So I hop on the bike yesterday just to find out I left the ignition switch in the acc position. at lunch today I put it on a charger for about 15 minutes. It was enough to get it to start. But when I took off it started to pop and spit and sputter. Is this because my battery doesn't have enough juice to fire the ignition? I made it to work, but was a chore. It idles ok.

 

If your bike has a computer, the computer needs a certain amount of volts and amps to perform correctly. Try not to run the bike with a bad battery, it's bad for the computer.

If it was just discharged, the alternator should bring it up to speed fast enough that no ill effects should occur. Sometimes when batteries get low enough, they'll short out inside.

If you suspect the battery surrendered, replace it with a good one.

 

No computer. she's a 95 carbed. I charged it for about an hour and a half and put our battery checker on and it passed. I never had a problem like this until it went dead.

 

Stumped. Sometimes batteries will hold a 'surface charge' but under a load, they give it up. If it starts the bike well, it's prolly okay.

Ignition systems can drive you up a wall if that's what it is. Could be the coil.

Good luck. Hope somebody can help you.

 

What was on while the key was in acc? Not sure how just leaving the key like that would drain the battery. Are you sure your regulator or stator hasn't taken a hike? Once running, the bike shouldn't be pulling power from the battery (which is being recharged by the bike at that point) unless the charging system is bad.

 

Found the problem. Bike started okay, but had a wierd idle that didn't sound familiar. Reved up slow and poppped then too. Give it a load and pop galore. Got it home. Took a look at all electrical connections-good. Traced back my steps to when I put my bars on thinking that I had a short-ok. Pulled my plugs to see if they were maybe cracked and arcing-rear one was fouled. Never rode a bike that acted like that. Slapped a new plug in and perfect. I knew it had to be electrical ot ignition by the way it popped and spit. Boy am I glad it wasn't anything bad.

 

Once again, fouled a rear plug. Im running the iridium plug. Are these any good? Its made by NGK. I did turn my air/fuel mixture screw in one turn in hopes to help preserve my plugs for now. New pipes will be here shortly. Does it sound like I need to change the pilot jet? It's a 46 right now with straight pipes and stock air filter.

 

I've got iridium plugs, air mix screw turned out 2 1/2 turns and the needle raised with two #4 brass washers on my 02 Superglide. I also try to keep a little dielectric grease on the plug ends to keep moisture away from the terminal. If you leave the enrichener **** out that will foul plugs. The weak battery probably didn't help matters trying to fire the plugs. Glad to hear you have it running.