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Hard Starting Dyna

RetiredJake

Junior Member
Lately, my Dyna has been getting harder to start, occasionally kicking back with a whoosing noise out the intake. It starts to turn over, acts like it is not going to make it, then usually rolls over and starts. Occasionally, it does not make it and kicks back as noted.

At first, I thought the battery was low/bad. Battery checked out okay.

So then I looked for loose/corroded battery cables. Both cables at the battery were clean & tight. The main ground was clean and tight. The positive lead to the battery did have some corrosion under the rubber boot. Removed and cleaned the cable end and reinstalled. Acted a little better for a while, but started gertting worse after a couple of weeks. The cables do not appear to have deteriorated since last checked.

Questions:

Are there any other cable ends that should be checked (Battery Pos & Neg, main ground to frame, Pos cable to starter). If so, what/where are they?

Would timing being advanced too far cause these symptoms? Not sure how it would change, but the kicking back makes me wonder.

Could the starter be going bad already? Bike has 15K miles & 2 years.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
A battery LOAD test is necessary to determine the power the battery has. Most auto parts stores can do this for you, usually no charge. Also you mention any other cables to check, just follow the battery cables and notice if you have a third cable as a ground from the rear of the primary, some do. All connections should be removed, wire brushed and replaced to assure a good connection.

The whoosing noise happens when there isn't enough power to overcome the combustion/ignition stroke when the motor cranks and it kicks back rather than going past the ignition stroke and starting. Usually it will set a code too when this happens but not always..
 
First thing I would do would be to check the battery, if nothing else was messed with and the problem just started, then keep it simple, start by checking the battery.
 
Jake, try aiming the headlight at a blank wall or mirror and when you hit the start button both hot engine (engine compression/starter load high battery fully charged) and cold engine (engine compression/starter load low, battery charge at lowest point and cold)...looking to see how dim the headlight goes. If it goes to 1/4 brightness or goes out completely you probably have 1 or more dead cells, or high resistance connections/bad wires, which you should inspect, clean and protect with dielectric grease.
 
Lately, my Dyna has been getting harder to start, occasionally kicking back with a whoosing noise out the intake. It starts to turn over, acts like it is not going to make it, then usually rolls over and starts. Occasionally, it does not make it and kicks back as noted.

Is this the 2008 FXDB you are talking about? Is it still under warranty? If so, I would haul it in to the Dealership and get them to fix it. If they find something they say is NOT covered, tell them to forget it and fix that yourself. But you paid for the warranty. I would use it.

TQ
 
Thaks for the info guys. I did not do a load test, I just performed a static voltage drop and compared it to the Ultra battery. Logged battery voltage every hour I was awake over a 36 hour period. Both batteries were within 0.05 volts of each other. Guess that may have been a waste of time. I will get a proper load test done and see where to go from there.

Yes, this is the 08 Dyna, but went out of warranty last week. I do have the extended warranty, but do not believe batteries are covered.

Thanks again.
 
There are many ways & formulas but a good general load test for a lead/acid battery is to load the battery to 3X its Amp/Hour rating for 15 seconds. While the load is still on the battery, read the voltage and see if it is below 9.8 volts. If it is, get a new one. My reject value is 10 volts because I like to have the kick!:p!
 
Well, I cleaned all of the cable ends to bright shiney metal, reassembled using dielectric grease, and checked the results. Marginal at best, still slow and kicking back occasionally. :(

Rode to the dealer and had him load test the battery, checked out okay. :(

Turned over to the dealer at that point. They will start going into the starter to verify that is not the problem or to fix if it is. The starter is covered under the extended warranty, so my cost will not exceed $50. Guess I will get some of the warranty cost back. :D

Just got off the phone with the dealer service department. Turns out when I bought the bike in Nov of 07, there was a factory promotion going on that I was never aware of. The bike really has a 2-1/2 year warranty on it, so there will be no cost to me once they determine what is wrong. :D
 
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