my 999s has been sat on a battery charger that went faulty since oct last year resulting in what i presume was the battery going flat and no longer holder charge so i bought a new motobatt glass mat one and stuck it on and left it on charger. on trying to start the bike yesterday it just would'nt start. it was showing 12.4 on the dash which was normal for before when it always started without any issues. it tried to fire up a few times but would'nt start fully and then everything seemed to reset on the dash and would then all switch back on again, has anyone got any suggestions. only thing i can think is that maybe i havent tightened up the bolts enough on the battery or i think i may have put the charger lead and the pc lead next to the battery terminal and the actual pos and neg leads from the bike on top of them. would that make any difference? also i have a booster pack if i used that to try and start the bike would it A cause any damage and B if it starts with the use of that would is suggest that i may have a fault battery. thanks
If you have a jumper cable try running from the -ve to the frame/engine and see if that makes a difference. If it does make up a secondary earth lead and run to somwhere convenient on the frame/engine. Poor Starting
Thanks mate I presume you just mean a normal jumper cable from a car? Does it have to be an unpainted part on the frame / enengine. What difference would an extra earth lead make??
Just a normal jump lead. You can't connect to painted because you won't get an electrical connection. Find a good sized bolt onto the frame or engine. If you find a difference then you have poor earthing probably due to age (of the bike, that is) and the points in the linked article.
Ok I'll give it ago. Have to get some more leads as have given mine away. If doesn't help could I use booster pack to get it started to get it to the garage
If you find that the engine doesn't start straight away, it's very easy to 'flood' the engine with fuel. When this has happened to me I have found that waiting until the excess fuel has evaporated, or removing the plugs and drying them out has been helpful. I have experimented with different positions on the 'cold start' lever and found that on my bike, the best position for starting is when the 'cold start' lever is fully open. I suspect all bikes are different, and only experimentation will work out the best for yours. The positions of the leads won't have any influence on your problem. Just make sure of course that they are round the right way and nice and clean and tight. Don't touch the throttle when trying to start btw!
I did wonder if I may have flooded it to be honest so may be part of problem. I dud try using the throttle but it made it worse like you said. Ill give the cold start lever a try I thought it was just for when had started to warm up. Ok good to know leads doesnt matter. They are right way round abd clean but may not be tight enough and could do with some copper greased on them
Definitely don't touch the throttle. (Actually the cold start lever is just opening the throttle slightly) Try starting with the Throttle shut, and no cold start lever actuation, and then gradually apply more and more of the lever until the bike starts. If it doesn't fire up straight away, don't keep trying as you need to a) let the battery recover, and b) let any excess fuel evaporate. I have a car battery that I use with jump leads, connected straight to the bike's battery. This is a good way of ensuring you get the full 12v.
I could also be that even though the battery is showing enough voltage, there isn't enough amps to fire the bike up.
a mate suggested that and that the battery could be faulty and said to try starting the bike using booster pack and if started then duff battery
Do not try to start using one of those portable jump packs or spare battery connecting straight to the oe battery terminals you stand a good chance of frying the ECU I know as I've done it
hmm getting loads on conflicting info regarding that. some say its fine and others like you say that i shouldn't
Are you getting the fuel pump priming on key on? A very common issue on these is the ignition relay. Tucked away behind the battery housing near the starter solenoid. Only a few quid for a new one and worth swapping anyhow. I'm not a big fan of jump packs either. They can damaged the ECU as mentioned. You have to be careful and use as a last resort.
I took my bike to Rich at Louigi Moto to get Chris to dyno in a new exhaust as the bike was running really badly . They couldn't do anything about it and upon further checking found the ECU was corrupted. having explained about how I had been trying to start the bike in desperation before a run , he was of the opinion that it was the booster pack method of trying to start the bike that was the cause.
yep getting the fuel pump priming without issue. ill have a play tommorow and check contacts and the leads then may resort to booster pack to try and get it going. if i can just get it going ill most likely just get it booked into the garage for the service thats due and take it straight there whilst its running
Isn't it not the pack itself that fries the ecu, but the sparking that can be created when connecting to the battery? On another thread the advice was to connect 2 jump leads to the battery, then connect the spare battery/ jump pack to the leads away from the bike so any sparking cant come into contact with the bike but is dissipated by the leads.
There would only be any sparking and possible 'voltage spikes' occurring if a load was present, i.e the ignition was switched on,or the starter motor turning. If an additional battery was connected in parallel to the bike's battery AND then the ignition was switched on, or the starter activated I can see no reason why there should be any problems. Totally open to being wrong- Just my understanding of the situation!
If it's been sitting since last Oct then fresh fuel wouldn't do any harm. I only run my 998 from April through to Sept each year and it's always a real pig to start for the first time after being stood for a few months.
