Hard to start in cold weather

[putin]

Started good when from carport, stayed all night outside 11C, and foggy. Engine did not turn, and few loud pops heard from the choke area (choke opened). After 3-4 separate attempts starts very "lazy". Is it normal? Otherwise no problems, only when it is very hot. I live in LA.

 

[02GF74]

11C is not cold.

The moisture from fog won't do it any favours.

How old is the battery? Batteries on their last legs will make it harder to turn over and start an engine

 

[Fire-medic]

Check the battery with a load-tester. Also check the grounds, meaning, "remove the grounds at the chassis/engine, and the battery, and clean them to shiny metal." Use some dielectric grease to delay corrosion/oxidation.

Have you done the crimp-fix? Soldering the wires crimped in the wire harness, under the seat and inside the wire loom?

 

[putin]

Battery was checked in the store, wires looked ok. The same thing happens every winter.

 

[user 16790]

maybe your starter motor needs a clean

 

[MaxMidnight]

If you are confident that your battery is OK then as Mr Medic suggests clean all contacts between the battery and starter motor and also the earth points.
Should that not resolve the situation then MrT's suggestion of inspecting the starter brushes seems a good idea.
And if that doesn't work go pack to the person who said the battery was OK and give them a slap....they were wrong.

 

[Parminio]

Battery was checked in the store

Did he hook it to something that looked like this:



Did you see him flip the switch (sometimes its a regular toggle switch) and show you the results?

If he didn't, he didn't load test your battery. You can hook up a battery to any voltmeter and see it sitting at 12 volts and have it appear to be OK. What the load test does is simulate a start. No matter how fresh the battery is, you'll see the needle move down just a bit when that switch is thrown.

On a bad battery, you'll see it nose dive into that red area that says BAD.

Again, if you didn't see that, you didn't get it tested.

 

[02GF74]

Battery was checked in the store, wires looked ok. The same thing happens every winter.

With the same battery? You do have the manufacturers recommended battery fitted?

When I bought mine I knew the battery would need replacing but it was fitted with a smaller battery.

 

[putin]

With the same battery? You do have the manufacturers recommended battery fitted?

When I bought mine I knew the battery would need replacing but it was fitted with a smaller battery.

 

[putin]

If nobody has the same issue ( hard to start cold and moisturised overnight outside), may be my battery.

 

[user 16790]

do you have another vehicle/battery that you could jump to on those cold moist mornings, might help tell if it is a battery problem

 

[putin]

do you have another vehicle/battery that you could jump to on those cold moist mornings, might help tell if it is a battery problem

Nobody was around. That happens very rare in the conditions described.

 

[putin]

Did he hook it to something that looked like this:

View attachment 73823

Did you see him flip the switch (sometimes its a regular toggle switch) and show you the results?

If he didn't, he didn't load test your battery. You can hook up a battery to any voltmeter and see it sitting at 12 volts and have it appear to be OK. What the load test does is simulate a start. No matter how fresh the battery is, you'll see the needle move down just a bit when that switch is thrown.

On a bad battery, you'll see it nose dive into that red area that says BAD.

Again, if you didn't see that, you didn't get it tested.

Yes, they keep it for the night, then attached it to similar device. But i don''t really trusted them. Mayby battery does not hold charge for long periods of time.

 

[Parminio]

You test BEFORE you charge.

If it nose dives on a load test, charging is a waste of time.

 

[putin]

Before charge, battery was dead, that why i take it to the store who sold it to me. I already posted story, that for some reason one cell was completely dry. I added distilled water and take it to shop. 6 months ago. I had to check levels now, but f...g battery hard to reach.

 

[Fire-medic]

Before charge, battery was dead, that why i take it to the store who sold it to me. I already posted story, that for some reason one cell was completely dry. I added distilled water and take it to shop. 6 months ago. I had to check levels now, but f...g battery hard to reach.

It's dead, for your reliable-use. Don't even-bother trying to refill it with distilled water. The cell w/o H2O is effectively cooked/dead, and it won't come-back.

I respectfully disagree with Parminio about not trying to charge the battery before a load-test. In my experience, you need to start with a full charge, to load-test properly. Today I'm sitting with a new battery in my GMC pickup, because the battery crapped-out on me yesterday. When I pulled it, the case had all four sides bulging/swollen; I'd charged it overnight. It went to a single digit on the load test at the battery store this morning, and while the tech, says, "it tests OK," I believe when it drops to a single digit for volts on a load test, and in the presence of the swollen case, it's served its time. He also said that since it was 5 years-old, and it failed to-perform for me yesterday, he would replace it, in his car, if he was the customer. I took that to be good advice, and not an 'up-sell.' If there's one thing that I hate to be stuck-with, it's a dead battery away from home, and we have an AAA membership.

 

[putin]

You right, battery became unreliable, although it starts good in good conditions. Nobody really know whats going on with modern batteries, but when they behave strange, time to change them. Ordered Odissey from Amazon.

 

[Parminio]

for some reason one cell was completely dry.

That statement right there makes this entire thread moot. Had you said that at the very beginning, that would have told everybody immediately the battery was worthless and that would have been that.

 

[putin]

That statement right there makes this entire thread moot. Had you said that at the very beginning, that would have told everybody immediately the battery was worthless and that would have been that.

That battery was checked by professionals, and they said it is GOOD! And it cranks badly only under certain conditions, that happened couple of times. And bike starts, although hardly.

 

[Parminio]

They obviously weren't "professionals", were they?

In future, always give as much info as you can. It's the little details like that where you wind up running around chasing everything else for no reason.

The behavior you described is exactly the behavior of a dead cell. That's why I asked the questions I asked and others did as well. Had you told us from the outset you had a dry cell, that would be it. We'd all know it was dead.

More importantly, YOU would know. That keeps you from running out buying plugs, or a coil, or a rectifier assembly or some other thing that isn't the problem.