[txmedic712]

I live in Southeast Texas and I ride to work everyday, rain or shine, cold or hot. I have noticed that when it gets cold, 40 degrees or below the bike is hard to start. I keep her outside under a shed, covered with a battery charger connected and she is still hard to start on a cold morning. In the afternoons or when it is warm, she cranks right up everytime. Yesterday it was 29 degrees and it took multiple attempts and around 10 minutes to start her up. Does anyone know of a good battery warmer for the 9? The battery is good and has been tested, it has to be the cold weather.

 

[Jeep Pirate]

Agreeing with Ponch here. It is probably not the battery if you keep in on a battery tender. Actually, they make engine block heaters that have built in thermostats. The one below is a magnet mount which may be a trick on an aluminum block. But maybe you could make something work.

Engine block heater

 

[whiting57]

Both of mine sit in a garage during winter, minus 15 c yesterday, i run a battery tender as well, i have never had an issue starting them in any temperature down to minus 25c, and run them at least twice a month during winter. I suspect it may be another issue. FI bikes should start up straight away.

 

[txmedic712]

Thanks, you guys are great! I didn't even consider the fluids on a cold start until you guys pointed it out. I keep my 9 under a cover, under an open sided carport now, last winter she was in a heated garage all winter but we moved. I'll throw a lightbuld under the bike cover and see if that helps when the temps drop again.

That should last until I can get the heater on the thing fixed. (My old truck needs two new rotors)

 

[Rescue Wagon]

What weight oil are you using? Mine sits in my garage with no heat and she starts right up every morning and it was 36 this morning when I headed out. I run a 10w-40 Synthetic which covers the range of temps that I run my bike in up here in Cheyenne. A engine heater for a bike in Southeast TX just seems like a waste of money in my opinion.

It was 29 in Beaumont? How much further south do you have to go for warm temps in TX right now?

 

[Kaw-poke]

It was 29 in Beaumont? How much further south do you have to go for warm temps in TX right now?

All the way to the border!

We regularly get cold fronts that go
down into the 20's, at least one or two every winter!

Why, today the morning low was 39! And the high was only 70! It will be lows in the 40's and highs around 70 for the next week! I don't think I can take much more of these horrible winters!

 

[whiting57]

All the way to the border!

We regularly get cold fronts that go
down into the 20's, at least one or two every winter!

Why, today the morning low was 39! And the high was only 70! It will be lows in the 40's and highs around 70 for the next week! I don't think I can take much more of these horrible winters!

Wanna swap ...

 

[whiting57]

Hey Jeep, thanks for sharing that ... warm starts are always better than cold, I just might have to look into a couple of those.

 

[Rescue Wagon]

I've been down in Beaumont during the end of September and beginning of October and I would have never thought it would get down to freezing.

 

[txmedic712]

It usually isn't below freezing down here. When I posted this a few days ago it was 29 degrees in the morning, and had been around the low 30's for three days each morning prior to that.

Today is a typical Southeast Texas winter morning, 57 degrees, humid and foggy. When it does freeze here it isn't bad unless the roads ice up. Then all hell breaks loose and we end up with a few hundred wrecks a day in the area. Luckily there hasn't been any ice this year. We occassionally get some gray stuff that looks like volcanic ash falling from the sky. The locals call it snow, but it doesn't look like the christmas pictures of snow I've seen

 

[sage1965]

Your ans. is correct and your humor even better.

 

[SteveJB]

It could be the battery, I don't see where you mention its age. But my '07 Custom with 25k miles starts in under 6 seconds below freezing. I keep her outside under a nylon cover and only plug the battery tender in once a month. I've started her up as cold as 25 F with no problem. Right now I have a new battery, but old one was good for 3 yrs and 20k miles.

 

[Romans5.8]

Just throwing this out there for good measure, but the other day I started my bike up (I don't have the ability to put it on a trickle charger right now, in an apartment with no outside receptacles, so I just pull the cover off and let it run for 15 minutes or so every few days). It had been two weeks, and it was in the teens. Fired RIGHT up, didn't give me any trouble, and it's the stock battery on my '06. No heat whatsoever, no light bulb, no block heater, nothin' I mean it didn't crank like it does in 90 degree weather after riding for 20 minutes and it's all warmed up, but it didn't take me 10 minutes to start it either. Just a couple of seconds actually, and went on to a nice idle.

I'm running 20W-50 Valvoline synthetic. What oil are you running? If your running in colder weather, and your running conventional oil, maybe switch to synthetic? Just a thought.