Poor starting

[electric_monk]

I'm fairly new to this whole BMW GS thing and am looking for some advice on a bit of a problem i'm having.
Over the last couple of weeks my 1990 100GS has been getting a bit difficult to start first thing in the morning. When I press the button the starter springs heartily to life for about a second and a half before running out of breath, after the third go the engine eventually fires, although sluggishly at first.This morning it didn't catch until the 6th or 7th attempt. The Choke lever is in the half on position and it has a 3 month old Hawker battery which is holding it's charge well.

Any ideas

 

[Voyager]

I start mine on full choke, no throttle.

Have you balanced the carbs and choke cables recently ? Might be worth a look.

I assume the plugs are clean and the float bowls don't have water in them.

Is it on the original coil ? When I first got my bike it was a very bad starter. I found that the coil had perished, the resin case was split in three places and one of the terminals was hanging off. A new coil made a dramatic difference. Quite expensive though.

Bob.

 

[cookie]

is it correct to say, the starter motor is not turning the engine over quickly enough, for long enough? in which case, it sounds rather like

the battery's not getting properly charged

connection fom battery to starter is bad

the starter motor's shagged

if it's the engine catching, then dying (bit hard to tell from your post). try choke + opening the throttle a small amount when first starting. they certainly all don't need such a procedure, but mine does.

 

[Womble]

If the battery's holding its charge well but it's running out of steam, try checking the quality of the connections to the battery, including the earth connections. Dodgy earth connections will not only limit the charge into a battery, but will also limit the current that you can supply to the starter motor.

If it's not the battery connections, check out the starter solenoid and the connections to that. If it's not either of those, I'd then look at the starter motor itself and then more general things like plugs etc.

 

[chiefrider]

Unless it's very warm out or if I had recently ridden it, full choke, no throttle.
Boom.

Check all above plus, if the valves are too tight, adjust them. This can affect starting & idle (tickover?).

Tom in Salem, OR USA
1993 R100GSPD
1953 Indian Roadmaster 80
1967 Honda CL90

 

[Kenny]

AS above, if engine spinning..FULL choke !!!

 

[Beemerboff]

I have had two Hawker batteries and while they both held their voltage OK both died under load early in their life.

Both were replaced without question by the distributor.

The Valeo starters have a poor reputation too - there are unnamed starters out there at very low prices which claim to be made in the same factory as the brand name items - couldnt be much worse than the Valeos.
Try eBAY or Motoren Israel.
They are on Oz eBAY for around GBP70-

 

[Dusan]

!

Paint it pink, and believe it will start and it will, sorry electric_monk, couldn't resist good luk wid the bike.

 

[electric_monk]

Thanks for all that folks, I did try it with full choke and no throttle this morning and it did start a bit easier.
I now have a nice check list for the weekend.

Thanks Dusan for the advice, but painting it Pink only works if you throw up a cheap SEP Field around it...and I'm all out at the moment.


The electric_monk believes...

 

[bumpmuncher]

before new wiring loom full choke no throttle used to wind over a few times then fire, after new loom half choke if at all and it fires instantly. i would suggest cleaning all your electrical contacts and the frame earth on the ignition module heat sink


or is it because its pink