Charging woes

I noted the bike (1250 K8) was getting sluggish starting and despite being regularly on the Oxford Oximiser, the battery seemed tired.  After parking the bike up for 3 weeks on the Oximiser while on holiday, I came back to a dead battery so assumed after 4 years of daily riding it had met an untimely demise.  I replaced the battery with a new Motobatt and all was well for 2 days, then it was flat again after a 150 km ride today.   The multimeter across the battery showed only battery voltage (13v) with no increase to 14.5 to 15v at 5000 RPM so there's an issue with the charging circuit.

The rectifier was replaced as part of the world wide recall.  It starts on jumper leads so not the starter motor.  I have reluctantly passed it to the local dealers to solve.  Hopefully rectifier and not the stator (no shorts on testing the stator) and hopefully Suzuki may honour any rectifier issues. (He says optimistically).

Anyone else had charging woes?  Nothing pops up on a search of this or any of the other Bandit forums, so it seems fairly rare for the 1250.

First issue I have had with it in its 40,000 ks, so I can't grumble too much

Think I figured it out after chatting with you today...   The bike is jealous about your holiday!    Forgot to ask, did you buy a rivet?

Rivet?

Suzy has been on life support since April. Sure hope I dont have problems when, and if, I can actually ride her again.

hey SS how come you not riding,are you okay?

Located the issue.  Starter has jammed solid - presumably the magnets have done the collapse internally thing as they seem to do on some of the 07-09 models.  Will know more when I dismantle it.  No loud clunks, just all the symptoms of a dead battery, but it's simply locked.

Very fortunately these forums have been a bonus, as being aware of the issue I happened to buy a late model low km starter recently for $150.  Starters here go for $900, so I feel rather relieved!

The bike is fixed. The starter magnets had come unglued and smashed internally. I have written it up with pics at: http://kewwibike.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/gsf1250-bandit-starter-problem.html as the symptoms mimicked a charging issue.

In essence the bike would sluggishly start and when hot the starter would seize but could turn with sufficient current (e.g. car leads). As trying to start it took so much current from the bike battery, on testing it would not show peak voltage as if the charging system was faulty (a semi-discharged battery means that you won't get 14.5 - 15 v at 5000 RPM as specified by Suzuki)

Fortunately I was aware of this issue for Bandits and a few months ago saw a starter motor for sale and bought it as a spare. They are a hideous price in New Zealand (around $800), so the $150 it cost me was money well spent.

This is extremely poor build quality for a 40,000 km, 6 year old bike that is very well maintained. I have referred it to Suzuki NZ but am not expecting anything to be done.

Beware of this issue!

Glad you got it sorted  - 2wa has also posted the same problem.  I have to agree - it's piss poor for a bike with only 40,000kms on it.  Suzuki should rethink their approach (eg design and manufacture cheaply so as to produce an initial low purchase price).  It backs up the crap fuel pump/filter design as evidence of scrimping on quality.  And of course, the candle fitted to the 1250s that substitutes for a headlight.  Fingers crossed that as I approach 48,000kms on my 2010 model that both the fuel pump and starter motor problems stay away.

PS: where is the Suzuki recall for what is obviously a problem (or two)?

I have formally notified Suzuki. Not holding my breath!

Kewwig you got about twice the km as me out of your starter!

It's cos I press the button gently

That bothers me! I have an '07 with 32,000 km's on it. I hope I don't have the same issue. I had an RF900 that had the same symptoms, different issue though. They ran the alternator off a cushioned drive from the top of the gear box. Did the same thing and bought a new battery etc.. Ended up replacing two of the sheered drives in twelve months. Pretty crap to have a replacement part fail in exactly the same way. Lucky for me I did all the work myself and didn't have to fork out a crap load of money for a dealer to do it.

I may start looking around for another starter...just in case.

Doing that saved my arse!

Is there a way to fix the starter BEFORE it fails . Are they just glued in place , a few
internal pics might help .

I can't post pics from this device but there's a pic on my link above (feel free to grab it and put it up).  The magnets are essentially a series of strips made of ferrite, which is fragile. You could in theory re-glue them if you could remove them, but I'd say that trying to loosen them would destroy them. They are either stuck on or if in any way loose, in a buggered up scramble.  I am going to ask an auto electrician if the  magnets are replaceable, but suspect not. 

The part number for the motor was 31100-18H00 and is now 31100-18H10 so I suspect it was updated around 2010. This is a worse issue than the rectifiers but they have been very silent on it. My local dealers hadn't seen the issue.

If there are multiple failures on this site alone then Suzuki should be seriously considering at least charging very little for replacements. They are just hoping you are out of warranty so they are not obliged to do anything.

I am going to contact a mate of mine at Suzuki in the next few days and see what he says. He was the spare parts manager for Aus and is now in sales, will let you all know how I go.

Good idea.  I think if enough of us get together, Suzuki may listen

reddog wrote:If there are multiple failures on this site alone then Suzuki should be seriously considering at least charging very little for replacements. They are just hoping you are out of warranty so they are not obliged to do anything.

There are other statutory provisions in Australian law eg fitness for purpose and some thing about reasonable expectation, you should look into it.

I heard back from Suzuki NZ who very nicely told me to bugger off as the bike was too old to be a warranty issue (mine is a K8 first registered in 07).  NZ has similar consumer laws to Aussie, but a 6 year old owner serviced vehicle won't cut it.

I showed the dead motor to the Suzuki technician, who pointed out that many makes now use a steel inner sleeve to protect the magnets.  For such a bullet-proof motor, the weak starter and the annoying little camguide that  drops into the engine if you aren't careful are real let downs.  Still, first issue in 5 years of ownership, so it could be worse.

kewwig wrote:I heard back from Suzuki NZ who very nicely told me to bugger off as the bike was too old to be a warranty issue (mine is a K8 first registered in 07).  NZ has similar consumer laws to Aussie, but a 6 year old owner serviced vehicle won't cut it.

I showed the dead motor to the Suzuki technician, who pointed out that many makes now use a steel inner sleeve to protect the magnets.  For such a bullet-proof motor, the weak starter and the annoying little camguide that  drops into the engine if you aren't careful are real let downs.  Still, first issue in 5 years of ownership, so it could be worse.

I hadn't chimed in before because I was hoping you got a better reception but you were told what I was told mate.

Yes, much as expected

fat pete wrote:hey SS how come you not riding,are you okay?

Hey Pete, I haven't been able to ride since early May, due to damaging 4 discs in my lower back (cleaning the garage FFS)... hubby took all three bikes out on Saturday, to re-fuel them, and get their motors running, so to speak. I was sooo upset to see him riding Suzy, and Trinny, and his stupid looking Tiger, without me.

thanks for the reply SS..thats bad news doing in 4 discs,ive had back trouble for a very long time and am also out of action..hope you can get back on the bike real soon especially with the weather starting to come good,,take care