She won't start

[ChrisinNH]

Hello,

My bike won't start. When i hit the starter, the bike makes a buzzing noise and doesn't even attempt to turn over. The battery seems ok, all of the controls light up (except for the headlights) and the windshield will go up and down. Any ideas? Sorry if this is something obvious, I'm a bit of a retard under the hood.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Woodstock]

Hello,
My bike won't start. When i hit the starter, the bike makes a buzzing noise and doesn't even attempt to turn over. The battery seems ok, all of the controls light up (except for the headlights) and the windshield will go up and down. Any ideas? Sorry if this is something obvious, I'm a bit of a retard under the hood.

Thanks,

Chris

Did you check the kill switch?

 

[SkooterG]

Where's the buzzing noise coming from?

Sounds like it could be the solenoid in which case it's most likely a bad battery, or if its buzzying by the starter switch, a bad switch.

Need more info. Where's the buzzing coming from? How old is the battery? When was the last time you started it? Any other problems previously? What kind of "buzzing" sound is it making?

Have you tried push starting it?

Is the buzzing coming from the gas tank area, and stops after a second or two?

 

[Groo]

Don't know the condition of the bike, but if you have a lot of road splooge on it, you might check to see if your kickstand kill switch isn't gunked up. That's been known to keep a bike from starting in the past.

 

[ChrisinNH]

Thanks guys. The buzzing sound is coming from up near where you stick the key in. I rode it about two weeks ago and it seemed to behave fine (several starts and stops throughout the day). It's tough to describe the the buzzing sound sound, but to me it sounds like taking a wooden paint stirrer and dragging it very fast across a picket fence, or like when you were a kid and you stuck a plaking card in your bicycle spokes. The sound persists until I take my finger off of the ignition switch.

Chris

 

[Rogue]

Sounds like it could be a bad connection arcing in the ignition switch.

 

[SkooterG]

Sounds like it could be a bad ignition. There have been some cases of those going bad. I remember reading about them on the Europe based board. If it is a bad ignition, I also remember them saying it was kind of pricey and a major pain to replace. Probably will be on backorder too.

 

[odot]

O.K....you need to put the vibrator down and try again......more to "come"...soon.

 

[PerfectBlueride]

First did you get it to start? Can't remember if I heard a buzz.

Listen real close do you hear the fuel rail noise or glove box?

I had something like this happen to me a few times and it turned out to be a blown fuel injections fuse.

replaced it 15 amp, tucked down next to the neg battery post on frame.

started right up.

 

[ionbeam]

I just got a PM from Chris. This morning he jumped his bike using his van and it started. No other details.

Jump starting from a car/truck/van is not a good idea. The motorcycle harness assumes a fairly small cranking current from the smallish motorcycle battery. A big honkin' 650-1000 cold cranking amps (CCA) automotive battery can hurt wires. You may get away with it, then again maybe not. Do ya feel lucky? A quick blit with a rapid start isn't too bad but if you crank it for a while things will get hot and bothered.

 

[Geezer]

Well, if the jump start worked then he needs a battery. Personally, I agree with the school of thought that says not to jump start from a car. When I have a low battery situation I prefer to bump start. Only happened once on my FJR, when I left the radar detector on in the garage for a couple of days. My next job is to power the radar detector through a source that is controlled by the key, like the horn wire that is now unused since I installed the blasters.

 

[SkooterG]

Well, if the jump start worked then he needs a battery. Personally, I agree with the school of thought that says not to jump start from a car. When I have a low battery situation I prefer to bump start.

+1

Always, and I mean always, suspect the battery first. He never did mention how old the battery is or whether he keeps it on a battery tender of some sort. Of course, the battery could have been low from repeated starting attempts, and the initial problem is still un-addressed.

 

[ionbeam]

the initial problem is still un-addressed.

Chris will have to come along with the whole story. He did say that his bike sat for a couple of weeks with a GPS adapter plugged into a non-switched power source and it had an LED that was lit.

FWIW, if the LED alone was drawing 10 milliamps (.01 amps) for 2 weeks = 40 amps of current! That’ll do it :dead:

 

[Geezer]

FWIW, if the LED alone was drawing 10 milliamps (.01 amps) for 2 weeks = 40 amps of current! That’ll do it

Yep. That sounds likely to be the cause.

 

[Colin24]

Jump starting from a car/truck/van is not a good idea. The motorcycle harness assumes a fairly small cranking current from the smallish motorcycle battery. A big honkin' 650-1000 cold cranking amps (CCA) automotive battery can hurt wires. You may get away with it, then again maybe not. Do ya feel lucky? A quick blit with a rapid start isn't too bad but if you crank it for a while things will get hot and bothered.

I have never had any problems jump starting a bike from a car/truck/van. And it should not cause any problems. But you MUST make sure the car/truck/van is OFF. This is very very important.

The problem you are aluding to is true if the car/truck/van is running. The current put out by the alternator on the running vehicle is _way_ too much for the bike. However, if the car/truck/van is off then you are just drawing current from the battery. The starter on the bike will only draw what it needs.

- Colin

 

[FNG]

Jump starting from a car/truck/van is not a good idea. The motorcycle harness assumes a fairly small cranking current from the smallish motorcycle battery. A big honkin' 650-1000 cold cranking amps (CCA) automotive battery can hurt wires. You may get away with it, then again maybe not. Do ya feel lucky? A quick blit with a rapid start isn't too bad but if you crank it for a while things will get hot and bothered.

I have never had any problems jump starting a bike from a car/truck/van. And it should not cause any problems. But you MUST make sure the car/truck/van is OFF. This is very very important.

The problem you are aluding to is true if the car/truck/van is running. The current put out by the alternator on the running vehicle is _way_ too much for the bike. However, if the car/truck/van is off then you are just drawing current from the battery. The starter on the bike will only draw what it needs.

- Colin

True if the donor vehicle is running or not. Should the starter be on the outs, then the potential for damage to the slaved vehicles electrical system exists, due to excessive draw. But, if Three Mile Island had a 12 volt outlet, it would not hurt the bike. However, one caveat-should any mistakes be made (crossed connections, inadvertant grounding of a hot lead, etc) the problem could be exacerbated by the availability of a large amount of current. And, the battery may not be very happy with a large infusion of charging energy, the biggest fear here. But, if you're using a modern car to jump the bike, the alt adding 100 amps to a potential 800 amp battery isn't gonna be the killer here. Were it my bike, the slaving vehicle would not be running.

 

[Scab]

Good to know. There will inevitably be times for some where a jump from a cage will be the only option. Back in the day, on an old rag I used to ride, I kept my own home-made jumper cables under the seat. (sized for the bike)

 

[ionbeam]

The starter motor is essentially a direct short and depends on the relatively weak 12aH battery to have limited power. When hooked to bigger batteries that can deliver more energy there is the potential to over stress wires and connectors.

When jumping batteries from bike to a bigger vehicle -- > As mentioned earlier, big vehicle engine should be off and it helps to turn on the big vehicle's headlights to sink some of the excess current. Positive of donor vehicle to positive of dead vehicle; negative of donor vehicle to ground someplace on the engine of the dead vehicle but not the negative batt post. A byproduct of stressed batteries is hydrogen -- think Hindenburg; think bomb (think how lucky we have been). :dribble: Where is Myth busters when we need them

 

[snikr]

If you are not too far from Rutland, VT and still need some help I might be able to ride over and see what I can do.

Tom