Engine managment light on


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richard10666

New Member
(UPDATE) FAULT FOUND
Hi Guys
Thank's for the help Ref below
New rectifier fitted, cooked the battery replaced with new 2nd time round.
All OK now
All the best
Richard UK

Hi' guy's
Engine light comes on now and then battery runs down have replaced battery
any help
l

All the best
Richard
 
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Superfly

New Member
Umm you are pretty vague...do you mean that you start the bike and drive it for a while with the engine light on and then the battery slowly dies? Sounds like a charging issue with the alternator if thats what you are experiencing...

Thats easy to test if you have a voltmeter...just start the bike and check the voltage at the battery posts...should be around 14volts...if you are getting less than 12V your alternator isnt charging correctly.
 
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dart1963

Super Moderator
Elite Member
Yeah, I wasn't too sure on this, was hoping for a little more... though my experience isn't on motorcycles mostly.... I just bought this back in Aug and my first bike....

From the short description, I was leaning towards a bad ground connection, I've seen that kick on the "check engine" light as well as cause the system to not get a good charge along with many other "gremlins" that made no sense.
 
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joloy133

New Member
toekneedee said:
Yes, and a stator is part of an alternator. Looks like we need more info here. The items that Superfly mentioned would be a good start.
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Alternators run off a belt. On a motorcycle the electrical system is composed of a generator/magneto setup off the flywheel. (Alternators do have stators....but we're talking about motorcycles!) Seriously not trying to be a Know-it-all, just passing info as it was to me. Regarding the problem at hand, it is very likely that the battery is bad rather than the charging system.
 
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Superfly

New Member
LOL I actually forgot that I was on a motorcycle forum and thought I was on a nissan 350z forum, the other one I lurk on. I should have said stator not alternator...

Anyways a charging issue regardless of what its called is probably your problem. A bad battery wont give you a warning light on any vehicle I know of except an aircraft and even on them its only going to show you temperature and charge rate...When a battery starts to die it will just begin to act like a short, taking a higher and higher charge rate which usually overworks the charging system till that burns out...So a bad battery may kill your charging system but its doubtfull that you wouldnt notice that as you would be boosting the bike constantly...

Try the voltmeter on the bike as its running, see what you get then post that value here...check the easy stuff first.
 
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Blueraven

New Member
I am curious, I was informed by the dealer that a motorcycle does not fully recharge its battery because it uses a magneto. And that it only replaces some of what is used for running the bike. If the charging system is putting out 14 volts wouldn't that recharge the battery like a car alternator. I'm asking because if you used an active alarm system on a bike while parked you could fully recharge the battery by riding it. I was given the impression that you would have to use a battery charger to replace what was used by an alarm system or anything else that used excess electricty.
 
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Superfly

New Member
Blueraven said:
I am curious, I was informed by the dealer that a motorcycle does not fully recharge its battery because it uses a magneto. And that it only replaces some of what is used for running the bike. If the charging system is putting out 14 volts wouldn't that recharge the battery like a car alternator. I'm asking because if you used an active alarm system on a bike while parked you could fully recharge the battery by riding it. I was given the impression that you would have to use a battery charger to replace what was used by an alarm system or anything else that used excess electricty.
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I've never actually put a Voltmeter on the FZ6R so I cant tell you 100% that its going to be 14V but last week I did put one on my buddy's ducati 996 and it was at 14V. Could you imagine the bikes that would have dead batteries if the charging system could only charge at say 75% and you had to use external chargers to keep them full...

What I think is happening is that people store their bikes over the winter and the batteries slowly die and in the spring they cant start the bike...And I also believe that the capacity of these motorbike batteries isnt like a car battery...Meaning that my small bike battery has to turn over a 100hp motor which has got a smaller starter motor and higher compression than say my car battery in a honda civic that has twice the capacity turning over a 100hp motor...This is only a guess mind you...
 
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99vengeur

Administrator
Staff member
Also to keep in mind is that the charging system on our bike really isn't doing anything until the engine rpm's get over 4K. Therefore, letting the bike idle will not charge the battery like it would for a car battery. Instead, idling will actually drain the battery faster.
 
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pilninggas

New Member
Hey guys,

Just seen this topic and had to add my thoughts. So far we know the EML (engine malfunction lamp/check light/trouble light is on), so we know the ECU has decided all is not well. The OP describes the fact the battery is running down. Surely the easiest thing to do is to find out what fault code the ECU has logged and that will 90% of the time lead to the problem (part of the reason for having this sort of technology). Having converted some cars to run on lpg (propane) and used engine diagnostic kit, i have always checked the logged codes if that check lamp is switched on.

The FZ6R workshop manual talks through how to get the fault code(s) out of the ECU from pp348 onwards. Does the OP have the FZ6R workshop manual?

I will PM him the link!!!
 
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toekneedee

New Member
joloy133 said:
Alternators run off a belt. On a motorcycle the electrical system is composed of a generator/magneto setup off the flywheel. (Alternators do have stators....but we're talking about motorcycles!) Seriously not trying to be a Know-it-all, just passing info as it was to me. Regarding the problem at hand, it is very likely that the battery is bad rather than the charging system.
Click to expand...
I thought the difference between a generator and an alternator was what spins and what's fixed. The generator spins the windings of wire (armature) inside a fixed magnetic field and the alternator has the magnetic field spinning inside of the windings of wire (stator).
 
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richard10666

New Member
Engine light Charging?

Hi Guys
Thank's for the response
I will try and give you more info charged the battery went to work 11miles no light on all fine on the way back from work 7miles in to the journey light comes on stopped the bike tried to turn it over no luck battery flat.
Reset the bike with the red master key all ok for awhile light goes off.
then the problem starts again.


Once again Thank guys

All the best Richard
 
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99vengeur

Administrator
Staff member
I see that you have the FZ6. Maybe you should post your problem and questions on our sister site and see if those guys can give you some other advice from what we have suggested already.

FZ6 Forum Community

Good luck, I hope you get this figured out!
 
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Funkmaxtor

New Member
toekneedee said:
I thought the difference between a generator and an alternator was what spins and what's fixed. The generator spins the windings of wire (armature) inside a fixed magnetic field and the alternator has the magnetic field spinning inside of the windings of wire (stator).
Click to expand...
Not necessarily but usually true. The difference is the electronics attached to it. An alternator creates alternating current (AC) that is then rectified using diodes to create direct current (DC) which is what our bikes (most automobiles, hybrids being the exception) uses. A generator creates DC directly by using a different structure for the armature and stator.
 
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toekneedee

New Member
Funkmaxtor said:
Not necessarily but usually true. The difference is the electronics attached to it. An alternator creates alternating current (AC) that is then rectified using diodes to create direct current (DC) which is what our bikes (most automobiles, hybrids being the exception) uses. A generator creates DC directly by using a different structure for the armature and stator.
Click to expand...
So the Fz6r has an alternator then? Or is it an AC generator? Now I'm confused...
 
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Superfly

New Member
richard10666 said:
Reset the bike with the red master key all ok for awhile light goes off.
then the problem starts again.


Once again Thank guys

All the best Richard
Click to expand...
Wait RED Master Key?! Doesnt that launch the ICBMs to the former USSR?

Unless you put a voltmeter on your bike and tell me what value youre getting I cant be your friend anymore...

Seriously it just sounds like your battery is not being charged and then as the bike is ridden its drained down till its dead.
 

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Funkmaxtor

New Member
toekneedee said:
So the Fz6r has an alternator then? Or is it an AC generator? Now I'm confused...
Click to expand...
If I'm reading the repair manual correctly, our bikes have an AC Magnet (alternator) and a rectifier. This bike is identical to most cars electrical systems. With the exception of the older VW Bugs which use a generator directly.

There is technically speaking no such thing as an AC Generator. That would be called an alternator. Alternator = AC Generator = DC

For those of you that have the repair manual check section 8-11 and 8-12 to verify this.
 
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