Constantly dead battery - mechanic baffled!

[Phyxius]

I got my Hawk about two weeks ago, and it has been SO much fun. Except for the part that I never know whether or not it's going to start. The battery dies on me constantly. I live in San Francisco, so my trips can be fairly short, but it's gotten to the point where I literally have to take my battery out every night and hook it up to my battery tender. I had taken it to the mechanic who checked out everything he could think of, and everything looked fine. The charging system's fine, the battery's fine, it's not draining juice while it's off... they just gave it back to me and said basically "Sorry, it looks fine to me." I took it to a second mechanic (who has it now) and they at least asked to keep it overnight since that's when it most often has trouble. They said it might be the carburator - it might be "running rich". My spark plugs were black, so they replaced them, said it should "help" but to bring it back if it continued. It died again the next day. That was Friday, and because of the three-day weekend, I wont hear from them until Tuesday.

Last week, though, it did something new. I'd turn the ingition on, try to start it and nothing happens. Completely silent. Not even the slightest click, and it wont let me shift. I dont know if this is related, but it's frustrating, because each time (three times so far), I just fiddle around with the controls - turn the key, take it out, try again, turn on the choke, turn it off, try to put it in neutral (and fail), then magically it works again.

The few times I have been able to ride it around, it's been incredible! But I cant go anywhere without bringing my battery tender (which fixes it every time) and even then, there have been a few times where I was stranded at my location for an hour or so until it charges enough to start it.

SO FRUSTRATING! I WANT TO BE ABLE TO RIDE MY HAWK!

Like I said, it's at the mechanic now (I know next to nothing about the mechanics), but any thoughts in the meantime?

[JR]

Are you saying that its dead everytime you hit the start button or does it
turn over at all. Somebody here did mention to make sure the ign reg contacts are clean as these have been known to corrode.

[SVHUNTER]

Pull the park fuse. You don't need it and if you accidently turn key to far dead battery Mabey ping his hordness! Caution pinging hord leads to the endless moding of you hawk

[MrDude_1]

my guess is, the battery isnt dead.... my guess is the starter relay is starting to go bad... so sometimes it works... sometimes it doesnt... sometimes it needs the extra jolt of a battery charger.. ect...

[ovlovder]

I would also pull the park fuse, I had a phantom dead battery, pulled the "park" fuse, and it never happened again.

[Phyxius]

Putting it in park isnt the problem, either.

Are you saying that its dead everytime you hit the start button or does it turn over at all.

It's not *every* time, but it's at least once every other day (every ~3-5 attempts). When that happens, I just charge the battery and it's good for another day or two. Except for the three times it didnt even try to turn over, like I explained.

Starter relay - hm, possible. Like I said, I dont know too much, but neither of the two mechanics I've taken it to have mentioned that.

The first time the battery died on me, I had it towed to the mechanic and the tow truck guy explained that when you just drive it around the city, the trips are short enough that the battery never has a chance to fully recharge and eventually dies. But it just seems to me that it's dying way too often to have that be the only reason.

[jaysun0ne]

Re: Constantly dead battery - mechanic baffled!

[quote="Phyxius"] They said it might be the carburator - it might be "running rich". My spark plugs were black, so they replaced them, said it should "help" but to bring it back if it continued. [quote]


if i told a michanic my battery was dieing on me evey night and that was there responds i would take my bike to the next shop and never go back.

what does a dead battery have to do with a carbs???
maybe im missing some thing here

well good luck electrical problems are the worst to fix imo

[Doc]

I would say starter relay as well, although that parking light fuse would be a good thing to pull as well.

I am in agreement that the carbs have nothing to do with the battery. Anyone know a real mechanic in her area?

Also I didn't know you could but the Hawk in park? Is that like the passing gear? Only certain models have it?

[jaysun0ne]

passing gear???

please doc explain i have never herd of that on a hawk
what years? or is it a bros thing???

[Hordpower]

This almost has to be a charging system problem of some sort. Time to look for mechanic #3 I think, the first couple sound like boneheads!

[isaac]

I agree with Hord. If the mechanics can't find it, you've exceeded their skill set. The second one sounds retarded if they think curing a richness problem is gonna make your bike crank over in the morning. Unless it's cranking fine but dying because it won't light up, that's not even on the map.

Check any relay to see if it's sticking closed or even partially bridged. Most of them you can pull the case off of. Check the fuses, and clean a lot of your connections, especially at the ignition switch. Something's dirty in there.

and Doc, "park" is the switch position on the ignition between "off" and the steering lock. It turns on the taillight in case you're on the side of the road at night but don't want to run down the battery with the headlight. Of course there's a good chance you knew this and were joking.

[Doc]

passing gear???

please doc explain i have never herd of that on a hawk
what years? or is it a bros thing???

See my explanation here...

http://www.hawkgtforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1593

[SharkMan]

Switch

Could also be the silly ignition switch position that leaves the parking lights on. It' an easy mistake to make. Check that all lights are off. Your battery may be shot now though.

[Phyxius]

Could the fact that I've often been starting it in gear have anything to do with this? What I had described in the second paragraph:

'd turn the ingition on, try to start it and nothing happens. Completely silent. Not even the slightest click, and it wont let me shift. I dont know if this is related, but it's frustrating, because each time (three times so far), I just fiddle around with the controls - turn the key, take it out, try again, turn on the choke, turn it off, try to put it in neutral (and fail), then magically it works again.

was just the safety feature of not starting in gear, or so I was told - I swear I've been able to successfully start it in gear, holding the clutch.

Or is that just an unrelated problem anyway?

[Copytech]

I had A similar problem with mine years ago. It turned out to be a bad connection.
Take your tank off and on the right side of the engine in the main harness are a couple of BIG connectors, pull them apart (will be hard) and give them a good cleaning.

Hope it helps.