Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Hard to start now....

My '05 TBA has been sitting now for periods of over 7 days since the temps have plunged below the 45 mark. I went last week to start her up, and she barely turned, then made a "clicking" sound, as if a relay was clicking. She did eventually start, but took around 10 punches of the start button, as if there was no fuel with the choke pulled. Put battery on "trickle" charge, same result yesterday with full charge, very hard to start, regardless of choke position, but does fire after battery is nearly depleted. Charging system producing 14.8 volts at idle, battery must be going bad only after 9 months.....Is the battery covered under my warranty? I think it should be, even if it's for only a year....

Mark being as you are in the simi frigid northernesk southland of upper Georgia try turning the key on and waiting 5 minutes so the carb heaters can do their job. Hopefully it is a simple as that. No? Then think about the last mod you made and perhaps, 'undoing' it.

Edited: Yeah, undo the son of the freak. OK. Look at the carb forward rubbers, all the vacumn port nipples and ensure the wires are hooked up to the carbs snuggly. Try starting it without any choke. Make sure you aren't flooding it out. Those bigger jets you installed coupled with colder weather and maybe a vacumn leak could all be interrelated. Your throughput is much greater now. The enricher perhaps is of lesser consequence.

If the problem is slow cranking, check your battery connections first. Sounds like a corroded/loose wire.

I forgot to plug my battery tender back to the battery after working on the bike and it drained to the point I had one bad cell. I had the same problem as you until I purchased a battery from Brent and made sure It was connected to the tender every time I park the bike.......Angelis

My bike's an '03, and I got the battery tender when new.
I hate to admit it, but I never even plugged the thing in.
The bike is stored in my Mom's garage, which is not heated,
but rarely goes below 32f. It has sat for weeks, or even
months, at a time without attention, with no appearent ill
effects.

I consider myself lucky in this respect, But plan on replacing
it over the winter.

My OEM batt in my p/u only lasted 1 year.
Uncle Charlie

It very well could be the battery. I had an 11 month old battery when I got to NC in October. It was COLD when I got there and even after leaving the bike on for a few minutes, all I got was a couple of cranks and then click, click when hitting the start button. Replaced the battery and everything has been fine since.

Moe, the carbs have not been modified at all, they are stock. The only mod I have done to the bike is removing 2 stages from each pipe, and removing the "snorkel" from under the seat. I think you are correct in advising me to let the carb heaters do their job, I completely forgot about that....I think about the headlight being on and how much that is draining the battery, and try to start her immediately....It does seem to respond better the longer the ignition is on....Will get another battery and rear tire before coming down to the Florida Greet and Meet in January.....look forward to seeing you there...Mark.

I too have an '03 with the original battery and its still cranking strong. However, I start and run mine at least twice a week and have never used a tender.

Quote:

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plug my battery tender back to the battery

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Angelis,
What is a battery tender? I still have my 5 year old stock battery. Am I supposed to tenderize it?

Just kidding. I've been real lucky with my battery. I am planning a big order with Brent in January, and a new battery is one item.

Nope, fully charged battery (green LED), switched on ignition, waited 3 minutes, pulled out choke, punched start button, got 2 revolutions, then "click click click". Pushed in choke knob 1/2 way, spun easier, then fired and started. Put meter on battery, 14.3 vdc at idle. Battery is toast. I remember now, wifey rode her to work a couple of months ago, left the ignition on all day, neighbor "jumped" with pick-up truck. I think this is the problem.....$136 for a new Yuasa....PERFECT.

$69 for the "interstate" equivalent local, pickin it up today.

New interstate fixxed problem....

My bike has also become hard to start in the winter....heres the question...my Meta Alarm disables the bike after 30 seconds, so will that override the warm up you guys suggest??.

I shall be pulling the plugs to check them, is there anyting else I should be looking at- the battery seems fine and turns the bike over no probs, it just takes about 10 goes in the cold!(1C=33.8F- last year it started no probs in lower temps!!)

if faulty, are the carb heaters expensive/easy to replace?

kind regards

RodYork

just thinking about the Alarm question- the front light remains on, so perhaps it wont affect the 5 minute heat up before initial start...

please feel free to chime in with other checks I should carry out, costs and ease of fitment of hearters etc though!

I think its just the cold weather! Me and my dad have two bikes in the same garage an America and a Speedmaster and if its cold we have to crank the snots out of them to start them. We have tryed all kind of times with the carb heaters from one to five minutes NO HELP

Just an update on my 10 times to start....
I took out the plugs and cleaned them
I checked the battery connections..tightening them and then greased them
I checked electrical connections and greased them to the carb heaters.
I checked(undid)and reconnected the HT leads and greased them
sprayed a little WD40 over other connections electrical

...temperature still same...

but now she fires up like a beauty first time! ...now I have no idea which one it was, so I advise you to consider the steps I took..it took about 30 mins

good luck all

Regards

RodYork