Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet with the UCE engine => Topic started by: Maturin on May 07, 2011, 11:44:25 pm
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Marvellous days in Bavaria! Sun all the time.
Well, then pushing a bike 3 km is certainly nothing anyone would like to do. Even worse, though, when I finally made it to my house - drenched in sweat - I found 3 of 6 cells in the battery clear below minimum level. That explained pretty well why the engine sputtered and stopped a minute afterwards. Complete electric breakdown! Considering the fact that I was just returning from regular maintenane at my dealer´s garage that is a major annoyance.
Last time in the garage the foreman overfilled the oil. This time he just didn´t check the fluid level in the battery - pure luck that the bike stopped near home, I toured 300km today. I´m hopping mad.
After Precious decided to have a break I checked the fuses - all well there - I wiggled any connector in sight, turned the key and the fuel pump didn´t beep but ticked quietly. The e-starter was dead, so I kicked. The motor fired up and died again immediately after switching on the light. Now the battery was completely dead, so I pushed.
I tried constantly to start again and after an hour or so I was sucessfull, saving me from pushing the last 2km. It only reved with much throttle and there was no idle.
Then I found this battery with 3 cells only half or 2/3 full with fluid. Finally I measured 12,5 V without load, turning the key send the figure down to 8 V. I was able to fire up once more, pushing the indicated value to 14,5-15,5 V.
I think the battery is fucked up. Any other ideas?
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that sucks..i take the battery out mid summer and when i take the battery in the house for the winter....i usually add a wee bit of distilled water in each cell...oem battery going on 5 years now...
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You might add distilled water and super slow charge it and be all right, but I think you'd be better off to go get a new battery. Motor hiking sucks.
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Maturin
While your getting over having to buy a new battery you really need to find out where the battery fluids went. If they are on any part of your bike you can figure that the sulfuric acid is eating any exposed metal surfaces it touches.
I suggest that you get some baking soda and mix it into a little water and coat anything that looks like there might be acid on it.
If acid is there it will foam up while the soda neutralizes the acid. If no foaming occurs there is no acid in the area.
The soda will not harm your metal parts and can be easily washed off with water.
I don't know what RE's electrical system is designed for but a alternator output of around 14.5 volts sounds about right for charging a 12 volt battery.
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Sounds like a new battery is your best bet Maturin. And stay away from wherever you've been taking your bike for maintenance!
Do it yourself - there's no one will look after your bike better than you. If your bike's still under warranty, keep a record of all servicing you do. Doing your own maintenance does not affect the warranty agreement - particularly if you're doing it better than the dealer you bought the bike from!
...beastly buggered battery betrays Bavarian biker..... ;)
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maturin: i think u been drinking to much beer while eating bratwurst and poma fritz mit mayo and not doing your maintenance...bad boy ;D
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maturin: i think u been drinking to much beer while eating bratwurst and poma fritz mit mayo and not doing your maintenance...bad boy ;D
It's well known that this is spargel season :D
Maturin, I would check around the battery compartment to see if there is any vented acid hanging around. It will promptly rust any metal it comes into contact with, and must be cleaned. However, when a battery boils itself (like my KLR's does), it releases mostly gas and very little fluid. I would imagine though, that the bike has some sort of vent tube to keep this from happening.
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I'm assuming the shop mostly services BMW. If that is the case , a Royal Enfield is probably "below" the forman.
Sorry to hear it.
These are Do-it-Yourself motorcycles.