[xix]

Hey all,

I’m Mike. I first came across this site last year when I was just starting to get into riding… and I admit I lurked in the forums a bit

Bought a brand new United Motors V2C 250T (American build of a Hyosung GV250 cruiser) back in November `07, because it had a better warranty plan than it’s Hyosung counterpart, and loved it for the first few months – great bike other than a painfully squeaky front brake.

But alas I know practically nothing about cars, motorcycles, engines, or mechanics – though I’m alright in the general electrical department. A couple months ago I had some trouble getting the bike to start. Problem persisted and got worse so I took it into the shop, under warranty… or so I thought. Ends up the shop broke ties with UM but they’re still with Hyosung so at least parts are easy to come by. In any case, the owner was great and opted to fix the bike free since it’s practically brand new still. Even threw in some ceramic pads to stop my brake squeak and a charger to keep the battery topped off after short around town trips

They were sure it was a dead battery problem when I brought it in. Apparently it was a faulty starter and the wiring had actually melted through – bike was in the shop a week. All that troubleshooting fixed with a quick part replacement – great!

But I didn’t have the bike home 2 days before the problem came back. Hit the starter switch… nothing but a click. Back to the shop. This time they thought it was either the switch or the solenoid – ends up… bad starter relay. Replaced (again on the house) with an after-market relay they personally use so as not to see the bike in the shop again. Great!

Been about a week and a half and once again the bikes not starting. Charger’s reading full battery, but I hit the starter switch, the engine slowly turns over once or twice, and then nothing… but I can bump start it right up if I want to run it down the driveway, though… and I have now… a few times. Once I get it started it runs beautifully and will happily carry me around for hours. Because there are places to be I’ve had to bump start it a few times now. But it’s no fun having to bump start it leaving a grocery store parking lot – or worse, the gas station.

After all this I remembered this site and how helpful everyone seemed when I’d passed through here before. Any advice on what the bike’s problem could be (or even better, what to do about it) would be much appreciated.

I hate heading into that shop over and over again, especially since the owner’s been great about comping me on repairs, but I know he’s getting tired of doing it. Really feel like I got a lemon here though. What’s worse is there are are no other UM affiliates around here so I’ve got a 3 year warranty on a bike and I can’t take advantage of it.

I’m not about to stop riding out of choice, but I may have to for financial reasons. I can’t afford another bike right now and don’t know what to do with this one.

[swede]

If you’ve got some general electrical knowledge, do the following: Get a voltmeter and check the voltage on the battery, check the voltage on the connectors on the starter as well (whilst pressing the starter button, -watch out so you don’t get a chock though)

Generally when the starter only turns the engine round for a short while or only a couple of turns, it means it doesn’t get enough juice (which I’m sure you’ve figured out). This could either relate to a bad battery or bad contact between connectors somewhere in the wiring. If it happened a couple of days after the replaced the wiring chances are that they didn’t tighten the connectors enough.

To avoid future corrosion, slab on some vaseline or silicone grease on battery poles and connectors.

smörgåsbord
Jonathan

[Ben]

Unfortunately i’m not the best with mechanics either so I can’t really help you with that department. I know there is a ‘lemon law’ in california that helps protect consumers against this sort of thing. I think the requirements are the vehicles being in the shop a certain amount of weeks within the first 18 months of purchase.

http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general/lemon.php

Your state might also have something like this. Maybe also try contacting a UM rep to see if they know what the problem could be. If it is under warrenty then I hope they will help you without too many problems.

It really sounds like an electrical problem to me. When you first brought it in did they only replace the starter, or did they replace the batery too?

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Author]

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