Bike Wont Start

GillaFunk · Jan 1, 2011

I did a search. I couldn't find anything relative.

Oh..but I found this:

https://www.weirdthings.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/this-kid-gets-an-eyeful-the-lucky-little-****.jpg

OK.....SERIOUSLY THOUGH:

'07 used. Picked it up with 13k in August. Since then I put 10k miles on it. I ride virtually every day at least 65 miles. Bike runs great. No problems.

Original owner parked bike in garage. I now park it in a shed.

About a month ago I noticed on cold mornings the following issue would occur

Turn key to on; full RID light-up as normal. Depress ignition switch; I hear one 'click', but nothing happens.

Turn key off. Count to 10, turn key on, depress switch

Repeat a few times

They bike either fires or doesn't fire. There is no 'wah wah wah' as the starter turns. Its all or nothing at all. Just a single click.

This has happened about 6 times so far.

I replaced the battery with a freshly charged new one. Didnt Fire. Waited an hour, hit the switch again, fired up. Rode to work 2 days. Took 1 day off, then tried to ride again, nothing.

This only happens in the morning when I go to work. Its between 30 and 45 deg at night here.

When the bike DOES fire it fires up like it always has, nice, strong and quick.

YES I have farkles, but a freshly charged battery SHOULD fire the bike, so clearly its NOT the battery.

Any ideas?

yamafitter · Jan 1, 2011

The click you are hearing is the starter relay picking up. When the relay picks up but the starter doesn't crank and the battery is known to be good the issue is either:

1. poor connection somewhere between battery and starter.

2. faulty relay

3. faulty starter

The first place to start is to check the connections at the battery. Check both terminal connections are tight and not corroded and that there is a solid connection between the terminal post and the leads. Using dielectric grease on the posts helps ensure a good connection. Next check the connection of the main ground at the other end to ensure it is tight and clean and then check that the connection at the starter is good.

If there are no problems found then replace the starter relay since the main contacts in the relay may be faulty. Finally if all else fails replace the starter.

Hope this helps.

Zorlac · Jan 2, 2011

Ignition switch recall or dieing spider ground plugs maybe?

FJRBluesman · Jan 2, 2011

yamafitter said:
The click you are hearing is the starter relay picking up. When the relay picks up but the starter doesn't crank and the battery is known to be good the issue is either:

1. poor connection somewhere between battery and starter.

I vote fo rthis one!!! Happened to me twice now.
Clicky. Read this post and my older orginal post (clicky within the first clicky) of the first time this happened.

Good luck. Keep us posted (pun intended).

BTW - Nice pic you included.

Checkswrecks · Jan 2, 2011

You may have a new battery, but the first question is whether it's being recharged. My first step would be to see what the voltage is across the battery posts.

wfooshee · Jan 2, 2011

I'm with Checkswrecks. Without a voltage number while trying, we don't know squat.

Riding along the highway, no big electrical loads like mongo lights or heated gear, you should have 14.1, 14.2 volts at the battery terminals. Any less, you're not getting sufficient charge.

ionbeam · Jan 2, 2011

Hit and run question. Does the dash display reset -- does the clock display reset when it clicks? If yes there is an inappropriate current draw. If no, there is another factor that we need to troubleshoot.

08FJR4ME · Jan 2, 2011

Using dielectric grease on the posts helps ensure a good connection

Does this sound a little quirky or is it me. I thought dialectric grease prohibited current. I may be wrong though?

I vote ignition recall. Can you specify you year feejer unless I missed that to.

edit: That little kid in the middle is gonna have pleasant dreams for sure!

Dave.

wfooshee · Jan 3, 2011

Dialectric grease can seal against moisture, thus help prevent corrision in connections. It is not an insulator. If it were an insulator, its use on plug wires would be, well, stupid not optimal.

Tyler · Jan 3, 2011

Can't add anything technical to this discussion but that looks like one really happy little boy. :lol:

GillaFunk said:
https://www.weirdthings.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/this-kid-gets-an-eyeful-the-lucky-little-****.jpg

fjrchooser · Jan 3, 2011

Wow, that blonde has really big..ear lobes. And yes, so far that was the best day in that kids life. :yahoo:

ionbeam · Jan 3, 2011

wfooshee said:
Dialectric grease can seal against moisture, thus help prevent corrision in connections. It is not an insulator. If it were an insulator, its use on plug wires would be, well, stupid not optimal.

I'm always right, yet it continues to surprise people! How can that be?

Would you like to amend part of this statement or retract part of your tag line?

Dielectric grease must be an insulator or it would short the terminals in tail lights and short pins in connectors.

If the starter relay is going CLICK and the clock does not reset it is sounding like an electrical connection at the starter, starter relay or a defective starter relay.

beemerdons · Jan 3, 2011

ionbeam said:
wfooshee said:

Dialectric grease can seal against moisture, thus help prevent corrision in connections. It is not an insulator. If it were an insulator, its use on plug wires would be, well, stupid not optimal.

I'm always right, yet it continues to surprise people! How can that be?

Click to expand...

Would you like to amend part of this statement or retract part of your tag line? Dielectric grease must be an insulator or it would short the terminals in tail lights and short pins in connectors.

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy; Wowser: First FJR Forum Fight of 2011, and between Alan and Walt no less! Give me 5 minutes guys, started the popcorn and another pot of coffee; might drag the Barca-Lounger to the computer too. Going to call Bustanut joker and johnny80s on the telephone also, Barry and Juan won't want to miss this one!

ionbeam · Jan 3, 2011

beemerdons said:
...First FJR Forum Fight of 2011, and between Alan and Walt no less!...

Just a pillow fight, no blood drawn. I believe it is either a case of PWI or Post Haste.

Up early or going to bed quite late?

wheatonFJR · Jan 3, 2011

fjrchooser said:
Wow, that blonde has really big..ear lobes.

Sorry Chooser...proof you play for the "other team".

beemerdons · Jan 3, 2011

ionbeam said:
beemerdons said:

...First FJR Forum Fight of 2011, and between Alan and Walt no less!...

Click to expand...

Just a pillow fight, no blood drawn. I believe it is either a case of PWI or Post Haste.

Up early or going to bed quite late?

ionbeam, I have been retired for over a year now, and I still wake up at 4am like clockwork. I was always at my Metro Mechanical office in Phoenix at 5am, in order to dispatch my Pipefitters out to their jobs at 6am. It bugs me, no matter what time I turn in at: I'm wide fecking awake at 0400!!

wfooshee · Jan 3, 2011

I claim Post Haste. Sleepy, up late, whatever. Leave me alone!

I'm just now getting up today, and I'm thinking of going back to bed.

The animals get me up at 6:30, which is fine on a work day, but truly annoying otherwise. Cleaning up after them if they don't get outside is even more annoying, though.

And converting them to standard time after DST is also very annoying, BTW!!! Mister Arizona wouldn't know anything about that, though.....

To the grease, a better way to say it would have been that although non-conductive, the grease will not block current flow in a connector (film is just too thin,) while it will block moisture and the corrosion it causes. The stuff would be useless if it blocked current flow, after all.

GillaFunk · Jan 3, 2011

HOLY CRAP...this thread sure took a new direction. ****.

Checkswrecks said:
You may have a new battery, but the first question is whether it's being recharged. My first step would be to see what the voltage is across the battery posts.

Well, you may be right, but I trickle charged the battery before it was installed to ensure it had a full charge. Once installed the bike does not have a difficulty starting. Aslo, the bike did not fire the first couple times I hit the igniton AFTER battery installation. And it was FULLY Charged.

It either fires right up, or does absoloutly nothing. Hence why I think this is not a bettery issue, per say. But, your input is appreciated, for sure and you are right, I do need to check voltage.

ionbeam said:
Hit and run question. Does the dash display reset -- does the clock display reset when it clicks? If yes there is an inappropriate current draw. If no, there is another factor that we need to troubleshoot.

The dash dimmed once but did not reset. This prompted me to just get a new battery. As for a current draw...I dont see where it would be from. The only extras on the bike are a GPS power plug and a battery tender plug. But, yes, I will go ahead and un-plug dem ******* and see what happens.

I also failed to mention in my first post, that from time to time when this problem began, I would find the following problem occure as well:

Turn key on, depress ignition switch, 1-2 second delay occured before the engine would begin to fire/start turning.

I rode all day friday, then took saturday and sunday off. Bike fired up no problems this morning. No slow wind, no dash dim, no delay. :angry2:

I will be installing my grounding spider this weekend as well as my HID lights. I will have a look at the starter relay there under the battery once I get my tupperwear off as it sounds like that wee bugger is corroded. We'll see what turns up.

Its annoying being a noOb, especially on a new brand and style of bike. Not being mechanically inclined, nor knowing the right terminology for makes for an annoying beg for help.

Gents, your patience and expertise is appreciated.

ionbeam · Jan 3, 2011

GillaFunk said:
ionbeam said:

...Does the dash display reset -- does the clock display reset when it clicks? If yes there is an inappropriate current draw. If no, there is another factor that we need to troubleshoot.

Click to expand...

The dash dimmed once but did not reset. This prompted me to just get a new battery. As for a current draw...I dont see where it would be from. The only extras on the bike are a GPS power plug and a battery tender plug...

Failing starter motors often draw excessive current, this is the current I was meaning. Since your clock has not reset it is a back-handed way to infer that your battery is not undercharged or bad as well as indicating that the starter motor is most likely not drawing excessive current. It is looking like the failure to spin your starter motor is insufficient current. You are now looking for excessive resistance caused by bad wires, bad connections or a bad starter relay. Bad wires happen when they get pinched, partially cut through, receive excessive flexing or see too much heat.

In a perfect world it would be really nice to know what your battery voltage is both before and while you attempt to start it. As a troubleshooting item, the next time it goes CLICK and nothing happens, release the starter button, DO NOT turn the key off/on and then see if the windshield will go up and down. This will tell us something about the wiring between the R/R and terminals on the starter relay.

I know this to be true for a Gen I, I expect it to be true for your Gen II -- Both red and black 10 or 12 gauge wires leave the R/R, the black wire goes to a terminal on the starter relay, the red wire goes to the main fuse, and then on to the starter relay terminal. From there the red and black wires leave the starter relay as the heavy gauge wires that attach to the battery. My FJR has twice seen excessive resistance at the terminals on the starter relay. In my case, my FJR cranked a bit slow but started, however the battery had low voltage when running and the voltage sagged excessively when farkles were turned on.

Bike Wont Start

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