Recently replaced the stator and the battery for an 2001 CBR600F4i. Everything ran great up till this past week when, on Monday, it wouldnt start. It was really hot over the weekend and thought possibly the heat was a factor. I trickle charged the battery, put it back in the bike and it ran great for about three days until Friday. I have a 20 mile commute to work (afternoon 2nd shift) and noticed I was low on fuel so I pulled into the nearest station to work to fuel up. Turned the bike off, filled it up then it wouldnt restart.
I have had the battery tested and twice and it tested good both times. The resistance on the stator falls within the acceptable range so I dont think that would be the problem although it is always a possibility. I have considered that it may be the rectifier, the starter relay or the starter itself.

I am wondering if anyone has experience with testing a starter, rectifier or relay and how to go about it? I can get the bike jumped (carefully of course) and it will run again until I turn it off as it did Friday evening when I went home from work.

I feel as though I need to add that the bike sat for two years before I picked it up and I am not sure what parts may have gone bad during that time if that is possible for parts to turn when not being used.

Something else crossed my mind which would be a bad ground to the frame. Any suggestions on this issue would be greatly appreciated especially if anyone in the Dallas area has a shop that is reasonable in mind.

Thanks!

 

Does it click or try to turn over? Or does it do nothing? How are the headlights? do they look dim?

if it clicks, sort of a continuous clicking, then the battery is probably to blame or a bad connection to the battery. If does nothing, it could be loose connection, starter, or relay. Also, make sure your battery terminals are seated all the way. I've seen people use bolts that are just a bit too long, you think the bolts are tight when they are actually just bottomed out and pressing into the top of the battery.

One thing, if the rectifier or stator is bad, it will charge, or not charge with the correct voltage. get a volt meter and test the system out. Start the bike and measure what the voltage is. Keep measuring and increase the rpms of the engine gradually until you reach about 6 grand. If the voltage stays the same or increases slightly, your probably ok in the stator rectifier department. If it drops as the rpms go up, you have an issue.

the bike sitting for two years really shouldn't have any effect on it. If it wasnt properly stored, you may have some gas issues, but as long as it was in a dry area and didnt have any mice chewing on it, it being stored shouldn't have anything to do with it. Also, it being hot out shouldn't affect it either.

A bad ground would have other problems. Basically all of your electrical items would probably suffer at some point if you had a bad ground.

If you can't find anything wrong, it could be the rectifier like you suggested. I don't know of a way to test the rectifier. The rectifier is usually suspected after everything else has been eliminated as a possible cause. The real problem is the rectifier converts AC to DC power, while keeping it in a range that the battery can handle. If it stops doing this, it will ruin your battery by putting AC power to it, or by overcharging it. If you do the volt test and everything checks out, I would really look close at all of your connections, it may be a simple loose wire somewhere.

If the bike does nothing, I would lean towards a relay or starter switch issue. I would also check the kickstand switch to make sure its functioning properly.

If the bike is in gear, you don't happen to have the kickstand down do you? ... sorry, have to ask, I've seen it happen quite often.

 

I will take your questions one at a time and try to give an accurate response as I am new to working on bikes.

Initially when I started having problem the bike would sound as though it wanted to start but never did. I thought battery so I charged it and retried. After that the bike ran for several days with no issues. I rode the bike for four days with no issues then Friday I made it 20 miles to work stopped for gas and then it wouldn't restart. Seems weird to me that the bike would run for that amount of time and then have trouble restarting. Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't a 20 mile ride at highway speeds be enough to charge the battery enough for a restart?

I have checked the bolts used for the battery and have found that when the battery is fastened with the appropriate cables attached it does not bottom out on the top of the battery. I am going to test the voltage you suggested sometime today and see what I come up with when reaching 6k rpm. I will let you know the outcome.

I have already been fooled by the kickstand switch and check it regularly when the bike does not start. I don't feel that is part of the issue but I appreciate you covering all of the bases with me.

If it happens to be a starter switch or relay, any idea on how much those cost? I know they are not hard to replace since I already know where those parts are located just wondering about a ballpark figure.

When I say that the bike sat for two years I mean it sat outside, uncovered, in the elements, for that time. The guy just didn't take care of the bike after he had laid it down. It needed work and he was not prepared to fix it. I got the bike for nothing out of pocket to him so i took the chance. The bike runs well (when it runs) and I feel as though this issue is still a minor one even though it is very frustrating.

I appreciate the help on troubleshooting tips. Usually I am the one giving advice on troubleshooting for my job as a support engineer. Now the tables are turned and I know how my customers feel!

Thanks!

 

Could you be a bit more specific with the "sounds like it wanted to start"? Does it turn over but doesn't fire, if it is turning over is it at a normal rotational crank or does it hesitate?

 

After my last post a bit ago I decided to hook the battery up to the bike and start troubleshooting. I had trickle charged the battery overnight so it would be fresh for today. I hooked it up and put all of the components back together for the charging system. When testing the battery with the bike in the off position, I get the standard 12.21 volts. Of course with the bike running I am getting an increase to about 14.00 volts as I increased to 6k rpm. Through some talking with a friend that had a similar problem I have decided to replace the battery first since it has a one year warranty and is the easiest to replace. I do know that even a bad cell in a battery will start a vehicle when it has been freshly charged.

What I meant by my comment above is that it was turning over but not starting.

If you have some additional things to check that I have not tried already please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

I would try one more thing before getting another battery. Let it sit overnight not on charger, see what the voltage is at in the morning. I would hate to see you get a new battery when it was coincidence that it didn't start.

Or you could check it while turning the motor over, could drop less than needed to fire. If it drops 9 or less then battery is shot under load.

 

Well the battery would not have cost me anything since it is under warranty. I took to the shop where i bought it and had it load tested. Specs say 185 cold cranking amps and it tested good, no dead cells at 300 cold cranking amps.

So I do truly believe now that something is amiss on the bike itself. and it isn't the battery. I am going to see what else I can do to figure this out cause I am going crazy!

Lets recap the charging system:
Battery - Checked/New
Stator - Brand new
Rectifier?
Fuses - Checked
Diode - Checked
Starter Relay - Not Checked
Starter - Not Checked
Bad ground - Not Checked
Battery cables?

I am sure that some of what I listed above isn't directly related to charging but it is related to the starting of the bike. Anyone have experience with applying power directly to a starter motor to test if it is good?

Thanks again!

 

Well the battery would not have cost me anything since it is under warranty. I took to the shop where i bought it and had it load tested. Specs say 185 cold cranking amps and it tested good, no dead cells at 300 cold cranking amps.

So I do truly believe now that something is amiss on the bike itself and it isn't the battery. I am going to see what else I can do to figure this out cause I am going crazy!

Lets recap the charging system: Anything I have missed?
Battery - Checked/New
Stator - Brand new
Rectifier?
Fuses - Checked
Diode - Checked
Starter Relay - Not Checked
Starter - Not Checked
Bad ground - Not Checked
Battery cables?

I am sure that some of what I listed above isn't directly related to charging but it is related to the starting of the bike. Anyone have experience with applying power directly to a starter motor to test if it is good?

Thanks again!

 

Sorry for the double post!

 

Well, it is a combustible engine, so, fuel, air and spark. It does not sound like charging as much as it does sound like fuel or spark. you said you just got fuel and it started to act up again, so, what's in that tank? Any debris or anything like that?

Is it possible that water is in the tank?