| Author | Message | ||
     Perry |
My bike ('05 XB12scg) was running perfectly, but the battery seemed like it was always a bit droopy - even after being on a charger. I bought a new battery and it made a difference! For one day, everything ran great! Starter and fuel pump seemed to have new energy! The next morning I did the normal routine and everything was great until I hit the starter button. It gave one brief "chunk" noise (not quite turned over) and then the dash lights (oil light, neutral light) went to about half normal brightness. Nothing would respond after that, although I could still bright/normal the headlights. Headlights are plenty bright. Taking the key out and checking the batt. connections, all okay, then trying again gave the same result. Key on gave dial sweep, everything normal, then when I hit the starter button same thing - "chunk" and then half-bright dash. Since that second time it is now always in the half-bright non-responsive state. No dial sweep when I key on now. The headlights work, but no more dial sweep and dash lights are half normal brightness always. Starter button completely unresponsive. Battery is fully charged. Ideas? Where do I start? How do I know if the dash is bad, or whether perhaps the starter is bad and shorted out or something? | ||
| Jwhite601 |
Check your battery cables GOOD. Make sure your battery cable bolts aren't too long. If your not sure take the bolts out and add a washer to them. If that all checks out and you still have a problem. Push the starter button and listen for any clicking noises. If it does nothing it could be your starter RELAY. If you do hear a click , you need to pinpoint the click to determine if it is the Relay or the Solenoid. Once we've determined that we can continue with testing. | ||
| New12r |
Make sure your battery cable bolts aren't too long +1 Mine were too long until I added the heated gear dongle and a nice washer. It does sound like a Bad Ground/loose connection. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Can the starter relay be sticking "on"? That would explain the dim lights, you just effectively shorted the battery through the starter and left it there. Not sure where this is fused, or if this would burn up the starter. That relay has been known to go before... | ||
| Perry |
I think I found the problem and fixed it. I hope so anyway - here's what I did: First I checked the battery cables and verified a good connection. Then I tested the relay, which was good too. As reported above, the first couple times the dash lights went dim when I hit the starter, but after that they were dim at key on. I set about to determine if the starter was bad. After some futzing around checking voltages as per the service manual, I tried the starting sequence again. I noticed that if I keyed on with the fuel pump switch ON the lights were dim as before. If I keyed on with the fuel pump switch OFF, all seemed normal - until I turned the fuel pump on, at which point everything electrical seemed to go crazy and "strobe" on and off like five times per second. Hmmm... Fuel pump? I disconnected the wires leading to the fuel pump. Same result. But, this time while it was strobing I noticed some arcing of electricity between where the battery negative connects to the frame and the wires leading to the fuel pump. They were routed so that they were maybe 1/4 inch away from the main ground screw. The insulation on the wires showed no damage, so I don't know why it was shorting/arcing through the insulation. I re-routed the fuel pump wires a bit so they were farther from the ground. Fuel pump worked fine. Hit the starter switch, and she fired right up. I put some electrical tape on those wires for additional insulation. So, either it's a sporadic gremlin that took a break while I was poking around and will likely return, or it was the wires to the fuel pump arcing/shorting through the insulation to the main ground wire. Now I just hope I don't have a gremlin return when I am in the middle of nowhere and leave me stranded. Thanks for the help guys - the tips on checking the connections and grounding led me in just the right direction. |
