Yesterday, 12:00 PM
Figured I'd share this since it drove me nuts for weeks. My old CBR600 would fire up cold every time, no problem. But ride it for 20 minutes, shut it off, try to restart, and it would just crank and crank. Let it cool down and boom, starts right up.
First thing people told me was the battery. Wasn't it. Then I checked the reg/rec, also fine. Turned out to be the stator getting heat soaked and losing resistance. Classic. If you have an older bike doing this, before you throw money at a new battery or starter, check your stator and pickup coil resistance when the engine is hot. You can dip the stator in a bit of heat or just ride it and test quickly. Also worth checking the valve clearances, tight exhaust valves can cause hot hard starting too.
Anyone else run into the hot no-start gremlin? Curious what it ended up being on your bikes.
First thing people told me was the battery. Wasn't it. Then I checked the reg/rec, also fine. Turned out to be the stator getting heat soaked and losing resistance. Classic. If you have an older bike doing this, before you throw money at a new battery or starter, check your stator and pickup coil resistance when the engine is hot. You can dip the stator in a bit of heat or just ride it and test quickly. Also worth checking the valve clearances, tight exhaust valves can cause hot hard starting too.
Anyone else run into the hot no-start gremlin? Curious what it ended up being on your bikes.