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10-07-2003, 06:03pm

the sort of fishing that i'm doing these days, i'm sure everyone of you would enjoy...

10-07-2003, 08:06pm

Fair call Peter. I'm glad at times I commute 160 (ish) Klms a day to work and back. (Cross country Vic) BBRRrrrrr.....
I love riding the bike all year round. Even this morning when my nuts froze to the tank. At least the heated hand grips worked. (Yeah I know. Pussy!)
Never had a flat battery on either Busa.
I've heard there's a few bites to be had at the moment. Might drop a line.
Cheers, Phil. Riding not talking.

11-07-2003, 09:52am

Are electrical gremlins contagious? This morning, the engine nearly wouldn't turn over, and as it did, my clock reset!!!!

Shit, if this happens a couple of more times, I may be giving you a call, Peter...

11-07-2003, 02:07pm

>If it went and came back, it cant be the battery

Cough! Splutter!!! (that's me, not the bike)

When I had my battery replaced, I'd ridden to Procycles, so the engine's hot. The mechanic tries to start the engine and, well, don't you know it - it won't start. Half a turn of the engine, the lights dim, the dashboard does its funky little dance...

5 minutes later, fresh battery, zero drama. One touch of the starter button was all it took. It's been a week on the new battery without any sort of hassle.

Possible explanation : warped plate or similar problem with the batter, so it provides most, but not all, of its quoted cranking amps. Higher compression when the engine's hot (due to the pistons nestling snugly against the rings etc) requires more effort (more amps) to turn over than when cold. Result : starts OK when the engine's cold, but not when hot.

Somebody interrupt if I'm making a fool of myself here...

11-07-2003, 04:32pm

Funny, my lawn mower has the opposite problem. When it gets hot it loses all compression and wont start.
BTW . . . anyone want to buy a '99 busa goin' real cheap with all the bugs ironed out???? (fastest colour) JUST ASKIN?

11-07-2003, 05:05pm

My bike packed up a week after buying it, so I think the previous owner might have got fed up with it. After a hot day and some traffic, my bike wouldn't start after cutting out. Lights came on, but I couldn't hear the ECU under the seat making that noise it does before you start the bike. The clock window just had dashes in it.

The fault, I'm told, (the well known bike shop I was using at the time are inept and liars, so who knows), was some insulation melting off a main wiring loom wire, where it was lodged up against a bolt on the frame, which gets bloody hot in traffic.

It was tiny apparently, and took them a week to put right. They said the bike would start if they moved the loom, so they knew the problem was with it shorting out on the frame.
Haven't had a problem since. If they're telling the truth, then keep your wiring loom off the frame. Ahhhh, the lying shits. Buggered up my wheel too.

11-07-2003, 06:24pm

Hey Ward - you use an iron to remove the bug splatters??

14-07-2003, 04:04pm

Richard said;
Quote:Are electrical gremlins contagious? This morning, the engine nearly wouldn't turn over, and as it did, my clock reset!!!!

Must be Richard, went to start my bike yesterday morning and whoops same thing, didnt kick over, clock reset to 1;00. Now thats a first, my bike is now 4yrs 2mths old so it looks like its battery time. Not bad for 4 yrs I guess. Bike did start after a few tries, morning was pretty cold. Brand of battery guys? Stick with the OEM? lasted a while no?

14-07-2003, 04:24pm

Volvi,i'de go with a yuasha battery,cause they seem to last.You can get taiwanese batteries a bit cheaper but they dont seem to last as long, stick with the japanese made ones!

15-07-2003, 02:02am

Okay, let me clarify something for the electrically stupid ones here....

Original posting went something like this....

Bike started fine.... pulled over somewhere... tried to start it soon after, but no power at all.... no cranking, no guages, clock reset. Little later, all power back and bike was okay.

This is NOT the battery.

Other postings...

Bike won't crank properly (but tries), guages do their start-up pre-checks, clock resets.

This is a flat battery.

BIG (actually HUGE) difference.

The first is an electrical gremlin problem. Comes and goes. One minute, all is fine, next there is absolutely no power at all, then all is okay again as if there was never any problem. Usually a faulty earth or loose battery connections. The battery contains sufficient charge but it's not getting to the bike's power circuit (if unsure, run a voltmeter across the terminals. If reading around 11-13volts, your battery is fine and your bike is the problem). If the problem won't rectify itself, it's a sure bet you've blown a fuse.

The second is caused by not enough power in the battery. The bike is trying to start, but it can't. Either an old or faulty battery or a poor charging system. Either way, your battery is drained and you'll require a jump start.

If you still don't understand, stick your finger in an electical outlet and give me a break. This way you may understand a thing or two about electricity and how it works. If you guys (very select few) listened to yourselves, instead of quoting and trying to hammer someones advice, you'd realise that half the time you sound like a pack of idiots.

my 2c
Peter Altas
BUSA-1

15-07-2003, 12:59pm

Peter, the original post actually went exactly like this...

"Then tried to start the bike and virtually nothing. tried unsuccessfully 3 or 4 times but then knew it was a lost cause."

'Virtually nothing' is quite a bit different from 'no power at all.... no cranking, no guages, clock reset'.

And in most cases you'd be right, but in this instance you're flat out wrong when you state "Either way, your battery is drained and you'll require a jump start." Each time this happened to me - about half a dozen in total - after leaving the bike to cool down for about an hour it would start with no problems.

Telling people they sound like a pack of idiots rarely helps get your point across.

15-07-2003, 01:46pm

Cmon guys, we can easily make 4 pages of this!

I thought the "battery" was for ballast. Thats why its central in the bike and is full of lead. Even when its flat it still weighs the same so there should be no problem.

15-07-2003, 02:22pm

Fair enough.

But I can't see how a warm engine would be harder to start than a cold one. Most engine wear occurs when cold due to the lack of lubrication and excessive friction... true?

When at operating temp, everything is working the way it was designed. There is adequate lubrication and clearances would be right, and wouldn't require as much effort to turn the motor. And a crank of the starter is a crank. It can only take so much power. If you were cranking repeatedly, then I can understand, but... ????

Or are you referring to a hot engine??? ie. overheated. Then you will have problems, with excessive expansion, oil deterioration, etc. but not with one at operating temp.

And what some of you are describing with the starter trying to start (weakly) and the guages resetting/restarting is due to insufficient charge in the battery, therefore you changing the battery with a full one would be an obvious solution (but possibly only a temporary one). This doesn't automatically mean that your battery is stuffed, so what was your point????

However there are a few causes of a battery losing it's charge (not starting for you in the morning) and I'm just trying to identify them for people that "it seems" just blame the battery, or any other single cause. Your riding habits, the charging system, the battery temperature, dropping a spanner across the terminals, excessive power drain (too many add-ons), fluid levels in an unsealed battery, using it to power your television, etc. are all possibilities.

If you were riding, then pulled over for 20 minutes, and it failed soon after (weak or completely flat), but then 20 minutes later, it was working again fine, it is not your battery. Think about it. Do you think a battery can recharge itself while you go and have a coffee ?? So it has to be something else within your bikes electrical system.

I think for future posts, all the relevant information needs to be supplied (accurately) if someone is having problems, or at least supply some popcorn for everyone.
Peter Altas
BUSA-1

15-07-2003, 03:14pm

OK, lets see.

First time it happened, I jump started it from a mates car, with the negative clamp on the footpeg. If it was caused by a wiring short, pumping more amps in shouldn't have helped.

The battery was in and out of the bike a few times - give it a charge, check the fluid levels (OK, I was surprised to find it's sealed ), clean the terminals, and generally poke about while scratching my head. The chances of putting it back together every time with poor or dirty contacts are pretty small.

Start the bike from cold (no drama), and ride to Procycles to change the battery. Arrived at Procycles, the engine was warm/hot/at operating temperature, and it wouldn't turn over on the old battery. Put in the fresh battery and it fired up.

Procycles tested the bike's charging system, and it's pushing out 14v @ 4000rpm, so it's fine.

So we're only dealing with two variables - engine temperature (hot or cold), and battery (old or new).

The old battery would start a cold engine, but not a hot one.

The new battery willl start the engine regardless of the temperature.

That's what leaves me thinking it's the battery. I can't provide a guaranteed 100% definite explanation of why, but I've given it my best shot in a previous post. I'd love to see some other theories that account for both the variables. One thing I haven't accounted for here is a poor earth - but could that be temperature dependent?

Oh yeah, Procycles charged the old battery overnight, load-tested it in the morning, and said it failed.

15-07-2003, 04:50pm

It's your chain...

Hope it's solved. Bike not going is the world's number one evil.

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