Bad Battery or What?

[V-Max 2 Busa]

Set out for a nice 500-600 mile solo ride today and after approx 100 miles I pull over to fuel up and after fueling she won't start. The most I could get is a rapid clicking noise coming from the starter I believe. I managed to push start her but I seriously do not recommend doing this with a Busa especially in full gear and Sidi boots, damn near droped her once. Anyhow I jump back on the freeway and make a mad dash for home with only 100 miles to go. About every 20 miles or so all the gauges start bouncing, all the instrument lights start going on and off and the bike is surging on and off as I'm droping gears gradually losing speed hoping she'll start running smooth once again. Down to 2nd gear I pull in the clutch and turn off the power switch for a few seconds while coasting on the shoulder, flip the power back on, pop the clutch and quickly accelerate back up to cruising speed. She repeats this approx every 20 miles or so. Thank God I did make it back home and she sat there idling like nothing was wrong, shut her off and tried to restart only to get the rapid clikcing noise again. Checked the voltage which registered 12.5 volts with the key off, turning the key on the meter drpoped to 8.5 volts. Is my Battery toast or is there something else going on here?

 

[m_ridgeway]

check per service manual. rectifier and make sure the batt is getting charged from the bike

 

[2Wheels2Live]

Is it an 08? The 08's had a recall for bad rectifiers, have heard of lots of guys having problems. Definately sounds like a battery issue. If its a newer busa and you ride it regularly, and hopefully keep the battery charged up through the winter, it sounds like the bike isn't charging the battery. Good luck
BTW be sure to check your battery connections, make sure they're tight and clean

 

[MC MUSTANG]

Remember that on a gen 1, the charging system only works above 4500 rpm; depending on your speed and gear (and if you are running anything off the battery direct like a GPS or something) it might not even be an issue - just charge it and see how she tests after a full charge... it will give you a better idea of what is going on.

 

[V-Max 2 Busa]

Is it an 08? The 08's had a recall for bad rectifiers, have heard of lots of guys having problems. Definately sounds like a battery issue. If its a newer busa and you ride it regularly, and hopefully keep the battery charged up through the winter, it sounds like the bike isn't charging the battery. Good luck
BTW be sure to check your battery connections, make sure they're tight and clean

It's an 05 with only 4K miles on it, bought it used last year. The previous owner said it had sat for the better part of the last 3 years. I don't know if the battery is original as it is Xtreme brand and not Yuasa like what was in my first 05 Busa. Last year when I went to takew the first ride on the bike it cranked very slow and would not start, charged the battery for a couple days and she started and ran without any problems. Generally the day before a ride I'll hook her up to the Battery-Tender just to make sure she's good to go, did this yesterday and she didn't show any signs of a problem till I got 100 miles away from home. I was really puzzled by the surging on the freeway on my way back, it was as if the key/power was being turned on and off repeatedly.

Not sure how to check the rectifier to make sure the battery is getting charged from the bike but I'll check the service manual and see what I come up with.

Thanks guys

 

[V-Max 2 Busa]

Remember that on a gen 1, the charging system only works above 4500 rpm; depending on your speed and gear (and if you are running anything off the battery direct like a GPS or something) it might not even be an issue - just charge it and see how she tests after a full charge... it will give you a better idea of what is going on.

MC, this I was wondering about as I was on a stretch of highway known for it's abundant driver award program which carries a $500 penalty in that paticular county. I was cruising at indicated 80 which is 4K RPM's

 

[MC MUSTANG]

Best idea is to charge it and then test it just as you did. See what she is getting... Extreme is a batteries plus battery - so it would be easy to replace and they have a 6 month any reason replacement program...

 

[DevilDawg1]

Is it an 08? The 08's had a recall for bad rectifiers, have heard of lots of guys having problems. Definately sounds like a battery issue. If its a newer busa and you ride it regularly, and hopefully keep the battery charged up through the winter, it sounds like the bike isn't charging the battery. Good luck
BTW be sure to check your battery connections, make sure they're tight and clean

Haven't heard of a recall on the K8's for a recifier problem. Recall was for wires to the switch (in particular for the routing of these wires).

But it does sound like a battery or a charging problem.

 

[V-Max 2 Busa]

Knowing that the battery was weak when I got the bike last year I decided to go ahead and swap out the battery. Went and got the Extreme AGM from BatteriesPlus for $55, she fired right up. Gonna try that ride again tomorrow so we'll see if there's any further issues.

Thanks again for all the responses.

 

[dk55belair]

I brought my 2004 to Myrtle Beach last summer and cruised in the traffic only to stop for 2 minutes and the battery wouldn't turn the bike over and start. next morning it fired up and I took it and bought a new one. We have rode at the beach since last monday and tonight I go to load the bike after riding about 30 minutes and it does the same thing. I wonder if my system isnt charging enuff?

 

[dk55belair]

Knowing that the battery was weak when I got the bike last year I decided to go ahead and swap out the battery. Went and got the Extreme AGM from BatteriesPlus for $55, she fired right up. Gonna try that ride again tomorrow so we'll see if there's any further issues.

Thanks again for all the responses.

You should probably check your battery connections and make sure they are clean and tight. That would cause the gauges to act funky.

 

[V-Max 2 Busa]

You should probably check your battery connections and make sure they are clean and tight. That would cause the gauges to act funky.

Believe me everything is clean and tight on my bike.

They did a load test on the old battery and it wouldn't hold any charge under load so they confirmed, old battery was toast.

 

[Lucid]

My battery went out but it was because of the stator, so you might check that too.

 

[Pardini]

Gene, Check the voltage at the battery with the bike running. If it's charging you should see something close to 14 vdc.

 

[hemi]

agreeing with pardini on this one. Check the voltage with the bike running, with the bike off it should be about 12.5v-13v, running should be close to 14v. The voltage will fluctuate with the bike running, but if u hold it at about 4-5k rpms (i think this is the charging voltage range, when the rectifier kicks in), it should be around 14v. My 08 busa was having starting issues a month after i bought it brand new, would ride about 20 miles or so, and every time it would not start back up. Did a bunch of research and determined the rectifier was not charging the battery back up, so every time i took it out for a spin it was just running down the battery until completely dead and not re-charging it period