BATTERY OR STARTER MOTOR ISSUES

[zackvis]

Hi
I have some issues with starting my bike ,it always starts but the starter motor seems to struggle
every now and again,when that happens the bike does a computer reset I presume it is because the battery voltage drops to low when cranking .I have replaced the battery thinking it is the problem
but I think I will have to inspect the starter motor. It only happens once out of about 10 starts normaly when the bike is hot.Any thoughts on this problem will be appreciated.
keep on cruising

[hjsbmw]

I have some issues with starting my bike ,it always starts but the starter motor seems to struggle
every now and again,when that happens the bike does a computer reset I presume it is because the battery voltage drops to low when cranking .

I had the same symptoms, changed the battery, and never had an issue again.

I have replaced the battery thinking it is the problem but I think I will have to inspect the starter motor. It only happens once out of about 10 starts normaly when the bike is hot.Any thoughts on this problem will be appreciated.
keep on cruising

When I had problems it was only on cold days, doing a cold start. Have you checked the battery voltage? If that is fine you may indeed have to look elsewhere, such as the starter. Do you still have warranty?

[mogu83]

Zakvis - you don't have any info about what you ride, the mileage or the year. But making a wild assumption that it's one of the early BMW R1200Rs and that you have a fully charged new battery you might try cleaning all the grounds.

[zackvis]

hi
Sorry about the lack of info,BMW R1200R 2009 25000km (corbin seat,25mm lowered wilbers shocks ,25mmm risers) replaced battery 2mts ago.Still have same issue. I think i will have to test the current draw
when cranking,any body know what it sould be?
keepon cruising

[darrene]

when I changed my battery to new, I would get 13.08V after being on the Junior charger. Then down to 12.87 sitting overnight; 10.7V5 and 11.12 V lowest during two different starts; then 14.2 running.
I think I read that it can't go below 10.2 or 10.4 on start or it won't work.
I hope this helps.
Darren

[bookman]

If you have tackled your battery it may be worth a look at your s/motor. My old R1100R had starting probs & everything pointed to the battery BUT the magnets in the s/motor had become unglued and were Jamming the rotation of the s/motor intermittently. New s/motor sorted it out and cured my ABS warning light flash aswell, as the system now has full voltage available during the system check period at start-up and so the erroneous ABS fault was shown to really be a "falsey" . Good luck.

Bookman,
Derbyshire Peak District

[captainbeaky]

I just put a new varta battery on mine, fully charged, and it does the same.
I changed it hoping to solve the abs fault.
Dont assume that the new battery is ok. Mine isnt...
I put the old battery back, and it started fine...

[zackvis]

Just an update regarding this issue
Removed starter motor .stripped and cleaned com . and greased all components
all good now no more issues.

[Newportcycle]

Thanks for the update, its suprising what a good cleaning can accomplish.

[deilenberger]

Yup. I think I'll be doing that when I get back home next week (in Nova Scotia at the moment..)

I've had this happen several times over 6 months or so. Load tested my battery and it passed with flying colors. Simple enough to do on the R1200R since the starter is hanging right out in the open.

On older oilheads it was fairly common for the starter pinion to gum up and cause this sort of problem. I suspect a good cleaning and greasing will make things good again. Only have a bit over 74,000 miles on the bike too..

[wink41]

Had same problem. Dealer replaced the battery (warranty). Seems to have worked.