battery charging questions, REDUX.

[headshot]

This may be a long one so please bear with me:

Weekend: finished my MSF course
Monday: got my license
Tuesday: Bought an '83 Tempter (Suz. GR650) with knowledge of major gasket leak
Tried to drive home while keeping an eye on oil leak, and then it died on the road. Must have lost all oil. Maybe?

Pushed it to a lot, tried to start it, no turnover at all. Went home to get my car, and 4 quarts of oil, filled it, and used a hand-held car jumper to start it.
Let it charge for about 15 minutes before I started and disconnected.

YEY! It starts. Moved quickly to secure the spare oil to the rack, and took off.
After about 3 miles, the lights, instrument panel and plugs started to fade away into oblivion. Pulled into a lot and parked it again.

Now, this is a parts bike I won for $350 so it's not like I expected a perfectly running vehicle. It doesn't even have a title, it's to be cannabalized for the other Tempter I bought last week.

All forum posts I've read here so far indicates that while it can be jumped with a portable like mine, it really needs a trickle charger to charge it fully??? Is that why the electrical faded away while driving?

Or should it self-charge while running like any other car?

Thanks! ( I just want to get this SOB home, that's all)

[BuzZz]

It will have an alternator and should charge the battery as it runs. It sounds like the bike is not charging for some reason.

[TechTMW]

If the battery is low enough, the battery won't have enough juice to power the coils, etc even w/ the generator going. You need to fully charge the battery before you ride it. Also, you mentioned you put 4 qts of oil in the bike... was it THAT low when you got it home or did you empty it? Make sure the oil's not overfilled before you ride it again!

[headshot]

Well, I did take off pretty quickly seeing as the oil issue didn't give me the luxury to sit and wait. The oil started to trickle out pretty quickly.

The recent owner wants me to check fuses, and the Stato 3-wire connections.
I'll do that in the light tomorrow.

Should I buy a trickle charger then? Will AutoZone or Pep Boys know what I need or should I bring them the battery so they know?

thanks!

[stormme66]

I'd check your battery for levels, unless it is a sealed battery. May be worth replacing the battery.

A few years ago I bought a GS1000G really cheaply, and rode it for a few days before it started doing exactly the same. Turns out that the end of the crank which holds the flywheel was broken, the seller had tack welded it on, and it didn't survive.

I would think that you need to check the coils and see if it is charging at all. Hopefully your problem won't be as terminal as mine was!

All the best!

[headshot]

Also, you mentioned you put 4 qts of oil in the bike... was it THAT low when you got it home or did you empty it? Make sure the oil's not overfilled before you ride it again![/quote]

It's a 3.5 qt engine so I'm assuming that if it emptied itself then 4 would be perfect, seeing as it started triclking the second time I tried to geti t going

[storysunfolding]

or lack of oil didn't cause your problem and instead of just filling .5 liters beyond capacity you put in more.

If it was just going to be a parts bike why didn't you trailer it home? Sounds really unsafe to have your power wheel following the creation of an oil slick.

[flynrider]

It sounds like the battery took enough of a charge from the jump to keep the bike running for a few miles. This really sounds like a charging issue. If the bikes alternator is not feeding a charge to the battery, it'll eventually run down from powering the lights and ignition. Then the engine dies.

Careful with overfilling the oil. I know you said it already leaks, but overfilling will just make the problem worse. Twice I ended up with leaky seals on perfectly good engines by accidently putting too much oil in.