Dead battery on 401

A

Aquila

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Started losing power on the 401 collectors across from Yorkdale Mall. Bike died and I pushed it over to the break-down lane only to discover that I'd forgotten my cell. Thanks to Michael on the Kawi ZZR for stopping and helping a damsel in distress.

Called CAA and detoured to Rosey Toes. Now that's an adventure in itself. Rosey set me up with a new battery and I was back on the road.

You rock Mikey!
 
torontoZX6R said:
How can a bike just die on the move due to a dead battery?? How is that possible.
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Someone that wants to stretch their battery life as long as it can till it dies??? Iunno.... lol..
 
torontoZX6R said:
How can a bike just die on the move due to a dead battery?? How is that possible.
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I'm wondering the same thing. Back when I had my ZX-6R that I was the exact guy who would stretch out a battery till the end. For almost a month I had to bump start that thing to get it going. People must have had a laugh when I would pull into the gas station, fill up, and then run a good 5-6 steps to bump start it and off I go.

Now with the RC I don't have the same luxury. Can't bump start the twin.
 
you may have a problem with your rectifier/regulator...your battery its not getting charged,you drained all the power from your battery and your bike simply died...if there is aproblem with charging it will happen again...and again...replacing the battery will not fix it....may want to check your generator and rectifier/regulator...
 
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shouldn't Rosey know that a dead battery shouldn't just die on the move? Did he do any other checks to make sure it's not just the battery that's the problem or he just took your word for it and straight up replaced the battery.
 
torontoZX6R said:
How can a bike just die on the move due to a dead battery?? How is that possible.
Click to expand...
psycho44 said:
shouldn't Rosey know that a dead battery shouldn't just die on the move? Did he do any other checks to make sure it's not just the battery that's the problem or he just took your word for it and straight up replaced the battery.
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My 2000 CBR 929 died while I was riding it too! Got someone to push me so I could bump start it, I had to keep the revs up to keep it going! About 15 mins later I heard the battery hissing and about 5 mins after that the battery exploded, split right down the side and dumped battery acid everywhere :(

I replaced the battery and never had a problem after that.

So yes, a bad battery can pull down the voltage so much the bike will fail to run. Unhook the battery, tada, bike runs fine ;)

-Jamie M.
 
Aquila, what time did you go to rosey toes?! I was there around 3:30, could i have seen your bike in the shop?
 
toysareforboys said:
My 2000 CBR 929 died while I was riding it too! Got someone to push me so I could bump start it, I had to keep the revs up to keep it going! About 15 mins later I heard the battery hissing and about 5 mins after that the battery exploded, split right down the side and dumped battery acid everywhere :(

I replaced the battery and never had a problem after that.

So yes, a bad battery can pull down the voltage so much the bike will fail to run. Unhook the battery, tada, bike runs fine ;)

-Jamie M.
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Umm.... Battery exploded when you were riding.....? Hard to believe....
 
psycho44 said:
shouldn't Rosey know that a dead battery shouldn't just die on the move? Did he do any other checks to make sure it's not just the battery that's the problem or he just took your word for it and straight up replaced the battery.
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Battery was probably so dead that it just said "**** this ****! I quit".
I had a similar thing happen to me doing sixty on Eglinton and Dufferin, the cluster flickered and turned off, I revved the engine and the bike came back to life. I rode up to Bathurst and was gearing down, and the bike completely shut off. I tried bump starting it 5 to 6 times, each time getting it running for 10 to 30 seconds to have it just shut down on me. Called up Dan from Heritage; he brought me a new battery in 15 minutes. I have never had a problem since.
Note: Before this happened, I was bump starting my bike every single time for over a month and a half.
 
PLau said:
Umm.... Battery exploded when you were riding.....? Hard to believe....
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Yep! I guess it was internally shorted a little and all the power from high revs being fed into it "boiled it over", it split right down the side, dumped it's guts all over the bike.

Was a long hard night scrubbing the frame with baking soda :(

-Jamie M.
 
veno78 said:
The stator could have been toasted or the rectifier/regulator went.
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that wouldn't be a battery problem than which is why I'm questioning whether she had everything else checked out before coming to the conclusion it was the battery. I guess we'll find out in a few days.

When I had my motorcycle my battery would die after 2 days of not riding it so I always bump started it. At least I knew my battery was near dead but if a motorcycle just dies without any prior warning signs than every parts of the charging system needs to be checked out.
 
oddly enough, i had a similar thing happen on my daytona last year.... for me it ended up being a fuse... but it never happened again after that.

i was riding qew... bike just shut down at 120, clutched in, turned key off, on, and bumped her without stopping. after that it would bump start... but i had no cluster, turn signals, and it wouldn't start by key...



Although i agree with above posts. if a battery just dies while riding, putting a new battery in is a band-aid solution until you figure out what is causing the non-charging... i mean, while the bike is running, even if the battery cant hold a charge, there should be current being pumped through it and it should run fine, just that once you shut her down it may not start again... but a running bike shouldnt shut off... at least not because the battery cant hold charge...
sounds like a charging system issue
 
Taras said:
Aquila, what time did you go to rosey toes?! I was there around 3:30, could i have seen your bike in the shop?
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Hey Taras,

I rolled out around 3:30 so I may have just missed you. However, if you saw me there you'd likely have seen me inside the shop working on the bike (orange cruiser, lots of chrome). It was my first visit to Rosey's and quite the interesting experience. He's not exactly PC but he sure knows his stuff.

Thanks for the diagnostics and advice guys... I didn't believe it was the battery either. I'm going to keep a close eye on the charging system.

I also didn't tell you the other part of the story 'cause it was just too embarrassing... having to push the bike uphill across two lanes of oncoming 401 traffic to get to the break-down lane. Just a tad scary and I guess I'm lucky that it was a holiday. Guess I'm even luckier to still be here.
 
REDBALLS said:
Battery was probably so dead that it just said "**** this ****! I quit".
I had a similar thing happen to me doing sixty on Eglinton and Dufferin, the cluster flickered and turned off, I revved the engine and the bike came back to life. I rode up to Bathurst and was gearing down, and the bike completely shut off. I tried bump starting it 5 to 6 times, each time getting it running for 10 to 30 seconds to have it just shut down on me. Called up Dan from Heritage; he brought me a new battery in 15 minutes. I have never had a problem since.
Note: Before this happened, I was bump starting my bike every single time for over a month and a half.
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Exactly! I'd put around 300 km this season with no problem, then installed a GPS. The bike then sat for over a week and when I tried to start her up - dead. Bump-started it and took off, thinking the GPS had been left on and caused the dead battery. After the new battery was installed, I took it up to Barrie and back with no problem.

I'm afraid to plug in the GPS now... have dead battery phobia.
 
I agree that it HAS to be a rectifier/stator problem. Not a battery problem. If you replace the battery, the bike will run until the battery is toast and the issue happens again.
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