Let me set the scene: my bike has been on the fritz. The battery has been dying once a week, and I'll charge it overnight. The other day I came to my bike, cranked it, turns over a time or two, battery dies (lights still on, no crank). Crap. I bump start it. Drive around for a while, stop to grab some food, hop back on, starts right up. Go to run another errand. Come back to my bike, nothing. No crank, no indicator lights, no gauges, no headlight, nothing. Bump start.
Now this is where the strangeness comes in. I get the bike running, but all the lights are flickering and I can't get the revs past 4k under load, and it sounds awful. I limp about a mile home at 10 mph, because that's as fast as I can go.
I hook up the trickle charger overnight. Go to start it, turn the key...and no indicators, no gauges, headlight came on for a split second, no crank at all, not even a whimper.
My clutch has also been sticking on start up. So I guess my question is...Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone had a bad charging system and a sticky clutch? Is my battery totally shot?
Thanks, Graham
Quote from: gsatterw on October 08, 2012, 12:45:41 PM
Let me set the scene: my bike has been on the fritz. The battery has been dying once a week, and I'll charge it overnight. The other day I came to my bike, cranked it, turns over a time or two, battery dies (lights still on, no crank). Crap. I bump start it. Drive around for a while, stop to grab some food, hop back on, starts right up. Go to run another errand. Come back to my bike, nothing. No crank, no indicator lights, no gauges, no headlight, nothing. Bump start.
I hook up the trickle charger overnight. Go to start it, turn the key...and no indicators, no gauges, headlight came on for a split second, no crank at all, not even a whimper.
I think you answered your question.
Do you really think you do NOT need a NEW BATTERY?
(I bet a beer you don't have a volt meter.)
I am puzzled as to what you are needing to know.
Quote from: adidasguy on October 08, 2012, 12:53:50 PM
I think you answered your question.
Do you really think you do NOT need a NEW BATTERY?
(I bet a beer you don't have a volt meter.)
I am puzzled as to what you are needing to know.
I'm just super pissed because I bought this battery in March. And I do have a volt meter...or wait, I think that got stolen too...
I went ahead and ordered a Shorai 14 AH
I was mostly curious as to how my 6 month old battery is shot and isn't recharging.
Test with volt meter to see what's coming from the voltage regulator. If that's going out (defective battery could damage a regulator) I have a box of them. Full rev should never get near 15v. About 14.5 is good. At least 13.5 when running 2k RPM or higher.
However, if charging overnight and nothing happens then it is a bad battery.
Old one a Wallymart?
I love the Shorai's. Bluesmudge has one now.
The newest of my fixers - Quin - has sat for 3 or 4 weeks. Decided to start him to see how he was doing. WOW! Instant start. Weeks outside with no charger on it.
Here is the battery I that died.
http://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYT10L-A2.html
Should I get (try to get) my $$$ back?
If within warranty - YES!
Interesting: BatteryStuff says the LiFx14 is discontinued and there ts a 12 and an 18. Shorai still shows the 14.
12 is better than stock. The LiFx18 should be awesome!
Even saw now a 6v version. I'll have to see if that fits in my TS185.
I do suggest checking your charging system with a meter. Possible you have a bad regulator that did a bad over voltage to the battery. Generally if you over voltage the system, lights start blowing out.
There is the possibility of a loose connection somewhere. If it is at the battery, a new one will probably fix it.
Really though, thorough troubleshooting should be done before throwing money at it. Oh, you bought a Shorai... already did throw money at it.
adidasguy, didn't you have an issue with a bolt coming out of a stator on one of your bikes, poor charging, sticky clutch?
and yea, I will never worry about my battery again...after I check out the charging system.
Sticky clutch when starting: Only if in gear.
Bolt: It is the starter gear and magneto connected together. When the bolt holding them came loose, they spun. There were other issues, but the bolt coming loose caused the starter to just spin. Very rare for that to ever come loose.
As an interesting side note, the direction the starter gear turns is the direction to unscrew the bolt. I suppose given enough starting with the engine exerting lots of resistance due to in gear and a sticky clutch, bit by bit that bolt maybe could come loose. Now I always try to be in neutral when starting while the engine is cold. Maybe that could be the cause of "goats"? The rotor bolt coming loose and the magneto spinning off center and the magnets hitting the stator.
Since you've been using a charger, then the bile still won't start I think that rules out your charging system. A volt meter will help diagnose things but all symptoms point to bad battery.
Ok. Is it worth it to brake into my clutch and clean the plates? This lurching thing is getting old.
For me it made a world of difference.
Drain oil.
Take off timing rotor
Take off side cover (remember 2 bolts in the timing rotor area)
Take off clutch top (what, 5 or 6 bolts?)
Take out set of clutch plates
Clean each one in kerosene - clutch plates and metal spacers - and wipe off
Dip in clean fresh oil
reassemble and put fresh oil in the bike
(Note torque settings and do not over tighten the side cover bolts)
Could be done easily in an hour.
Before, in gear and clutch in it was really hard to get the rear wheel moving. Plates were sticking together due to build up of old gunk. Also was hard to roll the bike at first when in gear with clutch pulled in.
Now all that is easy. as a precaution, I'm getting in the habit of going into neutral when starting.
Shifting is a lot smoother, too.
Back in the day our plates stuck due to additives in auto oil.Now days I'm not sure if thats still true,I never start my bikes in gear and I use auto oil.
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Quote from: adidasguy on October 09, 2012, 10:12:06 AM
Drain oil.
Take off timing rotor
Take off side cover (remember 2 bolts in the timing rotor area)
Take off clutch top (what, 5 or 6 bolts?)
So all this is on the right side of the bike (while sitting on it)? And should I check my stator bolt (left side?)?
No reason to check stator (i.e. magneto/starter gear) bolt. So rare for it to ever come loose. However, if you want to just to know it is OK, then by all means do it. Good experience to at least open up the left side and take a lookie. Watch to be sure the starter idle gear and pin are in place when you put things back on.
The magneto bolt has really high torque. If things were loose, you probably would be having problems with the starter slipping. On a scrap engine (Juniors bottom end where the bearing went out) I started to take things off for spare parts. So taking off the magneto/starter gear: Got bolt off with work. Then the thing is pressed on the cone shape shaft with so much force it was near impossible to get it off. Finally did. There are 3 different ways whether you read the Haynes, Clymer or Suzuki manuals. I used the Haynes method: Stick in a 36mm spacer (made by cutting a bolt) and screwing in the larger bolt (used swing arm bolt) and eventually that sucker came off. Now I have a spare magnet thingy!
When you pull off the left cover, go straight out. Release the cables from the clip which is on the top under the clutch cover (which comes off first). The magnets will be holding things on.
And yes - clutch basket is the right side. No need to remove the whole thing. Just the top of the clutch to take the plates out. People say to keep them in the same order and same side because they've worn into each other that way.
Thanks adidasguy! you are hero