cold engine - hard start and wandering idle

m49512

Standard Bore
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
7
Location
Ft. Collins, Colorado
Hi all. Having a little issue. In very cold weather (like -10C), the beast is not easy to start. It won't fire on first round of crank (approx. 2 secs of turn). Second try and it pops and sputters, but doesn't usually hold. Third round does the trick. Then, for at least 60 seconds, it "searches" for an RPM it likes...all cylinders firing, but it wanders a little. RPMs go from 800 to 1200 to 900, and so on. Then, after about 60 seconds when she's warmed up a little, she settles in at 800/850 and all is well. Once warmed up for real, no issues. So...my Rocket friends...what's going on? I have TORS w/no can, Tuneboy, O2 removed with plug, and am running the 20150No-Pop Senior.dat tune from HeR3tic.
 
Sounds pretty typical of a really cold start to me.

It would take me a couple prods to get going in that cold of temp too.
 
17 degrees. That's about 40 degrees too cold for me to be riding.

Hey m49512 forgot to ask, do you touch the throttle at all when starting?
 
Hi Pig9r. Nah...at those temperatures my hands are buried deeply inside the front of my pants trying to warm up. I try not to touch the throttle when stabbing the ignition. Anyway, I sure appreciate all the feedback. I figured it was just normal for weather that cold. Honestly, it just seems that if more than a week goes by and I can't get out on the bike...I get really cranky. As long as there isn't ice on the ground, I'm out there. Sometimes I miss the heated grips on that R1150R...but there's no substitute for a finger freezin ride and stopping by the side of the road to warm the old hands on the header and figure out just the right distance so the glove doesn't burn, the hands don't heat up too fast, and waiting for the pain to subside before launching down the road again...
 
I've started mine when it was about that cold a few times, once about 1 AM after I had been into the brown liquor and wanted to hear the Rocket sing. It acted the same way. Those big cylinders probably don't fire too efficiently when things are that cold.
 
m49512 said:
So...my Rocket friends...what's going on?
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like the computer is doing what it's supposed to do in cold weather. Same thing happened to mine when the cold hit, no where near your temps though.

Same thing happens on every computer controlled vehicle I own this time of year...

Parking it in a heated garage or using a block heater will probably eliminate this.
 

Dammit that's cold. About 10 degrees too cold for me. I'll crank up the Silverado before I have to brave that. -10c two-wheel riding is dedication! I don't wear any rockers for that species of rider.
 
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