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Coldstart issue.

5K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  ko66 
#1 ·
Hello everyone.

I have a R1 crossplane from 2011 that is hard to start up in cold condition. The bike has driven 13,500 miles
Fuelpump runs fine when the bike is switched on but I have to drive the starter for a long time before the engine starts to show signs of going.
The problem has come little by little and has become worse but has now stabilized and is now the same every time the bike has to be started up in cold condition.
It's like turning on a single cylinder and only a few seconds after turning on all four cylinders properly, the bike just got new battery, new spark plugs and air filters but this hasn't removed the problem.
When the bike has been started for the first time after cold, there is nothing wrong when it is started afterwards and not when it is hot.
Could it be the injector error, or an update of the ECU or perhaps loss of fuel pressures when it stands still for some hours?
Hope someone can come up with some ideas.

Best regards Lars from Denmark
 
#4 ·
Hi Lars, Add another one to the list(2011).I have exactly the symtoms as you describe,i bought mine in summer here in Assie and had no starting issues at all,now approaching winter with early morning temps of about 10 degree celcius I have to crank it several times before it fires followed by misfiring.As you say ,once warm it then starts instantly.
 
#6 ·
Figured I'd chime in here... I've been having the same issue for as long as I've owned the bike. When the bike is cold it takes multiple attempts to start. Usually I will have to crank for 3-5 seconds at a time and it sometimes takes up to 5-6 tries before it finally fires up. Are we really considering this normal? I've done some searching and found a few people that claim to have resolved the issue by replacing the starter motor? It seems to me that if the starter was the problem then the bike wouldn't crank at all....

The bike has Yoshimura slip ons and a Bazzaz QS TC Fuel controller. I've replaced spark plugs, air filter, engine oil, and did AIS block-off plates. The problem persists. When it's warmed up it starts much easier, usually after just a second or two of cranking.
 
#9 ·
Regardless of air temp. I'm in San Diego and I never ride below about 70F, anyways.

Turned out to be a dirty ground and weak battery for me. Ill crank it the first time maybe 2 seconds then on the scond hit she starts right up.
I have heard of people remedying this issue with a new battery but it seems to me that the bike wouldn't want to crank at all if it was a weak battery...? I also put a battery tender on it and it seemed to be charged fully. Although, now that I think about it, it seemed weird to me that it didn't want to take any more charge. Maybe I'll try swapping it out. I've also heard that this issue can be related to a bad starter. Again, my intuition says that the bike wouldn't crank as it does if the starter was bad, but maybe I'll try that next.... hate to just start throwing parts at it, but it's really annoying if the bike has been sitting for a few hours and I have to crank it over and over to start it! It's really more of an embarrassment than anything at this point...
 
#10 ·
I had this issue a while back where it was air temp related. Anything under 50f would be A hard start. A valve adjustment solved it. Put them all as close to the center of the tolerances but none were out of spec just closer to the limits. Bike has started first try in any temp since.
 
#11 ·
Update: I replaced the battery with a new lithium battery and replaced the starter with a new OEM unit. The bike cranks much faster fires right up now! I had been dealing with the slow-starting issue ever since I've owned the bike and it was getting to the point where it was becoming embarrassing since I had to make multiple attempts at starting any time the bike was cold. So I can't say for sure whether it was the battery or the starter which was the main culprit, but my issue appears to be solved. For what it's worth.
 
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