I've been having some trouble with starting this winter. It's always been stored on the battery tender jr. Original battery 2011 street glide. when i hit the starter button theres a slight hesitation before it cranks over. Sometimes the bike starts other times its too weak and barely cranks. Battery shows 12.6v and when running is over 14v. Check the ac output and did rotor tests and they all look good. The battery seems to drop when i take off the charger. Oreilly tested battery good twice and Autozone says bad battery. I'm thinking about replacing the battery. Is there anyway it could be something with my starter?

 

It does not sound like a starter problem to me. Other than what you have already checked, check both ends of the battery cables for good contact (No corrosion and tight).

If the battery drops off of the tender then I would replace it.

 

Sure, it COULD be something with the starter, but odds are it is the battery. If you have read other hard starting threads, you know to check the battery connections for being clean and tight AND the other end of the same cables for being clean and tight. Because you have had the battery out, at least 1/2 of that has been done.

If your bike was an early production '11, it could have been built in late '10, making your battery even older than you believe it is. In your battery's 5th year, your chance of being marooned with a dead battery is becoming pretty high. Since you are due a new battery anyway, buy one and if that fixes your problem, ride worry free. If it doesn't, get back to us and when you are fixed, you still have a new battery. That you have checked static and running voltage and AC output suggest you have a volt meter of some sort. Clip the leads to your battery terminals and observe the reading when you hit the starter. If the voltage drops below 9.6 your battery is too tired to start you machine even though it shows 12.6 with no load. There are many battery threads telling numerous places to buy batteries for just over 1/2 of what Harley wants for the one with the Harley sticker on it.

 

I remember your other posts.
the autozone load test appears to show a duff battery.

If your battery is weak ( or even bad cables) you can cause harm to the starter and solenoid...the 2 worst things you can do are- allow the solenoid to "chatter" each chat means that the contact disk and points are being damaged, and carbon is being deposited everywhere- and 2.) keep the starter button pressed if the starter is straining and not turning...if you hear a whine, that is the sound of the windings burning up

by the same token, if the battery is bad it can stress the charging system causing damage to that.



so a $100 problem solved by a battery, or a $25 problem solved by cables ( less likely on a 2011) can easily become a 300 or 600 dollar problem


the lights on a tender do not quite show what we first think...when it says "charged" that means the battery has no more capacity to accept a charge greater than what it is at that time.
so that "charged" battery could be at 100%, 50% or 30% of the new rated capacity.

tenders/ trickle chargers help for the irregularly used bikes but over time the chemistry in the battery changes


Mike

 

From what I can gather is that the battery isn't holding the amps.
Even if the voltage is good, low amps and no cranking power.
Cold weather shows up all the faults that not show in warm weather.

 

Same problem with my 2011 Electra Glide back in August. It was the factory battery. Pitched it and got a new one. I got a Throttle X battery through Amazon. They're made by East Penn Manufacturing. They make Harley OEM batteries.

Cheap insurance when you're out on the road away from home.

 

Battery. The battery on my '12 UC did the same thing just this last fall.

David

 

Like the others said, it's the battery.