i've had my 08 busa for about a month now. About once a week, after i am riding for over an hour, the bike acts like the battery is dead and won't start. It has done this about 3 times. Took it to the dealer, they tested the battery and it is at full capacity. Yesterday when it did it, i let it cool down for about an hour, went out to start it and it did. I've been charging the battery all night about once a week with my battery tender. Any ideas??
battery problems?
- Thread starter hemi
- Start date
teamorion22
Registered
free bump
goodluck
goodluck
OUTLAW1300
Registered
Im guessing you have already checked your spark plugs. What does your bike do when the problem happens. Does it turn over? Does it just keep cranking? Any mods like a PC?
i have about 1200 miles on the clock now. No i have not checked the spark plugs. When it happens i notice it immediately after trying to crank the motor bc it just sounds like it barely wants to turn over. Let go of the starter and try again, it will crank once or twice very slowly and then nothin, definitely actin like a dead battery. Every time it does this the clock will reset to, like it lost all power from the battery.
justa-busa-girl
Registered
mine has done that too, i was at a race and it was hot and i tried to start it and it wouldnt, i let i cool off a while then it started right up? It kinda did it again the other day it was hot and it kinda struggled to start but this time it did at least start.
is this a........ twist the throttle abit while pressing the starter when the engine is really hot, it's in the manual...... issue?
kind of a stupid question, but bikes don't have alternators like cars right? Been riding for about 3 years now and always do my own maintenance, but not sure what else to check other than the battery. I'll just let her go for now, next time it does it i'll just let it cool down for a bit and then see if it starts. Just got nervous the first couple times so now i keep feeling like i need to charge the battery all night about once a week so it doesn't happen again. Even though it still did after doing this
OUTLAW1300
Registered
kind of a stupid question, but bikes don't have alternators like cars right? Been riding for about 3 years now and always do my own maintenance, but not sure what else to check other than the battery. I'll just let her go for now, next time it does it i'll just let it cool down for a bit and then see if it starts. Just got nervous the first couple times so now i keep feeling like i need to charge the battery all night about once a week so it doesn't happen again. Even though it still did after doing this
Its kinda like an alternator but I dont think that its the stator going bad. If its the stator, then why was the battery at full capacity when you took it in to the dealership to test it. The bike will run with a bad stator but it will drain your battery quickly. I dont think your bike would even run an hour with a bad stator. Im still thinking its your plugs. What did the dealer say the problem was?
I'm thinking your problem is number 11. I thought my bat was going dead but then it just seemed like the motor was at a high compression point and didn't want to turn over. I hadn't tried to crack the throttle and start it, it's only done it to me a few times so I guess I hadn't shut it down in that not so sweet spot in a while.
So I would say Normal.
Good luck.
Last edited:
the dealer checked the battery and said it was at full capacity, didn't bother to check anything else. Don't really trust this dealer anyway, all they did was put a voltage meter on the battery and tell me the battery was fine, which i allready knew. When it happens, it will crank extremely slow once or twice, all the lights on the gauges go off, and if i'm holding the starter button down continuosly it doesn't crank/click at all, which makes me think a dead battery from having a few cars/trucks do this over the years. Only time this happens is after about a week and i'm out on the bike for approximately an hour. Next time it happens, i'll have to wait for a bit and see if it starts. Strangely enough it has only done this right when i pull up to the house, so i pop it onto the charger all night
Well my faith in "dealers" is about nil...
first off do not plug that thing on a charger all night.. if it is a cheap charger, it will just fry the battery.. if it can monitor and turn itself off then, probably ok.. (tender is better idea)
It is doubtful that the battery is actually the problem but you need to do a couple things:
when it does this trick, you need a voltmeter.. check the battery voltage between the actual posts (not on the cables) and then hit the starter and see what the voltage does:
does not drop more than 1/2 volt? go to the cables and check voltage there.. still no drop? fast forward to the starter itself.. (we gotta find where the drop occurs)
I am going to guess this is a connection issue of some kind or perhaps a starter relay issue.. (can not pump starter amps through a simple switch)
I would check closely the grounds and battery connections.. take them off and look, if none are obviously loose, you may want to break them open anyway and look for paint, or other garbage that can cause resistance.. (if you see any blackey carbon, this is a good sign you are on the problem. The carbon forms from arcing)
the fact that this happens only when hot is a clue.. heat makes resistance.. (starter, connections, relay, bad ground...)
what part of the country are you in?
first off do not plug that thing on a charger all night.. if it is a cheap charger, it will just fry the battery.. if it can monitor and turn itself off then, probably ok.. (tender is better idea)
It is doubtful that the battery is actually the problem but you need to do a couple things:
when it does this trick, you need a voltmeter.. check the battery voltage between the actual posts (not on the cables) and then hit the starter and see what the voltage does:
does not drop more than 1/2 volt? go to the cables and check voltage there.. still no drop? fast forward to the starter itself.. (we gotta find where the drop occurs)
I am going to guess this is a connection issue of some kind or perhaps a starter relay issue.. (can not pump starter amps through a simple switch)
I would check closely the grounds and battery connections.. take them off and look, if none are obviously loose, you may want to break them open anyway and look for paint, or other garbage that can cause resistance.. (if you see any blackey carbon, this is a good sign you are on the problem. The carbon forms from arcing)
the fact that this happens only when hot is a clue.. heat makes resistance.. (starter, connections, relay, bad ground...)
what part of the country are you in?
that'smy suggestion, also pop the fuel tank open and close it again, make sure there isn't some sort of vapor lock
quizesilver
Registered
looks like two possibility
vapor lock and 24v starting
vapor lock and 24v starting
southernspeed
Registered
As said, sounds like a heat related starter or solonoid issue. Starters often, when they go bad, do exactly as you're describing. But as Mr Bogus says, check through the system, don't just go replacing parts for the hell of it, that gets expensive.
Noltez
Registered
First, 
Lots of good ideas, and intentions too, but a hot start issue should be fairly straight forward to figure out. I can feel your pain on trust with dealers - I am a inter-provincially licensed auto mechanic myself, and know WAYYY too many shops that will steal your blood if they could get away with it.
When hot starting, your bike turns over very slowly instead of normally? Perhaps even coming to a "lock" and not turning over at all? But when cold it turns over and starts normally? If so, your engine is building higher compression once warm. As the pistons heat, they'll naturally expand. This allows less clearance between them and the cylinder walls. This also adds friction. Fortunately, this means your engine was built pretty tight. I can't put a warranty on anything I've never seen, but I expect you'll get many more miles out of that one vs. a "loose" engine.
The "fix" is a little more complex. Possibility #1 is that the battery is actually weak, and not supplying enough current to turn the engine with the extra resistance of a hot motor. This can be verified by using booster cables to your car battery with the car engine not running. Doing this will supply extra current but no extra voltage. If this solves the problem, look at replacing the battery with (hopefully) a better one.
Possibility #2 is there's resistance in the heavy cable between your battery POS terminal to the starter solenoid, or from the solenoid to the starter motor. You can test this with a voltage drop test, or simply have better cables made at your local performance car-stereo shop. Expect to pay between $25 & $40 for these cables, more if you have the shop install them for you.
The 3rd possibility is that the starter itself simply is not strong enough to turn over the high-compression motor when it's hot. This is a common problem on hand-built, muscle car motors. I do not believe a high-torque starter motor is available for the Busa, but you could purchase a stock unit and have an Alternator & Starter repair shop rebuild it for you for more torque. This would involve dismantling the starter and rewinding the armature - not to be done at home. I recommend getting a replacement stock unit for the donor, because rebuilds like this often take more than a week. The last alternator I had rebuilt to put out more power (again, a car stereo) cost me $120, plus the donor alternator.
Lots of good ideas, and intentions too, but a hot start issue should be fairly straight forward to figure out. I can feel your pain on trust with dealers - I am a inter-provincially licensed auto mechanic myself, and know WAYYY too many shops that will steal your blood if they could get away with it.
When hot starting, your bike turns over very slowly instead of normally? Perhaps even coming to a "lock" and not turning over at all? But when cold it turns over and starts normally? If so, your engine is building higher compression once warm. As the pistons heat, they'll naturally expand. This allows less clearance between them and the cylinder walls. This also adds friction. Fortunately, this means your engine was built pretty tight. I can't put a warranty on anything I've never seen, but I expect you'll get many more miles out of that one vs. a "loose" engine.
The "fix" is a little more complex. Possibility #1 is that the battery is actually weak, and not supplying enough current to turn the engine with the extra resistance of a hot motor. This can be verified by using booster cables to your car battery with the car engine not running. Doing this will supply extra current but no extra voltage. If this solves the problem, look at replacing the battery with (hopefully) a better one.
Possibility #2 is there's resistance in the heavy cable between your battery POS terminal to the starter solenoid, or from the solenoid to the starter motor. You can test this with a voltage drop test, or simply have better cables made at your local performance car-stereo shop. Expect to pay between $25 & $40 for these cables, more if you have the shop install them for you.
The 3rd possibility is that the starter itself simply is not strong enough to turn over the high-compression motor when it's hot. This is a common problem on hand-built, muscle car motors. I do not believe a high-torque starter motor is available for the Busa, but you could purchase a stock unit and have an Alternator & Starter repair shop rebuild it for you for more torque. This would involve dismantling the starter and rewinding the armature - not to be done at home. I recommend getting a replacement stock unit for the donor, because rebuilds like this often take more than a week. The last alternator I had rebuilt to put out more power (again, a car stereo) cost me $120, plus the donor alternator.
Similar threads
