Micksan
Supercharged
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2010
- Messages
- 473
- Location
- Del City Ok
- Ride
- 2023 Triumph R3 GT, 2022 Moto Guzzi V85TT,
The other day It was in the low 60s , and I tried to start my bike. Acted like it had in the past when it was in the 30s or low 40s. I have a Odyssey 625 battery that is a little over a year old.
I was pissed , so I pushed it back to the shop , and put it on the table lift. Tried to start again with a car battery jumped in. No Luck. Topped off both batteries. At first still no luck , then it finally started.
Not wanting to get stuck or having to carry jumper cables , I decided to start at the battery and work my way to the starter.
Here is what I found.
I pulled the starter so I could get at the connector lugs. The ground wire which is a spade connector had some corrosion on it. The lug connector on top of the starter had rust on the connecting side of the nut, and also the contact portion of the starter. The eye connector also had some corrosion. The bottom Lug was in pretty good shape . Both had their plastic covers in place .
I cleaned them up , then put a good coat of liquid tape on both lugs to seal them . I added another ground wire from the battery to the long bolt on the solenoid. Reinstalled every thing , and it started right up. No hesitation at all.
This morning it was 41 deg . I went out to the shop first thing , to try and start the bike. In the past it may start or not. If it did , the bike would do a moan & groan trying to wake up. This morning it started right up , without hesitation.
I had read the other threads on cold start problems , and from what I found , I believe that the corrosion on the starter nut increased the resistance . This would require a higher CCA rated battery to get past it. I also believe that adding the extra ground wire could not hurt , and very possibility help the situation. I used a 14 Ga wire with eyes at either end . Hooked battery to long bolt on the solenoid
To do the job it took about 30 to 45minutes . I do have a motorcycle shop with a table lift. Best way to do it is to pull the whole starter . This is done with a 12mm socket and extension. The liquid tape came from Home Depot . Can probably find it t many other locations.
One other thing I did notice is that the relays are not the sealed type. The Moto Guzzi had a lot of proiblems on cold damp days due to mosture getting into the relays . They replaced them with Semans(?) sealed type. Cheap fix. One of the guys way selling them for about $3 each. I will see if they will match up to ours.
How about letting me know how you make out
BTW This is a little bit of pay back for the help answering my questions when I first got the R3
I was pissed , so I pushed it back to the shop , and put it on the table lift. Tried to start again with a car battery jumped in. No Luck. Topped off both batteries. At first still no luck , then it finally started.
Not wanting to get stuck or having to carry jumper cables , I decided to start at the battery and work my way to the starter.
Here is what I found.
I pulled the starter so I could get at the connector lugs. The ground wire which is a spade connector had some corrosion on it. The lug connector on top of the starter had rust on the connecting side of the nut, and also the contact portion of the starter. The eye connector also had some corrosion. The bottom Lug was in pretty good shape . Both had their plastic covers in place .
I cleaned them up , then put a good coat of liquid tape on both lugs to seal them . I added another ground wire from the battery to the long bolt on the solenoid. Reinstalled every thing , and it started right up. No hesitation at all.
This morning it was 41 deg . I went out to the shop first thing , to try and start the bike. In the past it may start or not. If it did , the bike would do a moan & groan trying to wake up. This morning it started right up , without hesitation.
I had read the other threads on cold start problems , and from what I found , I believe that the corrosion on the starter nut increased the resistance . This would require a higher CCA rated battery to get past it. I also believe that adding the extra ground wire could not hurt , and very possibility help the situation. I used a 14 Ga wire with eyes at either end . Hooked battery to long bolt on the solenoid
To do the job it took about 30 to 45minutes . I do have a motorcycle shop with a table lift. Best way to do it is to pull the whole starter . This is done with a 12mm socket and extension. The liquid tape came from Home Depot . Can probably find it t many other locations.
One other thing I did notice is that the relays are not the sealed type. The Moto Guzzi had a lot of proiblems on cold damp days due to mosture getting into the relays . They replaced them with Semans(?) sealed type. Cheap fix. One of the guys way selling them for about $3 each. I will see if they will match up to ours.
How about letting me know how you make out
BTW This is a little bit of pay back for the help answering my questions when I first got the R3