Waking up the 400 after it's winter sleep (surprise!)

[Uncle Bob]

Thought I'd wake the 400 out of it's winter slumber at the weekend. The previous week I had put the fuel tap to Prime, which I had meant to leave at for 5 or 10 minutes but in the end forgot about it and left it a day before returning it to the On position.
Now thoughts of the fuel leaking past the needle valve did cross my mind (has happened before when the vacuum tap seals failed) but it had been over a week. Also for that week it was the Katana's turn for the time share of the trickle charger (2 chargers, too many bikes!). So on Sunday I thought I'll just prod the starter quickly and see if it turns OK, a second or 2 at most, no choke as it was just to turn it over, not start it.

Now we know about the 400's and their starting habits (which are even worse when left a few weeks let alone months), though since replacing all the O rings with the Viton LiteTek kit when I got it back in 2014, I would say mine has generally been fine but can still be a little temperamental on it's spring wake up. So imagine my surprise that with just that little prod of the starter it burst into life and ticked over nicely!

I think the new starter motor and using a lithium battery do seem to have helped further, but I'm pleased that it started with no drama.

Now to change the coolant, balance the carbs and change the oil and filter ready for this year's riding.

UB

[tigcraft]

It’s nice when a pleasant thought turns into reality!
After also owning mine (250) for ten yrs and partly recommissioned ( that is without even buying a single item for the carbs) for the first time, it started, purred and made me feel happily excited too!
Yes the phrase ‘waking up’ really describes the motion of the whole operation.

[Smallkat]

That's great news chaps.

I had left Smallkat dry all winter. A couple of weeks ago I refilled with fresh E5 and after a few goes, she started. Amazed! I did a short run and parked up.

Then a few days ago I went to start it and it was a no-go, the battery was getting a bit low after all the churning so in desperation, I drained the float bowls, put the fuel tap to 'prime' and she started after the third try.

I rode off triumphantly, only for the speedo cable to break a mile down the road. Anyway, too late to turn back as I was meeting some ride-out pals. I did 130 miles (confirmed by other speedos!) and kept up quite nicely with a Fazer 1000 and BMW R1250GS. I did have to rev the poor little thing though. But a good 'Italian Service' might do it good after a winter sleep.

I've ordered a GSF400 speedo cable. Its specs seem to indicate it's about 50mm too long, but that should be fine, the ends seem right. Hopefully there are no problems at either end which caused the cable failure.

Eric - I'll call you to arrange a meet up soon.

Rob - in what way do you think the lithium battery helps? I guess I better think about a new starter motor soon.

[pookie]

Had the same thing waking up my 250, took the battery out in October last year to trickle charge it left it with a full tank of E5 and some fuel fit petrol additive, got the litetek viton carb kit fitted as well, last week I put the battery back in, pumped up the tyres, gave the carb float bowls a tap in case the floats had got stuck (once bitten!) and after a few prods of the starter button it fired into life had a great trip around my local roads just to re-adjust to riding a bike again and is now ready for the summer (hope we get one this year) don't worry Smallkat, I won't put any pictures up

[pookie]

Oh! I couldn't resist!

[Uncle Bob]

Rob - in what way do you think the lithium battery helps? I guess I better think about a new starter motor soon.

It certainly spins the starter faster (higher cranking amps i believe) which is possibly what helps more
It is handy you don't need to leave on the trickle charger, just a week here and there
I can eat more pies as it's certainly a lot less weight than the lead acid battery allowing me to be a few lbs heavier

The downside is if your charging circuit isn't good, then it could spontaneously combust (so I am told!) - I'm taking the risk (it is a more modern bike and charging circuit than the old 80's ones) and all good so far

[Smallkat]

Oh! I couldn't resist!
[attachment=1]P1010588 (2).JPG

But you promised!

[Smallkat]

Rob - in what way do you think the lithium battery helps? I guess I better think about a new starter motor soon.

It certainly spins the starter faster (higher cranking amps i believe) which is possibly what helps more
It is handy you don't need to leave on the trickle charger, just a week here and there
I can eat more pies as it's certainly a lot less weight than the lead acid battery allowing me to be a few lbs heavier

The downside is if your charging circuit isn't good, then it could spontaneously combust (so I am told!) - I'm taking the risk (it is a more modern bike and charging circuit than the old 80's ones) and all good so far

I'll give it a go then. I've seen a lithium battery that has overcharge protection, so I think I may play it safe and get one of those. It's about £15 more, but better than a fire under one's arse.

[pookie]

Couple of questions about lithium ion batteries, I've noticed on some you tube videos that there is a starting procedure, you have to wait for a few seconds (more than ten I think) before hitting the starter button and as the lithium ion battery is quite a bit smaller in size it will need some sort of padding to fit in the 'normal' battery sized battery box, as they can explode if they get too hot covering it to fit in the battery cradle might not be a good idea! i'm quite happy with my motobatt battery at the moment, got them in all my bikes and they have never let me down.

[Uncle Bob]

I got an Exide Li battery from Tayna. The 400 is a YTX9-BS and the Exide is the same size, so no packing required. It was so light compared to the MotoBatt I took out. It was I think about £55 in June 2023 so has gone up a bit.
https://www.tayna.co.uk/motorcycle-batt ... /eltx9-bs/

I did email Exide as some batteries have a Battery Management System (BMS) to protect from things like over charging etc, but they said the motorbike batteries do not have them (too small possibly).

UB