Is there a doctor in the house? ......

cafemaestro

cafemaestro

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Need pointers for a 2012 TC with 38K on the clock that is becoming less willing than a teenager to get started in the morning?

SYMPTOMS:
Not every time, but frequently, when thumbing the button, the starter motor turns once or twice really sluggishly and then cranks ok. Can't detect a pattern- happens to a warm bike as often as to a bike not started for a few days. Equally, sometimes it just fires immediately. A couple of times there has been absolutely nothing when pressing the starter button (lights all ok). Leave it for 10 mins or so and it fires first time.

SELF-DIAGNOSIS 1:Battery is dying - I don't have a tester so cannot check the current from the battery. Is there another indicator I can use to see if it's a battery issue? (There is always power but dipped light is HID and sometimes don't illuminate first time - restarting the motor sorts this)
SELF-DIAGNOSIS 2: Dirty/knackered starter motor? Short of dismantling it is there any other way to test this?

Any other DIAGNOSIS?


Thanks in advance
 
Check all the connections to the Starter and to the frame.

Hook a fully charged car battery in parallel (using jump leads) to your battery on the bike (also fully charged).

See if it cranks over any better.

If so - it's your bike battery
If not - it's the starter

Would be my plan of attack
 
Wire up a cheap voltmeter. If volts drop alarmingly when starter connects you have a worn battery. If volts don't drop very much, the starter is weak.

The starter is easy enough to clean out so have a look and fit new brushes.
 
Dozy batteries do cause all manner of problems on these bikes.
How old is the battery?
Starter shouldn't be KO'd at that mileage.
Get yersen a cheap multi-meter, very useful they are.
 
Mine was similar, now much better with a new Motobatt, though it is still sluggish to start on occasions. My theory, which other wiser heads will no doubt rubbish, is that the sluggish starting is when the engine stops just before TDC with valves closed and this will happen regardless of battery condition however a good battery will cope much better.
 
If it hasn't let you down then why worry.?

Ive done nearly 100k on mine now in 10 years. Sometimes she starts on the button, sometimes it takes 2 - 3 attempts.
Got very sluggish at 77k so I cleaned the starter.
Then the bitch wouldn't start, so I bought a new battery.

All good, same old same old now.

Lived outside all its life too.
 
Greenman14 said:
Mine was similar, now much better with a new Motobatt, though it is still sluggish to start on occasions. My theory, which other wiser heads will no doubt rubbish, is that the sluggish starting is when the engine stops just before TDC with valves closed and this will happen regardless of battery condition however a good battery will cope much better.
Click to expand...

Getting a piston over compression is what you are trying to say ;)
 
Greenman14 said:
Mine was similar, now much better with a new Motobatt, though it is still sluggish to start on occasions. My theory, which other wiser heads will no doubt rubbish, is that the sluggish starting is when the engine stops just before TDC with valves closed and this will happen regardless of battery condition however a good battery will cope much better.
Click to expand...

That should be the one of the easier sections due to the crankpin travel for the small linear piston motion, even though the valves are closed.

Compression stroke around the mid-stroke should be most arduous,.

Al
 
My starter got lazy especially when hot. It didn't improve with jump leads but still did the job, though hot starts became a struggle.

A fuel pump problem finally killed it - the extra load on weak (but already hot) windings was too much. Reconditioned starter and problem solved.

The lithium starter battery (230CCA) is slightly lazy for the first turn but then swings the engine easily. Switch off, try again and it's much quicker on the 2nd attempt.
 
Thanks to all for the advice - will get a multimeter onto the battery and check that. I agree with Flatdog that one shouldn't worry about the what ifs. I just want to know where to look in case of future failure.

I share Greenman's suspicions that the position of the crank and compression may be a factor given the variability of the problem. That said you would expect the battery/starter to have enough power to overcome it.

Ta
 
If you are a competent spanner user, you can strip, clean and rebuild the starter motor in about an hour. Search for the threads on how to do it, its easy. Whilst in there, grease the epicyclic gears.
 
Pukmeister said:
If you are a competent spanner user, you can strip, clean and rebuild the starter motor in about an hour. Search for the threads on how to do it, its easy. Whilst in there, grease the epicyclic gears.
Click to expand...

+1 for lubing the gears and cleaning the starter motor. Easy job and worth doing even if you do replace the battery.
 
Almost certainly a tired battery.
Try jumping it from a car.
 
Try testing the negative battery to earth point.

Clip jump lead to battery negative and clip the other end to bare metal on the engine. Starter motor bottom bolt does the job. If the starter spins faster you'll need to look at the main earth pint on top of the engine by the alternator. Corrosion there will affect starter performance.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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