Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => The Bike - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: roadie on June 23, 2014, 05:30:32 AM
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Hey fellas, been absent for a minute. Crohn's kicked my tail for about a year so no riding...I have been keeping busy though...As a novice mechanic I bit the bullet and have been on an arduous adventure of rebuilding my Powerstroke 6.0 engine. Almost as fun as my Valve Job adventure on the Connie :-). Funny to think that the engine weighs almost twice that of my Connie. Took her out, and down all the way to the block. block, heads, machined, ARP studs, new oil cooler, EGR, lots of OEM updates, new sensors, FICM update. Turbo rebuild, starter, If it has a screw its been removed, and rebuilt. Learned a lot. But not enough about batteries....Connie's been so neglected, that the battery was toast this morning...haven't ridden much in months, as my buddy loaned me an old TownCar while by Truck's been down. Enough of 4-wheels and back to 2-wheels:
So, Im not too sharp on how to test batteries, but did slap my meter on it, zip, plugged in trickle for 3 hours, and afterwards registered 12.4V on meter, and 12 on bike, Bike slams hard to 14v as soon as its moving. My question is, should there be another test I should be running to validate health? Cold cranking amps comes to mind as I'm familiar with that term as it relates to my 2 big arse Truck batteries. Batteries about 5 years old now.
Will
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Good to see you back Will. Replace the battery.
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Good to see you back Will. Replace the battery.
Thanks Gpink
who is the community favorite right now for such purchases? Ron Ayers for batteries? I'm quite out of the loop on new developments for C14.
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Can't help you there. I got mine from my local shop. Seems there was a battery thread not to long ago.
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Good to hear from you again! I use the MotoBatt AGM battery...
12V bike battery sources
Stock battery FTZ14-BS Furakawa - dealer sourced most likely (expensive)
AGM MBTX12U 14AH http://www.murphskits.com (http://www.murphskits.com/) (I have this and it's working fine, no issues)
Shorai battery LFX21A6-BS12 Tender SHO-BMS01
Battery Stuff http://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYTX14-BS.html (http://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYTX14-BS.html)
Murph doesn't stock that battery anymore but you can source it at other vendors if you Google it.
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Batteries need to be load tested to determine health. It's more the amperage that is important than the voltage. Under a load test with a bad battery, the voltage will drop significantly if the amperage is low. However without the load, the battery could clearly show a full charge and would appear to be good with a standard voltage meter. Any automotive store carries battery load testers.
By the way, I feel your pain with the 6.0 as my head gaskets were failing for the second time. I finally had enough of the diesel maintenance and repair expense, so I just traded for a gasser. Yeah, the diesel pulled great, but this gas engine(5.4) is much cheaper to operate and I just test pulled our camper trailer with it and it and it does fine. I don't miss it.
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Got my new AGM battery earlier this spring from Batterymart.com. $49.95 to my door, IIRC.
I have previously bought AGM batteries from them for my Wave Runner, and my KLR, and have been completely satisfied.
Good luck with the Crohn's...that's a tough hand you've been dealt.
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See I can't even look that up (Chron's) I'll end up thinking I have it :-X
Good to see your doing well ;)