Short version:
It was the battery. The simplest explanation was in fact correct. Have you heard the saying, among amateur motorcycle mechanics: "It's Always The Battery"
I gotta confess, I've always been skeptical of this truism. It seems like a cop-out; like an oversimplification. Maybe the amateur diagnostician is lazy and just guessing.
But, if you see the history of this bike on this blog; it is beginning to prove true more times than not.
Longer version:
On a Honda, this would’ve been a parking lot diagnosis and repair. On a Suzuki Intruder, it was a pain in the ass, as usual anytime dealing with the battery on an Intruder.
If you haven’t heard my rant on the subject: It’s all about battery placement. Suzuki hides the battery in a box underneath, just forward of the rear tire, with a trap door. To remove and replace the battery, get the rear wheel up off the ground a couple inches to make room for the trap door to open, disconnect the battery cables from the terminals through two one inch square holes in the battery box, one of either side of the bike. Fish a screwdriver between the swing arm and the rectifier into that opening and loosen the screws. The cables are too short to lower the battery while connected. Carefully lower the battery out the trap door. Installation is the reverse, and has all the charms and appeal of threading a needle with your toes.
Given battery placement, you cannot reach the positive terminal with jumper cables. You *can* reach the positive terminal main junction with the wiring harness under the left side cover.
I decided I didn't want to tackle the work on the ground in an apartment parking lot. So, I trailered it home for the comfort of my garage and the convenience of a lift. This deprived her of the experience of working on it with me, but allowed me to nurse my aching head and resolve the issue in relative comfort.
She and I replaced the battery on this bike in 2022. She got less than 2 years from this AGM. I’ve never had one die so soon. I get 5-7 years from my meticulously tendered, garage-kept batteries. I’m thinking that parking lot living for this bike, with greater temperature extremes and no tender for the riding season months she’s at college, shortened the battery’s life. But that’s just a theory.
I trailered it back and dropped it off. Such concierge service!
