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Cold starts
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January 14, 2009 at 4:03 pm #2461BouncingRadicalParticipant
Does anyone else have trouble starting their bikes on cold weather? Winter weather just started here this week and I had a hell of a time starting my bike. It took me about 10 minutes to get it started and then it took another few mintues till she was warm enough to run! Any secrets to cold starts?
January 14, 2009 at 4:24 pm #15677Jersey13ParticipantBikes with carburetors are notoriously bad about starting up in colder weather, but it doesn’t take 10 minutes to get mine started. I don’t mind driving in the cold so much as long as the temp is still above freezing, but when it’s below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, I always have to put the choke on full to get it to start, then wait a good 10 to 15 minutes while it warms up. Mine usually starts up after 4 to 6 tries, though, but 10 minutes? That’s dozens and dozens of tries… hope your battery is okay. I’m no mechanic, but maybe you should have it tested? Unless you mean the warm-up period after it’s started is 10 minutes? That’s perfectly normal in my experience, though. In really cold weather, if I try to roll the throttle before it’s had a chance to warm up about that long, the engine will stop.
January 14, 2009 at 5:08 pm #15678briderdtParticipantFuel injection. One of the reasons I went with the bike I did (I was down to 3 choices: SV650s, Ninja 650, and FZ6) was because I didn’t want to deal with carbs. With the TU250, though, that’s no longer an issue.
January 14, 2009 at 6:01 pm #15681DaggerParticipantYeah.. Every morning I have to run my bike with full throttle for about a minute.. Then after it’s been sitting all day at work I have to give it choke for another 30-45 secs.. One of my Co-workers has a newer Suzuki with FI.. Pisses me off that he goes out and just starts the damn thing up and goes while I sit there warming up…
January 14, 2009 at 11:49 pm #15684MunchParticipantFor my V500 it was carb’d
cold starts:
1) Pull choke all the way out…. get engine running… as it warms up the revs get higher
2) Go half choke after too much rpms to maintain decent non damaging rpms
3) After RPM’s start increasing a bit again go back to regular choke setting..off
4) Let motor run til regular idle RPM’s are acquired and move out
Some bikes can be damaged by taking off before the motor heats up as the oil still has not completely worked its way through the system and other conditions can occur like fuel mixtures. With the V500 you try to run the girl while she is still cold she will want to chug a bit, not cut out but drag a lil to let you know shes not ready for full speed. After you warm her up properly….she will run like you need her to.January 15, 2009 at 12:12 am #15685BouncingRadicalParticipantThanks for the help, I had always wondered why it stuttered a little bit right when I first got on the road. Now I know! As for warming it up I have always started it then geared up and road checked the bike. Then I sat on it till the the line stopped moving right under 2k RPM. I guess I need to wait just a little bit longer,
January 15, 2009 at 12:37 am #15686BouncingRadicalParticipantIt took ten minutes cause I let it sit for a bit, I thought I had flooded it.
January 15, 2009 at 1:53 am #15687MunchParticipantCheck your MoM to see what your normal idle RPMs are. Neither my 500 or now my 900 had tach’s so I had to play it by ear alot. Fortunately my 900 is FI’ed
January 15, 2009 at 3:28 pm #15692DaggerParticipantThe only pain with my choke on the V-Star is that if you don’t hold the choke it slides back in.. So you’re stuck there with your hand under the seat until it warms up..
January 15, 2009 at 5:40 pm #15696RabParticipantWhen I had the Nighthawk, I lubed the choke cable and the same thing happened. It wouldn’t stay put after that, which was an almighty pain as it meant that I’d have to wait for the bike to warm up before riding off which, as the Nighthawk is fairly cold-blooded (being air-cooled), could be a little while.
I was ready to go buy a new cable when someone on an internet forum told me that there was a little cable grip adjuster under the rubber cover where the choke enters the cable (invisible if you didn’t know about it). I tightened that a little and voila, the choke stayed put from then on.
You might want to look and see if there is any similar mechanism that you could tighten-up on your bike. Look in the MoM (manual) and/or ask on a bike or maker-specific internet forum.
January 15, 2009 at 6:56 pm #15683RabParticipantNever had any problem with my carb equipped bikes and don’t know why people say that they “have to use full choke” for cold-starting (as if that was a problem).
That’s what the choke’s for, use it!
To start a cold engine:
1. Pull the choke out all the way.
2. Start bike (after ensuring side-stand is up, bike is in neutral and clutch is pulled-in).
3. Push choke in slowly to about half-way (until revs just begin to drop).
4. Put your gloves on and check all your lights are working. A minute or two warm-up time should be all that’s necessary on modern motorcycle engines. You just waste gas, cause pollution and piss-off the neighbors by leaving the bike static and high-revving for 10 minutes or more.
5. If bike mis-fires (stutters) when throttle is gently applied then you need a little more choke, so pull it out a little and re-try the throttle (repeat as necessary until it will throttle-on smoothly and maintain a constant idle on release of throttle). You want to be where idle speed is as low as possible but no mis-fire when throttle is applied.
6. Ride-off. Start off easy, don’t over-rev a cold engine and don’t go fast on cold tires.
7. Push choke all the way in somewhere down the road. If you pushed it in too quickly, you’ll get mis-firing when applying the throttle, so you need to pull it out a little again until it stops mis-firing. After you’ve done this whole procedure a few times, you’ll know that when you get a mile away (for example), that you can push the choke all the way in with no mis-firing. You can also get a feel for this by listening to (or watching the tachometer if so equipped) the idle revs at a stop-light; as the idle speed gets higher, the less choke you need until ultimately, you need no choke. Warm-up time varies with the seasons (air temperature).Push the choke all the way in as soon as the engine has warmed-up.
This sounds like a lot of hassle, but quickly becomes second nature.
If the battery is good (spins starter motor quickly) and the bike is consistently difficult to start using the above procedure then take it into the shop for a tune-up. This is assuming that the bike is used at least once a week. Bikes left for long time unused may be more difficult to start; that’s just the nature of the beast.
My current bike (Suzuki GSX650F) is Fuel Injected, but it’s no better or worse than the carb equipped bikes for starting. They all started instantly.
January 16, 2009 at 12:18 am #15704BouncingRadicalParticipantMy choke is kind of like that too. I have no half way setting, its either all the way on or its off, unless I hold my hand under there holding it about halfway to get that intermediate warm up.
January 16, 2009 at 2:23 am #15711DaggerParticipantThanks for the tip.. I’ll take a look at that this weekend.. I’d love to not have to sit there holding the choke under my leg for the whole time it warms up…
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