Dead and Back Again

[jayhawker]

I had an incident with my 2001 Goldwing that has me puzzled. There wasn’t any problems prior to this so I will just explain what happen and perhaps someone has experienced the same problem. I left the bike set for perhaps an hour and when I returned I switched the key on everything seemed normal until I hit the start button. A click and the whole system lost power. I checked fuses and all good. Checked the battery and it showed like 7 volts. I jumped started the bike drove in a couple miles home, shut it off and it started right off. Checked voltage and it was 13 volts. I can’t believe that the battery went from 7 volts to 13 in the short time the bike was running, perhaps six or seven minutes. Does anyone have an idea what would cause the problem?

[Steve F]

Had the same problem once, and it was loose battery connections. Tightened it up and was perfect since. The terminals get oxidized and when you hit the starter, the bad connection will prevent anything from working properly. Clean and tighten the terminals and you SHOULD be ok....I doubt there's more to it than that.

[Viking]

And the second thing can be dead cells. If the battery has dead cells, it will charge quickly and then die almost as quickly. After it has set a few hours, check it again. If it is back down to 7, it indicates a new battery is in order. If it is still at 12.7 or so, then likely the terminals need to be reset (reset meaning loosened, moved around to make contact, and retightened)

[harvey01]

I would check all connections, but I agree with mainviking that your battery may be bad. How old is it? I suggest pull it out and take to a auto parts store that can run a load test and tell you if it is bad.

In addition to the age of the battery, is it an OEM (Yuasa) or aftermarket?

[jayhawker]

I've made the recommended check and found that the battery terminals were indeed loose. I've only owned the bike a couple of weeks but was told that the battery was fairly new. Thanks for all the comments by following them I was able to fix the problem without a lot of trial and error. The members here are outstanding in their willingness to help and share their knowledge. I am also a member of another Goldwing website but they are reluctant to help even on basic questions. Blessing on you...!

[Viking]

Glad we were of some assistance. Also, thanks for coming back and reporting your findings. It is always good to know when a solution has been found.