Battery Problem New 3 Week Old GRiSO

Well, my three week old GRiSO has battery problems. I always use a battery maintainer so once I lifted the seat to install the leads, I discovered that the battery that came with the bike is too small, it just flops around in there and is too short to reach the battery clamp bracket. It has a tiny Yusa 12 amp hour battery that turns the motor over very slowly, when the motor is hot, even more so. Since the dealership is 140 miles away, I called them and told them that its the wrong battery and should have an 18 amp hour battery according to the manual. So, they ship me a 18 amp hour Yusa battery and its too large to fit the bikes battery box. My question is, does anyone know what battery the 2016 GRiSO is suppose to come with, is it different than the 2015? I cant find any info on it doing searches. I tried calling Guzzi USA to find out since the dealer doesn't know and of course they don't answer the phone.

I have just been out and looked at mine, its a 2009 with the original battery, is a Yuasa YTX20CH-BS, hope that helps!

My new Norge was delivered in Nov with an old well used battery marked with 'Shop' on it and was hardly cranking over. Since the dealer was from out of state, I went to Batteries, Inc in Orlando and purchased a new battery. The dealer paypal'd me the $110 it cost.

This was a small place and they had it on the shelf. You need the YTX20CH-BS 12V-18Ah or the YTX20H-BS sealed Powersport battery.

YTX20CH-BS

Others, even with same ah, will probably won't fit (YTX20H-BS is shorter and about 1'' wider) or may have the poles inverted (left - right)

avgpetro wrote:

YTX20CH-BS

Others, even with same ah, will probably won't fit (YTX20H-BS is shorter and about 1'' wider) or may have the poles inverted (left - right)

Good point - CH it is .  The YTX20H-BS fits fine on the Norge and has the same poles.  The 20H-BS has 330 cold cranking amps (CCA) instead of 270 CCA with the YTX20CH-BS and since both fit in there, I went with bigger.

Apologies, my GRiSO currently consists of the Tenni green tupperware, flyscreen, Termi exhaust and tail rack off my Australian one all boxed up in my garage awaiting an attractively priced  '15 or '16 to appear so could not check.

zebraranger wrote:

Well, my three week old GRiSO has battery problems. I always use a battery maintainer so once I lifted the seat to install the leads, I discovered that the battery that came with the bike is too small, it just flops around in there and is too short to reach the battery clamp bracket. It has a tiny Yusa 12 amp hour battery that turns the motor over very slowly, when the motor is hot, even more so. Since the dealership is 140 miles away, I called them and told them that its the wrong battery and should have an 18 amp hour battery according to the manual. So, they ship me a 18 amp hour Yusa battery and its too large to fit the bikes battery box. My question is, does anyone know what battery the 2016 GRiSO is suppose to come with, is it different than the 2015? I cant find any info on it doing searches. I tried calling Guzzi USA to find out since the dealer doesn't know and of course they don't answer the phone.

The dealer doesn't know?!?!

Lordy.

Bill

Yeah, that's a bit of a worry. If they put the wrong battery in it makes you wonder what else they screwed up in the pre-delivery? I'd give it a full service/tune ASAP to make sure they haven't screwed something up severely!

Do be aware that Yuasa and other manufacturers also make a YTX16CH-BS. This is of an identical size etc. but delivers significantly less in the way of CCA's. If one of these is substituted it will work, for a bit, but quite soon, especially in cold weather, it will prove insufficient to crank the bike and may also contribute to 'Startus Interuptus'.

Also note that with these AGM batteries you can't just bung the acid in and pop it in the bike and ride. You have to add the acid and let the battery sit fo a minimum of an hour (but I leave them overnight.) and then give them a brief charge up before puting them into service. The instruction sheet that nobody seems to be capable of reading states this but is often ignored! If you don't give the mats time to absorb the acid as soon as the bike starts, (And it usually will.) the plates will warp compromising the battery and more importantly the acid will boil out all over your nice motorbike! Needless to say the results of this are less than entertaining!

Pete

Yeah, I already gave it the once over checking everything possible, but who knows if the put the correct fluid types in. The replacement battery that the sent me was a YTX20-BS. Its missing the H and the CH and it too wide to fit.

The oils should be fine, they are stuck in at the factory. Just make sure they aren't over or under filled, (The 'Full' mark on the dipstick is way too much. Run it half way between the 'Add' and 'Full' marks on the stick.). If you are capable I'd whip the rocker covers off and check the valves. These are usually set far too wide ex-factory, I check them as part of PD, most shops don't. Over recent years the factory has got a lot better at setting up throttle bodies and unless you have gauges and Guzzidiag you can't balance them properly anyway but those things should be on your'To get' list anyway.

If you can find a decent shop and can't do it yourself I would strongly advise greasing the swingarm bearings and shock linkage bearings ASAP, especially in muggy Florida they will corrode quickly unless they get some grease.

Sounds like your dealer has a steep learning curve ahead.

Pete

Thank you guys for all the info. I've given up on the Guzzi dealer and purchased the correct battery myself locally from Batteries Plus. Now she turns over like it should and I have two new batteries that I cant use. I'm thinkin craigslist for the one that's too large, and I'll probably keep the small one for my portable generator.
Thanks again for all the help.

hey, now that the battery is sorted you can go and enjoy your new bike :-)

sidrat wrote:

hey, now that the battery is sorted you can go and enjoy your new bike :-)

I did just that. Took it out for about 3 hours today with the new battery and the other new accessories. Stopped here to take this photo. It was a beautiful day for riding with the temps in the mid 60's, a little cool by Florida standards, but I enjoyed it. Much better than the mid 90's. First photo with all the new stuff on the bike. I added the compact saddlebags last week, and the stainless steel oil cooler cover and dart Flyscreen this week. Didn't like the stainless look of the grill, so I painted it satin black.
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Florida! Bah! Humbug! It's 40F in northern Georgia and the Chattanooga area. The wind chill at 60 mph is a lot worse! Spent Xmas with family in Huntington Beach, CA and a pacific storm moved in, dropping temps down to a very un-California like 50's during the day and 40's at night. Meanwhile, I saw Atlanta hit 70F while I was gone. I just can't win.

Florida! Bah! Humbug! It's 40F in northern Georgia and the Chattanooga area. The wind chill at 60 mph is a lot worse! Spent Xmas with family in Huntington Beach, CA and a pacific storm moved in, dropping temps down to a very un-California like 50's during the day and 40's at night. Meanwhile, I saw Atlanta hit 70F while I was gone. I just can't win.

Those big cats are all over GRiSO!