Need help getting to my battery on my 636

[heckel]

I have an '06 ZX6R 636 and Iaccidentally left my parking lights on my bike the other day and the battery is completely dead. I tried to bump start it a few times and can't get it to fire. How do I get to the battery to charge/jump it. The manual says that the fuel tank needs to be removed and that I should take it to an authorized location for battery service. I removed the bolt from the front plastic piece that makes up the front half of the tank area(not sure what this is called), and also removed the two smaller bolts in the side that also appear to hold this piece on and it moves around, but feels like it is still attached somewhere. Am I on the right track?

Also and tips on jump/bump starting this bike would be appreciated. I've done this to cars and older bikes many times, but I'm not as familiar with newer bikes and I don't want to damage anything trying to get this going again.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[alec]

Removing the battery is a pain in the ***. First, start with those black plastic side panels and remove them. Then remove the the 2 screws that hold the seat onto that metal bar that goes across the battery. Pull the seat off. You should see your battery, but it's being blocked by the metal bar that goes across that hold the seat and gas tank. Remove the 4 screws from the metal bar that attaches to your frame. Then use a wretch to remove the bolt that holds your gas tank to that metal bar. Remove the screw at the very top, where the handle bars are. Make sure you have something high, like a chair or garbage can. Pull the gas tank off and let it rest on the chair (*careful here..you could pull off the gas leads that go to your engine causing all your fuel to go everywhere). There you go...you can now remove the battery. You'll have to unplug some of the electrics too. If you just want to leave the battery in there, then just do everything I said except don't remove that metal bar that goes across the battery.

[Lomilar]

I have a ZX-6RR and they are a pain to bump start unless you have a hill. They seem to take quite a lot to get goin.

Alec's description sounds right. I've done it quite a few times myself. Make sure if you use a car charger to put it on a really low amperage.

Note: If you don't have a chair or garbage can, you *can* just rotate the gas tank in place, and it will usually stay. This may give it some new exciting scratches though, so be careful.

[heckel]

Thanks guys. I will give it a try. Maybe I can get to the leads on there to jump it just by removing the seat.

[heckel]

Allright, got it going finally. With your help, I was able to remove the seat. I didn't really feel like taking the fuel tank off, but the positive terminal was inconveniently located directly under the tank.

With a little bit of creativity I was able to get a jumper cable clamp through the gap sideways and clipped on the the battery terminal nut. I poked the tip of the clamp through a thick lawn garbage bag to where the tip was barely poking through and clamped it on while insulating it from grounding out on the bottom of the tank or the metal bar that goes across the top of the battery. The negative terminal was easy and I hooked the other end of the cables to my Jeep battery without the engine running.

It turned over and started right up. The first time I unhooked it from my Jeep right away and the bike died. I had to leave it connected for a couple of minutes before I could disconnect it and the bike would run on its own. I thought the alternater provided more than enough power by itself. Anyone have any idea why I had to let it charge for a couple of minutes to keep it running?

Thanks again for the help.

[Always4Kawis]

It does that because the battery voltage is nearly depleted. Please charge your battery (max 2 amp charge for minimum of 24 hrs). Be sure to check the water level. I'd recommend removing it to charge just to be on the safe side.

[heckel]

But shouldn't it be able to run with no battery at all, if the engine is running and the alternator is good?

Also, book says the the battery is a sealed battery so I don't think there are any levels to check.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to charge it fully, but I ran the bike for an hour or so and rode about ten miles after I got it started. We'll see how that worked next time I go for a ride.