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Bike won't start! HELP!

7K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  andrewstclair 
#1 ·
I put the key in my bike today to ride it. I turned the key over and nothing happened. No screen, No light.... Nothing. I figured it must be a blown fuse, so I looked under the seat. Fuse there was good, I looked under the left fairing and all fuses there look good. So I'm thinking it must be the battery. So I decided to jump start the bike. The bike turned on fine. When I went to disconnect the jumper cables, the bike just died. I had a few dead batteries before on other bikes, the bikes never turned off by removing the jumper cables. But I connected them again and let bike idle for 5 minutes. Surly this should be enough to charge the battery a little bit and let the bike warm up right? As soon as I removed the jumpers the bike just turned off again. Dead as a rock. No lights besides the ABS light very dim and going dimmer.

Is the alternator broken? Am I missing a fuse? I'm debating on taking it to the dealer but I have SBU ECU and AIS Block off plates and would need to fix all that before taking it in right? What do you guys think it is?

Ricky
 
#3 ·
Hey man do worry this happened to me and my bike. The battery is just dead and the alternator doesn't charge at idle speed. So put ur bike is second gear, and either push start it yourself or have someone help, and when it is started don't let it die go riding, and try to avoid stop lights or signs for a minute or two.
 
#6 ·
How long has it been sitting? If you got a battery tender or some type of charger try charging for about an hour. Then from there see if a charge has been made.

Also, Time to invest in an FTecu for future flashes when you take it in for warranty.
 
#8 ·
+1 on the park position. I did it that's how I killed my battery. I tried to charge my battery and everything just like the op and nothing worked until I pushed started it and kept it rolling for a while. My battery hasn't have any problems since. I know I shortened the life of it but will worry about that later. And person who says their bike will charge at idle. I highly doubt it. All of our bikes are made with the same alternator. It might put out a little dc but not enough to keep a dead battery alive. If you ever do the common mistake and leave your bike in park mode you will find out. So the op can take my advice or not and spend money I'm only trying to help.
 
#9 ·
Yes this is the park position problem all over again. You would think that Yamaha would Program the bike to BEEP or make some type of indication when you put it in Park position by accident.

Double on the Jump start and disconnect the cables, The bike WILL die.. I dont know of any other vehicle that doesnt let the stator (not alternator) charge the system when running in idle. But Yamaha Must have had some odd reason for this.

Whatever you do, DO NOT keep the battery in a deep discharged state for a long period of time. The longer the battery stays in that state, the harder it will be to chemically bring back to 100 % charge without sulfate building up on the plates.

If you do not already have a battery tender, get a good one that allows you to adjust the amperage and voltage. You should have one anyway because letting the bike/battery sit for extended periods of time (periods of over one month) will slowly deteriorate the batteries ability to take and keep a charge (sulfate build up) They should range anywhere from 10-25 bucks.

While jump starting the bike in second gear will save you some money, unless you have a buddy or two to keep you going, or you can find a good hill to roll down, doing a push start on a bike may be risky. IE you may tip over at low speeds because the bike isnt going fast enough to keep it up right. I'm not saying its definitely going to happen, but its a risk. I have seen people try it and drop far too many bikes that way.

The method that worked for me was taking the battery completely out of the bike, and putting it on the tender for a day. When I put it back in the bike the bike started right up and remained at 100 % as per my GPS tracking system. So I got lucky. IF you are finding lower voltages than 12.3 Volts at rest after 1 hour or 12 hours, then do a warranty claim quickly before you lose your ability to get it exchanged.
 
#10 ·
I had no idea about the Park position and didn't really believe you guys till I checked it out for myself. I have a car battery charger and I let it charge half the day. Nothing happened! The battery is dead as a rock. :nforc: I even jump started it with my car and let the bike run in gear for a bit, when i went to disconnect the jumper cables it just died again after a couple seconds. I guess I'm going to buy a new batter for now and see if Yamaha can replace the battery for me. Thanks for the advice and I'll keep you guys posted
 
#11 ·
My battery didn't start to come back to life until a full 24 hour of charging. Try charging it overnight before you go out and buy another battery. Make sure you are charging it for the rated amps and the specified voltage required. That will be marked on the battery itself.

Mine was good on one full day after I tested the voltage and it okay. I out it in the bike and it started right up like day one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#13 ·
The battery is just too dead to take a charge properly from the sound of it. If you put a draw on the battery and it drops below 5 or so volts it's very hard for them to come back. Try a charger but most likely take it in and see if they will warranty the battery but maybe not.

The ecu flash I wouldnt think would matter they can still get trouble codes from The ecu just the same. My dealer has never said one word to me about any mods.

I love this parking lights fiasco that keeps going on over and over. I hear ppl posting they have owned R1s before never left the park lights on before but im pretty sure this is the first R1 that has had this function in north america.
 
#17 ·
I say we should start a petition for a recall of the ignition switches to make it a little more travel in the key from the lock position to the park position, or the software to make the system either make a beep or do something special to indicate that it is in park mode.

I have seen other petitions floating around. I am thinking if we get enough signatures we can get someones attention for this stupidly common problem.
 
#14 ·
As for the bike not charging at idle it sounds stupid but it works in our favor it starts charging well around 3k you can test it with a volt meter and see it jump to 14 volts around there. I think the point of that is that it doesn't over charge so easy an melt reg rec's like the curse of the gsxr.
 
#16 ·
I love the bike but the battery is rubbish
I have seen folks with dead battery number two with less than 3k on the clock.
My CCU before being reprogrammed killed my first battery almost immediately. Just but the bullet after that and went speedcell and never had a problem after that.


Mike Ruhe
Partner P.R.E.
 
#21 ·
My dad had a battery charger that was 12V 6AMP's and that fixed and charged the battery. It fully charged the battery in 3 hours. I was using a 12V 2AMP before but its didn't charge it at all. Maybe it didn't work IDK. Thank for the advice guy. I signed the petition online. Yamaha can add a couple lines of code next time and give a visual or audio sound as a warning. Its so easy for Park Mode to be activated. It really shouldn't even drain the battery unless you actually turn on the hazard lights. Why is it draining power with the lights off? FU PARK POSITION!
 
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