Do you think the HD dealer would allow me much on 2 Ventures

[YamaDuck]

I doubt it, Since one is Green and they would feel guilty trading two Ventures for just one HD. Tell em you'll take a Road Glide for one bike, they choose the color and 2K. Sounds Fair to me!

 

But have one of them counterfeit checking pens with you, you NEVER know where their money has come from!

We had a charity ride a few weeks ago and on the way home from that event is when the MM battery died. We started at a HD dealer and I was hoping a HD salesman who ask if I wanted to trade I was all prepared to say okay I'll take that one there but your going to have to throw in some cash. But no one asked me.

[YamaDuck]

This sounds like a battery with a weak/bad cell. After Charging it, check the voltage,then let it sit for 24 hours then check the standing voltage again on the battery. If the voltage on the battery after 24 hours is less than 12.5, its weak.

 

What brand of battery? A properly serviced, fully charged new Yuasa MF battery for these bikes will have a standing voltage of 12.7-13.0 volts 24 hours after charging is complete. Mine is never below 12.6 even after sitting 30 days, but I have an RSTD so no draw from the radio memory, etc.

 

I haven't read your other threads, but simply checking the stator by ohming it out is not sufficient. If you haven't already, you also need to check the stator out put voltage (its AC) on each leg.

 

The battery seems to be the consistent link here. Problem with MF batteries (no really MF stands for Maintenance Free, its a family site!) is you can't check specific gravity of the cells which will identify the bad cell in hurry.

 

Does the bike have extra lights, accessories, non-factory wiring? If yes and youdidn't install it or know the integrity/quality of the install, perhaps revisit these areas for chafed/loose connections.

 

Yes this is the procedure I am going to follow. First without anything connected and then with then post connected and finally with the extras connected. All the extras are LED lights. It is an "Extreme" battery I believe and is a maintenance free battery sold by Advance Auto Stores.

Edited June 15, 2014 by YamaDuck

[YamaDuck]

Get yourself a good DEKA AGM type battery, Earl, Skydoc_17 sells them at a good price delivered to your door...

 

One of my batteries came from someone on the site. It may have been Earl I'm not sure.

[YamaDuck]

Had a battery that kept discharging and it checked ok at the battery shop, one day I took it to another shop and told then what was going on. when the guy put the load on it it read good but he said I'll leave it a little longer and about 30 sec later the battery started showing bad. bad cell in battery. this battery was only 3 months old and failed. just bought a new battery from the shop the found the problem. Yes I hate battery/electrical problems

 

I will order a battery from Earl and for the fun of it just have the battery tested again and ask them to leave it on there a little longer just to see what happens.

[YamaDuck]

You said you were just joking about getting a Harley and I know very little about electrical, but I will tell you my experience with trying to trade my Venture in. I did find a nice used Road Glide at a local shop. I decided it was time for me to trade my problematic Venture in. Well the sales guy pretty much told me that because it wasn't a Harley, they didn't want it in their showroom. I proceeded to laugh and just walk out. As I am walking out he asked if I was still interested. I just laughed harder and kept walking out the door without saying another word.

 

Then recently I went to another dealer and decided I was walking out with a new Road King. Well when I asked about my trade. When they saw it was a Yamaha, they also told me they did not want it. I asked why they would not even offer anything to someone ready to walk out the door on a new $20K bike. When he told me because it was not a Harley, I once again started laughing and walked out.

 

This is why I will be getting my Suzuki Vstrom in the next couple weeks. They have no problem taking my trade.

I have not visited very many (if any) HD dealers that did not have the Holier than Thou attitude. I have a couple of friends that wanted an up to date touring bike so that automatically eliminated the Venture. They bought HD's and kept their Yamaha's and it may well be for the very reasons you mentioned.

[YamaDuck]

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

 

Thanks for all the GREAT help and suggestions (and comments). All the information is of great help in trying to figure out this problem.

 

[RSTDdog]

Even if an HD dealer takes your trade, you are not likely to get real money for it. It will be mostly "paper" money. They will want your bike cheap or free and would just inflate the selling price and accessories to reflect a "value" for your bike(s). Good luck finding an HD dealer to sell you a bike at HD MSRP even. You would be better off selling both for cash.

 

I called a Multi-line dealer (Honda, Yamaha, Triumph, BMW) inquiring about a used ST1300 ABS they had and to get an idea of a trade on my 2006 RSTD. He was beating me up because I do my own service and don't have "records", blah blah. Bottom line he was offering less than rough book for my RSTD Midnight (around 3800). At the time the lowest book value I could find was around 5000 and RSTD's my year and mileage could be had on craiglsist for between 5-6000.

 

Anyway you get the idea. Even if you sell the bikes yourself cheap you will be money ahead unless you just don't want the hassle.

[YamaDuck]

Alright here is why I thought it was testing good because when you first crank it up all the numbers are good. 14.02 volts at idle and 13.98 revved.

 

I took the other battery out and put it back in the 2001. Same reading whoever I let it warm up. At some point when I checked it had dropped to 12.25 volts. So I thought I would just watch it. It mostly stayed around the 12.25 volts but would fluctuate a little then you would get a hit around 13.13 volts then back down to 12.5 the up to 12.75 then back down below 12.5 the a hit over 13 volts then back down to around 12.25. It is all over the place but mostly down around 12.25 when it after it warms up.

 

So R/R or stator? Since I have a new R/R (aftermarket) I will try it and do the test again tomorrow.

[bongobobny]

Flip a coin on that one! It may be the stator that has some kind of insulation issue when warmed up...

[Flyinfool]

Since you have a spare RR I would start there. It is easy enough to plug in for testing. The stator is much more difficult swap out.

 

You can also do the voltage output test on the stator once the bike is warmed up to where the voltage has dropped. That is an easy test that will confirm if the stator is still putting out during a warmed up voltage drop.

 

If it is a heat issue on the RR, you can test for that by warming the bike up till the voltage drops and then run water from the garden hose onto the RR to cool it down and see if that brings the voltage back. In my case I would have to do this test very carefully so as not to accidentally make a clean spot on the bike....

[djh3]

When I first got the RSV it was still under warranty. Closest dealer is over 40 miles away, so I knew I was going to do my own oil changes etc. I did the same on my Vulcan. I buy the oil, scan the receipt into a file folder. When I change oil I take a pic of the dash with my phone camera (its usually handy close by) and turn date on and take pic of dash with milage. that way its recorded.

[YamaDuck]

I slow charged the battery in question yesterday. I tested the battery as soon as I took it off the charger. At 4:30pm it measured 13.71 volts. 2 hours later it measured 13.29 volts, 2 hours later (now 8:30 pm) it measured 13.25 volts and now 15 hours later it measures 13.21 volts. This is with the battery completely out of the bike sitting on a table.

 

I will put a new R/R on and test it again. If it passes the test hopefully I will have ID'd the problem. If a new R/R does not solve the problem then it will not be much trouble to put the old R/R back on. If it fails the test then I will start looking at and testing the stator.

[cowpuc]

In my case I would have to do this test very carefully so as not to accidentally make a clean spot on the bike....

 

+2!! Me and Fool,, we know,, ya just cant be to careful when it comes to knockin off dirt!!

YamaDuck,, this site and the members here never cease to amaze me,,, been reading this thread and you done got a good bit of great info going here!!!

Happy belated Fathers Day to you too!!

Puc

[speakerfritz]

I traded in a 2000 Honda shadow aero on a 2007 Harley Ultra and got high book on the honda.

[YamaDuck]

Thanks PUC.

 

I think I have the problem solved. The battery in question while still sitting on the table is holding the voltage pretty well. At 4:30 pm yesterday the voltage was 13.71 right after the slow charge. 4 hours latter it was at 13.25 volts. 15 hours later (this morning at 11:30 am) it was still at 13.21 volts and now at 3:30 pm (23 hours after the charge) it is at 13.20 volts.

 

I will post a picture of the R/R. I think it was the problem. Not knowing what the R/R was suppose to look like I did not know what to look for visually. This on (see picture) has a suspicious looking white spot on the back. It does not look like it was put there intentionally.

After replacing the R/R I checked the voltage. Although lower than the cold R/R from yesterday I was not starting with a fresh fully charged battery. It started out at 13.6 volts and as I revved it the voltage dropped to 13.4 volts. After several minutes of warming up I checked and it had gone up to to 13.7 volts and after revving would go down to 13.5 volts. I expect to see those numbers improve with a fully charge battery. The important thing to notice here is that the voltage did not drop and get erratic when it got warm as it was doing

last night. It was staying constant and increasing as the R/R was charging the battery.

 

When I checked the DC voltage across the stator plug I got 1 ohm on all three wires. I'm not sure if I did the AC test correctly or not as I cranked the bike and got 2 volts ac across all three of the white wires and I got 12.8 volts DC on the red and black wires.

 

So I will check the voltage at the battery by running the same test as before only with a fully charged battery. The battery that is in this bike now is the one I got from Earl a few years ago and is not the same battery that was in this bike when it broke down on me. That battery is the one above that I have bench testing.

[YamaDuck]

I traded in a 2000 Honda shadow aero on a 2007 Harley Ultra and got high book on the honda.

You did real well. That HD dealer must have needed to sell a HD to pay bills.

[cowpuc]

You did real well. That HD dealer must have needed to sell a HD to pay bills.

 

Or,,,, that Harley Dealer got high book on the Harley too so he dont have to worry about paying bills for good while...Ooooops,,, gotta stop that,, back in the dog house for ol Pucster:whistling:

[YamaDuck]

I thought all HD went for high book or high book +