Start issue

[jbuhl]

2013 ST with 35K miles sat over winter. I went out and fired her up a couple times during winter months. Tried the other day and she would not start. Over a period of days I continued to try (chuff chuff and occasional burble) . Finally got her to unconvincingly run for a couple seconds , by then battery was tired. Took the battery in auto parts store and had it charged and checked out make sure it was up to task of repeated attempts. Finally last night I kept attempting short start burst with throttle pinned at stop. She finally came alive filling the garage with nasty half burn gas fumes, gack. Even though it was not detectable in the room off my garage it made my portable HEPA filter glow red and run wide open .

Other notes:
Dont use a fuel stabilizer, never have.
Bike was on reserve when I parked her last winter.
I poured in a couple gallons of max octane pump gas during this
Normal start procedure is hand on throttle and a tiny blip at first sign of combustion.
Seems like once before I ran the bike down low on reserve. Let her cool down and it was hard to start. I think.

what happened?

 

[jbuhl]

OK just reading the hard start threads

 

[Wallkeeper]

sounds like you may have flooded it. My experience is with a Gen 2. I NEVER give it gas or leave the engine off switch in the on position. My ST will flood in zero time.

I will be curious what the Gen 1 guys say

 

[Wallkeeper]

BTW....Please check you forum mail box. it is located upper right on the screen next to your name

 

[jbuhl]

done

 

[Highwayman]

Ive found these S10's are very finicky with minimum battery voltage during cranking and the ecm. I wouldnt bother with that recharged battery with the symptoms you have. Replace the battery and upgrade it to a larger CCA while at it.

Personally Ive had hard starting issues with a battery thatd crank fine, but drop below 12v and give me hard starts (like flooded). Id get it started by treating it like a flooded bike and hold it wide open till it fired up. Battery replacement always cured it.

PS, Id reconsider the idea of never using gas stabilizer with the crappy gas available now. Also leave it on a battery tender. Just my 2 cents.

 

[jbuhl]

I am on with the new Battery. This battery cranks like it was made for a 50cc scooter.
Got a recommendation on a battery with some CCA muscle ?

 

[Scoop47501]

Has your Gen #1 had the recall on the wiring harness ?
My 2012 was fine until a couple years ago. On the way to my dealer to get the harness replaced I stopped for gas. After filling up it would not start. New battery and made it to dealer. Picked it up a few days later and they told me the harness was corroded and looking terrible. Runs fine and starts in the spring just fine now.

 

[jbuhl]

Yes had recall done last year.

 

[MFP]

I am on with the new Battery. This battery cranks like it was made for a 50cc scooter.
Got a recommendation on a battery with some CCA muscle ?

Go to a YTZ14S @ 230 CCA which is 20 more than YTZ12S (210) which is the original size battery S10s come with.

 

[WJBertrand]

This bike cranks slow even with a fresh battery. What I read is that cranking it faster than 250RPM will disengage the compression relief, so I think this is by design. One thing you should always do when leaving a bike unused for any time is to park it with a full gas tank. The space above the fuel level, if not filled, will be exposed to atmosphere, allowing moisture into the fuel (especially with alcohol containing fuel), rusting of the inside of the tank and oxidation of the fuel, since there’s a large surface area of fuel exposed to air.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Highwayman]

I am on with the new Battery. This battery cranks like it was made for a 50cc scooter.
Got a recommendation on a battery with some CCA muscle ?

Didnt catch you got a new battery, just a recharge. In that case there may be something else going on like cables. I doubt itd be a mechanical issue.

MFP mentioned it. I went with a Yuasa 14 over the stock 12 with replacements. Extra CCAs with no issues on fitment.

 

[sky4]

low batteries and this bike really don't mix well. same with any application of throttle during starting. took me a few tries to wake my beast up after a winter's nap.

one thing i did run into- key switch runs the coils directly- well that and the kill switch in series. kill it with the kill switch to save your key switch contacts. I was intermittently losing ignition and i took my key switch apart and cleaned/dielectric greased it. she's running like a champ now. I'm in CO (fort collins) too, I've even got the right easy out for the weird break off screws if you want a hand doin it.

 

[MIKE R]

This bike cranks slow even with a fresh battery. What I read is that cranking it faster than 250RPM will disengage the compression relief, so I think this is by design. One thing you should always do when leaving a bike unused for any time is to park it with a full gas tank. The space above the fuel level, if not filled, will be exposed to atmosphere, allowing moisture into the fuel (especially with alcohol containing fuel), rusting of the inside of the tank and oxidation of the fuel, since there’s a large surface area of fuel exposed to air.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

If all was ok when you parked up I would suspect water in the fuel caused by the bike being stored with a low petrol level and subsequent condensation. Obviously when parked up over a period of time any water in the tank would sink to the bottom/fuel pump area.

You may try something like this:-



Alternatively you could also fill the tank and when you've got the engine started sit on the bike and violently rock it from side to side to dilute the water into the fuel. A bit 'agricultural but If water is the problem this should solve it if you ride regularly keep the tank topped up

 

[StefanOnHisS10]

This is turning into another “hard start” thread without any new information. I gave it a chance but am locking this thread.

@jbuhl, i suggest reading the existing threads on this topic and using those if you don’t figure it out.