No start after sitting over a year

[SmokinRZ]

Hello everyone, I rescued a 2012 that had been sitting outside for about two years. Of course the seller said it ran when parked. He had put in a new battery and I was able to turn it over and it sounded like it was trying to fire but turned slowly. I brought it home, drained the old smelly fuel, cleaned the tea bag on the fuel pump, and changed the spark plugs. I was too impatient to do a compression check. With a fresh charge on the battery, it still turns over slowly and sounds the same.

After searching the internet for "tenere no start" I think I have a case of CCT failure, turning over slowly was a symptom. The bike has 40K mile. When I changed the sparkplugs, I found no evidence of a valve adjust and I believe the plugs were original. I'm going to do a compression check this weekend, but I was wondering if there is anything else I should check? I did pull the red 50 amp fuse and it's good. After reading about the CCT failures, I'm a little spooked about trying to start it after the long slumber since the CCT hasn't been primed in two years. I ordered a APE manual CCT and it is on the way.

 

[tallpaul]

Just to rule out the battery try to jump it from a known good one. These bikes can be voltage sensitive and any weakness in the battery shows up when trying to start them.

 

[Don in Lodi]

Can you hear the fuel pump do it's prime cycle when you turn on the key? Low engine compression will usually allow the engine to spin faster, not slower. Clean cylinder walls are going to give you an off reading for compression. I know the holes are way down there, but see if you can give each cylinder a couple squirts of motor oil, give 'em a free spin for a few seconds then do the compression test. You can do a before and after if you want.

 

[SmokinRZ]

Good call on the battery. I will have it load tested and then jump it.

I just saw slow turning as a symptom of jumped chain for one or two victims. I had my timing off one tooth on my yz250f and it was a bear to kick but did run.

The pump primes and then shuts off just like my buddies S10. The tank wasn’t rusty or anything, fuel was a little yellow with a slight odor. Seen much worse.


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[EricV]

Jump it from a car/truck battery. A lot more CCAs and you won't be draining the moto battery.

The real question I have is why did it sit for two years? The Cam Chain Tensioner, (CCT), on the Gen I bikes is a known weak point. (I had one of the first failures on my '12) If the CCT failed and it slipped the chain, you likely have more serious issues at this point. It slips more than just a tooth or two and usually bends a valve. I ended up with two valves and a piston damaged and replaced a bit more than that during the repair. Others that heard it slip and just stopped were more fortunate and only had to replace the CCT and re-set the timing.

There have been multiple revisions since then and the current CCT is just fine. Almost all of the failures occurred after 50k miles. You've got plenty of oil in the CCT from all the cranking. At this point you don't have much to lose. If the CCT failed, you've done the damage or it already existed. If you smelled fuel on the last attempt, Jump it to a car battery, pull the EFI fuse and crank it until it sputters and tries to start. Then put the fuse back in and crank it until it fires up. Don't stop cranking unless you get to 30 seconds or so of continuous cranking, (don't want to over heat the starter).

And remember, use the kill switch and key switch between starting attempts. It resets the system. Not to mention the headlights will come on if you stop cranking and the bike doesn't start. If you just try cranking again w/o turning the key off, the headlights on will reduce the voltage to the starter and make it even less likely to start.

The stock YTZ12S battery has always been slow cranking. Most people upgrade to the YTZ14S version for more CCAs. It's an identical size and shape, terminal position, etc, just more CCA. If you end up buying a battery anyway, might as well upgrade.

 

[~TABASCO~]

Install a new battery or charge the current one fully. To get it started the first time I would have jumper cables or charger still attached to try and help the extra drain. Hold the throttle wide open and hit the start button. Try NOT to start and stop the start button. Push the start button for 15-20+ seconds and then try again if the battery will allow.
Keep doing this until it starts. Keep an eye on the tachometer and listen for it to pop over (start). When it begins to fire up, DONT let up off the throttle being wide open, and don't let off the starter. Hold it wide open until it starts and revs up, THEN LET OFF THE THROTTLE. ***what im trying to describe is to do long pulls with the starter as much as the battery will allow with the throttle wide open. Don't change anything until it actually starts and revving and running normal.

Ive helped several people across my travels get there Tenere started, and have run into similar situations here at the shop.

A few years ago I was attending a Tenere group ride. One evening I could hear someone trying to start a bike but was busy and was preoccupied. After 20-30+ minutes of these two guys trying to start his bike I noticed. I walked over to see if I might be able to help, he said GO FOR IT, IT WONT START ! I proceeded to do what I just described above and had the bike running in about 2-3 minutes. I probably ran the starter for 30+ seconds each time.

For me, the tricky part is you will hear it about to start. It starts to fire on one cylinder. Keep the throttle full open. But when it does fire, it will try and go to 8K RPM. I don't want or like that, so I'm really careful to let off the throttle as quickly as possible.


After it gets started I would double check the air filter box for mice and air filter quality, and check or change the oil.

 

[SmokinRZ]

Thanks for the tips. I will give it another try jumping from the car. Battery is fully charged with battery tender.

I bought the bike as a project hoping for the best and prepared for the worst. The bike went through another owner so I don’t have the full history. It was a college commuter with a stack of parking stickers between 2015 and 2018 with lots of weathered plastic. It was filthy with leaves and spiders when I got it. I’ve been looking at S10s for a while now but I just wasn’t prepared to give up my Concours after riding them for 15 years. Now I have both . Wish me luck!


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[HeliMark]

You have a battery that has been sitting (and draining) for two years. Even with you charging it, it probably is toast. This bike does not like a weak battery. Like everyone has said, jump it with a known good one.

 

[SmokinRZ]

Yep, new battery from seller , installed sideway , but a load test at the auto parts store will help confirm the battery is good.


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[SmokinRZ]

Seller gave me the old shorai that was in it when he got it so I tend to believe it is a new battery but a load test should confirm. That would be nice if it is just the battery.


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[RonH]

The stock YTZ12S is rated at 210cca. If a load test shows less than that the battery is no good for starting the super tenere. In other words, most load tests that come out in the 180-190cca will result in the test indicating good battery. This is not the case. You need the whole 210cca as a minimum.

 

[SmokinRZ]

Update: I installed the new YTZ14 S tonight and held the throttle wide open and cranked it for about 45 seconds. It hit maybe two or three times towards the end. I let it cool and tried again but after about 20 seconds it seemed the battery was getting low so I stopped. No fire on the second try. The new YTZ14 battery doesn't turn over any faster than the previous new YTX12 battery. About as fast as my KLR, which would make sense, I was expecting it to turn over faster like an inline four. I tried a couple of push starts but I couldn't get enough speed going by myself. It sounded like it would fire once and then lock up the rear wheel, but maybe it was just one of those big ole pistons on a compression stroke sounding like a fire. Battery is recharging and I'm contemplating the next step. Since it hit one or twice I don't think the timing jumped.

 

[Don in Lodi]

The 14 is not a huge amp difference over the 12. 230 vs 210? It works better, but won't spin it twice as fast. Do you have any booster cables to use? An automotive battery will spin the motor better. Try spinning her up without the fuel injection fuse in place. Might get things to dry out a bit.

 

[SmokinRZ]

I will get some jumper cables this weekend and give it another try, then do a compression test if that doesn't work.

 

[Don in Lodi]

A compression test is misleading on our bikes. One of the cams has a compression release lever so those two 600cc pistons can be spun over a bit easier on start up. You shouldn't do a compression test with it running either. A good leakdown test should work. The decompression lever shouldn't come into play unless the engine is spinning. A cause of low compression is fuel washed cylinder walls. You've got to put enough oil on top of the piston for it the seal up the rings. It's my thought that most of our hard starts are from this condition.

 

[SmokinRZ]

It has about 1.5 gallons of fresh fuel after removing tank and draining. I will check the 7amp fuel pump fuse tonight. I don’t ever smell gas like others have reported. I will try Jumper cables this weekend and maybe bump start.

I bought this bike not running so I’m suspicious there is a reason it was parked other than cold weather. The instrument panel suffers from the one button malfunction which makes reading codes impossible. I suspect the owner was told by the dealer that he would have to buy a new panel just to start diagnostics on the issue so he parked it.


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[HeliMark]

It has about 1.5 gallons of fresh fuel after removing tank and draining. I will check the 7amp fuel pump fuse tonight. I don’t ever smell gas like others have reported. I will try Jumper cables this weekend and maybe bump start.

I bought this bike not running so I’m suspicious there is a reason it was parked other than cold weather. The instrument panel suffers from the one button malfunction which makes reading codes impossible. I suspect the owner was told by the dealer that he would have to buy a new panel just to start diagnostics on the issue so he parked it.


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There is a diagnostic port under the seat. The dealer should be able to connect to it, and read whatever codes it has.

 

[Cycledude]

Actually you shouldn’t need to check the fuse, when you turn the key to the on position you should be able to hear the fuel pump run for about 2 seconds.

 

[SmokinRZ]

Your right, I just pulled it and the pump doesn't come on. I tried cranking again for 30 seconds and got one or two pops. Tried again for 20 seconds and that is about all my new battery was good for. I think the diagnostics under the seat is for ABS right? No way to run OBD 2? The check engine is on but I wasn't sure if it is supposed to go out after starting. I think the leak down test is next.

 

[Tenman]

If it popped a time or 2. It would have probably fired up if you had jumper cables on it. Try it again.