Hey guys, I have a 96 900RR that I bought 3 years ago. Last riding season, towards the end, I started having issues with my bike starting. It seems like I was having issues with the battery. Bought the battery when I purchased the bike.I started using a tender on it.

I would go out in the morning and start the bike before a ride. Several times, when we would stop for a break, the bike would act like the battery was dead. I would bump start it, and it would run fine while riding, even at stops. But the minute I turned it off, would act like a dead battery again.

Further in to the end of the season, even on the tender, it wouldn't start. Acting like a dead battery. Had to jump it from the car, with the car off, I was told it would overload the system if the car was running? Not sure if that's true.

Anyway, so at a lose here. What could be the issue? Battery is old, 3 years or so? Stator? Reg/rect? Me? lol. Like I said, bike runs fine once started.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Quick update. Just went out with the volt meter. I made the mistake of plugging in the tender earlier, but the battery was reading 12.30 on the meter. Took the tender off and still reading around the same. Tried to start her, and she died. Checked real quick with the meter and it was reading 8.7ish. Tender back on, back up to 12.3ish. Put the cables from the car on, and tried starting it. Took a lot of cranking, but finally!!! She roared up!!. Reading 12.9ish on the meter up when revved up to 4-5k. I let it run for about 10 minutes, took it up the road about a half mile. Came home, let it sit again, for about another 20 minutes. She just sat there purring like a kitten.

Shut it off, turned key on. Went to start it again, and battery sounded very drained. Wouldn't start at all.

 

118 people viewed this and no one has even the slightest input? Thanks anyway.

 

Everyone must be afraid of you because you're armed....

Have you replaced the battery? If it's got a bad cell, it wont hold a charge and can't take the starter load. It will also lose charge when sitting. After you replace it with a know good one, recheck your charging voltage.

 

Had the battery checked, All good. Told to run the bike and remove the + terminal. Did that, the bike kept running until I gave it a little gas, then it stalled out. It runs fine, until I shut it down. when I go to restart, it acts like it has a dead battery. Used a multimeter, battery at 12.9, started, battery is at 13.6-13.9. For some reason the bike won't start. Could it be a short somewhere? Stator going bad? Reg/rect?

When I had the battery checked at a local bike shop, he said the battery has 87% life left, and the cells are good. Walmart said the battery has 105-110 cranking amps, so assuming the battery is good.

Like I said, once I shut it off, when I go back to turn it on, the starter turns the engine, just won't fire up, and battery wears down like it's dieing.

 

Do a resistance test on the cables. Makes sure to also check the neg to ground resistance.

If that is good, check the starter draw. Your starter winding may be going bad.

 

gunslinger check the sticky in this forum. The one thats titled "how to diagnose your charging system". I believe thats what its called. Has some real good advice. Im not great at troubleshooting but if its not your r/r or stator then its probably something with the starter like demon said. Never know though.

 

Well, I was just out, put the multimeter on after tender was disconnected. Was reading around 12.8. Tried to start the bike and the volts dropped to 8.5, tried once more, just a few seconds, volts dropped to 4.43. Turned the key, volts slowly started going back up. Made it back to the 8.8 range and stopped.

Jumped it off my truck, started. With it running, idle speed, around 13-1400 RPM's, volt meter was reading 14.19-14.22, consistently. Revved it to 2500 rpm's, volts dropped to around 13.4, revved to around 4500 rpm's, voltage stayed about the same. Off throttle, volts read back in the low14's. I am guessing the stator is charging properly. Also thinking the R/R is ok. Just an update from a few minutes ago now. Other than the basics, I am kinda dumb when it comes to electrical stuff. lol

 

I'm still thinking the battery is toast. I don't care what they told you...

Can you borrow a good battery from someone to try it?

 

No, but was thinking about buying a battery from walmart and throwing it in, and if that works, then eventually upgrading to a better battery.