| Author | Message | ||
     Andrejs2112 |
I've been noticing lately that when I press the start button on my Uly, It hesitates, then fires up no problem. This morning and afternoon, it did the same thing but added a loud clicking noise after the hesitation. It starts fine though. My battery voltage looks good. What is up? Thanks, AR | ||
| Hughlysses |
Well, the first thing would be to check the tightness of the connections at your battery. For some bikes, the battery bolts are a wee bit too long; adding a washer to each will help keep them tight. | ||
| Orangeulius |
Marginal batteries are a real pain. Mine had similar problems then I would lose my speedo and tach. HD wouldn't replace it so I bought a new one and have been problem free for over a year. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
There's an engine to frame grounding strap under the airbox. If it is at all loose, it can cause the aforementioned problem. Check the battery & battery to frame, first. Mark in Arizona | ||
| Andrejs2112 |
Thanks. I figured as much. I'll try that stuff. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
My 06 does the exact same thing. and in a nutshell it is too many short rides. The battery is hosed. You can put it on a battery tender and it is ok for a bit. Long rides help a bunch. I commute 10 miles a day to work and the battery doesn't like it after three years. Just need a new battery thats all. I still haven't replaced mine, it does the big hesitation then starts. I took a 400 mile ride this weekend and it has been good all week. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Assault that battery. | ||
| Xbimmer |
Good timing for this thread, mine is doing similar stuff this past week. The bike has always hesitated on startup when the first compression stroke comes up, then pulls through and starts fine, but lately it stops "starting" and then the clock defaults to "1:00" and I lose my trip mileage. Put a voltmeter to it and it sits at 13V but when starting drops waaaay down, pulls through, then the clock/trip meter default again. Put a charger on it and went for a ride yesterday and everything seemed fine until this morning and it did it again. Guess it's time at 2+ years and 50k, actually I'm surprised the battery made it this long after my VR/stator/77-connector failure last year. So the local HD dealer wants $100 for a 12 amp/hour stocker, and everywhere I check lists replacements for the Uly as 14 amp/hour batteries. What to do...  | ||
| Rays |
Gents, there is one other less likely reason for the clicking - the neutral switch! My Uly started intermittently making the machine gun emulator noises and after a bit of mucking around I diagnosed a resistive neutral switch. To isolate that particular problem it is dead easy - pull the clutch in and try starting. If the clicking goes away start looking at the neutral switch. If not then the suggestions already provided are perfectly valid - the most likely being the battery connections or the battery itself. You can understand the clicking symptom from either of these faults as a variation on the description below. The clutch and neutral switch provide a ground for the starter relay and if that connection is resistive it will drop some voltage when the starter relay picks. Then, when the starter solenoid pulls in and real current is drawn by the starter and the battery voltage drops, the combination of that voltage drop and the voltage drop across the neutral switch is enough to make the starter relay drop out - followed by the solenoid. Of course you still have the starter button pushed so the when the battery voltage goes back up when the solenoid drops out the starter relay picks again and the cycle starts over again - instant machine gun noise! BTW, to change the neutral switch on a Uly is a little tricky because the front pulley partially covers it. If you get the belt out of the way it is possible to get it out - I modified a socket on the grinder so it just cleared the pulley and it made for an easy task. | ||
| Jlnance |
I had similar problems. I thought it was the battery, but it tested good. Finally I replaced the battery and what a huge difference it made. You've got an 06 like me. If you're still on the original battery, that's a likely suspect. | ||
| Yooper71 |
My 08 has had the starting hesitation from day one. Right now it's at the dealer with what they tell me is a fuel pump wiring harness problem. Have to see how it acts when I get it back. | ||
| Etennuly |
Wow. What timing. I am having the same issue with my '06. Loosing tripometer and clock when ever it is not ridden every day. It also has that die down click and start deal, but mine has done that since new. My battery has never tested well. It was always at 12.2v or less. I took it back for a warranty claim on it at about 10,000 miles and they said that was normal for a HD battery. So I swapped batteries with our Blast and things have been good until just recently. Either battery will start and run the Blast with no problem, but that bigger more powerful farkled Uly is suffering. A good plan, new battery! I guess it was time for the 2001 Blast battery to be as weak as the seven month old Uly battery(when it got to this point). |
