A battery does "recover" somewhat given a few minutes - I dont know what the proper term for this is. But it could account for why it will fire up after a few minutes of resting, whereas immediately after running it will not.

 

I have a problem with my '87 and starting. When it is warm or hot sometimes it makes a 'howling' kind of sound, the honda mechanic says it is the starter sprag clutch, for this reason i'm not riding it to much at the moment, trying to make it last as long as possible, could be the same thing, though for your sake i hope not, cause it's going to be expensive, good luck...

 

Guys,
Yep, sounds like the starter clutch. I have bought a second hand engine to replace mine (hopefully) this weekend. I will then strip my original engine to replace the clutch with a new part in there. The symptoms are SO like a starter motor/battery/solenoid, that I found it difficult to allow myself to believe the starter clutch was at fault! These are HONDAS for Gods's sake!. Eventually the bike became so hard to start that any stop after a run would require a 15 minute 'cool down' before ashe would re-start. Not very clever when I use my CBR for conducting CBT's. I had to buy a second bike (GSX1100F) because of this (at least thats what I told the wife). Hope you get this sorted, this is a ball-ache!

Ara

 

Sorry, forgot to mention. On my bike the 'proof' is easy to fathom by carrying this test out.

Get bike up to operating temp, when a stop would cause the bike not to re-start.
Hit the start switch with the bike still running... The clutch will stop any starter/engin damage. You should hear the internal clutch turn nice and freely.
Hit the kill switch, and on my bike the engine now turns over like a demon. Nice and fast... Release the start switch, and back to slow speeds again.

I read somewhere that this can be caused by a bearing wearing within the clutch. Once I have it stripped, I will let you know.


Ara

 

Thanks for the advice guys. Perhaps things are getting worse....

Got her out this morning, she'd been in our cold garage over the weekend (the bike not the wife). I had to do an 80-mile run to a meeting into Swindon. This time the starter motor turned over but she wouldn't fire up. Also, on pressing the starter button, there was a kind of very loud click coming from somewhere under the battery. Is this normal? Maybe it is, but I've not heard it before as she normally starts OK.

I tried and tried for about thirty minutes, with choke, without choke, with throttle, without throttle. I lifted the tank, turned the petcock to reserve, removed the HT leads, sprayed WD40 into the spark plugs and around the starter motor area, then up my nose for good measure, cursed a bit, but nothing worked.

At this point the battery was almost dead, so I hooked her up to my car battery. Guess what - she started beautifully, immediately, first time. She ran smooth as ever to Swindon, in the pissing rain. When I stopped for petrol half way, she started up again no problem. When my meeting had finished and I got back to the bike, she was not quite cold, she started first time without choke. 80 miles back into London, no rain this time but lots of spray. Five hours later she started from cold first time, on choke.

What is going on? Could it just be damp and cold affecting the battery? As you can see, I'm hoping it's not the starter clutch....

Cheers folks.

 

Yunno, this is beginning to sound more and more like your battery, and not your starter clutch. Batteries often 'come and go' when they get near to the end of their life. It really does sound like yours is on the way out. They're not that expensive (try www.bikesparesonline.co.uk for great prices and fast delivery - I use them a lot) and I think it may be a good way to help reach a firm diagnosis. Unless you have a mate who has a battery tester..... Oh, and if it cranked over MUCH faster on the jump leads than from the battery, then for me that just about seals it. Good luck!

 

hey man I dont know if you got it all figured out yet but the same thing happened to me and after a week of me scratchin my head...i finally checked the battery terminal connections and they were loose. However my dad had the same type of problem on his and it turned out to be the kill switch that was going bad a shorting it all out. Good Luck.

 

My 2c worth.... I've had a similar problem with my old Kawasaki GT750 as well as a heap of cars of different makes and models. Engine fires up ok cold, but after running and the engine is hot, if you kill the motor and try to restart, the starter barely turns over. But wait 5 minutes to cool and turns over fine. I've found a new battery has fixed it on all occasions because in most of those circumstances the battery was over a year old. Not sure whether it's a charging issue or what, I have a feeling it's something to do with the heat too. I'm renowned for not looking after my batteries though. Really need to get into the practice of regularly checking the fluid levels and connectors periodically.

My CBR seems to be starting to do it too. Only just brought it and was told it was a new battery... but one can't take these things for granted. My CBR seems to fire up ok if I let it sit for 10-20 seconds then fire it up. Something to watch out for though.

 

Well, I was too embarrassed to reply to my own thread but have now plucked up the courage. Reason for embarrassment - the battery had almost no water in it. Now it does, my 1990 F-L starts first time every time and my heated jacket doesn't kill the battery. I also bought a digital volt meter gizmo (from fatboyzdiner.co.uk) that shows me my battery is charging at between 11.9 and 15 volts (within the reg/rec spec I think). It also shows time, temperature, ice warnings.... but tempts me to take my eyes off the road too much!

 

Been there done that.