Any GZ Doctor near Dayton, OH??

[zipmap]

Hi All,

Bought my pretty little 2006 GZ used with 300 miles on it last fall. My friends said to "go with SUZUKI, they are PRACTICALLY maintenance free for LIFE!"

YEAH?? If I charge the (third) battery every night?
OH, OKAY!!
Why did I buy this thing? You bet! It ran great when I bought it! (for two days) The dealership said it was a bad battery! Said they would honor the 30 day warranty and replace the battery!
OH HOW BIG OF THEM, and it only took 5 WEEKS to get the "RIGHT" battery for "THIS PARTICULAR MODEL" arrive from (probably the storeroom in the parts department) and, assuring the warranty would run out and they could stick me with whatever in the heck is wrong with this POS.

And of course, I am a single woman who is strictly KGG (Keys. Gas. Go.) nothing else.

I read the "fail to start" info in the forum section. Know what this technical stuff means to me?
It means I have an expensive patio decoration.
I would have preferred a hot tub.

Anybody around here have time, interest and know how to handle this particular issue?
After all this, I am AFRAID to take it to a mechanic!
Peace

[New GZ250]

Don't have the knowledge but I know someone will help to get up and go!

I feel for you! Lets get that expensive patio decoration off the patio!

I have a hot tub I would sell you if interested. Just don't use it that much!
:)

[zipmap]

Thanks for the reply, I really need some direction here. Got any ideas? Do you think I should have posted this in the Troubleshooting Forum?

[New GZ250]

I'm a KGG kinda of guy. Would not even take an educated guess, others have had this same problem/issue. Sure one of us will try a put you back on the road. I would throw a fit with the Dealer you bought from! They never fixed the problem! It was under warranty when you brought the issue to their attention!
Hang in there, you will have a bunch in the forum come to your assistance!

Mr. KGG!
:)

[zipmap]

Thanks for giving a shout out for me. I'm hanging in!

[JWR]

I read your post twice. Please correct me if I am wrong, The bike will start as long as the battery is fully charged????
If left off the charger it will not, is this correct???

Jerry

[zipmap]

Yes, this is correct. If a the battery is new or fully charged it will start a half dozen times or so, then it requires charging again, jumping or bump starting. It does turn over for a while but won't catch. Eventually it turns over less and less, sounding like drag on the starter, until finally dead. What is going on?

It WILL start, but only with help, never the way it is expected to.

[JWR]

It sounds like it is not charging.
To check the output power:.
1. Take off seat and right side cover.
2.Hook up a battery meter to the battery.
3.Start engine and rev about half throttle.
4.Let us know what the meter reading is, should be around 13 volts.

The GZ will turn over with a weak battery, but not start, all GZ,s are like this.

Jerry

[dannylightning]

do you have any thing hooked up to the bike that might be using power. i would guess that they either got a nother crappy battery witch can happen, some times brand new batteries can be bad or your bike is not charging the battery.

there is a little place in akron ohio called midway yamaha that rocks at fixing bikes, you probably dont want to drive that far. suzui does make really good bikes. don't let one little problem get to you. things happen, and its probably nothing major, if the alternator goes out in your car and your battery wont charge you don't get all upset and think the car is junk do you. i just think dam i got to spend 80 bucks on a new but after i do its all fixed up and running great again..

im just saying it can be fixed and its probably nothing major so dont get too upset. the wait on parts sucks but there is no reason they cant have them in with in one week. that just sounds like a crappy dealer.

[mrlmd1]

This has been an ongoing problem addressed before in numerous threads.
It's probably the battery, but not really the battery, it's the dealer who installed it.

First off, hook up a good battery or jump it with cables from a car battery, WITHOUT THE CAR ENGINE RUNNING! You don't want to fry the GZ's electricals with the output from a car alternator, but the battery is just fine to start the bike. Don't forget, + to +, - to - on the cables.
If it starts, that identifies the problem.
The batteries for these bikes are usually AGM sealed batteries and they MUST be fully charged up first on a charger after being filled with acid before initial use or they will NEVER hold a full charge to start the bike more than a few times, then they crap out, have to be charged again, and will start the bike once or twice, then die again. If the dealer did not charge the battery for a few hours at least before installing it, it's already ruined and you need a new one. You (the dealer) test it by putting on a load tester and you will see immediately if it's any good. Make him do that and give you a new battery.
If you get the bike running, you can easily measure the voltage across the battery terminals to see if the bike is charging or not, and I would bet this is fine.

I bet you anything the problem is the battery, don't start looking for exotic problems on a new bike with only 300 miles. Get a new battery, charge it and your problem is solved.

[zipmap]

I will do exactly these things, I got this new (3rd!!) battery at Batteries Plus. I took it back to them and they said the charge on it was down, charged it, and said if it held a charge overnight then something was wrong with my bike, not the battery. Naturally, it tested fine the next morning and they sent me on my way. For another few starts.

I'm down on my bike right now for sure, but it's only because I didn't get a great runnning machine and have not been able to just enjoy riding it...

If I could get this resolved w/o spending big$ I would feel much better.
Because just as life seems to always work out...
My SUZUKI car needs new brake rotors and a blower right now too!

such is life

Could you all keep an eye on me here in case I need more input?
I REALLY appreciate that.
Maria

[dannylightning]

I will do exactly these things, I got this new (3rd!!) battery at Batteries Plus. I took it back to them and they said the charge on it was down, charged it, and said if it held a charge overnight then something was wrong with my bike, not the battery. Naturally, it tested fine the next morning and they sent me on my way. For another few starts.

I'm down on my bike right now for sure, but it's only because I didn't get a great runnning machine and have not been able to just enjoy riding it...

If I could get this resolved w/o spending big$ I would feel much better.
Because just as life seems to always work out...
My SUZUKI car needs new brake rotors and a blower right now too!

such is life

Could you all keep an eye on me here in case I need more input?
I REALLY appreciate that.
Maria

my friends have suzuki samurai's and they beat the hell out of them on the off road trails and roll them over, those things never have motor problems, only 4x4 and suspension problems but whet to you expect when you go to the 4th most extreme off road park in the country and give it hell and roll it over down big hills. i believe Suzuki makes great stuff. dont get disgurraged,

i just bought a new Suzuki motorcycle, well new to me. second suzuki, put it this way, if the new battery works great, if the battery is not charging it's not going to be any thing major. once a month you should really charge you battery to keep it fresh i guess you would say

IMPORTANT if you are and when you are charging your battery with a charger are you doing the fast charge or the slow charge. the fast charge will make your battery wear out quick, that is not good for a battery at all. always do a slow charge when charging your battery, that wont hurt it at all

[alantf]

once a month you should really charge you battery to keep it fresh i guess you would say



Why? :??: I've had my gz for nearly 2½ years. I've never needed to charge the battery, even when the bike has been standing for 3 weeks, while I was on holiday. It starts first time, every time. :2tup:

[dannylightning]

once a month you should really charge you battery to keep it fresh i guess you would say



Why? :??: I've had my gz for nearly 2½ years. I've never needed to charge the battery, even when the bike has been standing for 3 weeks, while I was on holiday. It starts first time, every time. :2tup:

i'm not really sure why but that's what it says in the owners manual for my new bike. might make the battery last longer if its always kept at the maximum charge, that would be my guess.

[dhgeyer]

By all means have the battery tested. If they are not charged properly the first time, they can fail very early, or never work right to begin with.

If it's not the battery itself, then there are a couple of other possibilities. Could be a loose connection from the alternator, or somewhere else in the charging circuit. You'll have to have that chased down by a reputable shop.

The other possibility, and one that happened to me on a Nighthawk 650, is an intermittently bad stator (part of the alternator). Again, you would have to have this checked out by a really competent mechanic.

Whatever it is, there is a solution. The hard part is finding a mechanic who is honest and good enough to find the difficulty. Ask around in your area. Ask several people who ride. Some shops have good reputations and don't deserve them.

After the frustration, comes a whole lot of fun. More than a hot tub any day, unless you're riding 2 up.

[mrlmd1]

Just to repeat - before you get yourself crazy, have the shop load test your battery, it's probably no good. Get a new one and charge it up before you first use it.
That should solve your problem, and if not, then we'll go from there. First things first.
Did the bike start when you jumped it from a good battery?

[dannylightning]

B

After the frustration, comes a whole lot of fun. More than a hot tub any day, unless you're riding 2 up.

riding 2 up in the hot tub???????? :pimpdaddy:

[mrlmd1]

So where you been? What happened? The suspense is killing me.

[dhgeyer]

B

After the frustration, comes a whole lot of fun. More than a hot tub any day, unless you're riding 2 up.

riding 2 up in the hot tub???????? :pimpdaddy:


I'm glad someone's awake.

[zipmap]

You guys are cracking me up!
I have been slammed at work, haven't even had a chance to do anything about my bike yet... but I will first thing next week.

Going to the WV mountains for the weekend to trail ride... at least the quad runs!

Have a great weekend everybody...get back to ya...

[mahesh]

Hi,

Any updates? Is your suzuki up & running?

May be i am stupid here, but just make sure, everytime you take the keys you are not switching on the parking light....that would also drain up the battery.

Just a thought.

Thanks and Regards,
Mahesh.

[mrlmd1]

She hasn't been back here for 7 months so I guess we'll never know what happened to her and the bike.

[dannylightning]

she probably got it fixed or she would have been back asking more questions

that is my theory