battery drained... dont know why exactly?

[Anonymous]

1981 gs850g 37000 miles

I purchased this bike in January of 2003 with 34000 miles. As far as I know most of the parts are stock and has been maintained pretty regularly.

It has been a great first bike and with the help of this site it has been a real joy to ride. i've done regular oil and filter changes every 1000 miles and put in a brand new battery in February.

I've never really had any problems with the electrical until today. The bike started fine initially and ran fine. Then i parked the bike on a little bit of an incline and set it in 1st instead of neutral before i turned the engine off. i came back 30 min later and tried to start it and nothing. i heard the click and it tried to flip over once or twice but never engaged. After a few times trying i gave up and removed the battery and recharged it hoping that it would do the trick. well it did and the bike started right up...faster than usual.

Did this happen because i put it in 1st when I turned it off? If so, is this normal? Could it be some other serious underlying problem? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[Billy Ricks]

Leaving it parked in 1st would have no effect on the battery. Check and make sure you have a good ground on the engine. After that check all your connections and wiring. If that doesn't help check the R/R and stator output.

[Anonymous]

ditto on those recomendations 8)

[Addy Leung]

What I do think when compare my experince is that you battery is not strong(not fully charged) eough for restarting after the engine is hot.
It is beacuse the pistons are expended and the friction is incresed between it and the sleeve after the engine is warm up. Also when you leaving your bike with enngin off after few miniutes, the oil aroung the engine will drain down back to the oil pan. It is more harder to restarter until the engine is back to cool condition.

Battery not strong eough for starter motor, it may be the charging system is problem or the starter motor is faulty. ( I have both of these at the same time before).

Addy Leung