My bike doesn't start anymore, this after riding on the highway. All day it started fine, all of a sudden it didn't start at all, this bike never had starting problems. Lights come on, fuel pump priming. When I push the starter button, it begins the sequence but cuts off immediately and gives on the dash Vbat Lo. I took the battery out, replaced it with a new one. Still gives the same warning. Still doesn't crank. I also checked all the fuses. They are all ok. Do you have any idea what I could do or check next?
If you have some jump leads try running one from the -ve battery terminal to a good earth on the engine. See if that improves things. If it does then you need to install a secondary earth lead.
YES!!! It starts with your method! I just put a jumper cable on the negative battery lead an on an allen bolt The question now is how can this cable corrode in matter of half an hour, from starting to not starting at all! Is it just the negative lead to the engine vertical head or does that cable also go to the frame or something?
It is down to the crap heavy duty leads used at manufacture. Over time their resistance increases. A simple fix is to run an earth lead from the negative terminal to the bolt of the starter motor. You can see this from the left side of the bike, at the bottom and towards the middle of the engine. It is the only bolt for the starter that is exposed. Just buy a made up lead from a motor factors. You can improve things further by doubling up the cables from the positive terminal to the starter solenoid and from the solenoid to the starter.
Cleaning won't work. Beefing up will. The -ve lead goes to the left side of the vertical cylinder. Just follow the lead from the -ve terminal. You get better results by earthing to the starter motor.
Status update: Just took the exposed bolt from the starter motor and gave it a WD-40 put it back. Took the earth from the engine gave it a WD-40 treatment. Starts up fine now...
For now. Glad you have had some success but long-term, there really is no substitute for additional earthing.
I haven't researched this, I just happened to have some suitable stuff lying around. Maybe someone will post up a suggestion. Or a forum search may turn up something helpful!
By the bolt of the starter motor I mean one of the 3 bolts that attach it to the engine casing. Only one is exposed the others are covered by the casings. I do not mean the bolt for the starter cable as this is +ve from the starter solenoid.
I cleaned the one that goes through the engine casing into the starter motor. I have the workplace manual and tried to understand the schematics first.
I bought a ready made earth cable from Halfords. As said above, run from the battery -ve to the starter motor bolt. I was lucky as my bike was starting fine, I just fitted it while the fairing was off and to head off any problems in the future. It`s a dead easy job, takes longer to go buy the cable than to fit it.
I think @Exige may be thinking of importing these, as well as the ExactFit cam-belts and other products he is already importing If he does, i expect they will be a fair bit cheaper then importing them yourself. I fitted a kit which I imported at great expense from the States. It was well worth it though - combined with a new Yuasa, the bike starts like no other bike I've had. It just bursts into life. Starting when away from home always used to be a bit of a worry - no longer...
I have discussed with them and while they showed an interest at the moment they are looking at continuing to direct market still, even though it puts a lot of customers off with the import duties, tax and handling fees. So, I have decided to look into manufacturing my own - just researching the best materials at the moment as I wouldn't wish to offer a lesser quality product
