Bad Guzz, no biscuit

[jsanford]

After an embarrassing number of weeks, I finally re-installed the front wheel on my Duc after getting the tire replaced and today the weather and dry roads looked good for a ride.

Grant the boyfriend wanted to go for a ride as well (he hasn't ridden in about eight weeks) and we wanted to shuffle the Duc's & Guzzi's positions in the garage anyway as the the Moto Guzzi is up next for servicing.

Well, the bike wouldn't start. Dead battery. Very disappointing as it'd been sitting for only a couple of months and I know the previous owner kept the battery on a tender. Lazy me hadn't installed a pigtail on the Guzzi yet (it was sitting there, on the workbench, ready to go...) so we took the time to do so and plugged the bike in.

Grant ended up joining me on the BMW.  Ninety minutes later, came home and the Guzzi started up and he took it out for a bit.  Left the bike in the garage on the tender.

So, the question is...if the Battery Tender shows a solid green light in the morning, is the battery okay? Or should I just plan on a new one?  Ever since the BMW pooped out its always-Tendered battery after a mere 28 months I've been unsure about what is reasonable to expect from a trickle-charged battery.  We are just coming off a cold snap and **SNOW** so that may have exacerbated things.  

[Sport-Touring]

[Pete Roper]

The only reason Guzzis have 'Problems' with starting as a general rule are twofold.

Firstly, the battery earth strap is connected via a strange hexagonal pin with a 6mm thread into a painted casting behind the starter motor cover. Remove the cover, remove the strap clean the area with 100 grade wet'n'dry, re-install the strap with buckets of contact protectant or vaseline. Job done. Also do the battery connections themselves and give them the same treatment.

Secondly, the Yuasa batteries that the new bikes use are a sort of 'Semi Gel Pack' type, (Rather than an AGM.) In fact I'm not sure how you should describe them but the fact is if they aren't put into service properly they will screw up. The fact that CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS accompany the battery seems to mean nothing, (Perhaps the people PD'ing the bikes can't read?). If you just pour in the acid, install the battery in the bike and fire it up? It will fire up!!!! But because the acid has not had time, (The instructions suggest at least two hours!) to absorb the acid sticking a charge through it will warp the plates and pump out the electrolyte all over the bike seriously compromising the battery and dam aging the vehicle. WAH! Sand in 'GINA Sorry, NOT the battery or Guzzi's fault!!!! Fault of IDIOT who can't read, or probably walk upright.

I have NEVER had one of the new Yuasa's fail. The one in my 8V griso is now over two years old and has been left for extended periods, as has the one in my Aprilia Mana. The one in my previous 1100 Griso is now 5+ years old and I've never heard from the bloke I sold it to that it has gone 'Udders Skywards'. None of the bikes owned by my customers that I have PD's have ever had a battery of this type fail. Are we seeing a pattern here???

The fact the battery tender is saying your battery is fully charged indicates to me that either there is a major earthing fault preventing current flow OR that the battery is compromised in terms of its ability to deliver cranking amps. Both of the above have just been addressed. Now go sort it!

Pete

[Pete Roper]

'Nuther thing. Check to make sure its charging once its running. If it isn't check the phase wire connector between the altenator and the reg-rec as these have been known to melt. If this happens rather unsurprisingly it will stop charging. If you're luck you can simply shunt around the connector and remove it and all will be well again. If it still isn't charging the reg-rec is topast.

pete

[chornbe]

You are almost as miserable as that IronBoltWhateverTheFuckHisNameIs dude. Sheesh.

[chornbe]

what Chris, no sense of humour?  

Absoutely... when something's funny.  

[Pete Roper]

You are almost as miserable as that IronBoltWhateverTheFuckHisNameIs dude. Sheesh.

Really? I thought I was being helpfull, offering advice on tackling a service issue that the owner seemed to be being challenged by. OK, Never mind. If it's seen as being miserable my advice can just as easily be ignored and they can spend howevermuch an hour to have someone diagnose the problem and sort it at a shop. No skin off my nose. S'not like I'm making anything on the deal.

Pete

[chornbe]

Really? I thought I was being helpfull, offering advice on tackling a service issue that the owner seemed to be being challenged by. OK, Never mind. If it's seen as being miserable my advice can just as easily be ignored and they can spend howevermuch an hour to have someone diagnose the problem and sort it at a shop. No skin off my nose. S'not like I'm making anything on the deal.

Pete

The pizza delivery guy who throws the pizza at the side of the house and then pisses on it has still done his job and delivered you the pizza.

I'm just saying... a little less vitriol in every post might make an otherwise content-exceptional post more palatable to the people who don't care to hear over-editorialized ranting and tripe on something so specifically topical.

Save the ranting for off-topic and Harley bashing where it belongs.  

$.02 / YMMV /

[Mr.Black]

Dude. You need to get laid or something.

[Pete Roper]

OK, see ya.

Bye.

Pete

[ConPilot1]

Miserable as he might be, iff'n I had a Guzzi I'd buy him a beer and call him buddy.
Seems to know the things quite well.  

[falconati]

I like Pete's rants  

[atadaskew]

OK, see ya.

Bye.

Pete

No!

You stay.
 
Between you and MG Classics I've been learning a lot.
It's nice to have real working knowledge dispensed.

[Orson]

I find Pete's posts illuminating and refreshingly salty  

what a droll place this would be if we had to step forward, submit a standard, dry response, then step back.

Chris needs to quit being such a Soup Nazi  

[Pete Roper]

OK, I'll keep flogging this seemingly dead horse a bit longer.

Firstly the bike is now six years old. I don't give the tiniest of shits if it has been serviced as per book. It'll either be high mileage, so things will start going wrong, (Especially with a shitbox smallblock.) or it will be very ow mileage which means its sat for long periods of time doing nothing.

The fact it was a 'Dealers' bike means nothing. I certainly don't expect any bike I've owned or sold to be miraculously free of problems. Also many 'Dealers' are, as I've said before, staffed by the underpaid, deficiently skilled and hopeless. FWIW I sold my 1100 Griso to a bloke for what turned out to be about $3,000 less than 'Market Value' simply BECAUSE it was my bike, which meant it had been 'Used' rather than ridden to a cafe once a week by a gasconading wanker!

Chris. I'm sorry if you don't like my tone and 'Attitude'. Not much I can do about it though. This is the 'World Wide Web' not the 'Uptight, touchy-feely, lets all try and be nice and suck tofu sandwiches web.' I AM a useful resource, especially WRT Moto Guzzi. Thing is what you see is what you get. If you don't like it? Stick me on 'Ignore', (Whatever the fuck that is??) but I'll be rooted crossways with an aardvark before I start toadying to someone who doesn't like my attitude.

If the people who run the site get enough complaints they can always kill my account. Personally it wouldn't worry me one iota. The people I know and like on this board I can get in contact with off it and they know how to contact me. I do like trying to help people, but it will be on MY terms thanks, rather than having some unctious, moralizing festerhead trying to dictate how I communicate with people.

I'm in my mid fifties, I don't take kindly to be lectured. So suck it up or fuck off.

Pete

[Blunder]

what a droll place this would be if we had to step forward, submit a standard, dry response, then step back.

I think you meant dull.

We are a very droll group. Perhaps because we're aging.

droll  (drl)
adj. droll·er, droll·est
Amusingly odd or whimsically comical.


Pete's response was very droll. I didn't take it in any way as an insult towards the OP.

[ConPilot1]

Chris. I'm sorry if you don't like my tone and 'Attitude'. Not much I can do about it though. This is the 'World Wide Web' not the 'Uptight, touchy-feely, lets all try and be nice and suck tofu sandwiches web.' I AM a useful resource, especially WRT Moto Guzzi. Thing is what you see is what you get. If you don't like it? Stick me on 'Ignore', (Whatever the fuck that is??) but I'll be rooted crossways with an aardvark before I start toadying to someone who doesn't like my attitude.

If the people who run the site get enough complaints they can always kill my account. Personally it wouldn't worry me one iota. The people I know and like on this board I can get in contact with off it and they know how to contact me. I do like trying to help people, but it will be on MY terms thanks, rather than having some unctious, moralizing festerhead trying to dictate how I communicate with people.

I'm in my mid fifties, I don't take kindly to be lectured. So suck it up or fuck off.

Pete

"rooted crossways with an aardvark"  

I like this guy, seriously. that's fucking funny.  
I'd buy him a beer.

[chornbe]

So would I. And you, too.  

[photomd]

If the bike were in my garage, I'd start by putting a voltmeter on a full charged battery. Note the reading. Keep it hooked up and hit the starter. If it cranks the bike and never drops below 12v, it's good.

If the bike cranks slow and the volts drop immediately to 8 volts, replace the battery.

If it has problems cranking (slow or no crank) and volts don't drop, check your ground as well as the connections to the starter.

After the bike starts, rev it to 3K rpm and note the reading. It should be higher than 13.5 and less than 14.5v. If it's not, check the charging system.

Also, after you ride it, let it sit for several days and check the resting voltage. If it drops 0.5-1v, I'd replace the battery.

Also does the bike have a clock? Although they pull very little, they will wear down any battery over time. Good luck with it. The green light on a Battery Tender means it's holding the maintenance charge. That does not mean the battery is good. Only by testing the battery under a load and knowing whether it'll hold a charge will you know if the battery is reliable. HTH's.  

[chornbe]

If the bike were in my garage, I'd start by putting a voltmeter on a full charged battery. Note the reading. Keep it hooked up and hit the starter. If it cranks the bike and never drops below 12v, it's good.

If the bike cranks slow and the volts drop immediately to 8 volts, replace the battery.

If it has problems cranking (slow or no crank) and volts don't drop, check your ground as well as the connections to the starter.

After the bike starts, rev it to 3K rpm and note the reading. It should be higher than 13.5 and less than 14.5v. If it's not, check the charging system.

Also, after you ride it, let it sit for several days and check the resting voltage. If it drops 0.5-1v, I'd replace the battery.

Also does the bike have a clock? Although they pull very little, they will wear down any battery over time. Good luck with it. The green light on a Battery Tender means it's holding the maintenance charge. That does not mean the battery is good. Only by testing the battery under a load and knowing whether it'll hold a charge will you know if the battery is reliable. HTH's.  

This is a good post. Print it out and refer back to it often.  

[radlefty]

For those who don't know, Pete Roper is one of the most well known experts on all things Guzzi. I personally don't know Pete and have never met him, but his reputation for his expert knowledge and his kindness in sharing his knowledge for no financial benefit are well known in the Guzzi world.  His offbeat humor is also well known and I for one find him a refreshing  breath of fresh air and always look forward to his posts both for the information and the humor, even if it occasionally strays the line of political correctness.