FJR'04-New Battery (3 months) dead

[mike04fjr]

I have a FJR '04 - no ABS. I am the original owner, w around 30k on the bike. I already went through the valve tick thing at 16K and the warranty covered it. The only farcle are handwarmers installed by the dealer. The only modification are risers, installed by the dealer.

Question 1-Bike was dead and I had it towed to the dealer 3 days before the end of the extended warranty from Yamaha. Will I be covered if the cure takes a while? Do I need to document when I brought the bike in?

Question 2-What is going on? The battery is three months old. The dealer replaced my OEM battery after 4.5 years, installing a POWER SONIC battery, factory sealed maintenance freee. PT14B-4. I've been to the web site and it is listed as a correct replacement for the yamaha FJR 1300 oem battery. But after a trip for 6 hours, the next morning the bike wouldn't start. A friend pushed me and we got it started. It wasn't easy; it took a few trys. Then it was ok for the remainder of the trip. Now the bike sat in the garage for a few weeks and it was completely dead this sunday. (The warranty expires today Wednesday) The dealer checked it out. He said he cannot find anything wrong with the electrical system or the new battery. But the new battery was dead twice recently. I spoke with friends who say that voltage regulators tend to perform irregularly when they are on the way OUT. It could test OK and then fail to charge the battery. Obviously, this battery is getting drained and if the battery is testing OK then it has to be something else. The dealer is trying hard. When I asked him what I should do he said "I don't know." Should I try to replace parts like the voltage regulator, the battery, etc? I can't go on a long trip with the bike so unreliable. In a case like this, does it help to call Yamaha? Has anyone else had their battery get drained? BTW, the bike runs fine when it starts.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Question 2-What is going on? ...The dealer replaced my OEM battery ... the next morning the bike wouldn't start. Now the bike sat in the garage for a few weeks and it was completely dead ...The dealer checked it out. He said he cannot find anything wrong with the electrical system or the new battery. The dealer is trying hard. When I asked him what I should do he said "I don't know."

Sounds to me like you need to find a competent dealer...?

There are long-standing trouble-shooting procedures for evaluating batteries and charging systems -- often well documented in service manuals -- if your dealer and his service department are unable to resolve your problem; either you don't have a problem (sounds to me like you do) or they lack the ability to determine the cause of your problem and rectify it?

Often, repair/service personnel have difficulties with electrical issues -- shouldn't be, but....

I'd ask around for advice/directions to a known reputable dealer.

Good luck.

 

[flying junior]

Ooooh! Don't start replacing parts, hoping to fix it by guess and by God. That's a real game of chance, and you'll lose big time. Ask around and find a dealer who will do a real diagnosis. A competent mechanic will be able to sleuth through an electrical problem, find what's wrong and fix it.

good luck

 

[Rogue]

If it runs fine on rides and won't start the next morning I don't think its the charging system.

Things I would check:

1) any new electrical farkles? Sounds like the battery is draining when parked.

2) defective battery? It's not common but not unheard of.

3) bad connection between the battery & starter.

4) bad starter.

 

[angus]

Remove battery cover then unhook one of the cables and re-attach if there are sparks there is a short somewhere if there is sparks start pulling fuses till you narrow it down.

 

[r1byker]

You know, could be something as simple as a loose battery cable. I had exactly the same symptoms on a car. It acted like a dead battery, and occasionally wouldn´t start but other times would be fine. Turns out the battery cable wasn´t tightened enough. Once I tightened it down, no more problems.

 

[02zx9r]

I had the same problem with my zx9r, turns out it was the stator, the relay regulator was ok though.

 

[Fred W]

Remove battery cover then unhook one of the cables and re-attach if there are sparks there is a short somewhere if there is sparks start pulling fuses till you narrow it down.

You may be able to get sparks with the key off even on a normal bike. There are some things that are powered all the time (like the instrument cluster). I know when I first (re)hook up my battery the instrument cluster does a little jig and then goes blank again.

A better test would be to complete the circuit with an ammeter and compare the standby drain current to a normal bike. But that is what the dealership should be doing.

 

[radman]

Remove battery cover then unhook one of the cables and re-attach if there are sparks there is a short somewhere if there is sparks start pulling fuses till you narrow it down.

You may be able to get sparks with the key off even on a normal bike. There are some things that are powered all the time (like the instrument cluster). I know when I first (re)hook up my battery the instrument cluster does a little jig and then goes blank again.

A better test would be to complete the circuit with an ammeter and compare the standby drain current to a normal bike. But that is what the dealership should be doing.

Yup. Cept for the "normal bike" part-one probably won't be handy. But any drain exceeding 1/2 amp is excessive, standard charging/starting system tests will isolate the problem, and fairly quickly.

 

[Constant Mesh]

My '04 Non-ABS's key-off battery current is less than 2 milliamps. It doesn't take much to power the clock and tripmeter memories.

 

[weekend rider]

Like most electrical problems most try to over think them. A good mechanic would have know what to look for when you gave him the symtons.

Battery fully charged, take and ride the bike and patk it over night, andthe batteery goes dead.

You need to tell the mechanic to ceck the diodes in the charging cicruit, you have one that is failing or getting ready to fail completely. IThe diode, one of its gates is partially open and letting electricity through and go to ground and drain your battery.

Simple test just have to know how to do. You need to know what tyoe of diode you have, i.e. pnp,or npn the can look it up or just replace

Problem solved not big thing.

 

[Zorlac]

"You need to know what tyoe of diode you have, i.e. pnp,or npn "

Any diode I've ever run across was either pn or np, depending on how I held it in my hand.

 

[weekend rider]

Zorlsac; I have gotten one to many p's in there. I do not work with dc to often

BUt I do know that is his problem

 

[Fred W]

Zorlsac; I have gotten one to many p's in there. I do not work with dc to often
BUt I do know that is his problem

Not necesarily. The R/R could be the faulty component that is draining the battery as you say. But it could also be a myriad of other things that are on the unswitched 12V. Doing a battery drain test with an ammeter would show this very quickly.

Replacing the R/R unnecessarily would only drain your bank account quickly.

(PS - I do work with DC pretty often...)