Y
Yarddog
Guest
Hey, folks...there seems to be a lot of no-start threads asking for help, so I thought I'd share what happened to me this week so that it might help someone else...talkin' about a '78 R100/7 here, BUT...that doesn't really matter...it's a general sorta deal...
Went for a little 200 mile ride on Sunday, no problems...when I tried to fire it up for the Monday commute, I initially got the dreaded clickin' noise from the starter solenoid, then it caught and the starter spun slower than usually, BUT...it did start. I thought it might be a loose connection somewhere, put it on my mental to-do list...same thing when I fired it up for the return trip home...
So, as I was breezing down the 101 from Santa Barbara, I decided to take the PCH bypass to enjoy some better scenary...the engine quit at the bottom of the off-ramp, and the starter wouldn't spin at all now...pulled over and called the tow...in the ensuing two hours (initially supposed to be 45 minutes!), I tried starting it again...I noticed that sometimes I'd get nothing, then I'd get it to click, no spin, and it actually started normally one time...also, I noticed that sometimes the headlight would be fine, then it would dim, and get dimmer...
All of this led me to believe that there might be a battery problem due to the intermittent nature of the signs...however, when I started the trouble shooting process, I went back thru everything, checking the connections, various relays, all the usual suspects...I had put the battery on the Battery Tender overnight, and I noticed that I got the solid green light right away, indicating that the charger sensed that the battery was fully charged...
But when I tested the battery after disconnecting it, I got an initial 13+ volt reading, then it went down to 12.8, then it would vary around the 12 volt area. Then it went into the 10 volt range, back to the 12 volt range, into the 11 volt range, and back to 12.56 volts...again, intermittent readings...this pretty much led me to the conclusion that what I was reading, and what the Battery Tender was sensing, was a surface charge only, and a more appropriate test at this point would have been a load test to confirm what I suspected...but, seeing as how this wasn't my first rodeo, I had seen enough...
I went to Walmart and got one of their AGM personal watercraft batteries...it fit the tray almost perfectly, the terminal orientations was correct...and if anybody is curious, I can post the part number back here, it's just not right at hand at the moment and I am too lazy to go out and get it... I installed the acid, charged it on the Tender all night, and when I hit the pickle button in the morning, all was well!
This is one of those things that if one doesn't know what one is really observing, could be an elusive solution... If you have an intermittent starting situation like this, and you are testing the battery voltage and either find it intermittently reading out good and bad voltages, or even not, suspect the battery. This is true for an older battery, but it's been my experience that even the newer batteries can do this...
Hope this helps someone...
Went for a little 200 mile ride on Sunday, no problems...when I tried to fire it up for the Monday commute, I initially got the dreaded clickin' noise from the starter solenoid, then it caught and the starter spun slower than usually, BUT...it did start. I thought it might be a loose connection somewhere, put it on my mental to-do list...same thing when I fired it up for the return trip home...
So, as I was breezing down the 101 from Santa Barbara, I decided to take the PCH bypass to enjoy some better scenary...the engine quit at the bottom of the off-ramp, and the starter wouldn't spin at all now...pulled over and called the tow...in the ensuing two hours (initially supposed to be 45 minutes!), I tried starting it again...I noticed that sometimes I'd get nothing, then I'd get it to click, no spin, and it actually started normally one time...also, I noticed that sometimes the headlight would be fine, then it would dim, and get dimmer...
All of this led me to believe that there might be a battery problem due to the intermittent nature of the signs...however, when I started the trouble shooting process, I went back thru everything, checking the connections, various relays, all the usual suspects...I had put the battery on the Battery Tender overnight, and I noticed that I got the solid green light right away, indicating that the charger sensed that the battery was fully charged...
But when I tested the battery after disconnecting it, I got an initial 13+ volt reading, then it went down to 12.8, then it would vary around the 12 volt area. Then it went into the 10 volt range, back to the 12 volt range, into the 11 volt range, and back to 12.56 volts...again, intermittent readings...this pretty much led me to the conclusion that what I was reading, and what the Battery Tender was sensing, was a surface charge only, and a more appropriate test at this point would have been a load test to confirm what I suspected...but, seeing as how this wasn't my first rodeo, I had seen enough...
I went to Walmart and got one of their AGM personal watercraft batteries...it fit the tray almost perfectly, the terminal orientations was correct...and if anybody is curious, I can post the part number back here, it's just not right at hand at the moment and I am too lazy to go out and get it... I installed the acid, charged it on the Tender all night, and when I hit the pickle button in the morning, all was well!
This is one of those things that if one doesn't know what one is really observing, could be an elusive solution... If you have an intermittent starting situation like this, and you are testing the battery voltage and either find it intermittently reading out good and bad voltages, or even not, suspect the battery. This is true for an older battery, but it's been my experience that even the newer batteries can do this...
Hope this helps someone...