Cold Start issues after battery removal

Hi all!

I am new to the forum/GRiSO world.  Glad to be here.

New GRiSO as of last week  Love the bike and it appears to have been very well taken care of with lots of seemingly good mods.

The last owner lived in SC and I am in KY i.e. a bit different in weather temps.  The bike is a 2017 with full Arrow and a Beetle map.  PO states the bike started and ran perfect but has not been ridden in ~ 3 months.

When I picked up the bike, I literally saw him start it without any issues.  Rides very well i.e. no stuttering etc. To be fair, I did not  touch the cylinders to see if it was warm. But I have no reason to think otherwise.

When I got it home, it was ~30 deg F colder.  The only thing I changed was the addition of a fused gear heat hookup to the battery.  In other words, Batt terminals were removed.

When I went to start the bike after and then even the next day, the bike took 6-7 starting cycles to start.  It was very much like when you remove your tank on an FI bike and it takes some time to get gas to the injectors.  

It was very odd and the PO stated it never happened to him before.

Is there something that has to be done once you disconnect the main battery?  I have never had a cycle require this BUT that is all I can think happened from being loaded on a trailer and then the addition of the fused power source.

Once it starts, you cannot touch the throttle at all and for ~2 mins or it will stall.  After that.. runs as expected/perfect.

Another thing to consider... maybe. The ride home on the trailer took me through ~8 hours of rain. Is the GRiSO more sensitive to rain then other bikes? In other words, could something in the ignition/coils gotten wet?

Any ideas?

Thanks all!

Could be water got in fuel, empty tank and start over. Make sure to empty hoses under bike. There should be a plug in a few, so stuff don't bleed off in front of tire.
Disconnecting batt doesn't need anything special to hook up.
Gas filler has 2 hoses on back of tank, one on ea side by frame crossmember. 1 for vent, 1 for gutter overflow around cap.
May have even got water in airbox, it has a drain also.

Read the workshop manual.

Some GRiSO's get a tank-filler-well water drain problem which may have happened and caused water in your fuel, however that would normally stop the engine or pull through and then be gone. The fact that they starting issue repeats without change sounds more like an electrical problem to me.

8 hours strapped to a trailer will expose the bike to different patterns of vibration than normal running.
I would check that all fuses are well seated down, that the other end of the earth strap from the battery is well connected and that the HT leads are secure in the caps and in the coils.

Then check resistance to earth from the battery and battery voltage off, on and when cranking.

Welcome to the forum!!!! I'm not far from you, in fact was in LaGrange for lunch this week.

So, about your starting issue....Try cracking the throttle a bit before you hit the start button. Not much, just a little. I read on this forum some time back about that trick, and it works on my 2016 in cold temps.

Thanks all.

I will try some of the advice above and report back!

Hi all.

Checked the Air Cleaner. Bone dry so all good.

I would agree that the starting issue does not seem like water in the tank. I know what that sounds like/acts like. This is essentially like the map is not supplying enough fuel at start. After ~5-6 starting attempts, it catches like normal and is fine.

On another note.. this is the first bike that I have ever seen where once you hit the starter button, you don't have to hold it in. Is that normal?? In other words, once I hit the button, I can let off the button and the engine continues to turn until it fails to start OR eventually starts.

jukelemon wrote:

On another note.. this is the first bike that I have ever seen where once you hit the starter button, you don't have to hold it in. Is that normal??  In other words, once I hit the button, I can let off the button and the engine continues to turn until it fails to start OR eventually starts.

All grisos do that.  It is one of the many peculiarities of the GRiSO.

bioman wrote:

jukelemon wrote:

On another note.. this is the first bike that I have ever seen where once you hit the starter button, you don't have to hold it in. Is that normal??  In other words, once I hit the button, I can let off the button and the engine continues to turn until it fails to start OR eventually starts.

All grisos do that.  It is one of the many peculiarities of the GRiSO.

Ok cool and thanks for confirming.

Closing the loop on this.

Added fresh gas and some in a dry shop seemed to have cured this. No idea why it occurred other than 10+ hours in a downpour.

So all is well it seems!

My bike has always lived in warm climates - South Georgia and Houston, TX. Whenever it gets a little cold in my garage, say below 50F (10C) the bike always starts on the first try but it really has to try harder. Surely our heavy oil. I always think about those in a cold climate starting their GRiSO’s or one left outside in the cold overnight.

That's why we use multi-grade oils.

However, when I first got the Henderson, an old time bike mechanic (Dale Walksler) had me put in straight 50w. Fine in summer....... So I went to a Polar Bear Swim locally on New Years Day, and it was 10*f. Boy, was it hard to kick over after sitting for a couple hours. I now have 10w40 in it.