finicky starting

merisey

Donating Member
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So, I recently purchased my first busa. I have a 99 with 20,000 on and the previous owner had a new gasket kit and valves checked over the winter. The problem is it will fire right away at times and other times (notice more after riding). Some times it will turn over a couple times and not fire, sometimes it wont even turn over. It normally takes a few attempts to get it started. I can work on cars fine just never bikes. Are there any known places I should start or look into? Thanks in advance for the help everyone.
 
Start simple, how old is the battery? When was the last time the throttle bodies were synced?
 
oh yeah, since u said it happens more after a ride, ur charging system could be alil weak. after u check the voltage at the battery on a load, once u get it running check the voltage at the battery while its running should be 12-14vdc
 
Okay I heard back from the previous owner and he said the battery was new last summer. He was "amazed" it wasn't running right. To further elaborate though. I was in HEAVY stop and go last night and after nearly 30min of it the bike died. I tried to restart and it doesn't seem to have enough juice to fire...lights even died and cluster reset (guages swept). My brother gave me a jump and if fired fine, got on highway and stopped to get gas it started fine. How do I check the stator and/or rectifier? Am I looking in the right direction? Oh and it started and ran fine today. Seems like as long as I rev high (not used to it coming from a twin) I have no problems.
 
get a voltage regulator and check it while its running and then ,use a check battery mose,as directed above and check battery under a load,,,also you dont know if the owner is liying,,his version [to sell the bike] a new battery may well be 2 year old...and also clean the terminals and battery posts with a wire brush,,that grayish color on the terminals and posts will stop the battery from being charged from the stator,,ive seen this in bikes and cars,,,,,
 
ok, battery was at 12.4 after sitting over night. I start and it jumps to 13.6 idle. If I rev it out to 5k it actually drops to 13.4. After tearing into it today I realized that it has a ricks hot rectifier on it. The connections are soldered. Also discovered that a previous owner did the air box mod and pair mod :thumbsup:...

back to the point at hand. Are these good numbers for the battery, if so where do I go next?
 
numbers are good;
after riding about how many seconds of turning over does it take before it comes on?
 
It acts like it doesn't even want to turn over. Sometimes when I hit the start button it will actually just cut out and the gauges will re-sweep. I normally have to try 3 times or so, 10 sec each time. I actually rolled throttle to start it a couple of times :whistle:, I know now that this a huge no no and have not done it since. The time that really worried me was when it just died in traffic. Got hot, fan cycled a lot, was stop and go for like 25min only moving a couple feet at a time. She just died and after about 30 still wouldn't start. Eventually jumped it off of another bike (by now traffic is gone) rode for like 30 min and it started fine afterward. I really have no idea
 
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