| Author | Message | ||
     Jc000 |
My bike has been problematic starting. I thought it was just a weak battery, but I have put it on a trickle charger twice in the past month and both times there is little improvement. The bike is a 2002 M2L which had only 400 miles on it when I bought it a couple of months ago. The engine hesitates in starting. Yesterday before putting it on the charger it wouldn't start at all. Today the charger read "charged" yet the bike took a sec or so to turn over. The lights and all that seem to be fine. Any ideas? Also I have a Harley warranty. If it's the regulator or stator should that be covered? Please don't laugh... | ||
| Blake |
Could be a bad battery which will show as charged but not have enough juice to spin the engine as it should. Check the voltage after it sits overnight. If the voltage at the battery checks out okay, then check all the cable connections and grounds, including the big chassis ground strap. They need to be good and snug. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
I am with blake on the this. A 4 or 5 year old battery that has only 400 miles on it, there is a problem with leaving a battery set that long. The charger only knows voltage....it has no clue how much amperage is stored in it. Another test to try....is look at the battery voltage when you try to crank it. I bet it either goes to zero or very low. | ||
| Jc000 |
Thanks guys, will try that out... | ||
| Jc000 |
Ugh, more bad news, was cruising along in 5th gear (probably around 60 mph or so) and the bike just turns off. I coast to a stop, hit the starter and fire it right back up. I haven't had a chance yet to get the battery tested or replaced, but does that still sound like a battery issue? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Could still be a (really bad) battery. The bike will run like crap with no battery connected, so a bad battery connection or bad battery could cause what you describe. Start with the battery. | ||
| Bomber |
Jc -- the good news is that it is very likely the same bad news -- there's a couple of easy ways to check -- get the battery load tested (many auto parts chain stores will do this for free), throw a meter across it while trying to start it, or, lastly, and absolutely fool proof, pack up for a much desired three day, 500 mile ride, and leave home. When you get at least 100 miles away, in the toulies, the battery will fail utterly, completing the diagnostic effort all on it's own. seriously, batteries rarely heal themselves, and once they get sick enough to act up, you're on borrowed time, electrically speaking -- test it tonight, clean and tighten all the connections, and, if necessary, buy a new one tomorrow | ||
| Justin_case |
First thing to do is check your charging system. Start the bike and test the voltage at the battery terminals. Should be 13.5 to 14.25 volts. | ||
| Alreadyinuse |
JC000, I'd suggest you wire a $10 analog volt meter in and strap it to your dash for troubleshooting this. You can also get aftermarket volt meters. You might find it very helpful to know what voltage your bike is running at, all the time, not just at idle or reving while sitting in the driveway. Especially if it is an intermittent voltage issue, you simply won't know about it if you don't have some kind of voltage gauge on your dash. Your bike not starting could be because the charging system isn't charging the battery at the correct voltage. Your bike just dying for no reason but then starting back up again - I don't know what might cause that, but I do know that my bike has done that, although it never died long enough to stop running -- it always kept running. And, at the same time that my bike has done this, it also has a voltage regulator that has gone crazy. So maybe the voltage regulator is related to this. Maybe not. Dunno. Probably a more likely cause for your bike dying out of the blue and then starting again okay might be a loose wire somewhere, or a loose contact, specifically in the ignition switch. I say this because again, I have a messed up ignition switch on my bike... I've had it a couple of times where I turn on the ignition switch, and nothing happens, everything is dead, until I tap the switch... so that right there tells you I need a new ignition switch, or one of the connections to it is bad. I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet... I hope these suggestions help! |
