OK....fair warning, this is a long one.
Time to share my experiences with the hard start. First off....not a newbie (contrary to my post count). I lurk, and I've read hundreds and hundreds of posts, but haven't had anything substantial to offer, so I've just stayed off to the side. But this hard start thing has me feeling uncertain about a bike I love very much, and I am desperately looking for a solution. This recent kill swith/ignition switch cycling procedure has me intrigued - perhapse for the next time?. But is that the REAL answer? If indeed this works for others when their version of the little "hard start" demon shows up, please post up!!
In the meantime, here are my two hard start episodes: Both have been very....weird. One time in my mother-in-law's driveway (God help me!). The other in my driveway....on my way to the Yamaha dealer to finally have the headlight recall completed!.
On the first occurrance, I had completed a fabulous trip from Atlanta to Pittsburgh via the Blue Ridge Parkway and exploring its hundreds of miles of dirt roads to the east and west of the Parkway. Tent-camped from the bike. The bike was absolutely perfect in every respect....running the asphalt sweepers and climbing the rocky dirt roads back to the Parkway. Had the time of my life on that trip...all by myself riding this glorious bike. Got to mom-in-laws house and the bike spent three days sitting outside and not being started. And I claim guilt....checking my baby regularly, I turned the ignition on a few times during those days and did not start the bike. On the 4th day, early morning, I had loaded the bike up and I was all geared up to begin the 6 day adventurous trek back to Atlanta. Hard start issue surfaced. Would not start and had what I thought was a weak crank. With the bike 2 years old I thought....weak battery. I proceeded to spew out every cuss word and inflamatory adjective I could think of. Damn why didn't I buy a new battery before this trip!!?? Oh well, need a new battery...oh so I thought. Being before 10:00AM, the local Yamaha dealer was not yet open. And I could not locate a battery with necessary crank amps at the car shops that carry bike batteries. So, finally at 10:00AM, went to Bohn Yamaha, a very small wonderful family run shop in suburban Pittsburgh (Brentwood) to buy a new battery (a top of the line true gel no less). The shop GM who was helping me asked all about the trip up, asked me how I liked the bike, etc. when he asked a casual question....' have you had the hard start issue yet?" Nope says I, the bike's been perfect. Just this damn dead battery issue. Off I go, a happy camper, to install the new battery in the bike and resume my adventure. Ha. New battery...bike still did not start! So I start thinking.....it appears I am having the "hard start" issue right now!! Back to dealer. He tells me OK, here's what you do....he loans me a slave battery and jumper cables and tells me to hook up both batteries, WOT, crank and crank and crank until she starts. Back to mom-in-laws house and did what he said. After crank, and crank, and crank, she finally fired. From there, I returned the battery and cables - he charged me nothing for this, and I did need the new battery anyhow, so I was good - and resumed my trip, which was awesome going through PA, Maryland, West Virginia (absolutely incredible), Virginia (even more awesome), and then to home territory of North Carolina and Georgia. During the return trip the bike was once again perfect. Point here is.....I did NOT know about this issue prior to this event. I was freaking out. I had even made back-up arrangements with the dealer to have the bike hauled from my mother-in-laws house to the dealer. I would have lost at least 2, probably 3 days of my trip. Plus the expense! I was lucky to have the issue surface at the her house and within about 5 miles of a terrific Yamaha dealer. What if I had been in the middle of nowhere and did not know to go WOT, and crank and crank and crank???
Incident #2 - now 4 months after 1st incident - last Friday. Finally made the appointment with my local dealer (Mountain Motorsports Marietta - good guys) to have the headlight recall completed. Though 37 degrees outside, the bike sleeps in the basement mancave @ 68 degrees, so she wasn't cold-cold, though it had been 7 days since I had run it. All geared up and boom....it happens again. This time being wiser, and with a very strong battery, I did the routine...crank, and crank and crank. It took a good 20, maybe even 30 seconds to finally get her to crank. Off to the Yammy dealer. While getting the headlight service work, I spoke with the Service Manager about the hard start thing. He said they had no experience with this incident but he took copius notes from me and send it off to Yamaha. He said he'd get back to me when he heard something from the Ivory Tower. Only been a few days, so as of yet nothing. We'll see what they say. However, he did warn me about cranking the starter for more than 15 second clips. He said that is a definite no-no. Hmmmm....so how will that impact the crank, and crank and crank theory?? Have I now done damage to the starter having cranked and cranked and cranked 2 times now??
So, again, I am hoping that the kill switch/ignition switch cycle will save me IF this happens again. IF any of you have had success with this methodology, please post up here. I really don't want to rely on the crank, and crank, and crank methodology unless I absolutely must.
And in response to those who have posted....why worry? Well, I gotta tell ya, if you've had this happen to you.....you worry every damn time you push that magic button. Contrary to what so many have said, this IS a big deal, at least to me. And please don't rip me for not knowing how to start a bike - I've had over 40 years of practice and think I have that part down. What has happened to me is not operator error. I'm just trying to start my bike - it's not like I'm trying to break-slide into a tight corner and can't do it because I can't turn the ABS off (and I am not intentionally trying to reopen THAT can of worms - the ST ABS is absolutely perfect). But....There hard-start thing IS an anomoly with this bike, or at least some of them, and I'm OK with anomolies as long as I have cofidence that I know how to overcome them. As of right now, I do not know how to deal with this issue (for instance, what if my battery is not strong enough - maybe it's a 20 degree morning - to handle crank, crank, crank....and oh, by the way, now crank, crank, crank is limited to 15 seconds? Now what do I do if it doesn't start within 15 seconds??).
Love the bike....have no intention of blowing it up, selling it, or abandoning it....but want to solve this issue.
Any constructive advice or help is requested.
Thanks for reading.
