Bike not starting sometimes?

[Dakota]

Hey all,

 

My bike has just over 600 miles on it, and twice now it wouldn't start first/second/or sometimes third try.  It seems that i've gotta give it throttle when that happens for it to start? I've not yet adjusted the throttle bodies - still waiting on this to come before I can do it. 

 

Have any of you had this happen? 

[Feduptryingname]

Mine has done this since new when the engine is cold.  The dealer even told me to twist the throttle a couple of times before hitting the starter button.

 

It does actually work.

 

The dealer stated that they have reported the issue to Yamaha but they don't seem to be interested.

[NickQc]

Happened to me too the other day. Brand new bike (received last Thursday), did it for the first time on Saturday after I had left it in the sun for a few hours. It took 3 tries to start it up, but eventually worked without opening the throttle. It hasn't done it since though.

 

I also find the idle is fairly high when the bike first starts, over 2k RPM. Then settles down to 1.5 after a bit.

 

[Dakota]

Interesting, mine hasn’t done it in a while but I’ll start looking for a pattern as well. At least it eventually starts

[TenereTraveler]

I'm at just under 4k miles and I experience this at least once every other day if I ride every day. However, sometimes its random and wont happen for a week at a time. I've been trying to follow a pattern to see if I can get a reaction. The closest I've got so far is mostly after a tough off roading session and the bike sits between 20min to an hour but no more. I see people mentioning a charcoal can delete. If I cant get anything to surface with a warranty claim then that may be the direction I take as its fairly difficult to verify the concern for a dealership.

[Fiddyone]

My bike does it after its been sitting in Hot direct sunlight for hours. Then when it starts it's almost slow getting going like it wants to die.

[DT675]

Mine just started doing this now too. I picked it up late last year so the weather was relatively cool. Now that we’re having some hot days it’s starting to fail to restart immediately after sitting for a little bit.  The time it happened I hadn't had it on any hard off- road.  1600 miles on the clock. 

[Canzvt]

Get the 2WDW flash. Problem goes away completely. Based upon what I now know, the condition appears to be a lean/lack of fuel condition. Don't know what causes it, but know what fixes it...

[Dakota]

I have the tune, and although it happens less after, it's still happening. 

 

I'm beginning to suspect it's just a "thing" that happens. My Bonneville has a similar-ish issue where depending on the position of the pistons when I press the starter, it'll just "chirp" for lack of a better word and stop spinning over all-together. A second press of the starter with the pistons in a better spot, and it'll start right up. It used to bother me, but now that I know it's just a thing with this bike, i'm over worrying about. I'm getting to the same point with the Tenere. 

[Moto]

Same for me. Happens when it's hot after sitting, or after sitting a while in direct sun. Takes a LONG crank to get it going. Kind of disconcerting. I'll try the throttle open trick others mention here, and move to the canister delete if it's  still a problem.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Moto

[Canzvt]

Hmm. Must be an ambient temperature thing. Or fuel vapours in the evap canister creating a rich condition when hot. I've let my bike sit out in the sun for 15 min to 1 hour after a good ride, in ambient temps up to 20C (hasn't gotten hotter than that here this year, but was up into the mid 30's last year) and haven't experienced it while out riding. Had it happen in the shop twice after cycling the key a couple of time while playing with electrical things - not sure what was going on there... With the 2WDW tune, I don't think the engine has turned over one revolution on the starter before it is running - 100% of the time - hot or cold. Wish I could provide constructive feedback, but I haven't needed to exactly figure it out.

[Fiddyone]

Once when it did it the outside temp was probably only 80°F  but when I turned the key bike showed ambient temp of  120°F. After 3 failed attempts trying different throttle positions I pushed it into the shade where it finally started. I even opened the gas cap expecting to hear shwosh  of air but it did nothing. 

 

nothing worse than somebody looking at your new bike and it won't start.

[ManBearPig]

Had this happen for the first time today. Bike has about 750 miles on it. Sounds like this is most common on warm/hot restarts but this was first start of the day for me. Bike had been in the garage overnight. I didn’t touch the throttle and it fired up on the second attempt with no drama. Just didn’t start the first time. No idea if the carbon canister had anything to do with it but I can’t see a reason not to get rid of it anyway. 

[loneranger700]

This probably isn't going to contribute a ton to an already dramatic mystery, but every time my bike does this I blip the throttle and it immediately burns whatever issue it had and starts right up. Gives me PTSD back to when my old bike would die randomly in traffic after sputtering for awhile though.

 

Anyways, I still have NO IDEA what does it. Once it even stalled in the morning completely on its own (when starting up, of course). Thank god it's never once been an issue while riding.

[jontoptek]

i only expereience this on hot restarts, just blip the throttke a little

[ManBearPig]

For anyone interested....I capped off the charcoal canister and it made no difference for me. 
 

bike didn’t do this once for the first 700 miles. Now it seems to do it nearly every hot start. 
 

Ill synchronize the throttle bodies next. Don’t think that will help either but that’s all I got. 
 

 

edit. I thought initially deleting the canister didn’t help because it struggled to start the first time after doing so. However now a week later it’s fired up a dozen or so times even after being parked in the sun with no issues. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by ManBearPig

[Dakota]

I'm wondering if somewhere along the way there is a vapor lock happening that prevents the bike from starting when it's hot?

[vicep3]

This has been happening to me on and off since new. Bike currently has 16,000km & always gets premium gas. After talking to the dealer I wait the full dash cycle and fuel pump prime before pressing starter button which helps when cold. Always starts first attempt in the garage.

 

The issue has become more frequent on restarts now that the temperatures are hotter. Today was twice.  Now its the 2nd or 3rd start up after sitting for that 30-90 minutes in the sun. For the 2nd restart this afternoon I parked in the shade and it fired up first time. 

 

I was going to see if covering the tank with a white towel would help. And will continue to find shade if possible to see if that makes a difference.

[Tenererian]

Those of you having hard start issues while the engine is hot should read this: https://www.tenere700.net/topic/3346-t7-charcoal-canister-removal/

 

If you're a little apprehensive about removing the canister altogether you could leave it where it is and just deal with the hoses; it only takes minutes. Then if this solves your issue perform the complete removal.

[TiagoCar12]

Mine did this today plain cold, it was parked for 2 days.

 

Had to giveit  some throttle...but it  started and runned fine after.

 

Perhaps the only difference is that it wasn't in my garage and the bike as a more leaned over them usual.

 

It's weird..

 

Got 8600km/ 5400miles and it was the first time it did that.

[TexasT700]

Nothing complicated here. It is simply making sure you get the key to 'on'. You can easily reproduce the problem by not turning key quite all the way to on. It will crank all day but won't start until you turn key properly to on!

[TiagoCar12]

I tested with several keys like 3 times..

 

Probably it's not from that.

[Frayed]

Experienced this for the first time yesterday.  Always fired 1st time in those 950 miles regardless of temps or conditions.  This was a ride of about 30 minutes.  Cut the bike off and sat directly in the sun for about 30 minutes.  

 

Same deal as everyone else.  Cranking then barely fires.   Starts back up again decently but sitting for a while again it went back to the hard start.  Will check it out again today. 

[TexasT700]

One known issue on no starts. Make sure key is all the way to on detent. Real easy to thnk you turned it to on, but real easy to be a fraction short of on detent. Will crank all day and not start, until u click it a hair more to on.

Don't ask me how I know!

[Dave Mat]

Same here, my T7 has 300Km and it happened a few times already with no pattern to be identified, it seems completely random: garage in the morning, after rain outside, heated engine offroad… I suspect it’s an electronic malfunction, either related to starting the engine before the dash completes the full cycle (as previously mentioned by @vicep3), or because the ignition fails to activate the fuel pump (as suggested by @CReamflourish). In any case, this obviously shouldn’t happen. I took it to Yamaha today with this video report and my dissatisfaction. Let’s see what happens in the next 700Km.

[vicep3]

1 hour ago, Dave Mat said:

Same here, my T7 has 300Km and it happened a few times already with no pattern to be identified, it seems completely random: garage in the morning, after rain outside, heated engine offroad… I suspect it’s an electronic malfunction, either related to starting the engine before the dash completes the full cycle (as previously mentioned by @vicep3), or because the ignition fails to activate the fuel pump (as suggested by @CReamflourish). In any case, this obviously shouldn’t happen. I took it to Yamaha today with this video report and my dissatisfaction. Let’s see what happens in the next 700Km.

I've determined that it's 100% related to sitting in the sun. I can replicate it every time by riding long or short distances and leaving the bike in direct sunlight in a parking lot. When i come back in an hour, the troubles starting the bike begin. Parking in the shade also solves the problem. Currently have almost 30,000km on the bike and these conditions are the only time it occurs.

 

I was thinking of getting a reflective cover like the MotoGP guys have for it if there is no shade. It's the EVAP cannister as there is no purge valve.

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by vicep3
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