Having trouble starting my bike

[jschnibbe]

w/ the bike in neutral, kickstand down. i make sure the kill switch is on, turn the key on, the tach and speedo spike.  hit the starter button...bike does not start.  the same thing happens if the kickstand is up and the clutch in.  i can hear a slight click, but the bike doesnt even turn over.   

so far, after i keep trying this over and over, the bike magically starts up like there is nothing wrong.  i was thinking its a voltage problem with the battery, but i checked that out.  i made sure the battery was charged and that it was connected correctly.

what else could it be? bad switch? solenoid?






 

[ducpainter]

w/ the bike in neutral, kickstand down. i make sure the kill switch is on, turn the key on, the tach and speedo spike.  hit the starter button...bike does not start.  the same thing happens if the kickstand is up and the clutch in.  i can hear a slight click, but the bike doesnt even turn over.   

so far, after i keep trying this over and over, the bike magically starts up like there is nothing wrong.  i was thinking its a voltage problem with the battery, but i checked that out.  i made sure the battery was charged and that it was connected correctly.

what else could it be? bad switch? solenoid?
It could be a bad solenoid, but more likely a bad connection somewhere in the starter wiring or at the battery.

If you mess with the cable connection at the starter be careful....the stud on the starter is brass and is somewhat delicate.






 

[hypurone]

Try tapping on the starter housing with a plastic screwdriver handle or similar while trying to start it and it failing. If a strike to the housing "jogs" things into motion, the started is having issues. If the solenoid clicks and power is present at the starter, the solenoid is good. Have you checked for power at the starter when you hear the solenoid click and it does not start?

It is also possible to have a flakey battery. A battery "recovers" a bit each time after a load is applied to it as part of the chemical process in it. I have seen batteries fail to start things repeatedly and then boom, start right up. Pull the battery and have a load test done on it.

[Jeff_S2R1K]

The same thing is happening with my '06 S2R, but I don't hear a click.  It shut off as I was going 65mph on a straight highway, and wouldn't restart. 

Then after sitting a few minutes it started. 
I turned it off with the kill switch - it restarted. 
I turned it off with the key - it didn't restart.

I think it's a combination of a loose wire somewhere, and not taking the key out of the ignition for 30 seconds.  I'll do more thorough research this weekend.  I'm also taking it in for the 6K service, so either way I'll have a solution in a week or so, and I'll post the results.

[sbrguy]

i'm convinced this is typical italian machinery at work, it wont' start for a while then magically after it "sits and festers and thinks ok i'll start" it then does..

my bike did the same thing last week, nick and i think it was this one wire so we will see if the fix we did works out... finicky italian machinery..

[CDawg]

Does your bike have an immobolizer?  Mine's loose and I sometimes have to push the wiring up to get the bike to start.

[ducsix]

I am suffering from a similar problem.  The bike decided not to start up when going home from work today.  I hear a nice solid "click click" when hitting the starter, but nothing after that.  I've tried reseating every connector I can get my hands to with no luck, and tapping the solenoid.  I'm going back out with a multimeter in a few minutes to see if I can diagnose the problem...in the meantime if anyone has more ideas I'd love to hear them.

[Hedgehog]

Put a voltmeter on the starter terminal and hit the starter button.  If you don't see voltage, it's the solenoid.  If you do and it still doesn't start, check the voltage at the battery when you hit the starter button.  If the voltage at battery and starter are way different, then it's the solenoid.  If they're the same and it's low, then it's the battery.  One more thing to try is to pull the plugs and see if it will turn over.  That'll give you another datapoint to think about as to whether it's starter, solenoid, or battery.

[ducsix]

Thanks for the advice -- The voltage across the solenoid remained less than 1V while hitting the start button, so it looks like my solenoid is dead.  I'll know for sure after doing a swap tomorrow.

[clubhousemotorsports]

some mystery starting problems can be from the imobilizer as well. try taking your key out of the ignition and counting to three and then reinstalling the key. If the key is left on for too long the system will not let the bike start. If you have too many keys on the keychain (or a mobil speedpass) this can also cause a intermittant no start situation. 

[ducsix]

some mystery starting problems can be from the imobilizer as well. try taking your key out of the ignition and counting to three and then reinstalling the key. If the key is left on for too long the system will not let the bike start. If you have too many keys on the keychain (or a mobil speedpass) this can also cause a intermittant no start situation. 

Yup, that was the 1st thing I tried.  I've seen some intermittent immobilizer problems in the past, but no luck this time.  It's looking pretty likely that the solenoid is bad in my case.

[Howie]

Thanks for the advice -- The voltage across the solenoid remained less than 1V while hitting the start button, so it looks like my solenoid is dead.  I'll know for sure after doing a swap tomorrow.

How the meter was hooked up?  Keep in mind I have no idea what you know about electricity.  If it was hooked up like this you measured voltage drop (voltage consumed by the solenoid).  Though excessive, (any car spec, less than .2V) if you have a good battery the bike should have cranked, though a little on the slow side. 


             _______________________+__
             l  meter    l                              \______________
             l________l______________-__           l solenoid l
                                                          \______l________l

Sorry for the crappy drawing 

Instead, put the - meter to a good ground ad poitive where the lead hooks up to the starter.  What hedgehog said will work too, - to ground, + to lug on starter.  I would also suggest having your battery charged and load tested to rule out a week battery.  If the battery tests good and you are getting 12V at the starter, don't condemn the starter yet.  Could be a bad connection at the starter lug.  Careful, that lug is delicate.
                                                                   

[ducsix]

             _______________________+__
             l  meter    l                              \______________
             l________l______________-__           l solenoid l
                                                          \______l________l
                                                                   

That is one damn fine ascii schematic.

It was definitely the solenoid for me (well, the "contactor" really), no matter how the voltage across the contactor was measured (+ to - on the terminals, or - to gnd) it was coming out way low.