Hi Folks, Back in December I went to start the bike. It gave a pathetic little cough and my neutral light went out with check engine light coming on. The dash wouldnt register when the bike was in neutral, and cant start with the sidestand down. kick it up and it starts but doesnt seem to be firing properly and starts coughing when i rev. put it into the local dealer who looked it over and said it was the battery which they solved, took it for a test drive and all is working fine (this is what i was told). The dealer said it was because of the cold and the battery had lost it's charge (yet still has enough to start the engine???). was told they charged it and its fine (£160 for the convenience mind!) Got it back last week, went to take it to work today and still have the same problem. Anyone else had something similar? any recommendations? this is a (just) 4 year old Storm.
Do you have a charger for the bike Make sure the battery is fully charged You don’t say how long you left the bike after the dealer had it If it’s fully charged and you still have the problem then get back to the dealer and get them to pick the bike up and fix it properly You’re already £160 out of pocket and you can’t use it it’s just not good enough If it’s ok with a fully charged battery then say nowt and keep the bike fully charged before attempting to start it
Check if bike is charging battery when engine running. If it isn't take it back to repairer. Standard practise when renewing a battery, check generator / voltage regulator function.
If the battery was charged and you got it back and left it sitting again then same problem again seems right. Get it charged and run the bike every day for a week then see if theres a problem if so start at the battery These are small batterys and are esily discharged in the cold. This is why trickle chargers are so common for bikes.
The cold plays havoc with batteries. Invest in an optimiser particularly if the alarm/immobiliser is fitted. If you don’t have a garage do what I do. I have two batteries one kept in the house and charged and just change weekly. Just means the clock and trips reset themselves when you change the battery.
Probably the battery/charging then, mine worked fine in the warm but once it got cold would hardly last the night.
These bikes are super sensitive to battery condition Charge the battery and it’ll probably be ok If like me your bike gets left for periods then put a charger on it at least one day before you use it Probably hold it’s charge better when the weather warms up
I would suggest that a four year life expectancy on a bike battery is about right, especially as you live nearer to the Arctic circle than you do to me. Also depends on how often battery is stimulated (no comments pls) So important to optimise battery, particularly if it is over a year old, if bike not used for more than 4/5 days.
That could do it, in this cold snap.From first frost mine stays in doors gets trickle charged once a week if not used, and it only takes a minute to put back in ,use the bike, then out again.
thanks folks, plan on charging the battery tonight, then give it another go see if that resolves everything.
CapnMeaty, I have the exact same problem. I keep it on the drip charger during cold months, can't tell if that solves it, but definitely didn't solve it permanently. Thanks everyone--I will buy a new battery and see if that's just too old (2014, this problem started 2019). Also, the bike doesn't run well when the sensor doesn't work, like the fuel injector is messed up. power like a scooter. Speedometer doesn't work either, in addition to fuel gauge and neutral gear sensor. All this is just intermittent, not all the time, but all happens together. thought it was weather related at first, shop thought it was loose wiring, fingers crossed a new battery fixes everything.
Got a new battery this weekend, and all problems were immediately gone. Runs like new, starts perfect (with the new one installed I realized it had been struggling to start even with a "charged" battery, which happened gradually I didn't notice until replaced). I guess the old battery was so corrupt it only lasted a few hours after a charge and all that weird stuff with fuel tank sensor, neutral sensor, speedo, and engine was related to poor battery. The shop didn't know this when I took it in a couple months ago, FYI so maybe its rare... thanks everyone
