Slow & Painful Death

O K, I took delivery of my'04 FJR in Sept '03 so I did buy a new battery, this summer, for whenever. Started fine, last Sat morning & 20 mi away (on Hotlanta Xway) I saw a flash from somewhere (I rarely look down) & felt a slight hiccup. A couple of miles later, a couple of flashes & more hiccups. By 40 mi away, flashes (finally noticed that it was engine light flashing) every 1/2 mile & multiple times & speedo & tach resetting. Hmmm, I've read about ignition switch failures so, in the dead dark at 75 mph, I cycled the ignition switch. Holy smokes, dead dark & it didn't come back on for 4 or 5 seconds, I didn't do that again. 52 mi away & made my last turn 1/2 block from work & deader than a door knob. What luck, only had to push about 100 yds. Rode one of our training bikes (Buell Blast) home & trailered it back Sun & trailered the FJR home after class. Removed battery & it read 5 V & put it on the Tender & green lite started flashing in 20 min--no way. Had put tender on new battery for a day & popped it in (wouldn't want to do this on side of road) & was glad to see volts go up to 14+ after starting. Gonna get a Datal one of these years but 1st have to install the Audiovox CC I've had for a year. Well, I've found out that my FJR won't run on alternator, with this type of battery failure...Later,,,De

edit

never mind, mis read, tender on the new batt, not the old one.

What brand was the battery that only lasted a few months? Ian, Iowa

tyronewildman said:

O K, I took delivery of my'04 FJR in Sept '03 so I did buy a new battery, this summer, for whenever. Started fine, last Sat morning & 20 mi away (on Hotlanta Xway) I saw a flash from somewhere (I rarely look down) & felt a slight hiccup. A couple of miles later, a couple of flashes & more hiccups. By 40 mi away, flashes (finally noticed that it was engine light flashing) every 1/2 mile & multiple times & speedo & tach resetting. Hmmm, I've read about ignition switch failures so, in the dead dark at 75 mph, I cycled the ignition switch. Holy smokes, dead dark & it didn't come back on for 4 or 5 seconds, I didn't do that again. 52 mi away & made my last turn 1/2 block from work & deader than a door knob. What luck, only had to push about 100 yds. Rode one of our training bikes (Buell Blast) home & trailered it back Sun & trailered the FJR home after class. Removed battery & it read 5 V & put it on the Tender & green lite started flashing in 20 min--no way. Had put tender on new battery for a day & popped it in (wouldn't want to do this on side of road) & was glad to see volts go up to 14+ after starting. Gonna get a Datal one of these years but 1st have to install the Audiovox CC I've had for a year. Well, I've found out that my FJR won't run on alternator, with this type of battery failure...Later,,,De

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What are you trying to say...exactly? Curious.

Mick

FJRFencer-----"never mind, mis read, tender on the new batt, not the old one." Had put new battery on Tender for a day before I installed it---After installing new battery I put old bad battery on Tender, just for the heck of it, and was supprised when green lite blinked only after a few hours confirming it was really bad.

ian----"What brand was the battery that only lasted a few months?" old original battery lasted 4 years, don't know name as already recycled it. New Westco battery is working fine.

Nightshift----"What are you trying to say...exactly? Curious" Sorry if I made it too wordy. 4 year old, original battery, went bad on the road & wouldn't run off alternator. Replaced it with new, Westco battery & it's O K now. How's that?

Later,,, De

tyronewildman said:

FJRFencer-----"never mind, mis read, tender on the new batt, not the old one." Had put new battery on Tender for a day before I installed it---After installing new battery I put old bad battery on Tender, just for the heck of it, and was supprised when green lite blinked only after a few hours confirming it was really bad.
ian----"What brand was the battery that only lasted a few months?" old original battery lasted 4 years, don't know name as already recycled it. New Westco battery is working fine.

Nightshift----"What are you trying to say...exactly? Curious" Sorry if I made it too wordy. 4 year old, original battery, went bad on the road & wouldn't run off alternator. Replaced it with new, Westco battery & it's O K now. How's that?

Later,,, De

Click to expand...

OK thanks for clearing that up. Moral of the story is( I think) that the stock battery will last at least 4 years so if the battery in your FJR is that old it may be a good idea to replace it.

Nightshift said:

OK thanks for clearing that up. Moral of the story is( I think) that the stock battery will last at least 4 years so if the battery in your FJR is that old it may be a good idea to replace it.

Click to expand...

Even better moral: Get a voltmeter installed so you know when bad stuff is going to happen before it strands you. 'specially if you have an older battery.