Starting Woes

[ratze]

LOL, i agree chief. i jes got back from one heck of a sweeet road trip.    RIDE ON.

[chief]

Wow, having sat on the side of the road in the middle of no where, I'd never, ever run with a known bad battery... well I can think of a couple of reasons that would make me do it... but not just for the joy of riding!! 

[Troll]

Just don't shut it off 'till you get back home... too heavy to push very far!

[michaelh42]

I have been delaying the purchase as I can usually start my Drifter on the first push. Sometimes I get a sound like weak power that fails to engage the starter or fuel injectors but then next push will usually start.  I have traced this back to a bad battery. Lost a least one cell.  Need to save a little money before I replace the battery. For now I still get to ride!!!

[ratze]

I got mine locally, (gell cell) 80 bucks. batteries plus, googel em ther everywhere. they ship an guarantee with no pro rate. ther num 423-282-3007. pt #x2agm 14/16-bs.  RIDE ON.

[chief]

I've bought the last 5 online.

[michaelh42]

This moring I tried to start it and no luck.... Put the charger on the batter for 1/2 hour and fired up.  Looks like only a battery.  Now need to find a local place with a sealed one. everyone keeps trying to give me a mix your own....  Will try the dealer tonight or tomorrow, dont want to order one online.

[49Reo]

How much voltage do you see when the bike is running? When running, you should see around battery voltage at idle, and increase to 14-15 volts at 3000 rpm. If the voltage does not rise, you may have regulator/rectifier  problems, or alternator output is too low. Hopefully it is just your battery.

Good luck,

Regards and such,
49Reo

[michaelh42]

Last night the bike started up great. Tried it about a dozen times without problem.  This morning it would just turn over (Ding light comes on!) The sound I thought was the started is actually the fuel injectors not opening due to low voltage.  the bike would turn over and over but not catch. I has that issue a few months ago and a good charge fixed it. I am going with replacing the battery this weekend as I dont not know how old the battery is.  Hopefully this will fix the issue. Will post later. Thanks for all the input

[ratze]

check ur ground connections. the starter motors rarely come unglued on these models.    an RIDE ON.

[greenbarn]

If it did not work, then after you charged the battery it DID work PERFECTLY NORMAL (that's what I'm hearing), that tells me you most likely have a poor battery, or perhaps a bad connection someplace.  Keep in mind a battery tester cannot always tell you 100% that you have a good battery.  Sometimes they test OK on a load tester, but will not hold a charge over night.  How old is the battery?  Having said that, it's kind of a moot issue since even brand new batteries can be bad.  However, if it's over a couple of years old, it puts more suspicion on the battery by default.

Bottom line, if you charge the battery to make it work, it's not likely it's the starter (or starter drive, or solenoid).  I say not likely because I've seen that "anything is possible". 

[michaelh42]

I took the battery to the local parts store and they load tested it. Sorry, didn't say that before.

[Troll]

How did you test the battery? A volt meter across the terminals will only measure "surface charge" You need to test the battery under load.

[michaelh42]

With all this great weather in the North East I have been riding the last few weeks. Two days ago I went to start my Drifter and It turned over then sounds like the started disengeged and spun.  I tried agian and the started did not engage just made a sound like the battery is low. charged the battery that night and all work well. The next morning the same thing happened. I pulled my battery and it tested fine.  Where should I look next? Would the solenoid be going bad? Not sure where or what to look at, any help would be great. It is 68 deg and I am sitting in my truck typing this....
Michael