GS1200 NOT STARTING

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DIGGER BARNES

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I'M HAVING A PROBLEM STARTING MY 04 GS 1200.ITS BEEN IN THE GARAGE,IN THE WARM AND DRY FOR THE WORST OF THE WINTER WEATHER, HAVE STARTED IT UP AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH. ITS BEEN ON AN OPTIMATE, NO PROBS TILL TODAY.HAD THE DAY OFF TO GET IT M.O.T'D, FLIPPING THING WOULDNT START...SEEMED LIKE JUST A FLAT BATTERY...EH?,HOW CAN THAT HAPPEN? OPTIMATE IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK AFTER THAT KINDA THING? TRIED JUMPING IT,LIGHTS CAME ON....THE STARTER JUST CLICKED AT ME.TOOK THE STARTER OFF,JUMPED ACROSS THE TERMINALS,THE SOLENOID AND STARTER WHIRRED INTO ACTION.THE STARTER IS QUITE NEW,HAVE GOT BILL FROM PREVIOUS OWNER FOR A BATTERY AND STARTER REPLACEMENT 16 MONTHS AGO.THE STRANGE THING IS,THE BATTERY HAD HARDLY ANY LIQUID IN IT...HAVE TOPPED IT UP AND CHARGED IT SEEMS OK.THERE NOW SEEMS TO BE A DIFFERENT KIND OF WHIRRING FROM UNDER THE TANK AREA WHEN I TRY TO START IT,HAS ANYONE COME ACROSS A SIMILAR PROBLEM?
 
If it was meant to be a wet battery, and looked to be dry, it had probably been overcharged at some time in the past and boiled dry as a result. Fubar.

If it was meant to be a gel battery and you put water in somehow it would also be fubar.

Charging a battery that is dead, no matter for how long, still achieves nothing.
 
Shouting

DIGGER BARNES said:
I'M HAVING A PROBLEM STARTING MY 04 GS 1200.ITS BEEN IN THE GARAGE,IN THE WARM AND DRY FOR THE WORST OF THE WINTER WEATHER, HAVE STARTED IT UP AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH. ITS BEEN ON AN OPTIMATE, NO PROBS TILL TODAY.HAD THE DAY OFF TO GET IT M.O.T'D, FLIPPING THING WOULDNT START...SEEMED LIKE JUST A FLAT BATTERY...EH?,HOW CAN THAT HAPPEN? OPTIMATE IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK AFTER THAT KINDA THING? TRIED JUMPING IT,LIGHTS CAME ON....THE STARTER JUST CLICKED AT ME.TOOK THE STARTER OFF,JUMPED ACROSS THE TERMINALS,THE SOLENOID AND STARTER WHIRRED INTO ACTION.THE STARTER IS QUITE NEW,HAVE GOT BILL FROM PREVIOUS OWNER FOR A BATTERY AND STARTER REPLACEMENT 16 MONTHS AGO.THE STRANGE THING IS,THE BATTERY HAD HARDLY ANY LIQUID IN IT...HAVE TOPPED IT UP AND CHARGED IT SEEMS OK.THERE NOW SEEMS TO BE A DIFFERENT KIND OF WHIRRING FROM UNDER THE TANK AREA WHEN I TRY TO START IT,HAS ANYONE COME ACROSS A SIMILAR PROBLEM?
Click to expand...

If you wish help, please turn off you caps lock key.
Caps on is seen as shouting.
Very rude.
Myke
 
shugie said:
If it was meant to be a wet battery, and looked to be dry, it had probably been overcharged at some time in the past and boiled dry as a result. Fubar.

If it was meant to be a gel battery and you put water in somehow it would also be fubar.

Charging a battery that is dead, no matter for how long, still achieves nothing.
Click to expand...

wot he said.


ps. i don't feel offended by your caps.
 
An optimate can (and will) lie about the state of charge of your battery because it reports on the cell voltage (in Volts) and not its true capacity (in Amps). The true charge can only be properly tested by putting the battery under load conditions on what is called a 'drop tester'.

An almost knackered battery can still have a reasonably high cell voltage, but no ability to provide amps.

Buy a new battery and your problem should be solved. I would personally recommend an Hawker Oddysey type of AGM battery (not a wet cell type), I've used one of these for about three to four years now on my 1200.

If laying up the bike for a long time (eg over winter), I would recommend you disconnect the battery leads and then use your optimate once a month to top up the charge.

For some reason the electrical circuits on the GS seem to drain the battery over a few weeks, I have never heard the definitive answer as to why this happens and have been unable to measure this happening on my bike with an in-line ammeter but it slowly drains the battery all the same.

The whirring you have heard under the tank will be the fuel pump priming the fuel system with pressure, or the ABS pump (if you have it) priming the brakes hydraulic circuits with pressure/self-test. Thats normal and nothing to worry about.
 
Oh, and welcome to the Forum DIGGER.

I HOPE THESE GENTS HAVE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION:augie

Stick around and partake in some banter...:thumb
 
Yonkyo said:
Oh, and welcome to the Forum DIGGER.

I HOPE THESE GENTS HAVE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION:augie

Stick around and partake in some banter...:thumb
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for your comments (I do hope i'm replying in the right place) I'm a Forum Virgin you see.

Apologies for "screaming caps lock" I was totally distraught and panicking at the thought of an expensive BMW repair bill. Its just, I couldn't understand why the bike would not turn over (if the battery was dud) with a jump start?

Anyway,after trying to get a battery yesterday afternoon, and almost being ripped off by a local bike shop in Ruislip manor, who wanted to charge me 80.00 pounds for a YUASA battery (oops, there I go again) I topped my battery up with ionised water,shoved it on the optimate last night,plonked the battery on, and hey presto! she lives! woopeee!
 
You might be advised to get a meter on the battery when engine is running. Something had to boil the battery dry, so its either had too big a charger on it or your regulator is dud and your voltage is too high. Not very optimistic about the battery lasting any length of time either but you never know.
 
Marki_GSA said:
You might be advised to get a meter on the battery when engine is running. Something had to boil the battery dry, so its either had too big a charger on it or your regulator is dud and your voltage is too high. Not very optimistic about the battery lasting any length of time either but you never know.
Click to expand...

I figured I would buy a new battery anyway, possibly a Gel one as suggested.I'm just glad it started up.I do have a volt meter,any idea what voltage reading I should I Be getting?
I've got a feeling,that although the battery is a BMW genuine sealed unit,with a warning not to remove the filling cap strip, that as a matter of course, when using an optimate continuously, I should of checked the level intermittantly.
 
DIGGER BARNES said:
I figured I would buy a new battery anyway, possibly a Gel one as suggested.I'm just glad it started up.I do have a volt meter,any idea what voltage reading I should I Be getting?
I've got a feeling,that although the battery is a BMW genuine sealed unit,with a warning not to remove the filling cap strip, that as a matter of course, when using an optimate continuously, I should of checked the level intermittantly.
Click to expand...

BMW have, I believe, been using gel batteries, although the one that came out of my 05 bike clearly isn't.

Correct charging voltage is 14.4V or thereabouts. Much higher than that will "boil" a wet battery (with lots of nice flammable hydrogen gas being given off).
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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