Back again....

[DieHardBigRaw]

Hey friends, back again. it looks like I am having an ongoing issue here. I went for a nice long ride today on some back country roads, about a 1.5 hours in, I was stopping at a stoplight on my way home and my GZ backfired and died. Naturally I assumed out of fuel, but that didn't make any sense as I only had 100 miles on this tank. I open the tank and its still half full, check my lights and nothing. So the battery died obviously, but I dont know why the battery died. I know I am new to riding, but I would assume that the GZ (even though its a small bike) doesn't run strictly on the battery, I imagine that would drain the battery rather quickly. Thanks for any input on this guys, I am hoping to get riding again soon... :??:

[alantf]

Backfire? Not necessarilly an electrical issue. How did you get home? What tests have you done? Do lights light up? etc, etc, etc. Give us the full info, then we can start helping you.

[DieHardBigRaw]

I haven't done any test as of yet, I had just gotten home and then had some errands to run. I know though that the battery will charge up, but as of right now I haven't plugged it in. But after the backfire and it dying, I had no lights, not even a clicking sound like it wanted to turn over. I will plug it in and let the battery charge, what test should I be running after that though? Thanks.

[DieHardBigRaw]

How did I get it home? I parked it on the side of the road, called my wife to bring my truck and put in the bed, and drove the truck. It is currently still sitting in the bed of the truck.

[PimpS]

similar to my story... I'll propably check my battery on tuesday...

[DieHardBigRaw]

ok, more to add. The battery is less than a month old, so I pretty positive thats not the issue, especially since it didn't die on a short ride. Anyway, I pulled the bike off the truck and hooked the battery up to my 1Amp Charger for a few hours. I then it started it and decided to take a short drive to see how charging it worked. I made it about 1.5 miles, before I noticed a loss in power, by 2 miles, it stalled, died and backfired. I had a friend come jump me (car off of course) and I made it halfway home before needing another jump (car off) and then the bike died as I pulled into the driveway.

[DieHardBigRaw]

by 'loss in power' I mean that it felt like a let off the throttle entirely. It did this about 2-3 times before it died. If noone has any ideas, then I will probably schedule a diagnostic with the dealer, but am trying to avoid the outrageous cost and time of that (every dealer here says its a 2 week delay and I have to leave the bike with them until they can get to it)!

[alantf]

From what you describe, it would appear to be a charging circuit issue - new battery, ran a few miles then died. Download the manual from this site, then go to "faultfinding" in the electrical section. You didn't say whether you were ok with electrics, so keep us informed as to how you get on. Unfortunately, at this stage, there are too many things that it could be, until you've done a few tests, and eliminated a few possibilities.

First test - to see if it is a charging circuit issue - put the battery on the bike & connect it up. start the bike. Put your voltmeter across the battery terminals, rev up (to 4000 - 5000 revs) and see if the voltage rises. Let us know. If the voltage doesn't rise from the battery voltage (12.7v?) then it's definitely a fault on the charging circuit.

[jonathan180iq]

I am thinking that the popping out the exhaust that you are hearing as the bike shuts down is not actually connected to why the bike is dying. It's unrelated to the real issue but because it happens on shut down, it is confusing you and making it seem like it's something more important than it is. It's not uncommon for these bikes to give a little POP! at low idle and occasionally when shutting down. You need to run some carb cleaner and also check the condition of your air filter.

As AlanTF stated, there is more than likely a charging circuit issue somewhere. In your case, and where it varies from PimpS's, is that your issues sounds more like a faulty/intermittent connection, and not necessarily a bad battery. That being said however, simply because your battery is only a month old does not mean that it is good.

Now that you have it off the bike and charging, remove the charger and test the voltage. Wait a couple of hours and then do it again. If you're willing, drive it down the local auto parts store and have it tested, just to be sure. To test the charging circuit on the bike, get it running and test the voltage across the terminals.

When you connect the leads to the terminals for the first time, with the key out and the bike completely off, do you get any arcing? If you do, then there is probably a wire shorting out somewhere, which could be your culprit.

[Road_Clam]

Originally Posted by DieHardBigRaw

by 'loss in power' I mean that it felt like a let off the throttle entirely. It did this about 2-3 times before it died. If noone has any ideas, then I will probably schedule a diagnostic with the dealer, but am trying to avoid the outrageous cost and time of that (every dealer here says its a 2 week delay and I have to leave the bike with them until they can get to it)!

Your exact issue is getting to be a very common issue. This very question has been asked many times. Research, read and test :

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