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Car Maintenance Tips"My Motorcycle won't start!! What now?"
by:
Keith
Maintain your Battery and check your charging system!
9 times out of 10 the reason why your bike won't start is commonly because of the battery condition or loose connections. A charging system failure is less likely but is still possible.
I wish talk simply about several of them here.
First look at your battery connections. Check for obvious and easiest to fix problems first. A loose connection, poor ground etc. wish likely cause intermittent operation of the starting and charging systems. If you find a loose connection and/or corrosion, clear the connections with a wire brush.
Before re-attaching apply a little grease to the contact points. The grease helps to prevent any of the white corrosion residues building up about the battery terminals.
Try and start her up now. You still have a problem? Go down to the mall and buy yourself a small electronic multimeter. (Make sure it has several AC and DC potential unit
functions, as well as a continuity (or OHMS)function. Pull out the battery and set it on a counter. Set your multimeter to DC volts. Measure the Battery voltage by placing the red lead on the positive and the Black on the negative.
The voltage see should be about 12.5 volts (higher is OK) If the voltage is less than this it may indicate a poor battery. Notice I say, "may" here because the bike's charging system power be at fault. In this case the battery wish most likely be OK.
Confirm that the solution
level in each cell of the battery is good. Add distilled water only to cell's with a low level. (Obviously you cannot add water to a maintenance free battery) Charge the battery long
with a slow charger only. Motorcycle batteries cannot handle a fast charge. Do sure the charger only charges at a rate of 2 amps or less.
Install the battery and try and start her again. If she still won't go buy a new battery and your problem wish likely be fixed. If she starts and runs like a charm, then you have to find out why the battery went dead. You need to check the charging system.
With the engine running, place the multimeter leads on the battery. Rev the engine a little. The system voltage should rise with engine RPM. A voltage of about 13.5 to simply about 14.5 should be displayed. If the voltage stays constant and/or is slowly decreasing, or if the voltage rises above 14.7 volts the charging system is not functioning.
What do you do now? You have to check two things. The Mechanical device
and the Regulator. The mechanical device
creates an AC voltage. The regulator changes the AC to DC voltage and as well maintains that voltage at the proper level.
The Mechanical device
can be checked with the Ohms function on your meter. Locate and move out the plug for the mechanical device
on the front of the engine block. You wish see two or three pins inside.
Set the meter for low Ohms, and measure the continuity between these pins. 5 Ohms or less is what you are looking for here. Set the meter to the highest setting. With 1 lead attached to a metal part of bike check for continuity to each pin. You meter should see infinite, or no continuity. If these tests check out then your mechanical device
is fine. If there is a fault in any of these tests, then see your dealer
The regulator is the easiest of all to check. The regulator is ready-made of solid state natural philosophy and can't be opened. Replace the regulator if everything else on the charging system checks out or if there is an overcharging situation.
On most Harley's you wish not cognize if the charging system is beginning to fail. The evidence shows up once
you have dim lights or she simply won't start. There are aftermarket accessories that you can install on your bike that wish tell you the current state of the charging system.
Save yourself several bucks here!! With a simple multimeter accessible from any Natural philosophy parts store you can troubleshoot your charging system and check your battery and most likely repair any problems yourself.
Just simply about the author:
Keith Nivon is an avid Harley Davidson Motorcycle Enthusiast! His website contains information on all things Harley Davidson. http://www.everything-harley-davidson.comis a great resource for anyone who shares a passion for Harley Davidson Motorcycles. Have a look at http://www.everything-harley-davidson.comfor much information.
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