No Dams!

Dam.....

My motorcycle battery gave out.  Road 360 freeway miles.

I decided to return home at about 6:00 pm on Friday night 30 miles into Oregon on I-205. After all where in Oregon are you going to find a Motel 6 and a motorcycle dealer with a FJR battery at 6:00pm on Friday night?  In the end I could not trust the bike to even idle well.

Lesson Learned: The batteries ability to spin the engine is NOT a good indication of a good battery.  By that time it is too late, way too late.

Here is the sequence of indications or not – keep in mind this battery is on a Battery Tender 24x7 and the bike lives in my garage.

1)      Friday morning bike fires up – my thought upon starting was the crank speed was a bit slow – wonder about that battery.  Soon the thought is gone.

2)      Leave work Friday at 2:00pm, no problem – crank speed just fine.

3)      Get gas in Centralia, restart bike.  No problem, crank speed just fine.

4)      Pull over to don rain jacket.  Bike nearly stalls at idle, ABS light comes on, GPS which is hard wired to the battery says, “Continue on battery power or shut down in 15 seconds?  What the…..  Bike fires up no problem no slow crank either.

5)      Resume ride all the while my mind is not happy about 4) above.

6)      Pull over at last rest stop on I-5 before I-205.  Bike idles fine, bike starts fine – more than once even - no problem no slow crank either.

7)      ABS Light comes on and stays on.

8)      Traffic on I-205 slows to stop and go.  I do a quicky test, go to neutral, kill engine while rolling, hit restart, nearly no cranking.  I know now I am screwed.

9)      Pull over on I-205 to call Days Inn to cancel my Hotel by 6:00pm.  I have 10 minute to do this otherwise I pay.  T-moble phone says no service.  Lordy, I am in the middle Portland Oregon on the east side.  Reboot phone.  Service established – this very well could have been T-mobiles last straw.  Call 411 and cancel.  A guy on a bike pulls up behind me with a fellow in a hot Nissan sport car.  He needs a wrench.  This is an opportunity!  I say yeah I got a wrench and if needed perhaps you can help me if this bike don’t start.  I had the right wrench he was is thrilled, my bike starts and I am thrilled.

10)   With a ½ tank of gas I will not make it home, meaning I must stop one more time.  While cruising up I-5 the instrument cluster is not happy.  I got an orange light subtly flickering once or twice – I don’t know what the hell that is – at the same time the tack and speedo needles bouncing from zero to normal twice, all the while the ABS lamp glows red.  I remove the GPS, put it away in tank bag.  It is 42 degrees, no heated grips and no electric jacket.  Mission is to get home.

11)   Stop in Woodland, for there is a gas station, motel and a place to eat all in close proximity.  Choose the gas station closest to the hotel and it has a slight hill – bonus!

12)   Gas up, call Linda, if you don’t hear from me I am ok, fire up the bike.  It seems to spin pretty well but at this point I don’t care.  Pull up slight hill, wait for traffic, at idle bike stalls. Shit.  Most of the precious elevation is lost turning the bike around, so much that I can’t bump start it.  A stranger kindly gives me a push the bike fires and I am estatic with many thanks to the stranger.

13)   Ride home no more problem, put bike in garage, hook up the Battery Tender which immediately goes to green lamp meaning this battery cannot accept a charge. 

14)   Saturday morning write this report.  It is a nice day today to go find a battery.

I am glad this thing died when it did rather than the half way between Winnemucca NV and Lakeview Or.  No harm no foul, I made it home safe and sound.  I will be looking for better options to know when the battery is toast like this little gem right here.

I know I didn’t get a lot of years out of this battery but it had a hard life.  The bike sat for a while new before I bought it, then the voltage regulator went south during my first year of ownership.  It was an overcharge condition.  While the problem was fixed under warrantee the battery likely suffered for it.

Post Script:  Oh the pain of it!

I had a loose battery terminal screw. In over 40 years of motorcycling this has never happened to me. It would have taken 10 minutes to fix it on the side of the road. I didn't want to stop because I was convinced I had a dead or near dead battery. Sure hurts to admit that.