Starter motor or battery?

[khabel]

My bike has become a pain to start, requiring 3 or 4 long pushes of the start button before it roars into life, is this a sign of a faulty starter motor or battery?

If it's a battery what are the details I need to make sure of if I buy a replacement?

[White trash]

My bike has become a pain to start, requiring 3 or 4 long pushes of the start button before it roars into life, is this a sign of a faulty starter motor or battery?

If it's a battery what are the details I need to make sure of if I buy a replacement?

It may be neither, fully depends on the speed at which it turns over. When was the last time the beast had a service or tune? Could be running too rich/lean on the choke. Is it harder to start at any particular time (cold/hot)?

[khabel]

was serviced 2 weeks ago which is when it started having problems starting, been working late so haven't had a chance to take it back.

Doesn't matter on weather conditions or if the bikes warm or not or how much choke I use.

[onearmedbandit]

What servicing was done? Depending on that I'd be looking at not touching it and taking it back to them.

[White trash]

What servicing was done? Depending on that I'd be looking at not touching it and taking it back to them.

+ 1. Ring the dealer and discuss the symptoms and see if they can offer an explanation. It's unlikely that they've caused the issue but there could be something linked.

[notme]

My bike has become a pain to start, requiring 3 or 4 long pushes of the start button before it roars into life, is this a sign of a faulty starter motor or battery?

If it's a battery what are the details I need to make sure of if I buy a replacement?
Do you mean 3 or 4 long pushes with the starter turning the engine over at what sounds like the "normal" speed? If so, it may not be electrical as others have hinted.... But if the cranking is slow, it could well be an electrical issue.

Is it trying to fire or just cranking with no sign of spluttering or trying to start?

[Mom]

If your bike started well prior to the last service, and has only failed since, I would be asking the question of who serviced it as to why.

I once had a race tuned MX5 that took no prisoners, it had serious stonk. I took it to a local garage to have the timing chain replaced, picked it up after work and limped home. In the morning I puttered into the garage that had done the timing chain, and was a little bit vocal about the lack of performance of my car :angry: Turns out he had returned my timing to the "factory" mark at TDC. I was really pissed off, what is wrong with doing best practise and actually marking TDC for yourself BEFORE you pull things apart. I never got it back to what it was.

Having said that, things can fail suddenly so go gently at first.

Do ask the question though.

[SS90]

If your bike started well prior to the last service, and has only failed since, I would be asking the question of who serviced it as to why.

I once had a race tuned MX5 that took no prisoners, it had serious stonk. I took it to a local garage to have the timing chain replaced, picked it up after work and limped home. In the morning I puttered into the garage that had done the timing chain, and was a little bit vocal about the lack of performance of my car :angry: Turns out he had returned my timing to the "factory" mark at TDC. I was really pissed off, what is wrong with doing best practise and actually marking TDC for yourself BEFORE you pull things apart. I never got it back to what it was.

Having said that, things can fail suddenly so go gently at first.

Do ask the question though.

Erm sorry to pick on you here Mom, but, rem, ah, Any half trained mechanic knows to use the factry cam timing marks.

if, however, you had told them that the cam timing was modified, and would need to be degreed and refitted according to different specs, then they would have done so.

Factory timing marks are for reassembling an engine correctly, that is why they are there.

[bsasuper]

Did they change the sparkplugs?, did they use the correct ones?