhere near the battery resting voltage your battery will slowly become toast.(If you have a lithium battery it will be damaged very quickly) At normal running it should be around 14v. When I was have issues the charging voltage was low 13s, did the tests on the stator and found one of the one of the AC outputs was significantly lower.(IIRC each should be around 50vac) As it was charging slightly I continued to run it but kept a battery pack just in case then eventually it just died and provided no charge at all and left me stranded luckily only a short distance from where I live. Fitted a new stator (and for good measure a RR) and now all runs fine.
That's quite interesting, Slick, because the naive response would be that the motor is turning over fine, so it shouldn't therefore be a battery issue. Of course we can't 'hear' voltage, so it perhaps illustrates a minor 'temperamental' issue with our Blades. Certainly a point I have added to my memory banks!! Cheers!
LOL funny you should mention the starter, as a faulty starter motor can have similar symptoms of hard starting. Recently had to replace mine ( for the second time!!!) as the magnets became de-laminated but before it totally failed it occasionally was hard to start. Watch this: Sounds like my HRC is made of cheese but to be fair it's done 70k in all weathers!
Thanks for nothin', Slick. I couldn't listen to that friggin' dropkick for the full video! Bloody hell, I wouldn't want him reading the BBC news - or even ITV commercials for that matter. Fair point about the starter motor though, but NO ONE should have troubles at only 25,000 KILOMETRES like that guy. Cheers!!
To me it sounds like your starter motor is running a bit slow, mine runs faster. If you have checked the battery, try focusing on checking out the starter. Should "spin" fast.
Thanks for all the replies guys. I'll go troubleshooting soon (this weekend is a bit busy, but I'll try)
Hi guys. Problem sorted. It was the starter motor after all. Had a couple of magnets loose inside, even turning the motor manually we could feel that it didn't turn freely. Thanks for the help!
Are you going to glue them back on?, ended up replacing it, cheapest place for an OEM is nutjob.ie, they are running an extra 15% off right now check em out, I recommend them!
