When they plan to go out for a regular ride, and your motorcycle engine doesn’t seem to start, it is pretty natural to worry. Honestly, it can happen to any ride on a fine day. There are numerous reasons that can lead to an unfunctional bike. However, the most frequent reason that your battery must be drained or dead. In such a situation, if you know a way to test your battery or how to jump-start your motorcycle, it can save you from uncalled for trouble.
Especially when you are away from home with a dead battery, the helplessness and frustration you feel are unexplainable. Also, it can be an awful and one of the most expensive experiences of your life. Note that some temporary solutions can help you get your battery in a running state. But, in the long run, a depleted battery will put you in a tough spot.
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How To Check Your Battery?
There is a device known as a digital print tester that can help you check the health of your motorcycle’s battery. This aids you in determining if you need to replace or recharge your battery. This method charges your battery while the engine runs. Thus, you must test the charge status every now to avoid startup difficulties in the future.
Besides that, a battery indicator on your bike goes on when there are problems with the battery, such as an improper connection or low voltage. In case your battery is depleted or dead, take a look at the instrument panel. If you observe that the headlights and backlights are not that bright, there is a problem.
There is no point in trying to jump-start a motorcycle with zero voltage. To check the voltage, get a voltmeter or multimeter. Firstly, convert the setting to DC, then attach the leads to the terminals of the battery. In the end, attempt to jump-start only when the batter is not fully charged.
Factors You Need To Investigate Before Jump Starting Your Motorcycle
There are a bunch of things that can cause your motorcycle to stop working. For instance, the accumulation of carbon on your spark plugs or maybe an empty fuel tank. So, it is better to ensure that you find out the potential reasons before you attempt a jump start on your motorcycle.
Following are some factors that can lead to this problem.
- There are plenty of motorbikes that consist of a safety feature that stops them from starting if the kickstand is not up.
- Sometimes, the bike unknowingly starts while in gear. So, to prevent any sort of mishap, before they start, several motorcycles are in neutral with the clutch engaged.
- Another safety component that is essential to make it simple to shut off the motorbike without wasting time on the ignition keys is the Kill switch. That’s why you must ensure that is not the cause that’s preventing your bike from starting.
After you are certain that these factors are not the reason behind the battery issue you are encountering, you can think about jump-starting your motorbike. Without further ado, let’s get into the details of jump-starting a motorcycle.
Use Another Vehicle
Fortunately, it is possible to start your motorbike from another motorcycle, car battery, and a small transportable battery jump starter. Due to this, you may have noticed that a couple of motorists keep jumper cables with them whenever they travel. Usually, it is not that hard to find a person who offers to help you when you are in dire need. When you have a charged battery lined up, you have to follow four simple steps.
- In the first step, you have to connect the positive terminal on the running battery to the red positive terminal on the dead battery.
- Then, attach the black negative terminal present on the live battery. This must be done in a way that the opposite negative clamp touches the metal surface of your motorbike. Ideally, you can use the chassis of your bike.
- Without starting the car, try to start the motorcycle with a live battery.
- Give it some time to run. After that, in a reverse pattern than they were connected, disconnect the cables.
As this type of connection often produces a spark, you must position the negative clamp at a safe distance from the battery. Furthermore, the two ends of the cable are not supposed to come in contact with each other. Once, cable ends touch one another, and it will definitely generate a spark. There are batteries that give off hydrogen gas while they charge, and when the spark combines with the hydrogen gas, it may lead to fire or a dangerous explosion.
Because of that, when you follow the procedure, make sure you do it attentively without making any mistakes.
As handling the battery terminals of two motorcycles can be a bit tricky, we will elaborate on the method for you.
- First off, both the motorcycles must be and neutral.
- From there on, carefully find the battery terminals.
- Typically, the batteries of the bikes are beneath their seats. Nevertheless, this depends totally on the brand and the model of your bike.
- If you are not able to access the terminals on the battery, you will find the terminals on the chassis.
- Now, attach the jumper cables to the bike.
- Although there is no restriction to how you can connect the jumper cables, we suggest you do it step-wise.
- Connect one positive clip with red handles to the positive terminal of the depleted battery.
- Later, connect the other positive clip to the positive terminal of the working battery.
- Do the same thing with the negative terminal—attaching the black negative clip to the negative terminal of the charged battery.
- For the Attachment of the second negative clip on the dead motorcycle, use a metal surface that doesn’t have anything on it like paint, etc.
- Start the bike that has a good battery.
- Wait for a few minutes before starting the dead one.
- Even if it doesn’t work on the first attempt, don’t get disheartened. Recheck the connections to make sure everything is correct from your side.
- After your bike starts, you need to build up a charge. For that, keep both of the bikes running for at least 20 minutes.
- Once you have charged your bike, detach the jumper cables in the same way we have mentioned above.
A Small Portable Jump-Starter
Like the last one, it is an affordable way to jump-start your bike. In modern times, everyone is glued to their phone, so carrying a portable charging station that’s tiny enough make its place under your seat is no doubt a good buy. These versatile stations also serve as a jump-starter.
Those who don’t like to depend on people can consider this device to get you back on the road. When you are traveling alone, a portable jump-starter must be a part of your essentials. These units are available at a cheap price, and they don’t eat up the much-needed space of your vehicle. These units have instructions as well to tell you how to jump-start a motorcycle.
Push Start Your Motorcycle
We all are familiar with how pop starting, push-starting, bump starting a vehicle works. For decades, people are trying out these methods to start their cars and bikes. These methods are useful specifically when the battery is dead, or your starter fails to work. The fun part is that you don’t need to have jumper cables or any certain tools. So, if you have forgotten these things, you still have a way to start your motorcycle.
A motorcycle owner gets away with these problems more simply as compared to a car owner. Because you can do it alone, there is no need to ask a friend for help or hire a stranger to do it for you. You only need to have the energy to push your motorbike. And, people who face such an issue on a hill are actually fortunate, as they can roll down their bikes effortlessly.
For this method, the most crucial thing is an empty road. You need sufficient space for your motorcycle to gain the right balance and speed. Not only that, an empty street reduces the chances of people getting harmed during the process.
Following that, you have to shift your motorcycle into the second gear. When your bike is in second gear, it gets convenient and safer. But that doesn’t mean your bike can’t be in neutral gear. Putting your bike in neutral makes the other steps hassle-free.
In order to turn the engine over, make sure that the transmission takes place in low gear. Having said that, you can use first gear also if it is not that aggressive on your bike. Mainly, in various bikes, a powerful first gear makes you lurch forward, and you end up falling off from the bike.
Prior to pushing your bike, pull the clutch in. The speed of your bike must be 5 mph. Speaking of the favorable conditions, it must be 8-10 mph for successfully turning over the motor. There are many ways to do it. For example, you can walk your bike in forwarding motion. The rider with a lightweight bike and long legs will do it in no time.
Be next to your bike, and keep pushing it. By keeping up with the pace, jumping onto your bike get smoother once you reach the perfect speed. Coming to those who have companions, ask the person to push you. Nothing is as less time taking than it is to acquire the needed speed. It even better when the gravitational for does its job by pulling you down.
Finally, move your feet off the clutch rapidly to let the gas go through the system of your bike. Plus, those who are obeying our steps and have started in neutral can change into second gear after getting enough speed.
During swiftly rolling on the throttle, engage the clutch and shift into first, so the inertia of the motorbike will force the engine to turn over. As a result, your motorbike will be most likely to start.
Mainly, this step is extra secure and uncomplicated for smaller motorbikes. For those who own bikes with larger displacements or high compression, the engine may emit a spitting sound, or the back wheels may slip.
Remember, you don’t need to lose your calm if this method doesn’t work initially. Instead, pull the clutch back in and give it another try. After the motor starts, you can ride freely as you casually do. Hence, be hopeful and keep trying until your motorcycle starts. This method can recharge your old battery too.
Why Push Starting Is Effective?
In simple words, push-starting go past the starter mechanism and provides the required compression to burn the air and fuel combination in the engine. Here, you need to keep one point in mind that there are some limitations of push-starting. Without juice in your battery to ignite the spark plugs, it may not work.
Last Words
Jump starting is not the ultimate solution. To get rid of this inconvenience, you must distinguish the root cause of the exact problem. You see, assumptions can’t solve your issue completely. Thus, if you don’t want to get stuck in an issue like this, repair your bike with a professional. With our article on how to jump-start a motorcycle, we did our best to help you. But, that doesn’t mean that you get used to finding back doors to your problems.
We request you to maintain your bike because your life depends on it. Additionally, you will find peace of mind when you take your bike out from the garage for a ride. Most importantly, the unsuitable condition to run your bike may cause bigger damages.
