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Motorcycle Forum / General / Harley / September 2008and it went GRU..N...T
Shirley is grabbing some popcorn and peanuts and is bringing that electronic gizmo to take your drink orders - my treat but the bank is nearly out-a-money. Stopped for gas on the way to work this morning, attempted to restart the bike and it went "grunt" for a second or so, then turned over and started, all seemed fine, didn't think much of it and continued on to work. It started ok for the ride home, had to make a stop enroute, started up again but after about 10 minutes of riding the engine and battery idiot lights came on and stayed on. Made it home, turned it off and it now will not turn over - just "grunts" a lot, starter "slips" a bit. My guess is that battery is beat. It's about 4 year old. (Harley had to replace the original about 5 months after I bought the bike new in 2004). Any reason to not go with the standard Harley battery for this bike? If so what kind of batteries are people buying and what are you having to pay for them? Do "stronger" batteries exist and are they worth any extra $$. Oh Shirley just arrived with the gizmo.... Tim. Stock 2004 FLSTCI TC88 > Shirley is grabbing some popcorn and peanuts and is bringing that > electronic gizmo to take your drink orders - my treat but the bank is [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > Tim. > Stock 2004 FLSTCI TC88 The OEM Harley battery is fine. 4 years is a long time for a battery, mine usually last about 2 (but I live in the desert)......my current battery is 3 years old and I'm considering swapping it out before I hit the road in a couple weeks.......just in case.  SignatureSteve Irving (Irv) - BS#237/SLOB#12 http://www.users.qwest.net/~niteh/bike > Shirley is grabbing some popcorn and peanuts and is bringing that electronic > gizmo to take your drink orders - my treat but the bank is nearly [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > Tim. > Stock 2004 FLSTCI TC88 The battery light came on? Probably a bad stator too. nobody #1 >Shirley is grabbing some popcorn and peanuts and is bringing that electronic >gizmo to take your drink orders - my treat but the bank is nearly [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] >Tim. >Stock 2004 FLSTCI TC88 Odyssey or HD whichever you can find for the best price. I know you can get HD from Chicago HD or Zanotti's, & I think you can find Odyssey on ebay. Both are online somewhere. The Odyssey batteries on ebay come from a distributor in Jacksonville, Fla. I used to live there & would just go over & pick 'em up. They're good batteries. You want a "gell cell", or an A.G.M. battery. The wet cell cheap batteries at Walley World will work for a while, but you have to deal with the PITA over flow tube. - Jinks ('86FXRS, '07 FLTR) #64 Remember, "No good deed goes unpunished" >Shirley is grabbing some popcorn and peanuts and is bringing that electronic >gizmo to take your drink orders - my treat but the bank is nearly [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >what kind of batteries are people buying and what are you having to pay for >them? Do "stronger" batteries exist and are they worth any extra $$. Might be worth while to check if there's a reason the battery is dead, such as a bad voltage regulator or stator. Easy enough to check if you have the service manual and a volt-ohm-meter. FWIW, I have a battery tender hooked up whenever the bike isn't being ridden and got four plus years out of Harley batteries (on two separate bikes). Also had the same thing happen as you did, it was a bad voltage regulator. YMMV, yada yada yada. -- The_other_Roger > Any reason to not go with the standard Harley battery for this bike? If so > what kind of batteries are people buying and what are you having to pay for [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Tim. > Stock 2004 FLSTCI TC88 I got seven years out of my Harley battery keeping it on a tender whenever it was in the garage. For the money the Harley battery is a lot of bang for the buck IMHO. I imagine that with all lights on and a slow idle it's possible for the charging system to be good and still not have enough voltage to meet the minimum requirements of the bikes electronics with a dead battery, but I would shirley check the stator and regulator output. If a stator goes it almost always takes the regulator with it. I installed a ChargeWatch ( http://www.chargewatch.com ) on my RoadKing a few years ago. It takes the place of a ammeter gauge on bikes without them. Hoppy BS7 AH85 SENS SLOB16 >>Any reason to not go with the standard Harley battery for this bike? If so >>what kind of batteries are people buying and what are you having to pay for [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >>Tim. >>Stock 2004 FLSTCI TC88 > I got seven years out of my Harley battery keeping it on a tender > whenever it was in the garage. For the money the Harley battery is a > lot of bang for the buck IMHO. My original battery ('03) is also still strong and kicking due to the battery tender. It starts each and every time to this day. I will sell both (the tender and the battery) for $9k, and throw in the bike for free. Test rides cost $9k... cash! >> Any reason to not go with the standard Harley battery for this bike? If so >> what kind of batteries are people buying and what are you having to pay for [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >whenever it was in the garage. For the money the Harley battery is a >lot of bang for the buck IMHO. The best life I ever got from batteries was from interstate, my HD battery on the FLH lasted about a year, it was never on a tender, but the bike never sat either. the BMW battery lasted over a year and I replaced it with the odessy, 3 of those in 5 years was enough of them. > Made it home, turned it off and it now will not turn over - just "grunts" > a lot, starter "slips" a bit. My guess is that battery is beat. It's about [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Tim. > Stock 2004 FLSTCI TC88 I just replaced my battery this AM on my FXDX. It's the 3rd. Original lasted 3 years. My first replacement lasted 3 years and I expect this one to last 3 years. I also had a DOF moment when I couldn't remember how I got the battery out last time (it was 3 years ago) even though I remembered it involved the holder tilting I still pinched my hand at the front end of the rig. Anyway, the HD battery is good enough IMO. Also I would check to make sure the battery connections are tight as is the stator plug. I noticed my positive cable was less than snug when removing it which may have contributed to its demise. The telltale signs were ignored in my case. The usual fast spin up was slower and even included a pause before starts lately. I was pretty worried when it crapped out Wed. before work as my shovel has been on a battery tender that has been on vacation since Ike knocked our power out twice. Luckily the shovel fired first kick and being on vacation today the battery replacement didn't cost lost wages. Also power was restored this afternoon so we got AC again. YIPEE! Signature74 CB 450 - STOLEN; 74 Z1 900 - TRADED; 76 FX 1200 - STOLEN; 78 FX(E) 86 CI DAILY RIDER NICE WEATHER; 02 FXDX 88 CI DAILY RIDER OTHER WEATHER -- 74 CB 450 - STOLEN; 74 Z1 900 - TRADED; 76 FX 1200 - STOLEN; 78 FX(E) 86 CI DAILY RIDER NICE WEATHER; 02 FXDX 88 CI DAILY RIDER OTHER WEATHER > Shirley is grabbing some popcorn and peanuts and is bringing that electronic > gizmo to take your drink orders - my treat but the bank is nearly [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > Tim. > Stock 2004 FLSTCI TC88 The newer HD batteries are AGM and I've had very good luck with them in both my '86 Softail and '00 Flhtc. As others have suggested, I would definitely assure that the stator and the regulator are operating properly before adding a new battery! Good luck, PB PB > Shirley is grabbing some popcorn and peanuts and is bringing that > electronic gizmo to take your drink orders - my treat but the bank is [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > Tim. > Stock 2004 FLSTCI TC88 Well it seems it may not be a simple bad battery. A known good 12 volt battery (from a auto) was hooked up (HD battery removed) and it still had a tough time turning over - grunted, starter kicked out as if the battery was nearly dead. Never did get it started. Perhaps a bad starter, or..., or...., time to start digging a bit deeper. Any additional thoughts? Shirley is back, have another. |
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