F650GS dead..

[jack.pe]

Hi,

My uncle has an F650 GS, around 6-8 years old if memory serves.
He was going on a ride the other day, all went well but when he stopped to have rest the bike would not start again, it just went dead. So now it does not even turn over and the idiot lights do not even light up when he switches to the on position.. the only thing which is on is the clock and when he turns on the ignition that seems to fade out as well. He has charged the battery and sometimes at random if the idiot lights do give a brief sign of life if the bike is hooked up to the starter..
This sounds like a duff battery to me.. any ideas? but why would it just stop working 5 minutes after a ride? usually a duff battery would give up once the bike had been at least sitting over night.. not so soon after a ride which should have charged it up..

 

[IanPorter]

could be the regulator / rectifier is cooking the battery

might be worth checking the voltage over the battery once you get it started again

there's loads of info here

http://faq.f650.com/FAQs/VoltageRectifierFAQ.htm

 

[john_aero]

take batt leads off and charge batt direct. check voltage. then leave for a while and check again

if its the charging system of the bike it should start when batt charged up but not charge bike

sounds like a batt. if have optimiser it should tell you if batt is full, chargable or completely ****ed

 

[jack.pe]

thanks guys.. i'll be over there thursday so i'lltake a closer look

 

[brassmonkey001]

Check the battery terminals are tight, a common problem.
Sounds more like another fairly common problem though - a broken wire on the back of the ignition switch.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

Hi,

I had a similar problem with an 03 Dakar. My problem turned out to be one or so of the leads(bundled in one sheath though) that comes off the back of the ignition key socket had broken down. See if turning the handlebars from side to side causes the idiot lights to come on. If so, it may be that or another wire that has broken internally around the steering head. (That problem occurred on an 1100 GS !)

Good Luck. These problems can be a real pain tracing them down.

Regards,

Sgt.

 

[jack.pe]

Guys,

Turns out it was a dead battery, he had not topped up the fluid and when it died it ws only half full. New battery solved problem.

On another note, roughly 150 miles after oil change the clutch is slipping.. I used a 15W-40 (API SF\CD, CCMG G2) mineral oil, could this be the cause? clutch must well past its sell by date in any case as has not been changed in 30000 miles..
Jack

 

[Dansin]

Guys,

Turns out it was a dead battery, he had not topped up the fluid and when it died it ws only half full. New battery solved problem.

On another note, roughly 150 miles after oil change the clutch is slipping.. I used a 15W-40 (API SF\CD, CCMG G2) mineral oil, could this be the cause? clutch must well past its sell by date in any case as has not been changed in 30000 miles..
Jack

Fully synthetic oil can cause clutch slip but I'm not sure about the oil you have used. I've just checked the manual and it recommends:-

API classification SF, SG or SH;CD or CE
CCMG classification G4 or G5; amendment PD2 is permissible

It also states not to use synthetic oils.

I use Castrol Power 1 GPS 4T 10W-30 which is semi synthetic and haven't had any problems.

 

[rc mad]

is the oil you used ec rated? If so there's your problem.

EC Rating

* This is a big NO NO on the F650 and G650X. These bikes have a wet clutch and EC (Energy Conserving) oils contain friction modifiers that can be detrimental to wet clutches.

 

[jack.pe]

is the oil you used ec rated? If so there's your problem.

I could not find any mention of EC rating on the bottle.. i wrote down all the stuff that was on it in my previous post..