06 Tiger Occasionally won't start on first try

[aeow]

Just got this bike. 24000 miles. Terrible chain and bald tires so I get the feeling PO didn't take too good care of it.

Sometimes when I try firing her up the starter sounds slow and then it'll just die before the engine turns over. The oil light always turns on after it dies. On one occasion it actually fired up for a second and then died(without me giving it gas). After one or two more tries it has always started up fine. This has happened cold and hot, and with a fully charged battery.

It's still new to me so I don't have much more info. PO didn't do 24k maintenance so I plan on changing the oil, oil/fuel/air filter, tires, chain, spark plugs, balancing the throttle bodies, and checking valve clearances(never done that before so we'll see how it goes).

Any ideas of what could be causing this?

[Bixxer Bob]

Just because the battery is fully charged doesn't mean it's any good.  They are fairly cheap nowadays and a Girly with a weak battery is going to give you no end of trouble.  While you're doing that, get a cheap mulitmeter if you don't already have one, set the scale to volts and measure the voltage across the battery with the engine running.  You should have at least 13v, 14.5 is great but no higher than 14.7v.  IF your charging circuit is weak then a new battery is not a long term solution, see here:

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,14345.0.html

[Sin_Tiger]

 

If it's been neglected or left idle for long periods, I'd be inclined to give the fuel system a good going over from end to end, clean tank with new filter and treat it to some Seafoam for the bits you can't take apart.

[joep]

I see a Valve Clearance check in your future. Possible near future.

[Bixxer Bob]

Note to self: earmark for future move but wait to see how it pans out.  Electrical or valves.....

[aeow]

Battery is reading 14.15 so I reckon it's okay electrically. I should have said it earlier; there's a fairly high speed ticking sound when it's running. Particularly once it's hot. I heard it in neutral as well as in first and second. As I'm searching around here I see that is potentially a sign of out of spec valves.

I see in Mustangs's valve clearance how to thread he says the engine has to be cold for 12 hours. Is that just being really safe? Could I do it maybe 4 or 6 hours after running?

[Bixxer Bob]

Is 14.5 with the engine running?  If so your charging circuits are ok.  If that's battery voltage after a charge it's a good sign, but what do the volts drop to when cranking?  Voltage under load is the best way to judge a battery's health.  I'm off to the garage in a bit, I'll check my cranking voltage for comparison.

[Mustang]

I see in Mustangs's valve clearance how to thread he says the engine has to be cold for 12 hours. Is that just being really safe? Could I do it maybe 4 or 6 hours after running?

overnight is best .
but if you let it sit for 4-6 hrs and then by the time you get all the crap out of your way to get to the valves you should be good .

[aeow]

My cheap meter is telling me 10.8 volts while cranking. That seems consistent with what I found on google.


Checked the valves today. Unfortunately I couldn't check the shim sizes. I'm temped to just leave it as is. Is that a really bad idea? : I noticed the Daytona 955i clearances are slightly larger. But I think they have different cams.
Intake: .152, .152, .152, .152, .152, .152
Exhaust: .229, .229, .203, .203, .229, .178

Supposedly it should be:
In .10mm -.15mm
Ex .15mm - .20mm

Daytona 955i and Speed Triple 955cc:
In .10mm - .20mm
Ex .20mm -.30mm

[joep]

Your Valves are fine. Leave them as is. They will only get tighter with age and they are not out enough to worry. Generally you only need to worry when they are too tight. I have never heard of anyone putting in smaller shims to tighten valve specs.

[Bixxer Bob]

 

[Dutch]

Your Valves are fine. Leave them as is. They will only get tighter with age and they are not out enough to worry. Generally you only need to worry when they are too tight. I have never heard of anyone putting in smaller thicker shims to tighten valve specs.

[Bixxer Bob]

My cheap meter is telling me 10.8 volts while cranking. That seems consistent with what I found on google.


Checked the valves today. Unfortunately I couldn't check the shim sizes. I'm temped to just leave it as is. Is that a really bad idea? : I noticed the Daytona 955i clearances are slightly larger. But I think they have different cams.
Intake: .152, .152, .152, .152, .152, .152
Exhaust: .229, .229, .203, .203, .229, .178

Supposedly it should be:
In .10mm -.15mm
Ex .15mm - .20mm

Daytona 955i and Speed Triple 955cc:
In .10mm - .20mm
Ex .20mm -.30mm

Checked my cranking voltage today with a new battery; 11volts.  13v with ign on engine off, 14.5v at idle.

[aeow]

12.5 when I walked up to it. 11.8 with ignition on and engine off. 14.0 idle.

That doesn't seem too far off.

I put the kickstand down today and the bike didn't shut off. Tried it a few more times and results varied. Maybe the switch is malfunctioning when the kickstand is up. That wouldn't explain everything, though. I'll have to cut that damn thing off and see what happens.