Hi all,

Just bought a '99 LS650P 16800km, all original pretty well cared for. The battery took a charge but seemed to die when driving home, causing the bike to sputter and die. Wouldn't push start. So it likely needs a new battery.
The fuel is likely pretty bad as well as it is from last year. The bike has been kept warm and ridden till warm maybe once a month.
Apart from the obvious; checking the carb, draining the old fuel, checking the plug and filters etc, is there anything else I should do/ take a look at before I take it out for a good ride?

Thanks Verslagen, got the bike home and checked the battery - Dead as a dodo. Checked the plugs under the seat, but need to check a wiring diagram later; The rectifier looks to have been swapped at one point, screws securing it looks new and it only has two wires returning (Red and black) where the loom has three?

chzeckmate wrote on 08/09/15 at 01:24:24:


Did just that earlier. Got a new battery yesterday trickle charged through the night. Once installed the bike fired up first press and idled smooth straight away. Battery read 12.22 volts stable with lights on and stabilized at 14.05 volts at around 2000 rpm, so the charging system works just fine. Took it for a 20km drive to check how the carb felt - Nothing but a slight 'stale gas' cough, so am just gonna run this tank dry and fill her up with premium. As far as I can tell cleaning the carb can wait until winter if I don't throw on another filter or muffler before then.

Thanks for your help guys!

No reason to use premium, the bike doesn't need it.

You might go buy a "top shelf" fuel however.....something like Shell or Chevron.  They do put more additives/detergents in their fuel than the discount stations do.

Ooops....sometimes I forget to look and see where folks are from.

I have absolutely no idea what kind of fuel you have in Denmark.  Or how the octane numbers you use relate to ours.  Here 87 octane is the one to use in the Savage, 89 is the mid grade and 91 is the Premium....some stations have 93 Octane.  Just about all of it is tainted with ethanol unless you specifically search out a "pure gas" source.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 08/10/15 at 07:04:12:

That's what I thought, plug looks fine, a little blackened but nothing major.

Quote:

I believe our 92 octane equates roughly to your 89 octane, and 95 to 91. Some stations cary 98 octane performance gasoline, but it's very few. Someone once told me the labeling is different or the chemical composition is a little different from Europe to the US.