intermittent will not start (consistently)

M

M3Busa

Registered
Okay, so my back and forth to work bike, '07 Hayabusa is having some issues, bike has 22,000 miles.

I can get up for PT in the a.m. and ride to work and come back about 2 hours later and hop on and it will start up just fine. But, if i ride to work, and get back on it immediately (within 10 to 20 min) it will crank like the battery is dead, then nothing.

Any short stops, cause me to have to push start. However, if it sits for about an hour or so, it will crank.

Sooo, i thought battery. Purchased a new battery from Autozone (possible mistake) SAME THING.

Now Im thinking stator? Starter is fine, because if i jump it, it will start immediately.

This weekend i m taking it apart and check the grounds, tighten cables, and......

What do you guys think?
 
Bad battery, have it load tested at a batteries plus or something like that!
Check the running voltage, it should be over 13 volts.
 
Sounds like a battery to me too. With it running, you should get over 13v to 14.5v revving up to about 5k. If you have the battery is weak.
 
It could be something in your charging system, like the stator. The fact that it cranks fine after it sits an hour is odd because a dead battery is a dead battery; it may regain a bit of power after sitting a while, but not enough to crank the engine as normal. Check your running voltage at the battery. It should be in excess of 13 volts. You might have an issue with the starter relay contacts.
 
Busa's are harder to start when they are hot. If the battery isn't up to par, it will crank but not fire up immediately like you would expect. I was having a similar problem... replaced my battery with a Balistic Li Iron battery and haven't had an issue since. She fires up immediately whether hot or cold.

Here's a test you can perform. The next time you've just finished riding your busa and then she won't fire up, jump it with your car's battery (engine not running on the car). If it fires right up you know it's the battery. Then you'll need to determine if the battery is bad or you have a charging system issue. Testing your charging system is easy and the instructions are in the service manual.
 
If your battery is good then check your Regulator Rectifier ...when they start to go they don't charge when they get HOT ...So you could have a good charge on a battery...and when you first start to ride it will charge for a while ,but once it gets hot enough it wont charge anymore and then you'll be running on the battery only till it eventually drains and BOOM your stuck.So check the charge while its HOT..not warm up hot but after a ride hot.
 
I guess the reason I'm so baffled is that after the bike cools down, she'll fire up as if the battery was fresh. Deductive reasoning tells me it is a heat issue of some sort. I'm not sure what exactly the relationship between battery regeneration & cooling down is but this is FRUSTRATING. The bike can only idle so long before the heat sensor trips the in gear kill switch so as not to get stranded trying to engage after idle. So getting someone out of the shop to do a load test while the bike is running & hot damn near requires an appointment. Forget riding somewhere for a short errand. Thnx for the input!
 
Based on the symptoms, it sounds like a bad battery. Take it to a place like autozone that tests it for free. The other simple thing to check first is your battery connections and ground points. Make sure they are tight and the ground are clean and corrosion/rust free.
 
Slabman said:
I guess the reason I'm so baffled is that after the bike cools down, she'll fire up as if the battery was fresh. Deductive reasoning tells me it is a heat issue of some sort. I'm not sure what exactly the relationship between battery regeneration & cooling down is but this is FRUSTRATING. The bike can only idle so long before the heat sensor trips the in gear kill switch so as not to get stranded trying to engage after idle. So getting someone out of the shop to do a load test while the bike is running & hot damn near requires an appointment. Forget riding somewhere for a short errand. Thnx for the input!
Click to expand...

The relationship between heat and not starting is simply for the busa, when the engine is hot, it is more difficult to start. In fact, the work around I was using to get the bike to start before replacing my battery was to hold the throttle open just a little while pressing the start button. That worked 99% of the time.

It's not that the battery is "regenerating" when it is cold, it's simply that the engine is easier to start when it is cool.
 
Bazinga'! Makes much better sense now. Heat causes expansion of materials thus increasing compression requiring more energy to crank. The extra fuel & possible air from choking would, by means of accelerated combustion, ease the load on the starter, hence the weak battery. So......what is the best battery on the market that will fit w/minimal to no modifications for a Gen I Busa? Also, is there an aftermarket starter available with more cranking power? Sorry guys, sometimes it takes me a minute to catch on when I'm so far off base. I appreciate the knowledge.
 
You took the words right out of my mouth! LOL

I can't recommend the Ballistic EVO2 12 cell enough! It is about 2/3rds the size of the stock battery... only weighs a little over 2lbs and has about 400 CCA. it has a 3 year warranty as well. It is an expensive battery. I think I paid about $160 for it from ebay. There are authorized dealers on ebay. Go to the Ballistic website so that you can find the correct model number. Batteries - Ballistic Performance Components to make sure that the + and - terminals are on the correct side for the busa.

Oh and these batteries are assembled in the USA, if that matters to you.
 
Yes sir it matters to me! I believe that the gentleman who started this post serves for us judging from the reference to morning PT. So let me start by thanking him for his service as well as the thread.

I've said it a million times before, I've never owned/raced a bike I didn't have to manually start or had FI. This is all new to me, but if I own it I need to be able to fix it/understand it since I have little ones depending on me to get here & there. The wealth of knowledge that people go out of their way to share is beyond kindness in this forum. I'm ignorant of facts, but I'm not just plain stupid. Thnx again all! I am grateful.
 
Solved: Regulator/Rectifier was not happy when hot, voltage would drop from 14.5 to almost nothing the hotter it got.

so while riding for long periods, it would eventually be running off the battery alone, thus draining the battery.

I attribute the weird re-start after setting for a while to purchasing a new battery to try and fix the issue. the new battery could recover after sitting for a while.

swapped the Regulator/Rectifier, Tested her several times, she starts on command, at any time.

It gave me 16k miles, i guess that okay.

Thanks gentlemen and ladies
 
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