oldgoat Posted March 17, 2011 #1 Posted March 17, 2011 today i took the bike out for a warm up ride. i let it warm up its running rough. must have had the winter blues? anyways i just drove up the block to an old abandon grocery store and drove around the parking lot. huge lot. i rode around for about an hour. just getting the feel of the bike again and with this knee brace on the left leg. well i stopped the bike. got off and went around back to take care of some personal buisness. went and tried to start the bike. starter turned over slow like a bad battery? battery showed it was low on the green down below 12? well i went oh crap. my car is just down the road a block. i will go and get the battery booster out of the storage shed. then i thought well i drink my gatoraide before i slow walk down there. well after about 15 minutes i said let me try it again. turned on the switch. hit the starter button and vroom it started. but im hearing a strange noise? not sure if its the starter or the water pump? a whirrrrrrrrrrr noise? thought the starter button was stuck. but recalled i replaced the whole throttle and starter button with a nice working one. just before i put the bike up for storage. oh i bought a new battery just before i out it away too. and will need to do the sensor mod. have to figure out how to do that after installing skydocs fuse panel. anyways what could it be?
Yammer Dan Posted March 17, 2011 #2 Posted March 17, 2011 Clean all the connections in the starting system and it may last you a while longer. Battery cables are not heavy enough to carry juice and ground cable provides poor ground. Lot of threads on this. Best fix is heavier cables. Somebody around here still makes them I think. Those will end the slow starts. Other helps are take starter apart and give it good cleaning and add a ground to the brush plate. Or buy a glass matt battery. More CCAs and will crank it better. Got you confused yet???
bongobobny Posted March 17, 2011 #3 Posted March 17, 2011 Yah! Hard starting hot is a common 1st gen issue, usually the fault of the inadequate battery cables, but not the sole problem. Do an upgrade on the bgattery cables to heavier gauge first, and pay attention to the cleanliness of all the connections of the battery cables, ground connections of the cables, and starter solenoid and starter motor. The second thing to consider is upgrading to a stronger battery, or, switch to a 4 brush starter. The real issue is pretty much strictly in the starter motor circuit with loss across contacts and cables as well as less efficient 2 brush starter mothr. The Vmax and 2nd gen starters are all 4 brush and are a direct bolt on...
bongobobny Posted March 17, 2011 #4 Posted March 17, 2011 PS wirring may have been your cooling fan???
oldgoat Posted March 17, 2011 Author #5 Posted March 17, 2011 ok thanks everyone the battery is a glass mat . after getting my poor old body down low enough to look up at the starter. the cable has green crap on it. looks like cleaning is in order? i think its time to do some serious cleaning of things connectors and so forth. it could be that the battery is not fully charged. it was on a tender. but found out the storage place blew a transformer about a month ago. and they where with out power for like 3 days. i think my battery tender and circuit breaker was shut off to my unit? i have plenty of time to do little things to the bike as i am not fully recoverd enough to realy take the bike out. i just did some parking lot driving.
eusa1 Posted March 17, 2011 #6 Posted March 17, 2011 i think skydoc has the heavier battery cables that you need also
Marcarl Posted March 17, 2011 #7 Posted March 17, 2011 Also check to make sure there is s ground cable from the engine to the frame. And while you're at the starter, take it off and give it a little service. Need help with that just ask.
Venturous Randy Posted March 17, 2011 #8 Posted March 17, 2011 Ok, did I hear somewhere that a gel or AGM battery is not supposed to be charged with a battery tender? RandyA
Freebird Posted March 17, 2011 #9 Posted March 17, 2011 They can't be properly charged with a battery tender but they can certainly be maintained with one. There is some misinformation out there about this issue but the fact is, they can be maintained with a regular battery tender.
kj5ix Posted March 17, 2011 #10 Posted March 17, 2011 Look at the connector ends at the battery also to see if there is any corrosion inside the connector. If the wires on the inside are getting green it doesn't matter if the out side is good and shinny. I had that happen once took for ever to figure it out. Good current and start great cold, but hot drug like a dead battery. I re-crimped the end with a large pair of vice grips, after cleaning it with baking soda. It was good until I sold it 3 years later.....
Yammer Dan Posted March 19, 2011 #11 Posted March 19, 2011 Ok, did I hear somewhere that a gel or AGM battery is not supposed to be charged with a battery tender? RandyA I was wondering about that. My charger has a setting for wet dry or gel and a automatic float charger. Guess I should be good to go. I put the AGM I got from Earl on it when I took it out of the box and it checked at little over 13 volts can't remember what exactly. Charged it for a while and it checked almost 14.
oldgoat Posted March 19, 2011 Author #12 Posted March 19, 2011 ok well i didnt wreck the battery thank god. went up did some cleaning. pulled the false tank cover. pulled the battery. cleaned the battery box. cleaned the cable ends. got down on the floor. used some baking soda and got up there with tooth brush and cleaned by the starter. looked for the ground strap to the engine? ok is someone pulling my leg? i just cant seem to find where the neg. cable goes? i put it all back together. went for a half hour ride. if i get caught doing this my sister will kill me. not supposed to be on the bike till docotor says i can in or around may? i do have some balance issue. but hey i do have my good days. and i used my leg braces. any ways the bike has been starting fair after warm up/ not sure i solved the problem? ok not sure if some pepole do this or not but i use vasoline on the ends to the battery. i have done this to many bikes i have owned and it seems to help with preventing corrosion? also have them red and black felt type things that the bolt goes thru.. ok so now may i ask another question. what type of anti freeze to use my over flow is empty. and whats proper mixture? i had it drained and filled when i had the brakes and the exhaust fixed. some how that mechanic. didnt check the over fill. or im guessing he didnt do the drain and fill and charged me for it? now when some extra $$$ comes in i will contact skydoc17 about the cable update. a guy down the road said he has 2 vmax starters for sale $80 a piece. came off of some 90,s? not sure if vmax starters will work? im thinking new brushes and do dingy,s ground update. and cables and should be good to go. also need a carb sync .
Rocket Posted March 19, 2011 #13 Posted March 19, 2011 what type of anti freeze to use my over flow is empty. and whats proper mixture? i had it drained and filled when i had the brakes and the exhaust fixed. some how that mechanic. didnt check the over fill. or im guessing he didnt do the drain and fill and charged me for it? now when some extra $$$ comes in i will contact skydoc17 about the cable update. a guy down the road said he has 2 vmax starters for sale $80 a piece. came off of some 90,s? not sure if vmax starters will work? im thinking new brushes and do dingy,s ground update. and cables and should be good to go. also need a carb sync . Normally the green stuff at a 50/50 mixture, but look to see what colour was put in first. As you do not want to mix Dex cool & the green stuff. You can get the antifreeze as a premix or regular & mix it yourself. 1985 - 2007 Vmax 1200 starters will bolt right up.
bongobobny Posted March 19, 2011 #14 Posted March 19, 2011 As long as the brand is compatible with aluminum, it doesn't matter. That is the important thing, it MUST BE compatible with aluminum...
Dano Posted March 19, 2011 #15 Posted March 19, 2011 Negative battery cable is located on the right front of the motor above the water pump right next to the frame.
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