Is it my battery????
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Joined: Feb 2016
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From: Tennessee
Is it my battery????
Bike was making loud metallic clunk on start up when warm. Dealer said compensator. Had a SE Comp put in yesterday and an All B starter clutch while they were at it. Also new stator. Rode the bike 250 miles home. Parked. Turned off. Fired it back up. It was still making the clunk. The noise Is a hesitation followed closely by a clunk then nothing then finally it'll start. At times especially before the new comp the clunk was rather violent. I'll attach a video of the 3rd restart from last night. The noise was much louder on the first two. Battery has been tested twice came out good. It reads 12.57 after sitting for a night. I started it 10 times in a row today and it read 10.0-10-5 except on start number 2 it dipped to 9.4.
Could there be something wrong with the battery that's not giving it enough juice and causing the hesitation and thus the clunk? If it was the battery would it do it also when cold? It only happens when blazing hot. If it sits for 10 minutes it's fine. Again most of this info was gathered before the new comp I don't have enough details of after the new comp yet.
What else could it be??? Dealer says it needs a tune up on Dyno. Did I pay for a new comp for no reason?? What's my problem????
Help! Thanks
Could there be something wrong with the battery that's not giving it enough juice and causing the hesitation and thus the clunk? If it was the battery would it do it also when cold? It only happens when blazing hot. If it sits for 10 minutes it's fine. Again most of this info was gathered before the new comp I don't have enough details of after the new comp yet.
What else could it be??? Dealer says it needs a tune up on Dyno. Did I pay for a new comp for no reason?? What's my problem????
Help! Thanks
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 2,400
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From: Fort Worth, TX
What year is your FLHR? Your battery should be at 12.7VDC or higher, and a weak battery can lead to the noises you are hearing. There are a number of other things that could cause the noise as well, but I would start simple and get a battery that had proper voltage..
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From: Tennessee
What year is your FLHR? Your battery should be at 12.7VDC or higher, and a weak battery can lead to the noises you are hearing. There are a number of other things that could cause the noise as well, but I would start simple and get a battery that had proper voltage..
New SE comp and starter clutch and stator as of yesterday. Yet it still clunked when I got it home.
I just read the battery it's at 12.55. I started it and let it run then gave it some throttle it was at 14.15
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From: Tennessee
Of course I did start it at least 10 times today and didn't let it run. Last night the battery read 12.57 and that was after running the bike for 4 hours straight basically.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: May 2014
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From: Fort Worth, TX
Check your charging system, after 4 hours of running the battery should be higher than 12.5VDC...Start the bike with a meter on the battery and hold the revs at 3000rpm, see what the voltage is there...
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From: Tennessee
It has a brand new stator as of Thursday. I think it was around 14.2 with the throttle open a bit I checked it yesterday
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From: Fort Worth, TX
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I had the same condition as you describe. Occasional violent bang followed by brief hesitation, then she'd fire up. It was sporadic but would be more frequent on heat soaked starts. Like right after a brief fuel stop.
I've heard all the horror stories of bad compensators but I wasn't sold on the fact that the compensator was the culprit. At the same time I was not getting the kind of performance out of my battery that I've gotten over the years on other bikes. So, I started off with a new battery and then replacing the starter clutch with an All ***** unit and that did seem to help a little. But after a couple more loud bang up starts I decided it was time for something different.
They all say that a stock 96" motor doesn't have enough compression to require a compression release but my gut instinct was telling me that the occasional hard start was in part related to the starting system not being able to crank over due to compression. Also I thought that, depending on what part of the stroke the engine was on start up was also a determining factor as to why these hard starts were so inconsistent.
Anyway, I decided to try and cure this issue and gain a performance enhancement at the same time so I installed a set of S&S Easy Start 551 cams. I can say without a doubt, it's the best mod I have ever done. I have not had a hard start since the swap. The bike fires up in 1-2 seconds, every time, all the time. Heat soaked starts are no different. The added performance is really just icing on the cake as I do believe that this is the cause of many of these starting issues and that the compensator is getting the blame. How many stories have you read where guys are upgrading to the S/E Comp or the Baker unit and still having issues? There are too many of these stories and that's why I started looking in another direction, and very glad I did.
I've heard all the horror stories of bad compensators but I wasn't sold on the fact that the compensator was the culprit. At the same time I was not getting the kind of performance out of my battery that I've gotten over the years on other bikes. So, I started off with a new battery and then replacing the starter clutch with an All ***** unit and that did seem to help a little. But after a couple more loud bang up starts I decided it was time for something different.
They all say that a stock 96" motor doesn't have enough compression to require a compression release but my gut instinct was telling me that the occasional hard start was in part related to the starting system not being able to crank over due to compression. Also I thought that, depending on what part of the stroke the engine was on start up was also a determining factor as to why these hard starts were so inconsistent.
Anyway, I decided to try and cure this issue and gain a performance enhancement at the same time so I installed a set of S&S Easy Start 551 cams. I can say without a doubt, it's the best mod I have ever done. I have not had a hard start since the swap. The bike fires up in 1-2 seconds, every time, all the time. Heat soaked starts are no different. The added performance is really just icing on the cake as I do believe that this is the cause of many of these starting issues and that the compensator is getting the blame. How many stories have you read where guys are upgrading to the S/E Comp or the Baker unit and still having issues? There are too many of these stories and that's why I started looking in another direction, and very glad I did.
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