fun riding with a dying battery...

[dml955i]

So on my way back from a long solo ride in the twisties on Saturday, my speedo, temp gauge, tach all started acting psycho about 3 hours away from home.

Bike was running fine, but all the gauges went wacko (blinking on & off, tach sweeping to redline and back to zero, temp guage fluttering back and forth). It was like I rode the bike thru the Bermuda Triangle or something.

I told myself that it couldn't be my brand-new battery (only 2.5 months old) going south, so I pulled over to check the battery connections to see if they were loose. Nope still tight. I started the bike right back up, continued riding, and it seemed to have sorted itself out.

About an hour later, all hell broke loose. Speedo & gauges went wacko and the bike started surging and idling rough. I managed to make it to within 5 miles of my apartment before she died. I coasted up onto a sidewalk and tried to re-start. Dead silent.

I called my wife and she jumped in the car with my tools, drove a couple miles up the road to the nearest cycle shop and bought me a fresh battery, then came to my rescue. I switched the batteries and fired her up. Everything seems sorted now.

When I got home, I called the shop that sold me the previous (now dead) battery and unloaded on them
Battery tender or not, a brand new $100 battery should last longer than 2.5 months! My stock battery lasted 4 years!

Hopefully, it was just a dodgy battery and everything's fine now. I just hope I don't have a short or something that's drawing the battery down... I'd hate to start having electrical problems...

[dr_gallup]

... conjuring up the ghost of Joe Lucas, are we?

[dml955i]

Yeah, that thought ran thru my mind multiple times while all this was going on...

I even got paranoid to the point that I thought that adjusting the suspension to a firmer setting just before my rided was causing wires to jar loose!

Your mind really starts to wander when the s**t's hittin' the fan!

[crashmasterd]

Uh, not to beat your dead horse, but are you absolutely sure it's not an alternator/regulator issue? Even with a dead battery your bike should run fine with a good alternator/regulator.

In fact, one of the tests for a bad alternator/regulator is to take off the battery ground wire while the bike is running. If it quits, then you have an alternator/regulator issue. If it runs fine then you have a battery problem.

Trust an old mechanic, this doesn't sound at all like a battery issue.

[dml955i]

Thanks for the tip Crashmasterd - I'll check it out.

By taking off the battery ground wire while the bike's running, do you mean to pull the cable off the negative battery terminal? Or is there somewhere else I should look?

[crashmasterd]

On 2006-07-17 22:31, dml955i wrote:
By taking off the battery ground wire while the bike's running, do you mean to pull the cable off the negative battery terminal?

That's correct. It's not 100% sure fire, because some alternators will put out enough juice to run an engine, but not keep the battery up. However this is rare. It's a good place to start.

Let us know what you find out.

[drainbamage]

dml955i!!!!

I'm 90% sure it's not the battery fault!
I experienced the *exact* same thing a few months ago.
My girl died on my way to the dealer... last 400 meters was hell!

The problem was that two wires that come from the gauges were broken!

The mechanic soldered them back together and she ran fine.

But there's still something wrong. I went to the dealer yesterday to complain once more about gauge wackiness... they're replacing the whole shebang under warranty.

You should make sure the wiring is intact, mate!

[ This message was edited by: drainbamage on 2006-07-18 10:32 ]

[Scarpa]

My S3 at 4 weeks old developed the dreaded multi wacky warning light syndrome. Just waiting for the dealer to receive the ordered complete new set of instruments from Triumph under warranty. Been waiting over 2 weeks now *grrrrrr*. Its a right pain when the neutral light comes on at random not to mention low fuel : ">

[ This message was edited by: Scarpa on 2006-07-18 11:33 ]

[odium]

If your battery is dead, the neutral light will flash periodically, your speedometer will read about half what it should, and you will get the check engine light on 2005-2006 S3s.

The tachometer will continue to work and the bike will continue to run fine, however, so I don't know how much that information helps you. Maybe somebody else will search and hit this though.

[dml955i]

I had that common speedo issue of reading "0" and getting the check engine light a couple years ago. Turned out to be a loose battery connection. My Triumph mechanic told me that if there's a drop in juice, the first things that will stop working are the digital gauges.

I'm hoping it's the same type of issue, only with a completely drained battery this time. If it's a torched alternator or worse - an electrical problem, I'm gonna be pi**ed. Alternators shouldn't go bad after only 11K miles...

FYI - it's an '02 Speed Triple. Well past the warranty period.