cold starts

[Hoover]

For sure. I was in the towing industry for 30 years. I owned a mid sized wrecker company here in the Wisconsin and hot summers were much busier for us than winters. If you have a well maintained battery, it has to get seriously cold for extended periods to kill it.
In the summer time however, because the heat doesn't quit for days, nights and weeks, batteries explode, die or lose charge much quicker.
This summer, we had weeks of 90+ and the local wrecker and service shops were working overtime to stay caught up.

 

[compensation]

Just a thought, can you set a power commander to be rich or lean during the warm up period? The damn thing fires right up if you cycle the key twice. So if the computer cant take care of the fuel management then I wonder if tweaking the start up period would do any good. I would take it to the shop but knowing this places history and the fact they are putting blame to spark plugs and me not giving it enough gas makes me wonder if they have the slightest clue of what they are doing.

(More battery stuff) I took my car into the ford dealer and told them the battery is fine, has been under a load test but the alternator is out. They changed the alternator and put my battery on a load test. I think they killed it. It had 95% of its rated amps and then they ****ed with it and it has like 70% and there is lead missing off the post. The green light went away and they said I had to have one. Been running 6 months with no problem. I will replace it next week but I want to know if they owe me a battery.

 

[mrthompson]

most likely not. but what was the charger or voltage on the battery on the second test. if it was not 12.6 then the battery was not fully charged. the percentage is based of the charge, cca measured, and cca rated. i have seen some batteries recover some of the percentage if the are recharged.

the other option or likely possibility is that the alternator not charging the battery property caused damage to the battery. extremely discharging a battery is the number one thing that actually hurts it.

on the richness on start up..... thats what i was refering to earlier about the diag mode in the cluster. on the wr, that is how you actually make that adjustment.

 

[compensation]

It was tested perfect then 2 miles down the road was tested junk. I dont remember the stats. I just remember the chunk missing on the post.

On the wr? Whats the abbreviation for?

 

[mrthompson]

wr250x

 

[compensation]

Ohh I forgot about that.

 

[Sebastian f7]

Hey guys
I was reading this post because obviously we have an fz8 in the stable that has this issue. Called the a few local yammie dealers, and of course no one had ever heard of it. They kept giving me some run around bs. I told them I knew exactly what the problem was and how to solve it but they said it was fault of the sales dealership (which has now closed due to the owner being a spoiled azzhole) anyway I called Yamaha directly and they had also never heard of it.
Was wondering if you guys that have this issue will grab your vin #'s and call Yammie directly. If they can see it is a issue with multiple bikes they will be forced to look at it more closely.

 

[the borg]

"I told them I knew exactly what the problem was and how to solve it."

So what is the solution?

 

[FZ81983]

Cold start

Hi all,
Brought a brand new 2011 last month and it has been a sweet ride!
But as the first service came through I have started having problems with starting in the morning and the alvo. Same deal 3-4 goes or hold the start but till it does start! No other bike I have own did this..... Not happy, has any one come up with a solution?

 

[Sebastian f7]

"I told them I knew exactly what the problem was and how to solve it."

So what is the solution?

Guess I should've worded that differently. I know an ineffective way to make the problem go away... Which is the battery tender. Actual solutions well, hopefully if yamaha gets a bunch of calls they will find a solution

Went out this nice chilly morning 41* and did some testing since I dont have to work till 10. Anyway the bike wouldn't do it this morning. It started perfectly. However I dont think its related to the voltage dropping below 10.5. My fz1 which starts flawlessly every time drops down to 9.0 volts (4 tests= same result) The fz8 was 10.6 volts.

Both bikes key off = 12.4 v
Both bikes key on pump cycling 12.0v
Both bikes key on no pump 12.3v
Both bikes running = 14+ v
The only place they differ is the start voltage.


Any of you guys got mods? If so what? Hers is 100% bone stock.

 

[compensation]

Stock

 

[FZER]

I all ready said it was 12.84v. Seems charged enough to me. And do you think we should really have to cycle our key twice every time to get it to start considering we just paid thousands to buy a quality machine? Its not fair to us as consumers to deal with a factory born problem.

Now Daniel Son (karate kid quote) do you understand why I asked you about the battery voltage under load while cranking? The tone in your writing seemed a little upset! That's totally a joke. Just messing with you.

 

[DJK1505]

every once in a while mine will start and die a few times. If it does it the first time, I just hold the start button a little longer and it starts right up.

The dealer telling you to give it gas is an idiot. Get the fuel pressure gauge and see what your fuel pressure is. I run a maintenance shop and we do get bad parts off the shelf at times. So it might possibly be a dieing fuel pump. if its under warranty bitch at your dealer enough until they do the fuel pressure readiing in front of you. It takes no time to do, remove the tank and hook up a gauge. Other than that just hold the start button a little longer and deal with it.

DJ

 

[lechi542FZ8]

Many people have this issue and there have been many suggestions on the cause. Nothing has been determined to be the exact problem. I live in South Dakota and I ride in very cold weather and have experienced this cold-start issue frequently. I've experimented with everything suggested in this thread: clutch pulled in, first gear or neutral, battery voltage, holding the starter button and so on. I've found one thing that really helps and is very simple. Cycle the key twice. Turn it on and let the fuel pressure and gauges calibrate. Then turn it off, count to five, and turn on again, and hit the starter. It's the only thing that seems to work when the engine is cold.

I'd suggest a mass experiment to see if it helps others with the same issue.

 

[Sebastian f7]

Id lean more towards fuel pressure bleed off than voltage now knowing that that magic 10.5# number thats been tossed around isnt at all accurate.

 

[lance2448]

Dealer said give it gas? Robert Bosch would be turning in his grave!

Bahahahahhahah

 

[GarryM]

Guess I should've worded that differently. I know an ineffective way to make the problem go away... Which is the battery tender.

The fuel pump was the first thing the dealer replaced when they were trying to diagnose the problem with my bike. It did nothing other than costing Yamaha a warranty repair.

I have been using a battery tender since February and my bike has started faultlessly EVERY single time since then through winter and summer. Before that it would fail to start correctly around 70% of the time. The only way to get it to fire up and keep running before the battery tender was to start it then cycle the key off and on after it stalled then start it again. Holding the starter longer, pulling in the clutch, or turning the key to prime the pump first then starting it did nothing to help.

Now I unplug the battery tender, turn the key and press the starter and the bike starts up straight away. So if it's not the battery why else would a battery tender solve the problem on my bike?

Has anyone else actually tried using a battery tender and seen if it works for them?

 

[lance2448]

Perhaps there's some sort of short/extra draw that's causing the need for a tender?

Otherwise, I would agree, sounds like a battery issue.

 

[WARPTH]

Perhaps there's some sort of short/extra draw that's causing the need for a tender?

Otherwise, I would agree, sounds like a battery issue.

the factory immobiliser has a constant draw

 

[compensation]

Now Daniel Son (karate kid quote) do you understand why I asked you about the battery voltage under load while cranking? The tone in your writing seemed a little upset! That's totally a joke. Just messing with you.

Haha no, it is just upsetting with it being new and the dealer being slightly mentally handicapped. Nothan towards anyone except the bike. As for the battery tender, even if that does fix the problem with everyone's bike why was it not included with the bike? Why should i have to put up with the hassle of plugin and unplugging all the time. That is not fixing the problem, just diverting it. Since i am a dirtbike guy as well i have my own fix to this issue. I push it down the damn hill in first and do my little sit down pop clutch thing and it starts everytime.