Starting Problems Trouble Shooting

[shadowblaster]

Totally agree with the headlight switch, I have seen it is possible to replace the light selectors with one from the Mille which has the switch, I might try this, but at the moment, she is cranking fine, cheers again.

[shadowblaster]

Just a quick update to say it still working just fine, that's probably put a cure on her.

[JohnRSV]

My 04 factory has just started to do the slow cranking. I am finding it frustrating, I had the death by yellow wire issue, which I striped and changed the wire and connectors. i replaced the battery also for a 14amp Motobat which fired my baby so much better than ever, but now and not on every occasion but particularly when hot I get the half crank then stops and then fires up. Battery is always showing 13.5v after a run and 14v+ returning on tick over. I replaced the starter solenoid last year after that failed. So now I am looking for a bad earth I guess.

been getting the same issue, just the battery I presume?

[shadowblaster]

Check the connections first and then use a volt meter to check for charging issues followed by cranking voltage checks. Mine was just connections so cheap fix for a change.

[sqrly]

My Futura has had a problem with the starter not turning over the engine or turning slowly. Not all the time but often enough that I was loosing trust in the bike to get me home. It would do it hot or cold or in-between, so temp was not the issue. My old RSV did cranked slowly sometimes, so I figured it was just an inherently weak starter.

I have already upgraded the battery to a westco AGM, installed the yamaha relay, use an Optimate 3 battery charger regularly and upgraded the regulator/rectifier. None of that helped.

I decided to take the starter to a local starter/alternator repair shop and see if it could be rewound for more torque. They said that there wasn't enough room inside to make any difference. But after telling him what the problem is, this was his recommendation."Increase the positive wire running from the starter relay to the starter, from the stock 10ga to 6ga. And add a second 6ga ground wire directly from the negative battery terminal to one of the bolts that hold the starter in place."

This little addition made the world of difference, I consider this the actual fix for most starter, rectifier, and relay problems.

[kzmille]

....This little addition made the world of difference, I consider this the actual fix for most starter, rectifier, and relay problems.

While there is no doubt that an adequate current path is necessary for optimum starter power it a known fact that there is excessive resistance in the connectors of the charging circuit on most if not all V60 powered bikes. My 01 has had nothing more done to it than replace the brown connector. I still have the original oem starter relay, am only on my second battery, and the bike always starts instantly. I have only had one dash reset in all these years. that was the first warning that the original battery was weak.

[deefred]

My Futura has had a problem with the starter not turning over the engine or turning slowly. Not all the time but often enough that I was loosing trust in the bike to get me home. It would do it hot or cold or in-between, so temp was not the issue. My old RSV did cranked slowly sometimes, so I figured it was just an inherently weak starter.

I have already upgraded the battery to a westco AGM, installed the yamaha relay, use an Optimate 3 battery charger regularly and upgraded the regulator/rectifier. None of that helped.

I decided to take the starter to a local starter/alternator repair shop and see if it could be rewound for more torque. They said that there wasn't enough room inside to make any difference. But after telling him what the problem is, this was his recommendation."Increase the positive wire running from the starter relay to the starter, from the stock 10ga to 6ga. And add a second 6ga ground wire directly from the negative battery terminal to one of the bolts that hold the starter in place."

This little addition made the world of difference, I consider this the actual fix for most starter, rectifier, and relay problems.

Did you check and cleaned all starter and ground connections before adding the thicker cables?

The starting circuit is just fine as long as everything is clean and tight.
I have zero starting problems right now.

[sqrly]

Yes, I had cleaned and inspected all the connections. I have melted the wires near the brown connecter and that is why I replaced the rectifier. I also melted the wire for the starter which is why I did alot of searching on here for starter problems. I found one that was identical to what my bike was doing, so when I went to fix that, is when I was told to do the thicker wire and extra ground path. Both changes seemed to make sense and would harm anything anyway, so what did I have to loose? It worked. No more slow cranking, spins faster than ever. And, it didnt cost me a dime. I had a friend that works maintenance and he "borrowed" the wire and connectors for me. He crimped, soldered and heatshrinked the connectors for me. The length I went with was 44 inches, eye to eye for both wires.

[deefred]

Where was the starter cable melted?
If it was the whole cable you must have cranked the bike like crazy.
If was at a terminal you had bad connection there which caused the local heat.

[sqrly]

No excessive cranking but weak cranking was the norm and fairly often the starter would only turn the engine a bit then not have enough grunt to actually spin it.

The lower 6inches of the wire was stiff and seriously heated.

[garyngwind]

I have a 03 Mille (non-R) and recently been frustrated with the starting problem. let me give a brief history of what happened and what have I done.

noticed that the bike is having the dash reset sometimes, but fire right back up if I push the start button again.
did research on the forum, found the brown plug mod, and the 2 extra wire mod.
remove the tail fairing of the bike, and noticed that the previous owner already did the brown wire mod. He connected the three yellow wire to the rectifier
Next, I added the extra wires from red and green wires of the rectifier directly to the battery terminal. so basically, I did this mod (http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/s...brown+wire+mod)
next up, after a track day, my bike been sitting for a week, fire her up, but during my ride, the engine actually died on me, during riding!!
went home, thought it might be the battery, so replaced with a Yuasa YTS12-BS battery, fully charged it, installed it. Fire straight up.
went to another track day, came home, fire my bike up after a week, it started fine. went to work for 8 hours, got off work, she fires up just fine. Went home after a 10 minutes ride, took an hour break, and went to start her again, no crank. Engine wants to turn over, but stopped, dash went out, and then reset.
just today, I got the yamaha starter relay, installed it, and currently charging the battery again. I will see tomorrow.
Also, I was looking at the white barrel plug, it seems like the previous owner has mod it as well, I saw three yellow wire being connected together with the crimps tube.

Now my question is that, I have read that beside those 3 yellow wires, there are 2 smaller wires that goes into the white barrel plug, are those suppose to be connected....?

and also read about the idea of head lamp switch, will pulling the fuse of the head light before work just as same?

[kzmille]

The smaller wires in the white connector need to be connected.

Yes, pulling the headlight fuse works fine.

If you have a volt meter connect it to the battery while trying to start. This will help you see what is going on. Near 10 volts or less tells you the battery is weak.

[DanV990]

Gary what's the voltage at the battery with the engine running? If the charging system is working it should be in the 13.8 - 14.3 or there about range.

[SoulDaddy]

You might also R&R the terminals on the starter circuit; ie, at the relay and the starter. Scrub them up well and reinstall. Ditto for the two 30A fuses near the battery.

[garyngwind]

battery charged for a whole night, read the voltage with a multimeter at the battery terminal. It increased from 12.25 to 14.45. But it is not fully charged yet (according to my tender, the green light still flashing)
So i am gonna have to wait till i get home tonight to do the 5-10 seconds push down starter button load test.
btw, my Yuasa battery is like 3 weeks old.