Help - flat battery / bike won't start!

The thing is to put is as much choke as you need, but no more. It's a
bit of a black art, but you get to know your engine and what it likes.

 

Except on a CG125, I've had the thing flood because some spotty youths
have been playing with the throttle with the engine off. Then it's a
right SOaB to start.

On every other more normal bike, you're right.

 

Harry Bloomfield wrote on 10/10/2004 21:46:

Ho hum! If only I'd read your postings BEFORE I tried my charger! I
assumed 8amp battery + 8 amp charger would be a match made in heaven!

It charged for a few hours, the charger said it had finished, but when I
used the charger's built in battery test it said the battery was only
20%. Haven't tried it in the bike yet, but I guess the battery is just
knackered. It wasn't hot, as a result of the charging, by the way, in
fact not even warm.

I should have said in my OP that the battery is as old as the bike -
that is, ~6 years. I believe this is probably a good innings for a
battery anyway.

 

Peter Boulton wrote on 10/10/2004 18:39:

Hi, OP here with a quick update. I charged the battery with my
Halfords 8amp charger. The charger has some condition leds and they
said it was only on 20% after the charge, but there was more than enough
juice to start the bike.

I'm not sure whether a bike battery will cause a charger primarily
designed for car batteries (?) to indicate insufficient charge when
really the battery has enough juice, but I'm going to persevere with the
existing battery a while longer and see how it goes.

As the battery is 6 years old I can't really complain, I suppose.

I have the charger and jump leads on standby anyway!

Thanks for all the starting tips etc.. I can see I am not alone!

Pete

 

Peter Boulton brought next idea :

That sound like sulphated cells.

How long they last, depends upon how they are looked after. My car
battery latest ten years before requiring replacement.

 

It happens that Mark Olson formulated :

Giving the throttle a quick flick prior to cranking is a completely
different thing to holding the throttle open a little during cranking.

I do open the throttle part way during cranking and be ready to open it
more when it fires to be sure it 'picks up'. It has so far (since last
March) not needed any choke to get it to start at the first touch
(GPZ500).

 

This reminded me about how my old land lord used to start my land ladies
car. It was on a cold day, I heard it happen, made me cringe it did. The
car was a 16 valve Vectra of some sort, and he used to give it lots of
throttle as he turned the key. I could hear the engine knocking loudly
through the double glazed window as it revved towards the red line.

I once tried to tell him that you didn't need to do that on a fuel
injected car, and making the engine rev like that is a bad thing, but he
went off on one. So I left him to it.

 

Indeed it is, and unless your bike has an accelerator pump in one or
more of its carbs, or some software in the EFI that takes special notice
of your throttle twisting before cranking, flicking the throttle before
starting will have zero effect.

 

EDTA may be the answer.
http://www.mztech.fsnet.co.uk/electrics/elc_edta.html

 

Mark Olson wrote

That is ZERO effect people. Old habits die hard though don't they eh?

 

Heh. Reminds me of the time many years ago when I was backmarkering a
250LC at Snetterton. The race had been red flagged so we all formed up
on the start grid and waited for several minutes with engines off.

The race was declared completed and everyone fired up and trundled off
via a gate at the pit lane exit. All except me, who was sitting on an
empty grid, with everyone watching and waiting, desperately booting
away at the kickstart.

Then I noticed the kill switch...

 

Er, yes.