Won't start !

[H]

HI guys
2001 y reg curvy - left out on the street over night as always and this recent blast of cold weather has resulted in a total non-starter literally.
Its a curvy so has a manual choke - however, it wont even turn over.
Anyone else experiencing these problems ? I am thinking either the battery is going or the Carbs have frozen over.
Any help much appreciated.

Cheers

[gettin2dizzy]

YOu've done all the things people normally forget?:
stand up
neutral
clutch in
killswitch checked

[Wild Bill]

If the engine won`t turn over the most likely cause is duff battery.
Should be easy to check H. Try the lights first......

Cheers

[fizzwheel]

bit more info as to what happens when you press the start button would be useful.

I.e do the dash lights dim, does the rev counter needle spin round the dial, is there a buzzing / clicking coming from somewhere near the riders seat.

If all or some of the above then I'd suggest a flat battery. But you'll need to identify the cause of the flat battery before you go and splash out on a new battery IMHO.

[plowsie]

Dont need to lift the stand to start it G2D, aslong as you have it in Neutral its all good....

[H]

Thanks for the feedback

Fizzwheel it seems to be doing the below :

I.e do the dash lights dim, is there a buzzing / clicking coming from somewhere near the riders seat.

It normally struggles when it is cold anyway - but eventually kicks into life and then absolutely fine.
At the moment i can hear it is trying to start but sounds like the starter motor wont have any of it and the more i try the more it diminishes - if the small clicking sound starts i give up completely cause it seems that the battery has effectively given up !

[fizzwheel]

Righto then I'd say you definately have a flat battery

[gettin2dizzy]

Dont need to lift the stand to start it G2D, aslong as you have it in Neutral its all good....
Yeah, if there's one sensor wrong in the loop it should start if you do all the clutch/stand/neutral still :)

[plowsie]

True just thought, you might've been starting your SV whilst sitting on it all the time for however long you have had it lol. Tell you what the CBR looks like you dont have to have clutch in to start it, think i'm gonna cry :( lol.

[hovis]

the CBR looks like you dont have to have clutch in to start it, think i'm gonna cry :( lol.
why?

[plowsie]

Can see me leavin it in gear one time and off we pop lol

[hovis]

Can see me leavin it in gear one time and off we pop lol

it wont start in gear

[plowsie]

bonus :)

[H]

why would the cold weather drain the battery when up until this really cold stint it has been fine ?

just wondering

[plowsie]

you got an alarm on it?

[H]

yep - datatool system 3

does it hammer it that much ?

[plowsie]

it may do if you leave it for a while, how long since you last started it....?

[H]

i use it to commute on every day - thats why i am a bit confused by this

would i need a new battery or would it be worth charging my current one ?

[plowsie]

i use it to commute on every day - thats why i am a bit confused by this

would i need a new battery or would it be worth charging my current one ?
Give it a charge mate, if atm it is strugglin to start (after you charge it), turn ya lights off before you start it, get the choke on and give her a good warm up and then stick the lights on.

Other hand it may be your rectifier/regulator, but firstly get the battery charged first, i have a spare battery if you need one. But firstly get it charged and see if its holding charge.

Stu

[H]

actually whats the best way of charging it ?

what are my options ?

[plowsie]

Go to Halfords or HG and get one from there, can get an optimator that will do the trick ;)

[Alpinestarhero]

Best thing to use to charge is an optimate charger, and leave it overnight. Not sure why the cold weather sucks the life out of a battery, but I can work it out for you, if you want a geeky chemistry post...

My bike struggled this morning, turned over for a good few seconds before bursting into life, then needed alot of nursing to get it to idle. I want a fuel injected bike :mad:

Matt

[Swiss]

Cold weather kills batteries, it's a fact. Warm um up a bit and you'll see some life creep back into it.
It sounds like you had a weak battery to start with and this recent cold snap has all but confimed that. Don't waste you time and energy trying to charge it; it'll likely last you a day or two and you're back to square one. Get a quality new one and save yourself the headache.

[jambo]

Just a thought, if it's a short commute and a bit of a sod to start from cold, You're taking a big lump of charge out when starting it, and if you're only going a few miles then stopping you may not be putting all that charge back in.

Battery may well be goosed but if you're starting from cold to go a couple of miles you may just be slowly draining it.

[mary]

Mine wouldn't start this morning either :( I've only been doing short runs lately so think its knackered the battery. I had to leave my sv and cycle into work super late. As a friend of mine told me ' the ultimate motorcycle accessory is a house with a garage attached'
Hope you get it started H
mary

[yorkie_chris]

I want a fuel injected bike :mad:


Thats just crazy talk, EFi isn't that much better. It still just "guesses" at required extra fuel based on water temperature. One more thing to go wrong.

If you're using the bike for short trips and leaving it out in the cold it will be flat (esp with alarm). The battery might be salvageable, bump/jump it and go rag it for a while and see how it behaves then.
If it still goes flat after that then the batterys probably knackered.

IMO you need about 10 miles of riding to get the battery back up to a charged state.

[ASM-Forever]

Thats just crazy talk, EFi isn't that much better. It still just "guesses" at required extra fuel based on water temperature. One more thing to go wrong.

If you're using the bike for short trips and leaving it out in the cold it will be flat (esp with alarm). The battery might be salvageable, bump/jump it and go rag it for a while and see how it behaves then.
If it still goes flat after that then the batterys probably knackered.

IMO you need about 10 miles of riding to get the battery back up to a charged state.

In my experience FI bikes do seem to start better in the cold. Although they are usually newer, so it could be that.

[embee]

It's useful to understand what a battery has to deliver.

The voltage is simply down to the chemistry of what it's made of and how many cells are put together. Lead-acid chemistry gives you 2V per cell, put 6 together and you get your 12V. Simple.

The capacity is how much energy it can store, which is more or less down to how much surface the cells have on which to store it. It's measured in how many amps of current it can supply and for how long, so a 10 Amp-hour batery would deliver 10A for one hour, or 5A for 2 hours (in simple terms).

The third, often overlooked, thing is the cold cranking amperage (CCA), in other words how much of a slug of energy it can deliver in a very short time for starting. This is crucial for winter use. A bike engine might need 100Amps or more at the starter. A mid-size car engine would have a starter motor rated at probably betyween 1 and 2Kw, maybe up to a couple of hundred amps. The higher the CCA the easier the battery will cope with the demands of cold starting. CCA is what tends to cost money.

When cold the chemistry tends to slow down, so the battery is already at a disadvantage. Plus as it ages the chemistry gets de-activated to some extent.

When cold the engine oil gets thick and takes a lot of effort to pump it and rotate the bearings and so on, plus the clearances between shafts and bearings tends to reduce so the shear rate increases (it needs more torque to turn it at a given speed). Then you have the effect of poorer evaporation of fuel, which is what is required to get a cold start and is basically why you have to richen the mixture (to get enough in a form which will readily ignite and isn't just wetting the walls). Winter fuel is more volatile than summer fuel.

A battery guy once told me that most batteries die during the summer, but you don't notice until the weather gets cold and it suddenly has to do some hard work.

The difference between a cheap bike battery and a premium one might be 120CCA and 210CCA. Go for the 200+CCA on an SV and it'll start (reg/rec permitting!).

[thedonal]

Very useful post Embee.

I had to call recovery out this morning- wouldn't turn the engine over (did start for a sec and died immediately). Went and got a battery this evening that's not gel (they don't seem to have a good rep). Hopefully job done, but I may replace the reg/rec in the new year- the current one is off a bike that was being broken down, so don't know how long it'll last, and I don't want to have to buy a brand new battery in a few months again..!

[madderdog]

As far as getting a new battery and not charging is considered it seems a bigger waste of time. Yes your battery maybe goosed but so maybe your reg/rect so you have wasted your money on a new bat.

Buy the optimate or equivalent intelli charge. Allways a good investment if you run a bike. Batteries always suffer especially if you lay them up or do short runs / commutes in traffic.

With your charged battery get the bike started. Pop the seat off and put a DC volt meter on the terminals with the bike running. As I remember if the reg rect is doing the job at 2500rpm the DC volt should be going upto about 14.5V. If it isn't or doesn't alter as you rev then the Reg/rect is goosed.

If all seems well run the bike see how it goes. If the battery isn't hold a charge then a new battery it is. If you check the batt and the V falls below 12V it looks like it is not holding.

[Jools'SV Now]

fully recharged my battery - twice,

and it still won't turn her over more than twice until it goes dead, which in this weather isn't long enuf to get her started.

was left for 2 months and now the battery is a gonna.

buzzes
clicks
dash lights dim
won't crank

guess that equals dead battery - imediately after charging.:(

after one of the charges, the rev counter swept up to 7k and back - not done it since.:confused:

Dear Santa,

[Alpinestarhero]

Yup, sounds like a dead battery...best pop a new one in!

Kick the old one for being so feeble aswell

Matt

[Scoobs]

Battery has gone dead on my CBR. Get dash lights and fuel pumps, but only a click when I press the button. I bump started it and it ran straight away. I ran it for 5 minutes then turned it off and tried the button again. Still dead. I'll take it for a longer run tomorrow and see if that cures it. I haven't been on it for a month or so. I'm budgeting for a new battery and a trickle charger though.

[plowsie]

fully recharged my battery - twice,

and it still won't turn her over more than twice until it goes dead, which in this weather isn't long enuf to get her started.

was left for 2 months and now the battery is a gonna.

buzzes
clicks
dash lights dim
won't crank

guess that equals dead battery - imediately after charging.:(

after one of the charges, the rev counter swept up to 7k and back - not done it since.:confused:

Dear Santa,
You say that, if you have your battery fully charged, its not holding a charge for some reason, which for me back when i had my last SV was actually the regulator rectifier. Check that out, try turning the engine over by leaving the optimiser or charger connected unplug it whilst running it for 10 mins then go back and see if she'll start back up.....

[madderdog]

or measure the voltage whilst at 2500rpm!

[Jools'SV Now]

...or leave it in the garage till spring:smt108

[metalmonkey]

+1 for the trickle chargers, my bike is on it when I'm not going out on the bike! Worth the money I think.

[Jools'SV Now]

or measure the voltage whilst at 2500rpm!

tricky as
1, no volt meter
and
2, it wont start - so a challenge to get it to 2500rpm - steep hill required;)