I have this issue with my R6, it's kind of hard to explain in writing but I'll do my best. It's an 06. I popped the motor last year, dropped it and installed a used motor. I got the new one installed just in time to get like 3 track day sessions at the end of the last track day of the year, and had zero issues with it that day (it was probably 95+ that day). It has a PC3 and ignition module on it, and I knew it needed to be tuned, but didn't get it done over the winter due to other issues getting in the way. April comes around and I went to Putnam to control ride and decided to use the R6 to get some much needed seat time on it. It was cold at Putnam... I'm talking like 30ish both mornings. Starting the thing was a pain because it has a Ballistic battery in it (and I didn't know there was a cold start procedure... just learned about that today in the Ballistic thread) and it didn't crank right over, so I jumped it off of my CBR. It would crank over and start, but if I didn't keep the RPM up, it would just fall on it's face and die. My work around for this was I would sit there and blip the throttle until the bike got to 140-150 degrees... at which point I would rev the engine quickly to about 8-10k. After doing that, the bike would idle fine as long as I didn't shut it off. I thought this was just a tuning issue, so after Putnam, I took it to my tuner and he went through it. He got some big gains in mid range and total HP, but he couldn't figure out what the starting issue was (he was rushed for time because he couldn't get to it until literally the day before we left for Grattan). His suggestions were to check some sensor, I think he called it a cold start sensor or something like that, or try swapping the batteries back. (Last year I had the Ballistic in my CBR and an OEM in the R6, but I swapped them for this year) The bike ripped on track, no issues at all on the track, but getting it started before each race was kind of hectic. Any ideas on where to start? Or has anyone seen this issue before?
I just hold the button down when starting it and it catches eventually. Seems to be an R6 thing, but it always fires up.
If battery voltage drops too much while cranking the ECU can act like an ass. LiPo batteries can cause these sorts of issues particularly when cold. My R1 always needs a jumper battery in the morning when it is cold, otherwise it starts, struggles for a few seconds then dies. Stick a jumper on it, starts and idles fine. I just made a small pigtail and plug in the OEM battery for the jumpbox.
Well... it's not that it won't start, it's that it won't stay running. But now that you say that... I seem to remember a couple years ago there being a thread about some issue (can't remember what the issue was), but the fix was just holding the start button longer. I'm going to try to find that thread... maybe that's what this issue is. I didn't have an R6 at the time so I didn't really care to get all the details.
Shoot... I think that's it. Well that's the second dumb ass thread I've started in tech in a week. I'm on a freaking roll. Thanks for jogging my memory
The camshafts in the R6 are pretty friggin aggressive (high lift, big overlap) so I think thats why they all seem to be a pain to start. If your battery is having problems (i.e. cold temps) then this will only make the problem worse. If your used engine has poor compression (this will make the problem worse even more). Make sure you compression test the engine to see what you are working with. Other than that, just hold down that starter button until it finally fires up.
Yep judging by the peaky powerband, the ridiculous lopey idle, and hard starting. I've tuned a lot of cars with these same characteristics, its the cams.
Or perhaps a better explanation is that Yammies are just plain junk. Thats why most of them take a few cranks to start, this is probably more plausible
I think I was the first one on this forum to provide the solution for the problem. Do a search. But yeah, cams. That's it.
