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Cold weather, bad battery and poor starting / running

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barrkel
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Joined: 30 Jul 2012
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PostPosted: 16:03 - 08 Jan 2018    Post subject: Cold weather, bad battery and poor starting / running Reply with quote

As the weather turned colder, I noticed my Brutale had a harder time idling on startup. It comes with a little manual choke lever (despite being fuel injected), so I started using that and didn't think too much about it.

Then, some time in December, the electrics died a couple of times on attempts to start. I ordered a battery, waited for it to arrive, and put it on a charger, but wasn't in a rush to replace as the bike had only failed to start a couple of times.

Then, last week, coinciding with some wet weather, it appeared to intermittently run on 3 cylinders for a few beats at a time. It was hesitant riding down the road, and needed a decent bit of throttle to reliably accelerate off the line, and far more feathering when filtering. Once the bike had warmed up, though, it wasn't too bad. Wet electrics, I thought, perhaps a bad HT lead, possibly spark plugs. Before I tried taking the tank off and having a more serious poke around seeing what was connected to what, though, I replaced the battery last night.

This morning, it started up screaming with my usual application of choke, despite it being 4 degrees or so outside. There's no hesitation, no intermittent running, no feathering required, the bike is full of pep again.

Is it common for a dying battery to be such a drain on the electrics to cause bad running, to the point of missing sparks, like this?
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ
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doggone
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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PostPosted: 17:09 - 08 Jan 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

If the charging system is working normally, there shouldn't be any low voltage issues when it's running.
It could be an ignition coil on the way out or HT leads as you suspected.
Alway first thing to check is for poor earth due to corrosion or dirt.
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barrkel
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Joined: 30 Jul 2012
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PostPosted: 12:30 - 09 Jan 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

doggone wrote:
If the charging system is working normally, there shouldn't be any low voltage issues when it's running.
It could be an ignition coil on the way out or HT leads as you suspected.
Alway first thing to check is for poor earth due to corrosion or dirt.


It's running great right now - it's like it's up 20+ hp - and am not about to try and fix it when it's not broken. We'll see if things go bad again when it gets wet.

I get mixed results searching online for a causal connection between a bad battery and poor running. Some people swear it's not possible, others swear it's happened to them. So far, I'm in the latter camp.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ
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Chris45
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Joined: 23 Oct 2016
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PostPosted: 15:38 - 09 Jan 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Alway first thing to check is for poor earth due to corrosion or dirt.
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Quote:
It's running great right now - it's like it's up 20+ hp - and am not about to try and fix it when it's not broken.
Thumbs Down

I would simply add the word "Intermittent" and advise you reread Doggone's post. Wink
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P.
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Joined: 14 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: 19:27 - 09 Jan 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is probably a fast idle btw, rather than a choke.
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barrkel
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PostPosted: 14:17 - 10 Jan 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Paddy. wrote:
It is probably a fast idle btw, rather than a choke.

I agree; it is, however, labelled choke.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ
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P.
Red Rocket



Joined: 14 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: 21:25 - 10 Jan 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

barrkel wrote:
Paddy. wrote:
It is probably a fast idle btw, rather than a choke.

I agree; it is, however, labelled choke.


GSXR750Y I had was similar.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ScgAAOSwcLxYKJvu/s-l300.jpg
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