STARTING ISSUES / BATTERY

[flightdoc]

HI FOLKS,

I've had the following problem for quite awhile but was worse yesterday morning.
When I first start the bike in the morning or after it's been sitting for several hours after riding and I hit the starter button the bike cranks for about 5-8 seconds and sounds, at times, like a weak battery then when it does start, the clock and tripometer have reset as if I had disconnected the battery. I have nothing added to the bike that would drain the battery. I ride the bike every day.

any ideas?

thanks

[dogdoc]

WOW, it is Halloween right? Could be a corrsion on battery terminals, weak battery going dead, poor alternator not chg up battery daily even though you ride daily, short, and about 100 other ailments. Good Luck!!

[flightdoc]

Doc,

You're making me cry.

[dogdoc]

Sorry bub, I would be crying too if I was you. hard to trace something like that down. and Im sure the dealer wont know crap.

[Idaho]

If you have a voltmeter take off the seat and measure the voltage on the battery terminals, should be at or just over 12 volts. Make sure the terminals are clean and tight and see if you can find the negative lead where it ties to the frame and make sure that is tight. When you start the bike the voltage on the battery terminals should jump to about 13.6 volts if the alternator is working. In order to see if the battery is going bad with a bad cell meaure the terminal volts then turn on the key, continue to monitor the terminal voltage and hit the horn button. If the battery is going bad the terminal voltage will drop considerably due to a voltage drop inside the battery. E=IxR thing. Should aslo do the same type of voltage drop if the battery is going bad when you hit the starter due to the current draw. Hope this helps.

[flightdoc]

thanks Idaho. I'll try that out. I appreciate the tip.

[dogdoc]

Good advice IDaho, I was going to say all that but fingers got tired. I have a Sears volt meter and use it all the time on my vehicles/bikes. handy item.