Tuono will not start

Purchased my Tuono 6 months ago to go to work on & it has been very reliable and good fun but this morning it would not start!!!

It fired started but then stopped so I tried it again but nothing. It turned over but still wouldn't start. I left it 10 minutes and tried again but nothing. I thought I might have flooded as I could smell fuel.

I had to then sit in the traffic and pay to park my car, downer!!

Before I get home and start stripping the thing down has any body got any ideas on what to look at first? Another strange thing it did as well is it reset the dash, clock (time) and the miles went back to kms?

Thanks in advance

NickDrew said:

Purchased my Tuono 6 months ago to go to work on & it has been very reliable and good fun but this morning it would not start!!!

It fired started but then stopped so I tried it again but nothing. It turned over but still wouldn't start. I left it 10 minutes and tried again but nothing. I thought I might have flooded as I could smell fuel.

I had to then sit in the traffic and pay to park my car, downer!!

Before I get home and start stripping the thing down has any body got any ideas on what to look at first? Another strange thing it did as well is it reset the dash, clock (time) and the miles went back to kms?

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

All sounds perfectly normal mate. The clock and the KM's re-set is common.

Basically you're looking down a couple of routes.

1. Battery
2. Charging system.

1 could be caused by 2.

2 can be caused by the rectifier, the wiring mods (will link later) and a few other possible fixes.

Get home and plug on a multimeter, see what your battery is showing with ignition off, and ignition on.

Get it fully charged with a battery Optimate or simillar, then fire it up and let us know what numbers you're getting on the multimeter.

We can then progress from there.

http://www.joe250.com/motorcycles/tuono/brownconnectors/brownconnectors.html

http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64758

Are the two first ports of reading.

Had exactly the same thing. New battery solved it.

G'day nick and welcome to the Zone.

As per the advice above mate, it's deffo the best place to start. (good work on the links as well Weeksy)

Thanks guy's I'll try the fixes when I get home.

I sort of thought it may be the battery as it has been a bit slow to turn over but always started. In the dash it only read 11.8v when the ignition was on but not running. I always leave it on an Optimate.

Do Tuono's do the same as Suzuki’s when voltage drops below a certain level, they will not start but still turn over?

NickDrew said:

Thanks guy's I'll try the fixes when I get home.

I sort of thought it may be the battery as it has been a bit slow to turn over but always started. In the dash it only read 11.8v when the ignition was on but not running. I always leave it on an Optimate.

Do Tuono's do the same as Suzuki's when voltage drops below a certain level, they will not start but still turn over?

Click to expand...

Yup.

Ignore the dash volt meter. It's rubbish.

Few points

Once flooded - give up for 30minutes, continued cranking will shag your sprag clutch (see other posts here for this sorry tale). ie if it doesn't start first pop, hold off, take the car. Once flooded these things are a ***** to start (ie they won't). Mine wouldn't even with jumping to my twin battery truck...

Never twist throttle when starting. At all. Hands off. (will shag sprag clutch - see above) use full "choke". V important on big twin.

Fix brown (and white) connector to regulator - other threads here demonstrate that well. Solder that damned thing.

Get yamaha starter relay (100 amps compared to aprilia 50 amps) which allows a lot more current while starting. This is probably the most important of all... should have put it at the top, can't be bothered cutting and pasting. Simple swap out job - 10min. See other posts for part number.

I even modded my headlight by adding a switch so it doens't start with lights on. Put in a 14AH battery as well, can just squeeze it in the space of the old 12AH one.

Haven't had a problem since!

Here it all is laid bare...

http://www.tuonozone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1092&highlight=starting+problem

I tried a new battery today and it still would not start. Am I correct in saying that without doing all the mods it probabley will not start? Seems a bit strange as it was so good at starting before.

Also the starter relay thing, can I just ask for one from an R1 or something.

I've not actually found out what bike the Starter relay comes off. If you call your local Yamaha place with part code they'll get it.

We still need the info asked for mate.

What charge was in it ?
What charge is in the new one ?

What's it doing when you push the button ?

Have you tried it with jump leads and a car ?

NickDrew said:

Also the starter relay thing, can I just ask for one from an R1 or something.

Click to expand...

Yamaha Part number. 4KD-81-940-00 (100A) I believe it's used on the R1

SJD007 said:

Here it all is laid bare...

http://www.tuonozone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1092&highlight=starting+problem

Click to expand...

Take a peek here- it is a well known problem.

But Bob is right - is it cranking? Is it just clicking? Is there no click?

The power to crank the engine takes so much sometimes there isn't enough left to fire the (twin) sparkies. Hence the 100A Yammie relay.

Sorry - Weeksy! Not bob (but I'm sure you were thinking the same thing...)

It's alive!!!!!!

I checked out the battery with a multi meter and I get

13.12v from the battery with the ignition on
14.15v at tickover
13.24v at 4000rpm

I started with the Browne connector behind the expansion tank and that looked fine no discolour or melting. I then went to the two connectors behind the tail piece. They are not discoloured or hard. So I started looking at the HT leads and the plugs, the front two spark plug caps where lose so removed them and made sure they where a nice fit when pushed back on the plug, connected everything up and bang, it started. I think I will still do the other mods but every thing is back to normal & I have come to work on it today.
The front top plug cap was a bit grubby and had road crud on it, looked like it was getting wet. I’ll have to keep my eye on that. I may replace the caps, is a direct replacement good or are there any after market that any body recommends.

Thanks for all your help guys. Any other advice would be gratefully received

There you go! Nice to hear the beast is growling again.

Good point, I haven't checked my plugs and I'm sure they could do with a good sandpaper and electrical contact cleaner spray (great stuff that). Those plugs need every little drop of current you can spare.

NickDrew said:

14.15v at tickover
13.24v at 4000rpm

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13.24v is quite low mate. Enough to charge but not by a lot to be honest. You running any electrical things off it ?

No it's standard with regards to electrical items. I am going to do the soldering of the crimped joints at the weekend to see if it improves things.

In the post referenced it say's that the connectors got hot but mine didn't seem to. Is there anything else I can check to see if it's charging ok?

NickDrew said:

No it's standard with regards to electrical items. I am going to do the soldering of the crimped joints at the weekend to see if it improves things.

In the post referenced it say's that the connectors got hot but mine didn't seem to. Is there anything else I can check to see if it's charging ok?

Click to expand...

Well really it's a bit weird your one.

As your 4000rpm is quite low i'd also expect your idle to be low. However your idle being 14 or more is pretty good.

Hey guys,

Got my first T 06 a month ago, before buying she started with no problems (she was well look after). Previous owner put the new battery, but could't charge it properly (he put the battery same day I bought her). When due to circumstances had to leave her in the cold for a month without starting. And guess what she won't start any more. Was hoping that the battery can still crank (came from inline four, didn't know about this problem). Had very slow first crank and when clicking noise, clock reset etc. (obvious signs for dead battery). Decided to charge it properly on optimiser to get good crank. Now it looks like it cranks well (better than for the first time) but not starting. She fired for couple of seconds and then died. Can hear pump fuel working also smell of petrol. As I understood correctly from many posts that with bad starter relay she wont crank at all??? Will you still advice to change relay and check plug wires, spark plugs like with Nick's case? I don't think plugs will come out due transportation, because I wasn't riding her after buying. I will be really happy with any advice as I'm lost a bit now.