Help!!! Bike won't start

[H8terboi]

Hi All,

 

Went to start the bike up today and nothing happened. Turning on the key does not turn on the computer display or the front headlights. The bike has been sitting for about two weeks on a battery tender. The battery is fully charged. I can plug in my Zumo and it works.

 

I checked all the connections to the Centech AP-1 and everything was well. All the fuses were in place and seemed fine. I checked the battery conncetions and everything was tight. There have been no new farkles in about 6 months during which time everything was working fine.

 

I am no electrician and don't pretend to understand Canbus. If someone can give me some advice on any quick things to check or common problems I would appreciate it. The bike is still under warranty but I have very little faith in my local BMW service dept.

 

Cheers,

 

H8terboi

[T__]

Hi All,

 

Went to start the bike up today and nothing happened. Turning on the key does not turn on the computer display or the front headlights. The bike has been sitting for about two weeks on a battery tender. The battery is fully charged. I can plug in my Zumo and it works.

 

I checked all the connections to the Centech AP-1 and everything was well. All the fuses were in place and seemed fine. I checked the battery conncetions and everything was tight. There have been no new farkles in about 6 months during which time everything was working fine.

 

I am no electrician and don't pretend to understand Canbus. If someone can give me some advice on any quick things to check or common problems I would appreciate it. The bike is still under warranty but I have very little faith in my local BMW service dept.

 

Cheers,

 

H8terboi

 

H8terboi, first off tell us what bike your are working on? You mention canbus so does that mean a BMW 1200 something or other?

 

It sounds like maybe a dead battery.. That Zumo takes almost no power to operate so will work on even a very low battery (or it just used it’s internal battery)..

 

Does ANYTHING electrical on the bike work? Like a tail light or horn?

 

Maybe your battery charger didn’t connect up properly to the canbus power outlet..

 

You probably need to find a voltmeter & verify the battery voltage then go on from there..

 

Twisty

 

 

[Fightingpiper]

I don't know but would an EWS ring failure not let the lights and computer come on?

[T__]

I don't know but would an EWS ring failure not let the lights and computer come on?

 

 

With an EWS failure the bike will usually through its usual startup display and then end with a flashing EWS..

[Nice n Easy Rider]

Hi All,

 

Went to start the bike up today and nothing happened. Turning on the key does not turn on the computer display or the front headlights. The bike has been sitting for about two weeks on a battery tender. The battery is fully charged. I can plug in my Zumo and it works.

 

I checked all the connections to the Centech AP-1 and everything was well. All the fuses were in place and seemed fine. I checked the battery conncetions and everything was tight. There have been no new farkles in about 6 months during which time everything was working fine.

 

I am no electrician and don't pretend to understand Canbus. If someone can give me some advice on any quick things to check or common problems I would appreciate it. The bike is still under warranty but I have very little faith in my local BMW service dept.

 

Cheers,

 

H8terboi

 

Happened to me once and it was almost five minutes before I noticed I had accidentally hit the kill switch. I'm sure you looked over there but...

[jbryant53]

my 06 did the same thing after being on a BT for 2 weeks in the garage....left me puzzled...I cycled it on/off again and it started..

 

EWS and canbus thing I finally decided as it had a brand new battery...

 

hasn't done it again since..

[JayW]

 

Happened to me once and it was almost five minutes before I noticed I had accidentally hit the kill switch. I'm sure you looked over there but...

 

..and double check to make sure the bike is in neutral and the sidestand is up. The headlight may not come on until the bike is running.

 

Jay

[H8terboi]

Sorry,

 

Bike is a '07 R1200RT. Went through everything above except checking the battery with a voltmeter. Nothing on the bike works, no lights, horn, etc. The Zumo is the only thing that comes on. Are there any fuses that I need to check?

 

- H8terboi

[H8terboi]

Just checked the battery and it has full power.

[StuGotz]

Sounds like problem is in the ignition loop..I assume either your Zumo is hardwired or on the accessory loop.

 

I'd be lookin' at interlock switches...ie: killswitch, sidestand switch, etc.

 

MB>

[Firefight911]

Try a battery disconnect. Remove all power for about 30 minutes and then reconnect. Try again.

 

Just because your battery measures good voltage means little. My wife's bike died yet had perfect voltage. It had a bit more juice, barely, capability than yours but not much.

 

My bet is for a dead battery. It happens and there is no explanation for it. One cell shorts or opens and then it is sudden death battery.

[T__]

Just checked the battery and it has full power.

 

 

H8terboi , what is meant by “full power”? Exactly how much “power” does it have & how did you measure that?

 

Your bike has no FACTORY fuses to check,, might be a fuse or two in your Centech AP-1 but the bike system itself is a fuseless system using canbus modules for circuit protection..

 

If your battery is really at full power (12.65-12.75 volts & you still have nothing as far as ANY power to the dash, or brake light, etc goes then you will probably need to call the dealer to get a warranty repair..

 

Any chance that bike has an alarm or anti-theft system of some type on it that precludes starting if not set or deactivated?

 

 

Twisty

 

[JayW]

How do you know this? Try to jump start the bike from your car (without the car's engine running) and you may be surprised to find that the bike fires right up.

 

Jay

[Deek]

I rode for 2 hours on the highway the other day and measured the volts at 12.52 immediately after turning off the engine.

 

I thought the volts ought to be a little higher. What is a good figure for a fully charged bike battery? My bike make and model is below.

 

 

Thanks

[T__]

I rode for 2 hours on the highway the other day and measured the volts at 12.52 immediately after turning off the engine.

 

I thought the volts ought to be a little higher. What is a good figure for a fully charged bike battery? My bike make and model is below.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Deek, difficult to give a definitive answer.. It really depends on the battery type & even then it can vary a bit..

 

I measure all my motorcycle batteries when new after a full charge then a 24 hour sitting period then write that voltage on the battery top with a paint pen.. I have many types of batteries ranging from conventional non sealed lead acid to AGM (glass matt),, to sealed GEL & the static voltage varies from a low of 12.29 on a small non sealed lead acid to a very high of 12.96 on a large AGM Harley battery..

 

About all I can say for sure on your BMW battery is my brand new 2009 BMW RT GEL battery measured 12.83 volts after a full charge then a 24 hour settlement period to allow the battery to stabilize..

 

As far as measuring yours right after riding (basically charging) all you are really seeing is the surface charge.. You really need to allow it to sit & bleed that off then re-measure the battery voltage..

 

Twisty

 

[Don_Eilenberger]

Just checked the battery and it has full power.

Did you check the voltage with the ignition ON? There have been a lot of failures of the GEL batteries on R1200's of late - with the same symptoms you see. It's apparently an internal-resistance thing. The voltage reads fine when there is no load, but as soon as there is a load, the voltage plummets. It seems to be the BMW/Exide batteries..

[JustKrusen]

Zumo has an internal battery. It might be running off of that and not the bike battery.

 

 

[JayW]

Just checked the battery and it has full power.

There have been a lot of failures of the GEL batteries on R1200's of late...

 

That's news to me. The OEM GEL battery in my 3.5 year old RT is still going strong after 46K miles, but maybe I'm just lucky. I do not use a battery maintainer.

 

Jay

[Deek]

...As far as measuring yours right after riding (basically charging) all you are really seeing is the surface charge.. You really need to allow it to sit & bleed that off then re-measure the battery voltage..

 

Twisty

 

A few days ago I did a charge to the battery, then measured the volts over the next several days. It was about 12.89 immediately the charge, and dropped down slowly to 12.4 over a five day period with no starting and no further charging. I made a mistake in my original post: said 12.52 and should have said 12.82 volts. When I tried to start it when the volts were 12.4 the bike didn't want to start until I connected just the Battery Tender JR to it and let it charge for only 10-15 minutes - then it barely started.

[T__]

...As far as measuring yours right after riding (basically charging) all you are really seeing is the surface charge.. You really need to allow it to sit & bleed that off then re-measure the battery voltage..

 

Twisty

 

A few days ago I did a charge to the battery, then measured the volts over the next several days. It was about 12.89 immediately the charge, and dropped down slowly to 12.4 over a five day period with no starting and no further charging. I made a mistake in my original post: said 12.52 and should have said 12.82 volts. When I tried to start it when the volts were 12.4 the bike didn't want to start until I connected just the Battery Tender JR to it and let it charge for only 10-15 minutes - then it barely started.

 

 

 

Deek, I don’t have a battery voltage vs depletion chart for a GEL type battery but would guess 12.4 volts would place it close to 70% charge..

 

What is drawing it down? Are you using anything added like radio with a keep alive or something that has a power draw when parked?

 

If nothing on the bike is drawing it down in a week or so of sitting maybe it has an internal battery problem.. Might not hurt to remove the battery & have it fully load tested (take it in to be tested full charged)..

 

If you are not riding at the moment,, maybe fully charge the battery,, then disconnect the battery & let it sit for a wek or so.. If it stays up you might have an on-bike patristic drain of some sort.. If it still drops .4 volts in a week you more than likely have an internal battery problem..

 

Remember that the battery has to sit for a while after charging before taking the base voltage (probably at least 4 hours or more)..

 

You might also try to get the battery cranking voltage while starting the engine (cold) both right after a full charge & after it sits for a couple of weeks.. Battery static voltage really doesn’t tell the whole story it’s the cold cranking voltage that will tell you what you have..

 

One of the many things I don’t like about a GEL battery is the chance of getting large air bubbles in the GEL media if over-charged or incorrectly charged & those air voids can lead to a false battery amperage capacity.. With air voids in the GEL you can still have decent battery no load static voltage but a reduced amperage capacity under load.. (A good battery load test should point that out)

 

 

Twisty

 

 

[Don_Eilenberger]

Just checked the battery and it has full power.

There have been a lot of failures of the GEL batteries on R1200's of late...

 

That's news to me. The OEM GEL battery in my 3.5 year old RT is still going strong after 46K miles, but maybe I'm just lucky. I do not use a battery maintainer.

 

Jay

Consider yourself lucky. On one R1200R group I'm active in - probably 40% of the people on the group have experienced an early battery failure of this type. Battery measures OK for volts until you put a load on it - then it drops like a rock to 4-5V. Indicative of an internal high resistance failure of some type.

 

I doubt if it's related to using a battery maintainer - people who experienced it have and have not used them. Doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern, except the bikes were all produced after around 08/06 (2007 models and newer.)

[JayW]

 

... Doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern, except the bikes were all produced after around 08/06 (2007 models and newer.)

 

I read somewhere that it is very important for a GEL battery to be properly "brought to life" electrically. There is a very specific procedure that must be followed, and many dealers fail to pay much attention to it. Maybe this is part of the answer as to why some batteries are failing prematurely.

 

Jay

[Deek]

"....What is drawing it down? Are you using anything added like radio with a keep alive or something that has a power draw when parked?

 

If nothing on the bike is drawing it down in a week or so of sitting maybe it has an internal battery problem.. Might not hurt to remove the battery & have it fully load tested (take it in to be tested full charged)......."

 

Thanks for the help. I now have nothing connected to the battery that's not stock. The battery seems to be drawing down more quickly than it ought, so I'm starting to suspect a bad battery. I need to call the dealer and see if I can bring it in to have it checked, but right now I do not want to drop the bike off as I'm getting ready to be out of town for about a month and I don't want to leave the bike that long.

 

I measured it today: 12.4 volts after having 12.8 5 days ago after a 2 hr ride. I started it, shut it down, started it again and shut it down.....all within maybe 10 minutes. The volts after this were 12.2 but the meter showed they were increasing slowly. Odd?

[H8terboi]

Removed the battery and had it load tested. With a load the voltage dropped to zero. Not really sure what was wrong with the BMW / Exide battery but the bike is now running fine with a new battery.

 

Thanks to everyone for all their suggestions and input.

[Deek]

Removed the battery and had it load tested. With a load the voltage dropped to zero. Not really sure what was wrong with the BMW / Exide battery but the bike is now running fine with a new battery.

 

Thanks to everyone for all their suggestions and input.

 

Glad you finally found the cause......and thanks to your original post I may have to the do the same thing with my battery!