My KQ 450 was new in August 07, it was stock with hand warmers.

I had no problems with it at all but I did add a rear carrier to it to make things a little easier.

Winter has arrived and the KQ is stored in the garage (no heat) and now the battery is dieing.

I took it back to the dealer - they recharged the battery and said everything was good.

Three weeks later I have gone on two rides (1 hour) and the battery is dead again. Pull starting a 450 is no fun...

In my opinion I have three possible problems; #1 bad battery, # 2 bad charging system #3 slow discharge somewhere in the system.

I'm starting to loose faith in the dealer so before I take it back to them, I can check #1&2 myself, any thoughts on a slow discharge or other possible causes?

 

OK sportsfans; I think that I have the problem solved!

I was putting the battery back in the KQ and the ground nut would not tighten up... I tried another stock screw and had the same result. So I bought a longer screw and cut it ~1/8" longer than the original ... now it tightens down and a week later the KQ is holding a charge and starting up wonderfully!

My best guess is that when they added my Hand and Thumb Warmers the extra solderless connectors that they used added enough bulk that the regular screws were just not long enough to reach the battery nuts.

As they say ... "The Devil is in the Details"