| Author | Message | ||
     Levor |
Whelp I've got myself an issue. Fortunately I don't immediate suspect the stator but I'm not ruling it out. Lately (and its gotten worse) whenever I go to start the bike the cluster completely shuts off and it barely wants to crank. Rather, it cranks but not strong like it did. The starter seems like it chugs. Once its started its fine. Now as some may remember I bought a battery six or so months ago. Sadly, I'm suspecting this may be a battery issue. No matter how long I ride, whether its been on a tender, anything, it does the same thing. A few times I almost didn't think it'd start. That being said, it did this when my negative cable came loose, tightened it and all was well. Unfrotunately, both cables seem to be tight. Stator seems to charge well, 14.4 at first start, manages 14.1 if its cool out, generally hangs around 13.5 or more if its hot out and I'm moving. When I stop, my voltage tanks FAST. I can go from 13.8 to 11.8 sometimes before I've even put my foot on the ground. Harness failure perhaps, but if its a bad battery, would it not behave the same way, simply not having the juice to keep it up? Battery light comes on real fast too, normal I know but the rate of voltage drop seems a bit faster than I remember. I really hope it ain't the battery. They JUST dropped the warranty from 1yr to six months when I bought it. Knew I shoulda saved for a shorai! | ||
| Iamarchangel |
You're probably aware of this but… not all batteries are the same rating. It should be 200CCA, if it's not, you'll get what you've got. Try cleaning the battery connections and putting some vaseline on the threads before tightening up. Mine lost connection yesterday and I was surprised by how little build-up caused that. | ||
| Dannybuell |
I assume you have the harness and it is hooked up. if so, test for harness relay failure. bypass the relay-harness fix as seen below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBYEYGJfyBw&feature =youtu.be ride it around that way and report back. p.s. I have been riding bypassed for the last 8-10,000? miles. | ||
| Levor |
True, I suppose it could be that I was sold the wrong battery from the stealership, or even that it was bad from the start but is slowly starting to show. Ill mess with it tonight, I just REALLY dread taking that damn tail section off again to pull the battery out for testing/replacement if it comes down to it. | ||
| Levor |
Finally got around to looking under the seat - I have a big connector looks like the one in that video danny linked, the harness I assume. One side is nice and yellow (the side going toward the back of the bike) and the side that runs down and under is an unhealthy looking brownish. Fried harness or is the brown normal? | ||
| Levor |
Let me rephrase, since I realize they loop around the same way. The FEMALE side is the one with the brownish looking wires. | ||
| Samg |
Levor.. Perform a load test on the battery.. Make sure it's at least 200 CCA | ||
| Levor |
Problem solved, it seems. I cleaned corrosion off before I posted originally, but apparently I didn't do a good enough job or something. I used a brass bore brush normally reserved for cleaning my shotgun, scraped up and scuffed up the terminals and cables, and she starts like new again. Guess I just needed to be a little more aggressive with the connections, they looked clean when I did it the first time around! | ||
| Uh60crewdawg |
Additionally for future problems. I had a hard starting issue as well. polish up the grounds. And im not sure who on here showed me. But they ran an additional grounding cable straight from the battery to the top mounting bolt on the starter. | ||
| Brumbear |
This really rings of a ground issue especially if it gets hot and works better check your subframe and all grounds even the relay. | ||
| Nuts4mc |
redundant ground cable go here: ( scroll down for pix): http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/290 431/674577.html?1336678989 Buy a Shorai ( Li-Ion) battery next time - works great!! http://www.shoraipower.com/ 4 hour benefit ride with Euro-bike club ( Ducs'/MG/MVs)this past wkend....103-105F in the back country - never failed to start... was hot enough to melt the glue off my left boot's sole - now I have a flip flop! |
