I have an 09 M696 with ~8k miles. Its running Spectro Platinum Full Synthetic 10W50 oil. This morning I had a hard time keeping the cold engine running. With the idle lever opened half way, I tried starting the bike. It started but a second later, the engine dies. Tried again with idle lever opened all the way. Same thing, it would start but dies after a second. 4 or 5 more attempts yielded the same result. I waited 30 seconds and tried starting again. This time the engine stayed running. I had the same problem last winter when the temperature started to drop. I'm in Arizona, it was 65F this morning. I don't think I should have that hard of a time keeping the engine running in the morning especially only at 65F. I've also noticed that I need to keep the idle lever opened more than usual to keep it at 1500rpm to warm the bike up. Any thoughts? Maybe change to a different brand of motor oil maybe? I am due for an oil change, does dirty oil make it harder for the cold engine to keep running?
Just to be clear, its only the 1st start of the day during the first couple seconds that I have problems keeping the engine running. Once the engine warms up for a minute, I have no problems with the engine dying on me.
Follow the starting drill in your manual exactly. Whatever you do, don't touch the throttle until it's running happily. The effect of the oil is minimal unless you're running straight 50W and it's 40 F! ;)