I'm stranded

[casiper]

Bike was fine starting this am 10 miles away from home it died. Battery seems low but now it won't make an attemp to kick start the bike

Battery shows almost 10v

Any ideas.

[Snaggletooth]

Did the bike die while running down the road or just not starting after a stop?

 

10 V's isn't going to be enough to get the old girl to fire up. I find it takes about 11.5 minimum while cranking to get enough fire to the plugs.

 

Any indication on the dash volt meter before the problem that the bike was not charging properly?

 

You may have lost your charging system. Just guessing at this point.

 

Is it possible to get a jump on the battery to bring the volts up?

[Trader]

if you get a boost do so with a NON-RUNNING car....otherwise you could do more damage.

[casiper]

The bike seemed a bit low in voltage while on the road, just under the 12v mark.

After I got to a stop started dying. Tried starting and it was very slow at that. After trying a few times it would not even turn the starter. I have lights, radio and horn. The volt meter shows around 8.

I'm waiting fir a ride to go get the car and jump it so I'm killing a good two hours before attempting it.

Thank you for hve inputs guys.

[frankd]

It sounds like you have a weak charging system. Get a jump to get it running, and maybe even leave the cables on for a bit to give your battery a little charge ( I know that some are going to say that you can burn your regulator up if you leave the car running, but that isn't true. The regulator DOES control the voltage by shunting the excess energy, but it doesn't shunt the battery leads. It shunts the stator leads, and that will not destroy the regulator. I tested a regulator on my bench by inputting voltage across the battery leads and even with the voltage @ 18V, I still had no current flowing into the regulator. However, I could measure a triac conducting across the stator leads.)

 

Then after you get it running ride it home, but keep the RPMs up (above 3000 RPM), and turn everything you don't absolutely need off (cruise, radio, intercom) and be careful not to leave the brake lights on when you're stopped. The first gen charging system problems that I've seen have all made enough power to just barely run the bike. I've come home twice with a bad stator. I was just careful not to use any unneeded power and both times I rode over 600 miles with a weak charging sytem (both times the stator was grounded). If you think you can get away with it, you could also pull your headlight fuse for the ride home......most cops would be understanding. Another trick I've used is while you are riding, hold the clutch lever all the way OUT so that the starter interlock will NOT allow the starter to run, and then push the start button in. What this does is to shut the headlight off, and reduce the load on the charging system. Then what little power that is still coming from the charging system will mostly go to charging the battery.

 

Frank D.

[Snaggletooth]

Yep, sounds like your stator or R/R has failed. Probably well before you left this morning.

 

Running down the road, at above 2,000 rpm you should be seeing between 13.5 to 14.5 volts on the dash voltmeter, even as unreliable as it is for accuracy. Below 12.6 volts you're not even keeping the battery charged to a minimum level.

 

Without the bike charging system working properly when you stopped and dropped to idle speeds, say 900 to 1000 rpm the only power left was supplied by the battery only. Not enough left to keep you firing concidering the other drains. Head light, brake light or even the radio on.

 

So once you get it home I'd suggest a charge on the battery over night then have it load tested for it's condition. Might be time for a new one anyway.

 

Once the bike is running then use a multimeter to test the charging system at the battry posts for volt readings at idle and above 2,000 rpm.

 

If readings there are low then you need to get into checking the three wires off the stator for output.

 

Of course all cable connections as you go along.

 

Hope you get it home without any problems.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Snaggletooth

[casiper]

Very good pints guys. I'll get to it ASAP. I'm still waiting for a ride home. Will kelp you posted.

Thanks again !!!

[casiper]

I tried to jump it. At least when I hit the starter button there is a clicking noise comming from somewhere near the left side of the air box. Any ideas?

[gscbertrand]

According to the Interstate rep a full battery should show at least 12.5 volts, a dead 1 shows 11.5 or less. Good luck getting home.

[Flyinfool]

The solenoid is on the left side of the battery.

 

Clicking is usually a sign of not enough voltage present to turn over the engine causing the solenoid to click while trying to start.

 

If it is clicking and not cranking with a jump, there are only a few options left.

1. bad starter.

2. bad solenoid

3. corroded or bad connection

4. jumpers not making good contact at both ends.

 

First make sure that the jumpers have good connections to the good battery and to your bike battery. If it still clicks, move the ground jumper cable to a bolt on the engine block. If it still clicks, then hit the pos wire terminal on the starter motor with the pos jumper cable. BE VERY CAREFUL HERE, IT WILL MAKE A BIG SPARK AND THE BIKE WILL CRANK REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT IS IN GEAR OR NOT OR ANY OTHER SAFETY. If it still does not turn over call a tow truck or a friend with a trailer to get it home, You have bigger problems than you can fix on the side of the road.

 

We can still help you fix it, it is just better done at home and may take a while to properly diagnose.

[casiper]

I left the bike for now and hoping to be able to get it back home tomorrow. As soon as I get it back we'll start testing.

 

Thank you all for your time!

[frankd]

It probably is too late, but I think that I'd have brought the battery home and charged it all night. Then tomorrow you can just install it and ride back home and fix it.

[casiper]

So. I had the battery charged overnight at a solid 12.6v I went to check the starter and it worked when jumped from the battery. Still don't get nothing if I try the start button with clutch in, kick stand up or down. I looked at the start button inside and didn't see anything that could be obvious, there's 4 contacts there. How I can test that so I know that when I push it it is sending current?

I think that there's no way to test charging unit until I gigureout what it's preventing it from cranking. The starter solenoid is two weeks new but I took it out today, how do I test it?

 

If you guys have a tech article with steps can you post the link please.

 

I'm hoping to have the bike home tomorrow afternoon so I can start running test.

 

Thank you all!

[Trader]

Might be a dumb question....but did you make sure you were in neutral?

[dacheedah]

another dumb question, safety is off

[casiper]

Yes. I always like to start it on neutral and the safety was off. I know the starter is fine so what's the next stop after that?

[dacheedah]

You were charging your battery, did it start with it refreshed?? If it did were back to lookin at the charging system. If it only clicks with a fresh battery, try a jumper pack and if it only clicks then we have other issues to run down.

[Flyinfool]

Did you have the battery load tested while it was charged and out of the bike?

A junk battery can show 12.6 volts with no load but will drop way down with a starter load.

 

Since the starter will crank when you jumper direct from the battery, just turn the key on and jumper from the battery direct to the starter and it should start. That will at least get you home with it.

If this does get it started, that really narrows down the possible problems.

[casiper]

I forgot to mention that the battery was new since August last year. Not even 1000 miles on it. I remember since I've owned it, the bike will always turn like twice every second for about 3-5 seconds then would start. It was late to take the battery to my mechanic and load tested after I got it fully charged. That day when I tried to jump it with my wife's car it did not start either, just clicking. As soon as I get the bike back home I'll try to jump it directly to the starter and see

[motorcycle_1300]

Get that old battery out of the mix, remove it completely , if you are only getting 10 volts it probably has a shorted cell. use a good battery any car or motorcycle battery connected to the battery cables If you have to extend the wires these should be at least the same gauge as the ones on the bike. try starting. if it cranks but does not start look for fuel or ignition issues. if it starts what is the charging voltage when you are reving at 2k or more. should be 13 or more volts. if not look to the charging system. if that appears good shut things down check voltage should settle out at about 12.7 after ten to fifteen min. let it sit overnight, it should still be 12.7 if it drops overnight something is sucking juice out of the battery, anything left on?

 

it is possible to have the solenoid click on or chatter and still not have enough juice to start.

if you jump a car with another using jumper cables a lot of the juice from the good battery is going into the old battery and you have to wait a while before you can jump start it. the same is true with a bike, but to a lesser extent on bikes due to the smaller batteries. I would still get the old battery out of the mix as soon as possible.

 

 

hard to trouble shoot things like this remotely but if you keep looking something will eventually show up as the culprit.

 

Al

[casiper]

Good info thank you. I'll do all that as soon as I get it back home.

[dacheedah]

Never trust a battery on voltage alone, load test that bad boy

[MikeWa]

A twelve volt battery should be 12.6 to 13.2 volts depending on the battery type. Either is 90% discharged at 12 volt static, unloaded, reading. (requires an accurate meter).

 

Mike

[casiper]

I got the bike home finally but won't be able to do much until the end of next week. Today all I did was to remove the side panel to look around and also to see if I was getting the same voltage at the starter solenoid from the battery. The ignition key was on the on position same as kill switch. I was getting 12.7v.

Now, I tried to measure voltage out of the solenoid plug,but I didn't get any. Do I suppost to get any or not?. Also every time I turned the key to "ON" I could hear a click, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't from the solenoid.

 

The battery will get load tested next wednesday.

[casiper]

Gentlement. I have some time tomorrow for troubleshooting so what should I start?

The battery tested good for voltage and load. Still no crank from start button.